Museum of Fine Arts

During World War II, the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent temporarily lost paintings that eventually ended up in the castle of Pau. In May 1940, artworks, including the famous Ghent Altarpiece, were evacuated to Pau in southern France to protect them from the German occupiers. This area was then in the unoccupied part of France under the Vichy regime.

However, the German authorities soon discovered the location of these art treasures. In August 1942, they were requisitioned by the Germans and transported to Germany, specifically to Neuschwanstein Castle, where they were kept as part of Hitler's planned art museum in Linz.

At the end of 1942, Germany granted permission to retrieve other artworks from Pau back to Ghent. In December 1942, architect and cultural officer Max Winders and the German Lt. Koehn went to Pau together. The Kunstschutz helped the Belgians to remove the 131 paintings from Pau and transport them back to Ghent. During this Pau operation, Koehn and his associates returned the rest of what was still in the castle of Pau to the owner, the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent. The operation was set up by Germans, including the highest-ranking representatives of the occupation regime. It is clear that they acted here against the will of the SS.

Pascal Brackman