Seized art towards the end of the war

Immediately following the start of World War Two, Adolf Hitler ordered that the holdings of confiscated artwork kept in museums in Vienna and in the Central Depot be stored outside Vienna to protect them from damage caused by bombs. The most important pieces in the Central Depot were brought to the abandoned Benedictine Convent Kremsmünster in Upper Austria. Art work which was difficult to transport was deposited in special bomb shelters in Vienna.[1]

Towards the end of 1943, after the territory of Austria had come within reach of the allied bombers, the NS authorities started to bring together in a central location artwork which had been stored in different places. The chosen location was the salt mines Altaussee and Lauffen near Bad Ischl in Upper Austria. The remoteness of the area, the natural protection provided by the mountain and the climatic conditions made these mining tunnels ideal locations for storage. Apart from the collections of the Museum of Art History, the National Socialists also stored some of the artwork from the Vienna Central Depot in Lauffen.[2] In Altaussee, however, several thousand works of art from various origins were gathered. Apart from artwork which had been designated for the planned Führer Museum, the mining tunnels of Altaussee stored numerous other stolen or temporarily relocated works of art or works which had been removed from all parts of the Third Reich.[3]

During the last days of the war the artwork in Altaussee and Lauffen only barely escaped being destroyed. In August 1944 Hitler had issued the Nero Order[4], a directive to leave the advancing allied troops scorched earth. The responsibility for the execution of this action was borne by the Gauleitungen, the highest ranking official in each region.[5]

The experts and miners working in the mining tunnels were able to prevent the destruction of these works of art during the last days of the war. They delayed and sabotaged the plans for destruction hoping that the Allied troops would soon arrive.[6]

On May 6, 1945 the first American troops arrived in the area of Bad Ischl.[7] After the collapse of the NS regime the US Army was given the difficult task of organizing the return of numerous works of art to their original owners. Much of the artwork stored in Altaussee and Lauffen was, for administrative reasons, initially brought to Munich to the Central Art Collecting Point.[8] The collections of museums and their acquisitions during 1938 to 1945, however, remained in the mining tunnels until their transport to the museums was possible.[9]