Hitler art albums discovered

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. national archives obtained two photo albums used by Adolf Hitler to choose art for his museum in Linz, Austria, during the 1940s.

The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg unit created the albums in 1940 to seize “ownerless” Jewish collections, the BBC reported Saturday.

Archivists targeted 21,903 pieces of art from 203 collections, including pieces by notable French artists Hubert Robert and Francois Boucher.

Allen Weinstein of the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration said the discovery of the two formerly missing albums was “one of the most significant finds” regarding Hitler’s confiscation of cultural riches since the Nuremburg trials.

"It is exciting to know that original documents shedding light on this important aspect of World War II are still being located, especially so because of the hundreds of thousands of cultural items stolen from victims of Hitler and the Nazis that are still missing," Weinstein told the BBC.

Relatives of a U.S. soldier stationed in Germany in 1945 found the albums, which are part of a collection of nearly 100.

Prosecutors used 39 of the “Hitler albums” obtained by the U.S. archives in 1945 during the Nuremburg trials as evidence of Nazi pillaging.