Josee Hildebrandt, Dixie State University
Most of the scholarship around Nazis and early 20th century art focuses on Nazi ideologies and the theory of Degenerate Art. This project is instead going to focus on how Hitler and several of his high ranking officials sought out and stole valuable art while hiding behind their ideology. A Nazi elite school developed a program called Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), which translates to the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce. The ERR program was established in Paris, France in mid 1940 and continued until the end of the war in 1945. The ERR program’s sole goal was stealing Jewish art collections and dividing the highest value art between high ranking official Hermann Göring and Hitler. Hermann Göring was known for his command of the Nazi Air Force, his rank as Reichsmarschall which gave him seniority over all of Germany’s armed forces officers and being the second most powerful man in Germany. In his career, Hermann Göring also was in charge of the ERR, tasked with Hitler’s order to confiscate art, particularly from Jewish people, throughout Nazi occupied countries. This thesis will cover how this crime was not about confiscating art or Nazi ideology, but about racial prejudice as a cover for crime.