The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) (in some sources listed as the Einsatzstab Reichsminister Rosenberg) was a unit taking part in the systematic looting of cultural treasures from the areas occupied by the German forces, primarily in Eastern Europe but they were also active in the west.

There were many competing organizations attempting to loot the treasures and in some cases other groups regarded it is their assignment to actually protect such treasures from being looted and for example Franz Graf Wolff Metternich, the head of the Wehrmacht Kunstschutz, attempted to help prevent the removal for items from occupied France in 1940.

The Foreign Ministry under Joachim von Ribbentrop had a unit of his own involved in the looting, the Sonderkommando Ribbentrop.

Ranks

Obersteinsatzführer
Oberstabseinsatzführer
Stabseinsatzführer
Haupteinsatzführer
Obereinsatzführer
Einsatzführer
Sonderführer
Stabseinsatzhelfer
Hauptseinsatzhelfer
Obereinsatzhelfer
Einsatzhelfer

Insignia

A collar title with the text "Einssatzstab RR" was worn.

ERR personell in Minsk in March 1943
(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

ERR personell in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in March 1943

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Female ERR personell in Kharkiv, Ukraine

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

ERR personell in Riga with looted books

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

A NSKK-Sturmführer with a ERR car in Riga, note the insignia on the fender

(Courtesy of Bundesarchiv/Wikimedia, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 Germany)

Sources used

John R. Angolia - In the service of the Reich
Lynn H. Nicholas - The rape of Europa: The fate of Europe's treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War

Reference material on this unit

- None known at this time -