Museums evacuated in 1939: In fall 1939, museums across Europe evacuated their collections to remote locations in the countryside in anticipation of war. Here, the Winged Victory of Samothrace is carefully moved down the stairs at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Louvre workers constructed a pulley to position the statue before crating it for shipment.

BY VICTORIA ROMEO

Amidst the multitude of horrors that characterize World War II, the Nazis’ systematic plundering of some of the world’s greatest works of art is one of the lesser known histories.  The Rape of Europa tells this complex tale and its resonating effects in a compelling and eloquent manner.  The film, released in limited theaters in 2007, flies under the radar of the mainstream, yet its appeal reaches beyond art historians and history buffs.  The historical footage, first-hand accounts, stories of everyday heroes and the overall sense that something positive came out of so much destruction will leave any viewer with a great movie experience.  Like many other films about World War II, this is a story about good versus evil, this time with art as its star.

The Ghent Altarpiece, by Jan Van Eyck was found in the mine at Altaussee. The central panel of the Ghent Altarpiece, due to its size and weight, proved particularly challenging to move through the narrow passageways. Other panels of the altarpiece are visible in the background behind Monuments Man George Stout. Stout was proud of his U.S. Navy background and usually wore an “N” for Navy on his jacket or helmet. (National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD)

The film chronologically documents the history of the Nazis’ campaign to overtake Europe and in the process, steal as much of its great art as possible.  Hitler, a failed artist himself, had a maniacal desire to acquire Europe’s most important Old Master paintings for a museum he planned to build after he won the war.  Other high-ranking officers in the Nazi party, including Hermann Goering, stole works for their own collections.  Through the most systemized looting the world has ever seen, the Nazis stole first from Jewish art dealers and private family collections before moving on to target items from their wish lists in the state collections of France, Italy and elsewhere across Europe.  According to estimates, the Nazis stole one-fifth of all known artworks in Europe.

The film of the film presents such merciless actions in all of their somber and heart- wrenching detail, as the Nazis loot and raze their way through Europe. The second half picks up the heroes’ side of the story.  The photographs of the extraordinary actions taken in defense of the oncoming invasion of Paris leave an indelible impression-we see the grand hallways of the Louvre being emptied out as the museum’s director ordered the museum evacuated and the works sequestered in castles in the French countryside.  The Mona Lisa was transported in her own climate controlled ambulance.  Museum workers and volunteers took similar steps in St. Petersburg and evacuated the Hermitage Museum, taking about half of the collection to safety in Siberia.  The efforts of these men and women, many of whom had no connection to the museums, resulted in the safeguarding of some of the world’s best works of art.

Back in the United States, government and military officials were aware that the bombs they dropped to overcome the Nazis were doing terrible damage to the monuments of Europe.  The Roberts Commission was established to minimize the destruction caused by the war and in turn, recruited art experts, historians and conservationists to join the military as “Venus Fixers”, or as they were later known, “Monuments Men”.  Only numbering about 200, these men were assigned individually to different regiments to try to secure and preserve art in whatever way possible.  A particularly memorable still shows the men building a brick wall around Michelangelo’s David in Florence.  Their efforts were truly remarkable as they often worked alone or had to overcome language barriers to convince locals to assist them.

Ellingen, Germany cache: The Monuments Men encountered repositories such as this one all across Europe. Here, piles of boxes, records, and clothing are guarded by an American GI inside a church in Ellingen, Germany. The church had been used by the Nazis as a secret depot for clothing requisitioned from France and Holland. (National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD)

When the war was over, the Monuments Men shifted to the complicated job of sorting hidden, stolen and misplaced works of art for restitution to their rightful owners-a job that continues to go on to this day. The film profiles a few specific stories of works that, 60 years later, are still trying to find their way home.  The discovery of the Nazi hiding places, in castles and even in a salt mine in southern Germany, was only the beginning of the long and difficult process of returning the artworks.  In an interview, one of the Monuments Men describes the collecting point to which he was assigned as “the greatest museum in the world” because of the incredible treasures that it contained.  Images of some of the best known Old Master paintings in existence flash over the screen here and for a brief moment, we are left with a terrible sense of what could have been lost.

Monuments Man Lt. Daniel Kern and mine worker Max Eder inspect Jan Vermeer’s "The Artist’s Studio," found inside the mine at Altaussee.

This leads to a striking revelation over these men’s motives. To wit, it was not necessarily the lengths by which the Allies worked to hide and preserve their treasures (though their efforts were certainly tremendous), but the reasons why they did so.  Certainly, the destruction or loss of Leonardo’s “Lady with an Ermine”, or Vermeer’s “Astronomer”, or Jan Van Eyck’s “Ghent Altarpiece” (all works in jeopardy and consequently saved) would have been devastating losses.  But why, in the face of oncoming danger was it so important to save these paintings?  For everyone involved, the motivation went much further than an appreciation for great masterpieces.  Preserving one’s culture and cultural accomplishments was, in many cases, the only possible victory.

Jan Vermeer, "The Artist’s Studio, (or The Allegory of Painting)" c.1665-66, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

One of the former Monuments Men, Dr. Leonard Malamut, summed up the paradox of this film best, questioning, “how they [the Nazis] could retain the nicety and appreciation of great art and be exterminating millions of people in concentration camps… I couldn’t understand it then, and I can’t understand it today.”  This statement really speaks to the power of art, to the Old Masters’ influence and to the nature of humanity.  We instinctively cringe at the knowledge that a Michelangelo sculpture or a Vermeer painting could appeal to someone like Hitler.  At the same time, we can take comfort in the knowledge that during one of the most horrible wars in our history, brave men and women risked their lives to protect these cultural treasures.

Raphael, "Portrait of a Young Man", 1514. Lost during World War II, last location: Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland. Nazi-German authorities stole the original in 1939 and it was never returned to the Polish possessor

The story of the Monuments Men and their European counterparts is not widely known in comparison with the more mainstream knowledge of World War II.  Yet, the account of their work to preserve, secure and eventually return artworks is one of the most poignant and telling stories about the nature of humanity in a time of war and cultural upheaval.  The Rape of Europa’s historic details, images and interviews left me with much to think about and to appreciate long after the credits rolled.