The Amber Room_ The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost Treasure - Cathy Scott-Clark [78]
Next question: what were Rohde's politics? Kuchumov suspected him of being a Nazi but Strauss informed him that Rohde was never a member of a political party. The only organization Rohde ever joined was the Union of Artists, for whom he arranged annual exhibitions of contemporary works.
Did Rohde know the Nazi elite? This was one of those probing questions, a proving ground, that Kuchumov also used with Brusov. After all, Kuchumov had read the castle curator's personal correspondence and already knew that Rohde was acquainted with Gauleiter Erich Koch and General von Kuchler, head of Army Group North. Strauss performed well. He confirmed that Rohde had been acquainted with Erich Koch since 1928, the year that the curator arrived to become director of the city's art collections and Koch became Gauleiter of East Prussia. When Koch was later elected to the East Prussian Reichstag and took responsibility for the culture of the region, he and Rohde were brought into more regular contact. 'But they were never friends,' Strauss added. 'Rohde was a very modest and reserved person, respected by all of his colleagues. Politically, he certainly belonged to the middle and I even thought the left. Most people he associated with were of that persuasion. His closest friends were Hans Hopp and my teacher R. Worringer.' Kuchumov noted the names Hopp and Worringer. They mean nothing to us.
But Kuchumov pressed Strauss. Rohde must have been a Nazi sympathizer to have done so well. I remember how much he disliked the Nazis,' Strauss countered. 'Rohde told me so when he showed me pictures from Kiev. But professionally he was nice to them. The fact he didn't leave Konigsberg only demonstrates that Rohde recognized his professional responsibility to his exhibits.' Strauss wrapped up the topic symmetrically. 'Alfred Rohde was not scared of the Soviet Union either. He had no bad intentions. That's all I can tell you about him.' Kuchumov has placed a small exclamation mark in the margin.
Kuchumov asked Strauss about the Amber Room. Strauss said: 'In 1941 I, together with Dr Rohde, was anxious that the Amber Room was going to be destroyed. Rohde contacted an old friend, General von Kuchler, and asked him to save the room by sending it to Konigsberg.' Kuchumov drew an asterisk here - thinking, no doubt, of the letter from General von Kuchler, addressed to 'my good friend' Alfred Rohde, that he had found in the ruins of the castle in 1946. Strauss seemed to be telling the truth.
Strauss continued:
When the room arrived in 1942 or 1943, it was installed in the museum in the south wing of the castle, in a room with only one window, facing the river on the third floor. The panels were in a very good condition. It was installed with care, the broken pieces glued back together and the mosaics were put in place. The walls were sixteen feet high and it seemed as if they shone with yellow-brown light beaming from them. On a cloudy day it created a rather grotesque impression.
Kuchumov has marked another small asterisk here. He had learned from his interrogation with Otto Smakka, translator for the local fisheries, that the Amber Room was already badly damaged when it reached Konigsberg,. Strauss's dates for the room's arrival also conflicted with Smakka's evidence and with the Gift Book found by the Soviets in 1945. But Kuchumov gave Strauss the benefit of the doubt.
Strauss was pressed to expand his comments and responded with a caveat. He had never seen the room before, 'so I couldn't tell if all the parts had been delivered to Konigsberg'. He supposed that 'it was complete' since Dr Rohde didn't say anything about losses. 'Dr Rohde believed that the Amber Room might ultimately return to [Pushkin]. Despite the fact that its beauty was overwhelming, I was