[1] Shortly after the occupation of France the staff of the ERR joined the SS in the search for books, archival material, and huge stocks of artifacts that were in the possession of people of Jewish descent.

Soon after the German Embassy in Paris and SS-Einsatzgruppen also began to steal the most valuable paintings from prominent national museums, galleries, and non-Jewish private collections.

For this reason, in a Führer Directive[citation needed] of 5 July 1940, Hitler authorized the ERR to confiscate: The "Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg" was officially established in "Office West" in Paris and was divided into different functional departments.

Between April 1941 to July 1944, 29 convoys transported goods seized from Paris to Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, the ERR's principal place of storage.

Part of the German effort included having the prisoners translate and catalog many Hebrew books, to be added to the ERR "Museum of the Extinct Race" envisioned by Alfred Rosenberg.

This was one point in the origin of the ERR, which eventually developed into a central headquarters in Berlin, with subsidiary offices (Hauptarbeitsgruppen (Main Work Groups) in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Belgrade, Riga and other cities.

[9] "In January 1940, Hitler gave Rosenberg his task: to loot Jewish and Masonic cultural treasures, including synagogues, libraries, and archives in western Europe.

With France part of the German-occupied territories, the ERR and Rosenberg now fell under Hermann Göring's authority and control, with the Gestapo seeking out Jewish houses, apartments, and shops in the hopes of finding valuable pieces.

The Sonderstab Musik, Kirchen, Osten, Bibliothekenaufbau der Hohen Schule und Rassenpolititische Fragen (Special Staffs for Music, Churches, the East, the High School Library and Race-political Questions) each fought for its own corner.

[12] The libraries of the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) and the French Rabbinical Seminary (SIF) were high on the list of German locations to loot.

This special unit was organized in the summer of 1940 under Reich Leader Alfred Rosenberg, initially to collect political material in occupied countries for exploitation in the "struggle against Jewry and Freemasonry."

From the beginning of the century, Jewish marchands d'art had established themselves as the best art dealers and experts, resultantly shaping and influencing global taste.

Among the first fifty-three paintings shipped to Hitler was Vermeer’s Astronomer from the Édouard de Rothschild collection, today in the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

A group of these photograph albums were presented to Hitler on his birthday on 20 April 1943, by Alfred Rosenberg to "send a ray of beauty and joy into [his] revered life."

The Bibliothèque Nationale (the French National Library) there upon put in a claim for these books, but the latest word was that the Germans declined to hand over them over, saying the material would be sent to Germany for purposes of study.

From the Bibliothèque Nationale - one of the world’s leading libraries - the Germans were reported to have received an inventory of manuscripts, rare books and similar material that had been stored elsewhere in France for security during the war.

Following Joseph Goebels earlier private decree to sell these degenerate works for foreign currency to fund the building of the Führermuseum and the wider war effort, Hermann Göring personally appointed a series of ERR approved dealers to liquidate these assets and then pass the funds to swell his personal art collection, including Hildebrand Gurlitt.

"[21] After the war, many of the major collections looted from Italy were identified by the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives service of the American military government and returned to their owners.

The Collegio Rabbinico Italiano, the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, and the Deutsche Historische Bibliothek Rom were all returned, although not all were intact, to their owners in Italy.

Materials were brought in from the private collections from Kaunas, Šiauliai, Mariampolė, Volozhin and other towns, and included books from over 300 synagogues and personal libraries.

One incident involved an assistant of Dr. Pohl dumping out five cases of rare books in order to make room for an illegal shipment of hogs.

This library had been bought by Prince Hendrik (1876–1934) (Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin), husband of Queen Wilhemina (Wilhelmina of the Netherlands), and had been presented by him to the order of Freemasons.

The International Archives of the Women’s Movement, established in Amsterdam in 1935, lost its whole collection after the institute was closed by the Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police) in June 1940.

Seeligmann, who founded the Genootschap voor Joodsche Wetenschap in Nederland (Society for the Science of Judaism in the Netherlands) and served as president of the Dutch Zionist Organization, was of interest to the RSHA.

Also submitted to the International Military Tribunal was the statement following: "There was no limit to the desecration of the Hitlerite vandals of the monuments and homes representing Ukrainian history, culture and art.

Suffice to mention, as an example of the constant attempts to humiliate the national dignity of the Ukrainian people, that after plundering the Korolenko Library in Kharkov, the occupiers used the books as paving stones for the muddy street in order to facilitate the passage of motor vehicles.

"[28] "ERR dispatches note they had to abandon their offices before the removal of the materials on hand could be completed ‘due to lack of loading spaces’ and the fact that German artillery, located in the center of the city [Kiev], was firing continually over their heads.

Still, they managed to send on both their paintings 9,279) and prehistoric materials, which had come from Kharkov, their own library and office furniture, and the materials collected by the Department of Seizures, amounting to some ten thousand books and nearly a hundred cases of Bolshevist paintings, documents and archives ... "[29] 1941–1944 Soviet Union: As a result of the German invasion, heavy damage was done to Russian libraries.

Unique editions of archaeology, including 51 books on the history of ancient Russia, were removed from the Novgorod library for the German professor Engel.

"[31] Heinrich Himmler sent a secret message to the SS and Sicherheitsdienst (SD) units in order to ensure their cooperation with the main troops in the total destruction and devastation of the parts of Ukraine to be evacuated: "The aim to be achieved is that when the areas in Ukraine are evacuated, not a human being, not a single head of cattle, not a hundredweight of cereals, and not a railway line remains behind; that not a house remains standing, not a mine exists that is not ruined for years to come, that there is no well left unpoisoned.