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In
1939,
the
collection
was
moved
out
of
Frankfurt
to
protect
it
from
damage
in
World
War
II.
The
collection
of
the
Städel
Museum
was
removed
from
the
museum
to
avoid
destruction
from
the
Allied
bombings,
and
the
collection
was
stored
in
the
Schloss
Rossbach,
a
castle
owned
by
the
Baron
Thüngen
near
Bad
Brückenau
in
Bavaria.
There,
the
museum's
paintings
and
library
were
discovered
by
Lt.
Thomas
Carr
Howe,
USN,
of
the
American
Monuments,
Fine
Arts
and
Archives
program.
Although
the
Baron
von
Thüngen
and
his
wife
were
uncooperative
with
the
Americans,
Frau
Dr.
Holzinger,
a
licensed
physician
and
the
Swiss
wife
of
the
Städel
Museum
director,
was
present
at
the
site
and
assisted
with
the
cataloging
and
the
removal
of
the
items
to
the
Munich
Central
Collecting
Point.
Lt.
Howe
said,
“The
first
room
to
be
inspected
was
a
library
adjoining
the
sitting
room
in
which
we
had
been
waiting.
Here
we
found
a
quantity
of
excellent
French
Impressionist
paintings,
all
from
the
permanent
collection
of
the
Städel
Museum,
and
a
considerable
number
of
fine
Old
Master
drawings.
Most
of
these
were
likewise
the
property
of
the
museum,
but
a
few
–
I
remember
one
superb
Rembrandt
sketch
–
appeared
to
have
come
from
Switzerland.
Those
would,
of
course,
have
to
be
looked
into
later,
to
determine
their
exact
origin
and
how
they
came
to
be
on
loan
to
the
museum.
But
for
the
moment
we
were
concerned
primarily
with
storage
conditions
and
the
problem
of
security.
In
another
room
we
found
an
enormous
collection
of
books,
the
library
of
one
of
the
Frankfurt
museums.
In
a
third
we
encountered
an
array
of
medieval
sculpture
–
saints
all
sizes
and
description,
some
of
carved
wood,
others
of
stone,
plain
or
polychromed.
These
too,
were
of
museum
origin.
The
last
storage
room
was
below
ground,
a
vast,
cavernous
chamber
beneath
the
house.
Here
was
row
upon
row
of
pictures,
stacked
in
two
tiers
down
the
center
of
the
room
and
also
along
two
sides.
From
what
we
could
make
of
them
in
the
poor
light,
they
were
not
of
high
quality.
During
the
summer
months
they
would
be
alright
in
the
underground
room,
but
we
thought
the
place
would
be
very
damp
in
the
winter.
Frau
Holzinger
assured
us
that
this
was
so
and
that
the
pictures
should
be
removed
before
the
bad
weather
set
in.”