« 10 890 tableaux, 583 sculptures, 583 tapisseries, 2 477 pièces de mobiliers anciens, 5 825 pièces de porcelaine » Le procès de l’ERR et du pillage des œuvres d’art, Paris, 1950

The nazi regime organised the biggest looting of art in history. France was a specific hunting ground for the services headed by Alfred Rosenberg (Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg: ERR) in charge of this operation; at least 100 000 works of art were looted, mostly from Jewish families. Numerous German art historians and museums curators participated into this enterprise, bringing their expertise. Most of them were not put on trial after 1945. Only France attempted to bring justice. In 1950, the Paris military tribunal judged six senior members of the ERR. The prosecution failed to describe the complex administration of looting and to understand the ideology that governed it. Even if this trial attracted little attention at the time, it was unique in post-war Europe.