One Of Many Treasures Held By Foreign Powers During WWII
World War II and the Nazis incited some of the worst war crimes ever perpetrated by human beings. However, they didn’t stop with just people. Hitler was obsessed with creating a new world order with the German people standing as leaders of his white-washed world. To further his aims, Hitler created the Nazi's Reichsleiter Rosenberg Task force to plunder precious art from all over Europe. According to estimates, over 20% of Europe’s artwork ended up in the hands of the Nazis.
Only a secretive journey around France kept the Mona Lisa safe.
World War II and the Nazis incited some of the worst war crimes ever perpetrated by human beings. However, they didn’t stop with just people. Hitler was obsessed with creating a new world order with the German people standing as leaders of his white-washed world. To further his aims, Hitler created the Nazi's Reichsleiter Rosenberg Task force to plunder precious art from all over Europe. According to estimates, over 20% of Europe’s artwork ended up in the hands of the Nazis.
As part of his many delusions, Hitler planned a Führer Museum in Linz, Austria. He was also keen on destroying any artwork by Jewish painters, modern artists, or anything he discerned as "degenerate." Thankfully, Francis Henry Taylor, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, beseeched Washington to protect Europe’s great works. President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed and formed the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program in 1943. Their goal was to recover and return art stolen by the Nazis.
Troops of the Monument Men & Women. (National Archives and Records Administration)
Monument Men
Many of the men and women recruited into President Roosevelt’s program were civilians who risked their lives to save the precious art of Europe. George Clooney even made a movie recounting the tireless efforts of these art superheroes. As movies often do, the film fails to truly illustrate the work of these historians and curators who were tasked with persevering the culture of many countries.
Over 5 million works of art were saved from Nazi hiding places all over Europe. Some of these recovered pieces were amongst the most celebrated and valuable pieces ever made, including the Mona Lisa.
Mona Lisa
While the Mona Lisa wasn’t technically stolen, she did undertake a journey across Europe to avoid the rapacious hands of the Germans. Forward-thinking officials of the Louvre knew the Nazis were coming and many of the great works of Leonardo da Vinci would undoubtedly be square in their sights. In 1939, they transplanted the Mona Lisa and 40,000 other pieces of art from the fabled museum.
For six years the Mona Lisa with the help of the Monuments Men and Women, was secretly shuffled from house to house in the French countryside. During her furtive journey, da Vinci’s masterpiece was conveyed more than six times to keep her from Hitler. In 1945, after her lengthy and perilous sabbatical, the Mona Lisa was returned to the Louvre where she remains today.
The Monument Men uncovering the famous "Ghent Altarpiece." (National Archives and Records Administration)
Ghent Altarpiece
The Ghent Altarpiece, painted by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, ranks as one of the most sought after and stolen pieces in history. Napoleon took it to France where the Germans stole it during WWI. In 1934, panels of the piece were stolen and remained lost. Hitler was especially covetous for this piece because, to him, it symbolized Aryan supremacy and was composed by German artists. It’s also a grand piece weighing over a ton!
The second most powerful man in Germany, Hermann Goering, got his hands on it first and sought to take it for his Carinhall estate. However, Hitler pulled rank and it was installed at Neuschwanstein in Bavaria before being hidden in the Altaussee Salt Mines in the Austrian Alps. Eventually, the dogged Monuments Men found it. Today it sits in the Saint Bavo Cathedral in Ghent, Belgium
The Monument Men uncovering Michelangelo's "Madonna of Bruges."Â (Archives of American Art)
Madonna of Bruges
The Madonna of Bruges was the only piece of Michelangelo’s that left Italy while the great sculptor was alive. The work depicting the Virgin Mary along with the infant Jesus was sculpted between 1501 and 1504. In 1944, when German forces were in full retreat from Belgium and the Netherlands, Nazi forces smuggled it back to the motherland in a Red Cross Truck.
The Monument Men hoping to save her missed her abduction by only a few days. She, too, was found in an Austrian salt mine, this one in Steinberg, along with hundreds of other stolen pieces. The Virgin Mary and her baby were returned to their rightful place, the Church of Our Lady in Bruges.
Soldier with "The Astronomer." (National Archives and Records Administration)
The Astronomer
One of the masterpieces by Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer became a prized possession of Hitler after the Reichsleiter Rosenberg Task force stole it during the invasion of France. The original owners were the Rothschild family. It and 19 other crates full of fine art were taken from the historic family.
A small Swastika was stamped on its back before boarding one of Hitler’s personal trains to Jeu de Paume, a Paris storage house used by the Nazi before being sent on to Goering or Hitler. The Astronomer and 6,600 other paintings were found in the Altaussee salt mines. Today, it sits peacefully in the Louvre.
Rembrandt's "Self-portrait, 1645.†(National Archives and Records Administration)
Rembrandt's "Self-portrait, 1645"
This storied self-portrait once hung in the hometown museum of the last surviving Monuments Men, Harry Ettlinger. The town was Karlsruhe, in the south-west of Germany. Ettlinger still remembered the moment he found the painting in the salt mine of Heilbronn. If you’re wondering why everything was stored in salt mines, it was to protect the works from mold and other damaging growths.
Today, Ettlinger keeps a print of the painting in his living room. As he said, "It reminds me of what we achieved and the sacrifices that people like my buddies made." Today, the painting sits in Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, the state art gallery in Karlsruhe, Germany.
