View source for Erhard Göpel

A trained art historian, Dr. Göpel officially started acquiring artworks for the ''Sonderauftrag'' ''Linz'' in May 1943. Together with Bruno Lohse, Göring’s agent at the Jeu de Paume in Paris serving as deputy director of the ERR in France, Göpel played a leading role in the acquisition of the Schloss collection. In April 1943, and in the absence of Dr. Hermann Voss, Director of the _Sonderauftrag Linz, _he took charge by authoring a lengthy telegram to Martin Bormann on the collection’s cultural value, its seizure, and its importance for the ''Sonderauftrag''. Together with Lohse, Göpel selected 262 paintings for the ''Sonderauftrag'' and was charged with working on an inventory after the collection had reached the Jeu de Paume on 03 November 1943. In early December 1943, Göpel personally accompanied the transport of the collection to Munich, which was subsequently received by Hans Reger, the architect in charge of the ''Führerbau''. In March 1944, Göpel secured two more paintings from the Schloss collection. After the end of World War II, Dr. Göpel defended his work for the Sonderauftrag and his involvement with the Schloss collection. This was especially evident in a 1953 written self-interpretation, in which he captured his understanding of a talk he had in 1951 with S. Lane Faison, the then director of the Munich Central Collecting Point (MCCP).

'''Literature''': Christian Furhmeister, ''Erhard Göpel im Nationalsozialismus - eine Skizze'', München: Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte, January 2018. Online at: [about:blank urn:nbn:de:bvb:255-dtl-0000003675]   “Sammlung Schloβ” in Birgit Schwarz, ''Hitlers Museum. Die Fotoalben der Gemäldegalerie Linz'', Wien: Böhlau Verlag, 2004, pp. 77-78.   [about:blank Art Looting Investigation Unit], Final Report, p. 35.

Works written by Dr. Erhard Göpel can be found at: [about:blank https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&amp;query=116705000]