By December 1944, Posse and Voss had collectively spent 70 million Reichsmarks (equivalent to million euros) on accumulating the collection intended for the Fuhrermuseum; although artworks bought in Vichy France were paid for with francs which were set by the Nazis at an artificially low exchange rate with the Reichsmark. In 1945, the count of art items in the collection was over 8,000. Legal authority The legal authority for the collection of artworks for the Führermuseum began with Hitler himself, who, after the Enabling Act of 1933, had the power to enact laws without involving the Reichstag. In effect, whatever Hitler directed to be done had the force of law. It was his personal desire for the creation of a museum and the revitalization of Linz which began the collection program. Martin Bormann, who became chief of the Nazi Party Chancellery and also Hitler's private secretary, was also closely connected to the program from the beginning, in particular as a conduit through which to access Hitler. He acted as the Chief of Staff for the Sonderauftrag Linz. On the next level of hierarchy, Reichsminister Hans Lammers, who was President of the Reich Chancellery, and Helmut von Hummel, Bormann's Special Assistant and "a particularly vicious Nazi", actually drew up the directives which set out the policies and procedures which governed the collecting process, both for confiscations and purchases. The financing and administration of the Linz program was their responsibility. von Hummel had replaced Kurt Hanssen. Other Nazi officials involved in the confiscation of art, but not specifically with collection for the Linz museum, included the Reich Minister for Science, Education, and Culture, Bernhard Rust; the Governor General for Poland, Hans Frank; and Heinrich Himmler, chief of the SS. Photograph albums Birgit Schwarz published in 2004 19 photograph albums as documents of the intended gallery holdings. These "Führer albums", which were created between autumn 1940 and autumn 1944, were presented to Hitler every Christmas and on his birthday, 20 April. Originally thirty-one volumes existed, but only nineteen have been preserved in Germany, and 11 are considered to be lost. The albums are documents of the intended gallery holdings and are the most important historical and visual sources relating to the gallery of the Führermuseum. Notably, the collection included three Rembrandts, La Danse by Watteau, the Memling portrait by Corsini, the Rubens Ganymede, and Vermeer's The Artist in His Studio, a forced sale