A zsidók zár alá vett műtárgyainak számbavételére és megőrzésére kinevezett kormánybiztos iratai

In early June of 1944, when the mass deportations of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau were already under way, the Hungarian government decided that the expropriated wealth of Hungarian Jews ought to be controlled and handled by special agencies. The two most important new offices created for this purpose were the Zsidók Anyagi és Vagyonjogi Ügyeinek Megoldására Kinevezett Kormánybiztos Hivatala (The Government Commissioner’s Office for Solving the Material and Financial Affairs of the Jews) and a similar, though more specialized agency called the Zsidók Zár Alá Vett Műtárgyainak Számbavételére és Megőrzésére Kinevezett Kormánybiztos Hivatala (The Government Commissioner’s Office to Review and Preserve the Locked Up Art Objects of Jews). This latter Commissioner’s Office was established in May 1944 and headed by painter Dénes Csánky who also served as the director of the Museum of Fine Arts since 1935. It had a broad mandate to locate Jewish-owned works of art (that included mineral and palaeontological collections), appraise and store them, and recommend whom they should belong in the future. This broad mandate was, however, often undermined in practice. Towards the end of 1944, the Arrow Cross government ordered and Csánky organized the removal of the art objects belonging to the Museum of Fine Arts and the art treasures that were additionally held there to Germany.