The amber room : an analysis of art crime during war and its impact on society

Abstract

The following study zeroes in on wartime art looting as a multi-faceted phenomenon and its effects on societies impacted by the looting. Whilst the majority of scholarly research and traditional criminology place emphasis on the correlation of art theft with organised crime and art looting from a trafficking perspective, the societal impact remains underrepresented. Therefore, this study aimed to identify what effect looting in times of conflict had during and after the aggression, as well as the correlation between art crime and wartime circumstances. For the purpose of the study, the art looting that occurred throughout the Second World War by the Nazi party was emphasised, as it is the most extensively recorded instance of such looting. The topic was studied in-depth to ascertain the driving factors for art looting, whether it is enacted from an organised or individual approach, and what the oppressors do with the art once it is obtained. The data for this research was gathered via semi-structured interviews with two highly knowledgeable professionals in art crime, one a historian and the other a law enforcement official. The findings were analysed through the implementation of a thematic analysis. Additionally, a case study was used to present the issues identified throughout the study in a real-world context. The findings revealed that professional expertise and scholarly works support the notion that art looting in times of conflict has highly detrimental effects on impacted societies as it leads to cultural erasure and deprivation of future generations’ historical legacy. Moreover, findings suggest that wartime art looting, such as the one that took place throughout the Third Reich, is a direct act of cultural genocide linked to one group’s enforcement of supremacy over another and individual greed.