Monuments Men Premieres

The film "Monuments men" premieres in the USA today. We get to see it in Poland only on 28th Feb. I've been re-reading Edsel's book. In the meantime for those who've not seen the Hollywood adventure film, here's a promotional video. Note first the tacky bric-a-brac shop scenery, what's the point of that?   More to the point, the author who spent several years studying Nazi looting and the US efforts to prevent the looted objects disappearing shows with deadpan face something a US soldier looted in Bavaria. So basically precisely the sort of looting the Monuments Men were there to prevent. This something is a catalogue of ERR-appropriated art. But look at the box it is in. That is not a WW2 vintage box, somebody has made that, and its swastika-band decoration, to house this "trophy". Then note how Edsel handles it, dropping the detached cover casually onto a stool or whatever behind the stage props, before then dropping a copy of his own book on it. Not exactly the way one would expect an archival item to be treated...



What he says is another sixty of these ERR documents could be missing still, "in the hands of American soldiers or their families".  In other words, looted and thus 70 years later still preventing the identification and restitution of the art works listed to the heirs of their owners. Because an American soldier helped himself to a "souvenir" from among the archives of the Third Reich.

Though I am sure certain individuals in US collecting circles will see this as a "hostile" opinion, I'd like to question why these volumes are held in the US national archives and not where the art and many of its owners are, back in central Europe. That is a logical solution, having them halfway around the world from the scene of the activity they document is not logical.

Finally, Note the date chosen for the handover of this recovered volume, the anniversary of D-Day. US Collectors who disparage "cultural property nationalism" among others might like to take a step back and consider in what way they "are" different in that respect.