The 1928 Roerich Pact and German looting of Soviet cultural property

Destroyed by human error and restored by human hope.

In international law, the history of the protection of cultural property begins in the nineteenth century: the Lieber Code, the Brussels Conference, the Hague Conventions and Declarations and, finally, the Roerich Pact, or Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic Monuments, drawn up in 1928.

Roerich developed the theme over many decades, beginning with the protection of archaeological sites. By the 1920s the idea had grown into a view of cultural and historic monuments as the common heritage of all humanity, which demands reliable protection in time of war.

It was precisely Nicholas Roerich's numerous appeals to intellectuals the world over and to the governments of various countries that became the basis for the adoption of the Pact on the Protection of Artistic Values. “We remember many lost treasures, but we do not wish to inscribe words of hostility. Let us say: ‘destroyed by human error and restored by human hope.’ Against these errors of ignorance we must take immediate measures,” he wrote.

Alas, on the eve of the Second World War the Roerich Pact had still not been ratified by many countries, Germany and the USSR among them. Nevertheless, the matter was regulated by Article 56 of the Hague Convention of 1907, which stated that the deliberate seizure, destruction or damaging of historic monuments, works of science and art, and the property of religious, charitable, scientific and artistic institutions and communities, which is equated with private property, is forbidden.
And this provision was cynically ignored by Germany.

Setting aside the Sphinx with its face shattered on Napoleon's orders, the Second World War was the first occasion in history when cultural treasures were destroyed on a massive scale, and not merely as a result of military operations but deliberately. Moreover, the destruction and plunder proceeded according to a carefully considered plan. On 1 March 1942 Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories Rosenberg was appointed to direct the looting of cultural property. Among the bodies specially created to plunder the seized territories were the research and educational society “Ahnenerbe” (“Heritage”), Rosenberg's “Fine Arts” staff and the general agency “Ost” (“East”). The secret operation to rob museums, private collections, churches and libraries was given the name “Linz”. The “Kunstkommission”, set up by the beginning of the war, assessed the contents of palaces and arranged the transport of valuables to Germany.

Rosenberg in particular was vested with powers of plunder by Hitler himself, who specified that the examination and confiscation of cultural treasures would be carried out to fulfil the tasks of the National Socialist Party. From the USSR he removed 1,418 railway wagons of valuables. After the war a catalogue of the Soviet cultural property looted by the Nazis was issued, running to 39 volumes. The Germans too compiled catalogues of the most valuable “acquisitions”, recording the treasures kept for the Führer and displayed, for example, in the super-museum at Linz. The agent charged with selecting exhibits for Hitler's collection was the former director of the Dresden Gallery, Hans Posse.