Joseph (Sepp) Angerer

Josef (Sepp) Angerer was a rug merchant and art dealer who acted as an agent for Hermann Göring’s private art collection, immediately before and during the Second World War. In looted art matters, Angerer, whose rank was Reichstaatsminister, belonged to the inner circle of Hermann Göring. On 24 July 1940, Angerer, together with Judicial Police Inspectors Louis-Marie-Charles Liénard and Mr. Ducher, accompanied by a Dr. Schmidt and Mr. Schweitzer, an interpreter with the German military administration in France (MbF), searched Lucie Haas Schloss’s “hôtel particulier” at 38 Avenue Henri Martin in Paris. Instead of paintings, they found empty frames. On the same day, they also searched the offices of the Georges Wildenstein gallery on 57 Rue de la Boëtie, Paris. There too, they were greeted by empty frames. In the fall of 1945, the American military authorities arrested and interrogated Angerer. Numerous objects intended for Göring were found at his home in Berchtesgaden. Literature: M1782-OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit Reports, 1945-46, Consolidated Interrogation Reports (CIR), Report Nr. 2 “The Goering Collection” [online at: https://www.fold3.com/image/231999132] Andrea Hollmann, Roland März, Hermann Göring und sein Agent Josef Angerer: Annexion und Verkauf “Entarteter Kunst” aus deutschem Museumsbesitz 1938, Wilhelm Fink 2014. Nancy H. Yeide, Beyond the Dreams of Avarice: the Hermann Goering Collection, Laurel Publishing 2009. Jonathan Petropoulos, Art as Politics in the Third Reich, University of North Carolina Press 1996, pp. 79-80.