Hitler album could shed light on missing looted art

London, Aug.16 (ANI): A newly discovered catalogue of artworks stolen by the Nazis and compiled for Adolf Hitler could help unravel the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of the lost masterpieces.

Robert Edsel, an author and art historian based in Texas, recently uncovered two more albums, marked'6 'and'8'.

The "Hitler Album" contains details of art works stolen by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), an organisation established by the Nazis in 1940 to confiscate works of art from territories under occupation.

Now, according to The Telegraph, this album could unravel the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of lost masterpieces.

The leather-bound book includes lists and photographs of 78 paintings by prominent artists including the French masters Nicolas de Largillihre, Antoine Watteau and Hyacinthe Rigaud, whose works sell for hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The fate of many of the works, which were stolen from France during the occupation, is still unknown.

The album was discovered in Texas and is being held at Sotheby's in London.

"Its discovery brings back lost information which enables us to piece together the jigsaw of works that are missing," said Allen Weinstein, the former Archivist of the United States.

The plan was to steal these finest artworks from Europe's collections, photograph and compile them into albums from which Hitler would select works to be displayed in his F|hrermuseum, his private art gallery in his home town of Linz, Austria, which was under construction when the War ended. (ANI)