The Goering Catalogue — Claims Conference Film Grants

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For more than a decade, the number two in the Third Reich amassed a collection of more than 5,000 art works, all meticulously detailed in a catalog. But how did Hermann Goering get his hands on these works?

Synopsis

Number-two man of the Reich, Hermann Göring, built up one of the most impressive collection of artworks, thanks to a gigantic enterprise of plundering throughout Europe, shamelessly dispossessing thousands of Jewish families. To understand how Carinhall’s Ogre organized the greatest plunder of the century, only one piece of evidence: the Goering catalogue, recently exhumed from the abyss of history. For more than a decade, Hermann Göring amassed a collection of more than 5,000 artworks, all meticulously detailed in a catalog that resurfaced seventy years after the war. But how did Göring get his hands on these artworks? Why did he plunder collections, mainly those belonging to Jewish families victims of the Holocaust? Was it to satisfy a frenzied passion, or was he acting in the service of the Nazi regime? This documentary evokes the fate of these artworks through photos and archives, the testimony of looted families, as well as the contribution of historians, lawyers and specialists in charge of restitution. At the same time, it tells the story of the systematic looting carried out by the Nazis, often at the cost of blood.

About the Director

Laurence Thiriat, a graduate of journalism from CUEJ Strasbourg, began her career in French television. She directed investigative reports and features for French magazine programs before specializing in cultural documentaries. Thiriat has produced documentaries films for France’s leading cultural and discovery broadcasters, notably for the series Des Racines et des Ailes, Palais d’Europe and En quête d’Art, and Musées Méconnus de la Méditerranée. Through her documentaries, Thiriat brings fragments of history to life, offering insightful narratives that bridge the past and the present, rooted in a cultural perspective.

Artistic Statement

As a fanatic anti-Semite who had control over the implementation of the “final solution,” Hermann Goering built up one of the most impressive collections of 20th-century artworks through a vast and brutal enterprise of plundering across Europe, shamelessly dispossessing thousands of Jewish families. To understand how Carinhall’s Ogre organized the greatest kidnapping of the century, one piece of proof stands as testimony against him: the Goering Catalogue, recently exhumed from the abyss of history. In the cabinets of the diplomatic archives of the Musée du Quai d’Orsay, a stunning document on the disturbing aesthetic aspirations of Nazi barbarism had been dormant for over sixty years: the meticulously detailed inventory of the works of art collected by Hermann Goering, the second most powerful Nazi after Hitler. In this catalogue, with the same rigorous sorting, listing, and numbering seen at all levels of the Nazi system, each work, each date of acquisition, and each place of conservation was recorded with extraordinary precision. It is an incredible source of clues that reveals how such an organization could have been possible. Throughout the Second World War, Goering set up a colossal enterprise of Nazi plunder. It was difficult to determine if Goering himself had any real taste in art, but if he didn’t, then he was certainly very well advised. Between him and Hitler, an artistic competition emerged, one that spurred the development of this vast system of theft. For them, possessing these artworks was a way of rewriting history—inscribing a new perception through the ideological lens of the Nazi regime. To explore the depth of these issues, this documentary traverses the four corners of the world. We meet families who were despoiled, experts, and art-world figures for whom this topic remains profoundly relevant. The film is carried not only by the voices of the dispossessed families but also by many others—lawyers specializing in art restitution, psychologists offering insights into Goering’s personality, curators and auction house representatives responsible for restitution, as well as unexpected witnesses, such as Goering’s own daughter. And still today, there are those who search within Carinhall, unwilling to give up their quest. This investigation goes beyond Goering’s plunder—it breathes life into a story that continues to evolve. Our aim is not only to shed light on a dark chapter of history but also to open new avenues and uncover truths that challenge our understanding. This journey has shown us that history, particularly in cases of cultural theft and restitution, is far from resolved—it is a story still being written.