Dr. Robert Oertel

Robert Oertel was born in Leipzig. A trained art historian, he served as the director of the Art History Institute in Florence between 1935 and 1939. After 1939, he worked for Hans Posse and later on for Hermann Voss at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden. Together with Gottfried Reimer, he helped administer the Sonderauftrag Linz. In December 1943, Oertel was assigned to prepare a list of the most impressive Schloss paintings for Hitler’s viewing at the Führerbau._ _On 11 March 1944, Oertel informed Erhard Göpel that he had received two more receipts for paintings from the Schloss Collection;  four days later he noted in a letter to Hans Reger that two frames that had been part of the Schloss Collection transport from Paris were received as well. This transport also included a frame that had been initially purchased for a Schloss painting. In the same letter, dated 15 March 1944, Oertel asked Reger if the Schloss Collection, or a selection of its best paintings, had already been presented to the Führer, and if all the damages incurred to the paintings had been repaired by members of the Pinakothek. In a response received on 17 March 1943, Oertel was informed that Hitler had not yet seen the collection, but that all the damages incurred by the paintings had been repaired. In 1944, Oertel was drafted to the Eastern front and was captured by the Russians in May 1945 but released a few months later. In 1948, Oertel completed a post-doc in art history. He later served as the director of Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie from 1964 to 1973. He died in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1981. Literature: Art Looting Investigation Unit, Final Report, p. 60. (Here wrongly referred to as “Rudolf” Oertel.) M1782-OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit Reports, 1945-46, “Consolidated Interrogation Reports (CIR)”, RG 239, p. 35. (online at: https://www.fold3.com/image/232002481) https://austria-forum.org/af/AustriaWiki/Robert_Oertel Kathrin Iselt, “Sonderbeauftragter des Führers” der Kunsthistoriker und Museumsmann Hermann Voss (1884-1969), Böhlau 2010, pp. 325, 378.