Grabieżca ze znakiem Q. O rabunkowej działalności Pietera Nicolaasa Mentena (1899–1987)
Professional Looter. On the looting activity of Pieter Nicolaas Menten (1899–1987)

Summary/Abstract: The Nazi looting of works of art and cultural goods during 1933–1945 is usually divided into organised and unauthorised. The former was conducted by special organisations and authorities, while the former, widespread mostly in the east, amounted to private looting conducted by many Germans on their own account. The author suggests introducing a separate category of quali􀏐ied looting encompassing those who engaged in looting with premeditation – on their own account and/or on commission – and whose competence included evaluation of the sought artistic goods and knowledge of where and in whose possession they could be found. In the Reich and in occupied France and Holland there were many such quali􀏐ied robbers, while in Poland their number remained small after the initial wave of of􀏐icial con􀏐iscations, with the exception of the Dutchman, Pieter Nicolaas Menten (1899–1987), who after the war was one of the wealthiest citizens of Holland and owner of a collection of works of art unavailable to the public. The scope, character, and methods of the looting conducted by Menten for his private use in Cracow and Lvov during the German occupation between early 1940 and the end of 1942 make him an exceptional case in the history of Nazi looting. These aspects are analysed on the basis of extensive archival materials and evidence collected in Holland and Poland during the investigations and trials against Menten (the 􀏐irst one took place in 1948 and was followed by next ones in the late 1970s), who was accused, for instance, of collaboration with the Germans and the massacre of Jewish inhabitants of the Galician villages of Urycz and Podhorodce in the summer of 1941. Menten was never sentenced for the looting of works of art in Cracow, where he was an appointed administrator of four Jewish artistic salons, and in Lvov, where he appropriated the collections from the homes of several Lvov professors murdered on 4 July 1941. He was never found guilty even though when in January 1943 he left the General Government and went to Holland he took – with Himmler’s special permission – four wagons of works of art, gold ware and silverware, antique furniture, and Oriental rugs. The collection of works of art in his possession has become dispersed.

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