WEBVTT

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-When the war breaks out
in September 1939,

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Lohse is conscripted
into the German Army,

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into an anti-tank unit preparing
to go into the Soviet Union.

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♪

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Before the war, he was trying to
find his way as an art dealer.

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He has a PhD in art history,

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which he was very proud of,
right?

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So, he was always "Dr. Lohse."

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But, you know,
when the war breaks out,

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he's really kind of a nobody
in the art world.

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But then something
extraordinary happens.

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He receives a call from Paris,

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and he is asked
whether he wants to join

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a new and secret initiative.

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And he's not told
very much about it,

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except that they need
his skills as an art historian

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and that he will be
working for a Nazi Party agency

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in Paris called the ERR.

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-So that's where the Lohse story
basically officially starts.

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♪

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The ERR is one of the rarest
forms of state organizations,

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whose sole purpose
was to plunder Europe.

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Its reach extended all the way
from the far western parts

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of France, all the way up
to the Baltic states,

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and as far southeast as Crimea.

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And it basically went
where the German army went.

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So, we're talking
about a massive organization

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with tentacles everywhere.

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-It was probably
the largest looting

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that has ever happened
in history.

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♪

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-They actually stole everything

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that they could
lay their hands on.

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Whether it was a painting
of really no value

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except to the family,
they would steal it.

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They stole furniture,
they stole tables,

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they stole the plates,

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they stole the cutlery,
the candlesticks.

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♪

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-And so, when Lohse arrives
at the ERR in Paris,

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he sees German art looting
on an industrial scale.

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And France is special.

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France has more art --
or more valuable art --

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than any other part of Europe.

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-France was really the place
where art was being shown,

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the place where art
was being collected,

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the place
where art was being sold.

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It was really the capital.

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-They start to go after
the French Jewish collections,

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right?

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And they're going after
the Rothschilds,

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and they're going after
Alphonse Kann

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and the David-Weills and these
great French Jewish families

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that have
these great collections.

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And they're going off
with these commandos

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and bringing in masses of art.

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♪

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One estimate is
that they steal one-third

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of all the art in
private collections in France.