Starting in 1940, the musicologist Herbert Gerigk, who headed the "Special Task Force for Music" under the "Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg", coordinated the looting of musicologically interesting collections in occupied Europe.

In 1953, Gerigk was being considered for the post of head of cultural affairs in the West German city of Bochum, but protests in the Jewish weekly newspaper "Allgemeine Wochenzeitung der Juden in Deutschland" prevented his appointment. Gerigk worked until his death as a music critic for the "Ruhrnachrichten" in Dortmund.