Erhard Göpel

[1][2] Erhard Göpel (also spelled Goepel) studied art history with Wilhelm Pinder and Theodor Hetzer, who received his doctorate in 1937 with a thesis on "Anthonis van Dyck, Philipp Le Roy and the copper engravers".

His successor as director of the Dresden gallery and as head of the special order Linz was the art historian Hermann Voss.

The deputy head of the special staff fine arts in Paris Bruno Lohse had set up an office for him in the rooms of the task force.

An ERR task force, which at the time was under the command of Lohse and his colleague Borchers, stole the collection from Chambon Castle in southern France and finally handed it over to the Vichy government.

Göpel and Lohse received these pictures from the French on November 3, 1943 in the Jeu de Paume Museum, the ERR depot, from where they were then transported to Germany.

[6] Göpel is also credited with protecting the painter Max Beckmann, who was vilified by the National Socialists and living in exile in Amsterdam.

[7] Erhard Göpel was considered a Red Flag Name for his involvement in the Nazi looting of art, notably from Jewish collectors.

Ernst Buchner, General Director of the Bavarian State Painting Collections, who wanted to get him this museum position, was one of Hitler's most important art advisors at the time.