English source-aligned edition
Kurt von Behr
Kurt von Behr served as head of the ERR structures in Western Europe, subsequently of Dienststelle Westen and the Möbel-Aktion. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in France, Belgium and the Netherlands through documented office, decisions, supervision or operational conduct. It does not assign every crime committed by an institution or region to one individual.
Confirmed findings
- In 1941 he headed ERR units in France, Belgium and the Netherlands and the Louvre Special Staff, signing most artwork exchange agreements through November 1942.
- From May 1942 he headed Dienststelle Westen and the Möbel-Aktion, which seized the contents of vacated Jewish homes.
- The mechanism connected the identification of premises, seizure by the services, removal of property by French firms, sorting by forced labourers and dispatch by rail to the Reich or local sale.
- The office's final report of January 1945 claimed that 71,619 homes had been searched and 29,436 railway wagons dispatched; these are the institution's own figures, not an independently verified total attributable to Behr.
Place in the chain of responsibility
Behr makes it possible to show the full economic chain of confiscating household property: identification, seizure, removal firms, forced labour, storage and transport. The office's quantitative data describe the scale of the mechanism, not a ranking of culpability.
Key events and mechanisms
- heading ERR structures in Western Europe in 1941
- taking charge of Dienststelle Westen and the Möbel-Aktion in May 1942
- organising the removal of the contents of Jewish homes in 1942–1944
- suicide on 19 April 1945 after the arrival of American troops
The circle records authority, function and agency. Several profiles may describe different parts of the same persecution chain, so profile-level totals must not be added together.
Postwar accountability
He never stood trial. On 19 April 1945, after American troops arrived at his estate, he died by suicide together with his wife.
Limits of the evidence
The figures of 71,619 homes and 29,436 railway wagons come from Dienststelle Westen's final report and must be described as a claim by a perpetrator institution. The suicide followed the arrival of US troops, but the sources do not permit its motive to be established with confidence. Not every ERR action in Western Europe was Behr's personal decision.
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.