Special Mission Linz: A Museum that was not Created. History, Personalities, Documents

Timofeeva, Tatyana; Zakharov, Vladimir

doi:10.31857/S013038640012694-1

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Issue 6

“Special Mission Linz”: A Museum that was not Created. History, Personalities, Documents

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“Special Mission Linz”: A Museum that was not Created. History, Personalities, Documents

PII

S013038640012694-1-1

DOI

10.31857/S013038640012694-1

Publication type

Article

Status

Published

Authors

Tatyana Timofeeva

Affiliation: Lomonosov Moscow State University
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

Vladimir Zakharov

Affiliation: Lomonosov Moscow State University
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

Journal name

Novaia i noveishaia istoriia

Edition

Issue 6

Pages

93-105

Abstract

The article is devoted to the history of creation and work, the employees and archival materials of the “Special Mission Linz” – an art museum that had to be created at A. Hitler’s initiative in the Austrian city of Linz. The museum was supposed to bring together masterpieces of world art, mostly the paintings bought at auctions or seized by National Socialists from opponents of the regime and “racially alien” owners, as well as the artworks exported from territories occupied by the Wehrmacht. The authors use the Russian archival trophy funds of the “Special Mission of Linz”, which have been recently declassified, and consider various fields of activity of the museum that was never created, including the principles of artwork selection and their expert examination. The organizational, legal, and financial aspects of Linz Special Mission are being analyzed, along with the fate of art works obtained by the museum funds in a variety of ways. The article also examines the biography of the major participants of such an extensive plunder of the European cultural treasures. The authors note that there were no exhibits exported from the USSR in the collections of the museum in Linz, since the main objective of the “Mission” was to search for and collect objects created by masters of “Aryan” origin. The evacuated treasures were found intact in the Alt-Аussee salt mines by the American military forces in May 1945 and have been returned to their former owners over the years. However, the history of the museum of Nazi cultural pillage has not yet ended.

Keywords

National Socialism, Führer Museum, Linz Special Mission, culture, art masterpieces

Received

21.08.2020

Publication date

07.12.2020

Number of characters

43364

Cite

GOST	Timofeeva T., Zakharov V. “Special Mission Linz”: A Museum that was not Created. History, Personalities, Documents // Novaia i noveishaia istoriia – 2020. – Issue 6 C. 93-105 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://nni.jes.su/S013038640012694-1-1 (circulation date: 26.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013038640012694-1
MLA	Timofeeva, Tatyana, Zakharov, Vladimir "“Special Mission Linz”: A Museum that was not Created. History, Personalities, Documents." Novaia i noveishaia istoriia 6 (2020):93-105. DOI: 10.31857/S013038640012694-1
APA	Timofeeva T., Zakharov V. (2020). “Special Mission Linz”: A Museum that was not Created. History, Personalities, Documents. Novaia i noveishaia istoriia (6), pp.93-105 DOI: 10.31857/S013038640012694-1

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