The Amber Room
Page 41
4. BStU, KSII404/82, p. 23, report from 23 October 1950.
5. BStU, KSII404/82, pp. 26-7, report by Oberrat Gustin.
6. Ibid.
7. BStU, AV 14/79, and quoted in Paul Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report, Die Wirtschaft, East Berlin, 1986.
8. BStU, 915 MfS Sekretariat d. Ministers.
9. Dated 24 June 1941.
10. Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report, p. 52.
11. See BStU, AV 14/79; Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report; and J. Petropoulos, Art as Politics in the Third Reich, University of North Carolina Press, 1996.
12. Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report, pp. 55-7.
13.Ibid.
14. BStU, 915 MfS Sekretariat d. Ministers.
15. For background on Rosenberg and art, see J. Petropoulos, Art as Politics in the Third Reich, and NA files, 'Dossier of Alfred Rosenberg', WO 208/44 94? 16 October 1946.
16. Ibid.
17. BStU, 915 MfS Sekretariat d. Ministers, and Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report p. 139.
18. Ibid., p. 82.
19. The letter was dated 22 September 1962.
20. BStU, KSII404/82, pp. 146-9. Schliep served within HA VII.
21. BStU, KSII404/82, pp. 35-6.
22. See Forschungs und Gedenkstatte Normannenstrasse, Berlin, for detailed wording.
23. Enke then served within Department HA VII.
24. BStU, KSII404/82, p. 285.
25. Ibid., pp. 66-70.
26. Alfred Rohde, 'Monatsschrift fiir Freunde und Sammler der Kunst,' Pantheon, Vol. XXIX, F. Bruckmann, Munich, July-December 1942.
27. Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report, pp. 114-16.
28. For details about Konigsberg evacuations, see Bernsteinzimmer Report and Antony Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Viking, London, 2002.
29. For a summary of Enke's research into troop and civilian movements and the removal of the von Hindenburg corpses see his Bernsteinzimmer Report, pp. 109-115.
30. BStU, AV14/79.
31. J. O. Koehler, Stasi, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1999.
32. D. Lewis, The Lexicon of the Stasi: Language in the Service of the State, University of Exeter, Europa Magazine, Vol. III , No. 1, 1999.
33. BStU, Neiber file 381, pp. 1-18.
CHAPTER 9
1. J. O. Koehler, Stasi, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1999.
2. Seufert told this to Giinter Wermusch when they worked together.
3. The appeal was sent to Sir Brian Robertson, High Commissioner of the British Sector in Berlin. This, together with other information on the Koch arrest operation and prosecution, comes from NA, FO 371.
4. The Soviets submitted their brief letter on 11 June 1949.
5. Bobidanosov was chairman of the Leningrad Committee for State Inspection of Landmark Preservation. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, and see also Avenir Ovsianov archive, Kaliningrad.
6. BStU, AV14/79, Vol. 28.
7. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, File 119.
8. Ibid., pp. 4-9.
9. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, File 123, interview conducted by Vladimir Orlovsky for Zszysze Warschawy.
10. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, File 123, cutting dated 20 October 1961.
11. Koch's prison was near the village of Barcikowo, outside the northern Polish city of Olsztyn.
12. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, File 123.
13. Ibid.
14. BStU, AV14/79, Vol. 1, pp. 365-70.
15. For a summary of the findings of this trip, see Paul Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report, Die Wirtschaft, East Berlin, 1986, pp. 179-92.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid. See also BStU AV 14/79, Vol. 1.
18. BStU, AV 14/79, Vol. 1, pp. 362-3.
19. Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report.
20. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, File 121, pp. 6-7.
21. BStU, AV14/79, Vol. 29, pp. 322-89.
22. Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report, and BStU, AV 14/79, Vol. 1, pp. 365-70.
23. Ibid., pp. 360-4.
24. Ibid., p.356.
25. Ibid., pp. 357-8.
26. Ibid., pp. 360-4.
27. Ibid., pp. 322-89.
CHAPTER 10
1. Coburger was director of HA VIII (observation and investigation) and Biichner was director of HA VII (defence in the Ministry of the Interior, Volkspolizei).
2. Documents concerning this review of Enke's career are all from BStU, KSII404/82, and AV 14/79, Vol. 1, pp. 7-11.
3. Written by Volkspolizei Oberrat Gustin: see BStU, KSII404/82, pp. 26-7.
4. Written by Major Schmalfuss: see BStU, KSII404/82, pp. 1-17.
5. BStU, AV14/79 Vol. 1, pp. 7-8.
6. Ibid., p. 7.
7. All the above are taken from ibid., pp. 5-12.
8. Ibid.
9. BStU, AV14/79, Vol. 28, p. 92.
10. BStU, KSII404/82 p. 285 and Neiber file 386, p. 180.
11. BStU, Neiber file 386, pp. 40-7.
12. BStU, AV14/79, Vol. 1, pp. 360-4.
13. BStU, Neiber file 386, pp. 40-7.
14. Generalmajor Fister, director of HA IX (investigative body), was writing to the director of HA XX (counter-dissidence, culture, church, underground): see BStU, AV14/79, Vol. 1, pp. 335-6.
15. Ibid., pp. 132-4.
16. The deputy director of Main Department Investigations wrote to Comrade Volkov, Director of the KGB Investigations Department, Moscow: see BStU, AV 14/79, Vol.1, pp. 90-113.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid., pp. 114-29.
19. Ibid., pp. 132-4.
20. Ibid., pp. 130-31.
21. Oberstleutnant Bauer wrote to Magdeburg in 1983, see: ibid., pp. 185-6.
22. BStU, AV14/79, Vol. 28, p. 34, written by Hauptmann Rudolph.
23. The information about Stein derives from author interview with Robert Stein, Paul Enke's Bernsteinzimmer Report, Die Wirtshaft, East Berlin, 1986, and BStU, AV14/79.
24. J. A. Bustered, 'The Treasure in the Salt Mine', Army Magazine, USA, March 1997-
25. Letter dated 5 March 1949, quoted by Patricia Grimsted, 'Spoils of War Returned' Prologue, Vol. 34, No. 3, Washington DC, Fall 2002.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid. The recipient of the letter was the director, Thomas Grochowniak. See also Giinter Wermusch archive, Berlin.
28. Ibid., letter dated 2 May 1955.
29. See Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report.
30. Ibid.
31. BStU, AV14/79, Vol. 28, p. 37.
32. Ibid.
33-Ibid.
34. See Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report.
35. Tete Bottger archive, Gottingen.
36. Ibid.
37. BStU, Neiber file 386, pp. 40-7.
38. See Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report.
39. Ibid.
40. BStU, Neiber file 409, pp. 56-9.
41. BStU, AV14/79, Vol. 3, pp. 281-9.
42. For a short biography of Semyonov, see www.sovlit.com.
43. BStU, Neiber file 409, pp. 10-12.
44. Ibid., pp. 100-104.
45. Mielke wrote this on his German Communist Party questionnaire in July 1945. See J. O. Koehler, Stasi, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1999.
46. Ibid.
47. Ibid., p. 75.
48. The letter was written in 1988: BStU, Neiber file 381, pp. 49-51.
49. Ibid., pp. 45-8.
50. Ibid.
51. BStU, Neiber file 409, pp. 129-30.
52. See Enke, Bernsteinzimmer Report.
53. BStU,AVi4/79,Vol. 30.
54. BStU, Neiber file 409, pp. 120-1.
55. BStU, Neiber file 381, p. 61.
56. E. Wiedemann, 'New Traces in the Search for the Amber Room', Der Spiegel, 2001.
57. BStU, Neiber file 409.
58. The Soviet communique was entitled 'To the measures adopted for the search after the Amber Room': see BStU, Neiber file 381, p. 72.
CHAPTER 11
1. BStU, Neiber file 386, pp. 40-7.
2. All the following documents were
taken from the archive of Baron Eduard von Falz-Fein or from the private archive of Giinter Wermusch.
3. See Kriminalhauptkommissar Wermuth's report in Ingolstadt No. K1-1380-1230-7/8.
4. BStU, Neiber file 381, pp. 65-9.
5. BStU, Neiber file 386, pp. 142-52.
6. Izvestiya, 15 May 1988. See also BStU, Neiber file 381, pp. 65-9.
7. BStU, Neiber file 386, pp. 40-7.
8. See the ground-breaking documentary Bernsteinzimmer, MPR Film and Fernseh Produktion, produced and directed by Maurice Philip Remy, Munich, 1987.
9. Letter from Herbert Muller to Enke, via Wochenpost, which ran the article, 2 January 1988: Wermusch private archive.
10. Gerhard Schroter, letter to Wolfgang Mertin and Giinter Wermusch, 1 November 1988. See Wermusch private archive.
11. BStU, Neiber file 381, pp. 45-8.
12. BStU, Neiber file 381. See also Giinter Wermusch's private archive for copies of the correspondence.
13. 28 May 1988. See BStU, Neiber file 381, p. 74.
14. BStU, Neiber file 381, p. 73.
15. BStU, Neiber file 381, pp. 49-51.
CHAPTER 12
1. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, File 121.
2. Gosudarstvennyi Arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii (GARF).
3. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, File 123.
4. The directive was 526-R. See Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1; Avenir Ovsianov, private archive, Kaliningrad; and Avenir Ovsianov, Mine Anna, Yantarny Skaz, Kaliningrad, 2001.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, File 123.
8. GARF.
9. The directive was 181-R and was passed on 13 May 1969.
10. Order No.2599.
11. D. A. Volkaganov, Seven Leaders, Vol. II, M. Novosky, Moscow, 1997.
12. Avenir Ovsianov private archive, Kaliningrad.
13. The best description of the action of the trophy brigades, their formation and activity, is in Konstantin Akinsha and Gregory Koslov, Stolen Treasure, Weidenfeld &Nicolson, London, 1995.
14. Act 241, Op. 2618, d 67, 193 n 107-111; Op. 2621, d 16, 160; Op. 2656, d 207, 122. See also Ovsianov, Mine Anna.
CHAPTER 13
1. A. M. Kuchumov and M. G. Voronov, The Amber Room, Khudozhnik RSFSR, Leningrad, 1989.
2. This and telegrams concerning Kuchumov's Lenin Prize can be found in Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, File 257.
3. All of the Fors letters can be found in the Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, File 121, pp. 13, 24, 29 and 34.
4. All of these passes can be found in the Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, Opus 1, File 120, pp. 3, 6, 9, 10, 13 and 14.
5. Ibid., p. 11.
6. A komandirovat for 9 March, signed by Striganov, orders Kuchumov down to Moscow and on to Kaliningrad for ten days: 'ref. order number 145-k. Participation in the function of forming a State Committee on the question of the Amber Room of the Catherine Palace' following order 526-R of the Russian Federation and 161 of the Ministry of Culture.
7. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, File 120, pp. 14-19.
8. Ibid., p. 20.
9. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, File 119, p. 37.
10. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, File 121, pp. 7-11.
11. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, File 248.
12. The Library of Congress Country Studies carries a profile of the Soviet Union and its administrative and political structure. This estimates party membership and USSR census information. See http://lcweb2.loc.g0v/frd/cs/sutoc.html.
13. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, File 61.
14. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, File 48, pp. 1-38.
15. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, File 119, p. 35.
16. Kuchumov archive, TGALI 468, File 119. See also Avenir Ovsianov, Mine Anna, Yantarny Skaz, Kaliningrad, 2001.
17. Ibid. See also Ovsianov, Mine Anna.
18. Patricia Grimsted, 'Spoils of War Returned', Prologue, Vol. 34, No. 3, Washington, DC, Fall 2002.
19. Klaus Goldmann, 'The Treasure of the Berlin State Museums and its Allied Capture', International journal of Cultural Property, Vol. VII, No. 2, 1988.
20. Konstantin Akinsha and Gregory Koslov, Stolen Treasure, Weidenfeld &C Nicolson, London, 1995.
21. Ibid., pp. 172-80.
22. Leningradskaya Pravda, 31 March 1955.
23. Akinsha and Koslov, Stolen Treasure, pp. 189-215.
24. The exhibitions officially opened on 7 August 1958.
CHAPTER 14
1. See account of Baldin story in Konstantin Akinsha and Gregory Koslov, Stolen Treasure, Weidenfeld 6e Nicolson, London, 1995.
2. Ibid., pp. 233-5.
3. See Klaus Goldmann, 'The Trojan Treasures in Berlin', in Elizabeth Simpson (ed.), The Spoils of War, Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1997.
4. The article was published on 5 March 1995.
5. For a full version see Wolfgang Eichwede, 'Models of Restitution', in Simpson (ed.), The Spoils of War.
6. For full account of negotiations see Patricia Grimsted, 'Spoils of War Returned', Prologue, Vol. 34, No.3, Washington, DC, Fall 2002.
7. Article published on 16 May 1997.
8. Russian Federation Summary Catalogue of the Cultural Valuables Stolen and Lost During the Second World War, the Tsarskoye Selo State Museum Zone, the Catherine Palace, Book I, Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, Department of Cultural Heritage, ICAR inc., St Petersburg, Russia, 1999.
9. See the report 'Russian minister wants booty art back in Bremen', carried by www.Gazetta.ru, 14 March 2003 and also article by Andrei Zolotov Jr., St Petersburg Times, 14 March 2003.
10. See 'Vladimir Putin's representative is against returning Baldin collection to Germany', Pravda, 17 March 2003.
11. See 'Never read a book written about me', Pravda, 8 April 2003.
12. See 'Amber Room reconstruction in Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo is completed', Pravda, 13 May 2003.
13. See Pravda, 31 May 2003.
EPILOGUE
1. The letter is dated 15 August 1987 and was sent to a Hamburg ward registrar who was to have supervised Stein when he was discharged and returned home.
Bibliography
BOOKS AND JOURNALS
Adamovich, Alex, and Granin, Daniil, A Book of the Blockade, Raduga, Moscow, 1983
Akhmatova, Anna, Anno Domini MCMXXI, Prideaux Press, Letchworth, 1978 —
Evening Poems, Lincoln Davies, Liverpool, 1980
Akinsha, Konstantin, and Koslov, Gregory, Stolen Treasure, Weidenfeld 6c Nicolson, London, 1995
Alford, Kenneth, The Spoils of World War Two: The American Military Role in Stealing Europe's Treasures, Birch Lane Press, New York, 1994
Andree, Karl, Der Bernstein, und seine Bedeutung... Nebst einem kurzen Fiihrer durch die Bernsteinsammlung der Albertus-Universitat. Mit JI Abbildungen, Albertus-Universitat, Konigsberg, 1937
— Der Bernstein, Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart, 1951
Andrew, Christopher, and Gordievsky, Oleg, KGB: The Inside Story of Its Foreign Operations from Lenin to Gorbachev, Hodder and Stoughton, London 1990
— Comrade Kryuchkov's Instructions: Top Secret Files on KGB Foreign Operations, 1975-1985, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1994
Andrew, Christopher, and Mitrokhin, Vasily, The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB, Penguin, London, 1999
Baer, Winfried and Use, Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin, Fondation Paribas, Paris, 1995
— Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Viking, London, 2002
Benois, Alexander, Tsarskoye Selo in the Reign of Empress Elisabeth, St Petersburg, 1910.
— Memoirs, trans. Moura Budberg, Chatto and Windus, London, 1960
Beria, Sergo, Beria My Father, Duckworth, London, 1999
Birukov, Valery, Yantarnaya Komnnata: Mifi i realnost, Planeta, Moscow, 1962
Buffum, W Arnold, The Tears of Heliades; or Amber as a Gem, Sampson Low, London, 1896
Carcopino, Je
rome, Daily Life in Ancient Rome, Routledge, London, 1941
Conquest, Robert, The Great Terror, Macmillan, London, 1968
Cook, John, The Natural History of Lac, Amber, and Myrrh, with a plain account of the many excellent virtues these three medicinal substances are naturally possessed of, Woodfall, London, 1770
Cunliffe, Barry, Pytheas the Greek, Allen Lane, London, 2001
Dunmore, Helen, The Siege, Penguin, London, 2001
Ehrhardt, T. Die Geschichte der Festung Konigsberg 1157-1945, Wurzburg, 1960
Enke, Paul, Bernsteinzimmer Report, Die Wirtschaft, East Berlin, 1986
Figes, Orlando, A People's Tragedy: the Russian Revolution, 1891-1914, Jonathan Cape, London, 1996
— Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia, Penguin, London, 2002
Fraquet, Helen, Amber, Butterworth, London, 1987
Garton Ash, Timothy, The File, Flamingo, London, 1997
Gautier, Theophile, Voyage en Russie, Paris, 1866
Grass, Giinter, Crabwalk, Faber and Faber, London, 2002
Grimaldi, David, Amber Window to the Past, Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1996
Haddow, J. G., Amber. All About It, Cope's Smoke Room Booklets Number 7, London, 1889
Harding, A., and Hughes-Brock, H., 'Amber in the Mycenaean World', British Society of Archaeology, Vol. 69, 1974, pp. 145-72
Hartmann, P. J., Succini prussici physica et civilis historia, Frankfurt, 1677
Hildebrandt, Alexandra, The Wall, Verlag Haus am Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin, 2002
Hooke, Dr Robert, The Philosophical Experiments and Observations of the Late Eminent Dr Robert Hooke, Derham, London, 1726
Hosking, Geoffrey, Russia: People and Empire 1551-1917, HarperCollins, London, 1997
de Jaeger, Charles, The Linz File: Hitler's Plunder of Europe's Art, Webb and Bower, Exeter, 1981
Kelly, Laurence, St Petersburg: A Traveller's Companion, Constable, London, 1998
Klobius, Justus Fidus, Ambrae historiam, Wittenberg, 1666
Koehler, John O., Stasi, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1999
Kostenevich, Albert, Hidden Treasures Revealed, Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg with Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York, 1995
Krollmann, Christian, East Prussian Book of Legends, Insel-Bucherei, Leipzig, 1931
— The Teutonic Order, Preussenverlag, Elbing, 1938
Kuchumov, A. M. and Voronov, M. G., The Amber Room [Yantarny Komnata], Khudozhnik RSFSR, Leningrad, 1989
Kuznetzova, The Summer Garden and Palace of Peter I, Leningrad, 1973