Columbia International Affairs Online: Working Papers

CIAO DATE: 04/2014

The Loss of French Musical Property During World War II: Post-War Repatriations, Restitutions, and 21st Century Ramifications

Carla Shapreau

January 2014

Center for German and European Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the nature and scope of French music-related losses during the Nazi era, the status of post-war recoveries, and what remains missing today. The first phase of this research project has involved archival research, analysis, and documentation of selected evidence in the U.S. and France pertaining to musical manuscripts, printed music,musical instruments, books, and other musical materials. In France, document review and analysis were conducted in the Archives nationales, the MuseĢe de la musique, the Centre de Documentation Juive Contemporaine, and Direction des Archives, Ministère des Affaires étrangères et européennes (“MAEE”). In the MAEE alone, approximately 323 dossiers were examined and photographed, including approximately 4,716 images. Selected records in the Archives des Musées nationaux were also evaluated. In addition, research was conducted in the United States National Archive. The categories of materials reviewed include, but are not limited to, captured records of the Nazi Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (“ERR”), French post-war claim files containing witness statements, inventories, and property dispositions associated with the Répertoire des biens spoliés en France durant la guerre 1939- 1945 (“Répertoire”). Selected records of Allied discoveries of plundered French musical property in Germany and Austria were also investigated, as were repatriation, shipment, and restitution records.