Copy
The Chief of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces Berlin W 35, Tirpitzufer 72-76, 17 Sept 1940
Tel: 21 81 91
2 f 28.14- W.Z. No. 3812/40 g
To the Chief of Army High Command for the Military Administration in Occupied France.
In supplement to the order of the Fuehrer transmitted at the time to Reichsleiter Rosenberg to search lodges, libraries and archives in the occupied territories of the west for material valuable to Germany, and to safeguard the latter through the Gestapo, the Fuehrer has decided :
The ownership status before the war in France, prior to the declaration of war on 1 September 1939, shall be the criterion.
Ownership transfers to the French state or similar transfers completed after this date are irrelèvant and legally invalid (for example, Polish and Slovak libraries in Paris, possessions of the Palais Rothschild or other ownerless Jewish possessions). Reservations regarding search, seizure and transportation to Germany on the basis of the above reasons will not be recognized.
Reichsleiter Rosenberg and/or his deputy Reichshauptsellenleiter Ebert has received clear instructions from the Fuehrer personally governing the right of seizure ; he is entitled to transport to Germany cultural goods which appear valuable to him and to safeguard them there. The Fuehrer has reserved for himself the decision as to their use.
It is requested that the services in question be informed correspondingly.
Signed : KEITEL
For information:
Attention : Reichsleiter Rosenberg
certified true copy Berlin 15 December 43 (Dr. Zeiss)
[Rosenberg special purpose staff seal]
186
Letter to the chief of the army high command on the legal status of "material valuable to Germany" collected in France by Rosenberg's operation
Authors
Wilhelm Keitel (Field Marshal, Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces)
Wilhelm Keitel
German field marshal
- Born: 1882-09-22 (Helmscherode) (country: German Empire; located in the administrative territorial entity: Duchy of Brunswick)
- Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg) (country: Allied-occupied Germany)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: military officer; military personnel; politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Military rank: general field marshal
- Military branch: artillery
- VIAF ID: https://viaf.org/viaf/74027425
Date: 17 September 1940
Defendants: Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Rosenberg
Total Pages: 1
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-138
HLSL Item No.: 451238
Notes:This copy of PS 138 was not introduced as evidence; another copy was introduced later as French exhibit 1310.
Document Summary
PS-138: Order Keitel's re Einsatzstab to Commanding General of France
PS-138: Letter from Keitel to the Commander-in-chief of the army, 17 September 1940, for distribution to all military authorities: concerns Hitler’s authorization of Rosenberg to seize valuable material in libraries, etc., of the occupied west and transport it to Germany. transfers of such property to the French state or the like after September 1, 1939 are invalid and afford no protection against seizure