Just saw a fascinating interview on Charlie Rose with a man named Robert Edsel, who wrote a book called The Monuments Men, which addresses the efforts to preserve Allied fine arts during WWII. Here is Amazon's synopsis:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Monuments-Men-Greatest-Treasure/dp/1599951509
At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised.
In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.
Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.
Edsel brought up some interesting questions (Is any art worth risking a life?) and some very sobering anecdotes (He risked his life to art for a museum which, as a Jew, he had never been allowed to go in).
The book has spawned a foundation to locate and preserve art from that period. Tomorrow, a movie of the same name will be opening, starring George Cloony. I think I'll be ordering Edsel's book, these are some fascinating stories from WWII that are not widely known.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Monuments-Men-Greatest-Treasure/dp/1599951509
At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised.
In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Monuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture.
Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.
Edsel brought up some interesting questions (Is any art worth risking a life?) and some very sobering anecdotes (He risked his life to art for a museum which, as a Jew, he had never been allowed to go in).
The book has spawned a foundation to locate and preserve art from that period. Tomorrow, a movie of the same name will be opening, starring George Cloony. I think I'll be ordering Edsel's book, these are some fascinating stories from WWII that are not widely known.
