In the summer of 1940, Hofer participated in some of the raids organized by Joseph Angerer against leading Jewish art dealerships in and around Paris, providing expert advice on objects worth removing to show to Nazi officials in Berlin.

In May 1943, Hofer was informed that the Schloss Collection had been seized but he largely stayed in the shadows while other German officials took the lead in acquiring paintings from the confiscated collection. It still unclear what role he played, if any, after the Schloss collection was confiscated and transferred to Paris for examination, inventorying and dismemberment.

In January 1944, Hofer was drafted as a private soldier and served in the guard regiment of the Hermann Göring Division. In November, although he was called to active duty, his entire military service took place in and around Carinhall, Göring’s luxurious country residence. Allied investigators interrogated him and he was called upon to assist in identifying and locating looted paintings. He was interned in Hersbruck. A French military tribunal convicted Hofer in absentia and sentenced him to ten years in prison, which he never served.

In 1952, Hofer sold a looted Schloss painting by Koninck (Schloss 113) to a Chilean businessman in Munich. It had been one of the many Schloss paintings stolen from the Führerbau on 29-30 April 1945 that never resurfaced. In 2017, the painting reappeared in Santiago, Chile, when the descendants of the Chilean businessman offered it for sale through Christie’s. U.S. authorities seized the painting; in 2019, the artwork was restituted to the Schloss heirs.

Sources**:**

Petropoulos, Jonathan. Art as Politics in the Third Reich. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996, p. 189.

M1782-OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit Reports, 1945-46. Detailed Interrogation Reports (DIR). Report Nr. 8: Walter-Andreas Hofer. https://www.fold3.com/image/231996367. Accessed 9 May 2021.

Plaut, James. “Loot for the Master Race.” The Atlantic, 178.9 (September 1946). https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1946/09/loot-master-race/354838/. Accessed 14 June 2021.

“Christie's Restitution Research Facilitates the Return of Nazi-Looted Painting Missing for More Than 75 Years.” _Christies Press Release _(1 April 2019). https://www.christies.com/about-us/press-archive/details?PressReleaseID=9334&lid=1. Accessed 14 June 2021.

Russell, Josh. “Feds Seize Nazi-Looted Art Put Up for Auction in NY.” _Courthouse News Service (_22 October 2018). https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-seize-nazi-looted-art-put-up-for-auction-in-ny/. Accessed 14 June 2021.