Meeting between Lohse, Voss, Fleischer and Dietrich in Munich

Bruno Lohse and his aide, Fleischer, arrived in Munich, on their way back to Paris from a visit to the ERR depot at Füssen. They checked into the Hotel Continental in Munich where they met in the afternoon of that day with Maria Almas-Dietrich, one of Hitler’s favorite art dealers. She suggested to Lohse that he meet with Hermann Voss, the director of the  Sonderauftrag Linz. According to Dietrich, Voss wanted to speak with Lohse who balked at her offer, aware of the rivalries pitting Martin Bormann, Alfred Rosenberg, Robert Scholz and Voss, on the oversight and distribution of artistic and cultural assets looted by their respective agencies in occupied territories.  Dietrich joined Voss while Lohse and Fleischer sat at a table in a corner. They all ended up sitting together. Voss raised the Schloss case with Lohse and told him that Hitler had authorized him to acquire any Schloss painting rejected by the French. He indicated that it was a mistake to send the Schloss collection to Paris. Dr. Göpel had suggested to Voss that the collection should be acquired for the Linz museum project in order to prevent its complete dispersal.  Voss assented to Göpel’s proposal as long as the French and the German Embassy in Paris also gave their consent. Voss confirmed that the talks over the Schloss collection were led by personnel from the German Embassy in Paris and Vichy officials.