The vicissitudes of life are beyond description sometimes. As we were preparing to head home for some rest after an emotionally wrenching week, I received a call from our contact at CBS who was letting me know that the segment on the Monuments Men and my work with them will air THIS SUNDAY, JANUARY 27. Click here to view the show times in your area. If you live in Dallas or the central time zone, the program begins at 8am. As Dickens wrote, “…these are the best of times, these are the worst of times…”

It’s been so cold in Dallas this week it’s hard to recall how warm it felt when the CBS crew visited Dallas on one of several shoots to conduct part of the interview, but it was indeed a beautiful day. This great program is one of the few left that has the luxury of dedicated time for in-depth reporting of stories. It is not surprising then that many of their staff also have worked at or do work at CBS’ other award-winning program, 60 Minutes. They were a joy to work with and their enthusiasm for the story readily apparent. I hope you will have an opportunity to tune in and see the show.

The Rape of Europa opened its theatrical run in Houston this past Friday evening at the Angelika Theater. I traveled to Houston to introduce the film on Saturday to a good crowd, all of whom stayed afterwards for a lively “question and answer” session. In fact, these “q and a” sessions have become a real hit with audiences everywhere I have traveled. People are curious to combine their knowledge of pieces of the story with the experience of seeing the film and the realization that this is, in truth, one very large and dramatic episode in our modern history.

As mentioned in last week’s blog on the great run of the film in Dallas, our film needs the support of the public not just as patrons of the film, but in telling others about the film and their experience in seeing it. We all believe this is an important story so remarkably developed in text by Lynn Nicholas and brought to life in this film by Actual Films. It is a story of interest to all people in all walks of life. I hope all my supporters out there will take a moment to contact your friends in Houston and encourage them to see the film. While its duration on screen depends directly on attendance, I can promise you this: this is a word of mouth experience that people share with others and that ensures a lengthy run for the film IF IT IS GIVEN A CHANCE. That first and second week is so critical…so we all appreciate your help in making Houston another big success for this fine film.

Thank you to all my fellow citizens…most sincere thanks for your ongoing support in attending our documentary film, The Rape of Europa, now in its 11th sensational week at the Angelika theater. Some believed this film would die a quick death, especially with the abundance of films seeking too few screens. Adding to the obstacles it has had to overcome is the holiday season roll-out of "Hollywood blockbuster" films. Still, our little film, with its big story, has flourished.

I have introduced this film to audiences in at least two dozen cities across the country. I have hosted at least 5 "Q and A" sessions alone at the Dallas screening. Each time I speak I implore audiences to tell their friends about our film ONLY IF they believe the subject is important and the film moved them. I have reminded our patrons that unlike the big Hollywood machine, we have virtually no advertising and marketing budget yet we have clearly successfully competed with the cash rich studios and big name stars. The ongoing remarkable results confirm that, indeed, audiences everywhere are not just listening, but actively helping us by contacting their friends about our film. This is true nowhere more clearly than in Dallas. Word of mouth is vital if we are truly going to fulfill our hopes that this film be used as an instrument for reestablishing the standards created by the Monuments Men for the protection of cultural during armed conflict.

Although the film is now only showing at matinees–once per day–we continue to have a steady stream of patrons to watch this very important story. I am so proud to live in this great city where the arts and culture matter greatly. I am grateful that the community in which I live continues to show their support for our work and film. And I hope The Rape of Europa will continue to be available for those in Dallas who haven’t yet seen the film so that they may witness what is proving to be a source of inspiration for so many people.

Each day brings with it another clue in the remaining unsolved mysteries of still missing works of art, cultural items, and other personal property stolen by the Nazis during World War II. We all have a front row seat to not only watch this final chapter of World War II history be written, but to help write it to the extent you have information about some of these missing items.

Why now, why more than 60 years after the end of World War II is this final chapter just now beginning to conclude? In fact, there are four principal reasons. It began in earnest in 1995 or so with the creation of the internet. For the first time a mechanism existed for people all over the world to communicate with each other virtually cost-free. Photos of works in question could be attached to an email and sent to leading experts in that particular field or to the renowned auction houses…and replies followed.

This newly transparent society had other effects. Art dealers gradually recognized the need to document the provenance of works of art they sold to clients. What began as a cursory effort evolved into a serious and often times expensive obligation on the part of auction houses and dealers. As a result, when works of art surface on the market, wise people ask at least three questions: What is the work of art? Where did it come from? How did you get it? This system is still evolving; it is not perfect. But attention is given to this arena that ten years or so ago didn’t exist all because of the millions of stolen and still missing items from World War II.

With the fall of communism came access to records in some cases not seen since World War II. Missing records are still surfacing. Within these records are clues…in some instances they will help us learn how items were destroyed bringing a (sad) finality, in others they may help us locate something still extant.

Be it good or bad, art has become synonymous with money. There is an incentive to find missing works of art just as there is to locate sunken galleons in the ocean. Some say, “it’s like hunting for buried treasure…”. In fact, it’s not “like” it, it is!!! Law firms have created whole restitution sections to pursue for financial gain the property of victims of the world’s greatest theft. Sadly, sometimes these cases are “shake-downs”, claims filed in an attempt to coerce someone owning a work of art who perhaps intends on selling it publicly into a settlement just to avoid a dispute. There are of course many more claims, from all sides, that are legitimate. The list of claims grows however, relentlessly.

Finally, the most significant development in why this is all unfolding today is the simplest of all to understand: the age of the participants. Most of the people who fought in World War II or were caught in the maelstrom are of an age today that, sadly, within the next 5-15 year period most will no longer be among us. While they will be gone, their belongings and records will be left behind with family members, friends, and estate lawyers. Most beneficiaries will elect to sell items of perceived value. A collector collects out of passion…such passions are not inherited. As these inherited items are placed with the trade for sale, we loop back to the internet and those constant three questions asked over and over again: What is it? Where did it come from? How did you get it?

We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg of things we will discover in the coming years. More and more stories will be written as more items are found. Some will be spectacular finds, others less so. But the pace of discoveries will increase, and so will the public’s fascination with this topic as the treasure hunt begins again just as it did for the Monuments Men years ago.

Tomorrow I will report on one such recent discovery by the FBI, a cultural artifact that was discovered when a sale of it was attempted. But that’s tomorrow…

(Rose Valland)

Rose Valland was, by the highest standards, a woman of remarkable courage and determination. As a curator of the Louvre museum during World War II, she managed to continue working at the adjacent Jeu de Paume Museum during the Nazi occupation of Paris. Using her extraordinary memory, and her knowledge of the German language, Rose kept a secret diary of all the paintings coming in to the Jeu de Paume museum as a result of the Nazis’ confiscation of thousands of works of art from collectors in Paris, in particular Jews. Upon delivery to the Jeu de Paume, located in the Tuleries Gardens, they were inventoried and subsequently arranged for visits by Hermann Goring, who would select those works of art destined for the Furher Museum to be built in Linz, or those he intended to add to his growing personal collection. As head of the air force and rail system, Goring had the ability to transport stolen works of art on a scale without precedent.

Working in coordination with the French Resistance, and later Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives officials, Rose made her secret diary available which proved invaluable in enabling Monuments Men to quickly find so many of the works of art stolen by the Nazis in France. In some instances she even provided them with copies of shipping invoices!!!

(Rose Valland receiving an award for her courageous efforts.)

For her service during the war, Rose received numerous awards including not only the French Legion of Honor, Medal of the Resistance, and the Order of the Arts and Letters, but also the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany. However, even more remarkable, in my view, was her being awarded by the United States the Presidential Medal of Freedom, a very rare honor for a foreign citizen.

(The Train, 1964)

The work of Rose Valland was recognized in a 1964 film entitled, “The Train“, starring Burt Lancaster. It does no service to the heroism of Rose nor does it capture the excitement of her remarkable actions, but it does tell the story of the final days of Paris upon liberation, during the summer of 1944, and the last ditch effort by the Nazis to get as much stolen art out of Paris as possible. In completing research several weeks ago, I came across a letter to the editor of the New York Times written by Elaine Rosenberg, which I am reprinting as follows:

The Resistance sought the help of Rose Valland, the heroine of the Louvre. She immediately notified the French Second Armored Division, which had just liberated Paris. A young lieutenant volunteered to take six men and stop the train. The soldiers banged on the boxcars’ doors (holding their fire in case they were prisoners inside), and out straggled some old German soldiers who had been assigned to accompany the booty to Germany.

By extraordinary coincidence, that young lieutenant was my husband, Alexandre Rosenberg, of the Leclerc Division. Among the items found on the train were paintings belonging to his father, Paul Rosenberg the prominent Paris art dealer. Alexandre had last seen some the paintings in the family’s apartment in Paris.

This is but one of the amazing stories that I will be sharing in months to come. Not a week passes without us adding several such stories to our list. Fortunately, Elaine Rosenberg years ago provided readers with this personal insight into the Rose Valland story. However, there are so many equally remarkable and unique stories yet to be recorded, hence the urgency in our ongoing research. Sadly, the number of people alive to tell them diminishes every day. If you know of such stories, perhaps from a relative who had service during the war, please provide them to me so we can add them to our database where, in time, all will be published in one form or another.

(This august group gathered to witness the return to Belgium of Michelangelo’s extraordinary sculpture known as the Bruges Madonna. Standing, from left to right are Lt. Col. Ernest DeWald, MFAA officer in Austria, Emile Langui, Belgian official, Capt. Steven Kovalyak, U.S. Army, Lt. Craig Hugh Smyth, MFAA officer and Director of the Munich Collecting Point, Dr. Andrew Ritchie, civilian advisor to the MFAA in Munich, Cdr. George Boas, U.S. Naval Attache, U.S. Embassy in Belgium, and Maj. Bancel LaFarge, senior MFAA officer with the U.S. 12th Army.)

We have been so focused on finding the Monuments Men and posting their biographies that I have completely overlooked providing everyone with a progress report on our efforts. Sorry — too much focus!!!

The list of Monuments Men (and women) we have created contains 387 names; 357 men and 30 women with a country of origin breakdown as follows:

United States 97 — England 11 — France 2 — Poland 2 — Germany 8
Netherlands 5 — Belgian 3 — Hungary 1 — Czechoslovakia 1

Research Continues 254

In the past year we have located 11 living Monuments Men each of whom is extensively written about on our website, www.rescuingdavinci.com. Additionally, there are 62 Monuments Men who are deceased for whom we have detailed biographies with photographs for many, but not all. (WE NEED YOUR HELP IN FINDING PHOTOGRAPHS OF ANY MONUMENTS MAN OR WOMAN ON OUR WEBSITE FOR WHOM YOU DO NOT SEE A PHOTO POSTED.) There are another 135 Monuments Men for whom we have compiled biographies in various stages of development while further research is being conducted. That leaves 190 Monuments Men who we are still trying to locate and research and develop profiles.

We need all the help we can get on learning more about each Monument man and woman. General information, photographs, family contacts or next of kin, and even basic leads are all helpful to our effort. If you want to help us find these unrecognized heroes and participate in helping us write the final chapter to this incredible story, please forward any information you have to us via this website or the www.rescuingdavinci.com website.Please–don’t assume we know it or have it; all your responses are helpful!!! We can’t have too much information on these great men and women.

(Monuments Officers Lts. Lamont Moore and Sheldon Keck inspect looted Polish treasure found deep inside the salt mine in Grasleben, Germany which they found in April, 1945.)