The legacy of the world’s greatest theft during World War II by Hitler and the Nazis remains with us in so many tangible ways. Few reminders are more stark than looking at an auction catalogue from Sotheby’s or Christie’s. Rarely is there a sale of any magnitude that doesn’t include at least one painting or other work of art stolen by the Nazis at some point in time during their chokehold on Western Europe. Most of those times the painting was stolen for Adolph Hitler’s planned Führer Museum in Linz.

There are two major events that occur in London each July, both of which are near and dear to my interests. The first is, of course, The All England Championships, or Wimbledon as it is more widely known. The other are the Old Master Sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s which always follow the week after bringing most all the painting dealers from around the world together as well as many private collectors. These sales are particularly interesting this year as Sotheby’s has four paintings for sale that were looted during World War II, all subsequently restituted and now being sold by the current owners, while Christie’s has one. (These numbers pertain to their “main event” evening sales respectively; there may be other examples in their lesser sales.)

The phrases included in the provenance listings are enough to curl your blood: “Confiscated by the Nazi authorities in 1939 for the planned Führer Museum in Linz”; “Looted during the Second World War”; “Forced Sale of Liquidation Stock”; “Secured by the Nazi authorities and confiscated by the Vugesta (the Gestapo looting authority)”; and “Confiscated by the Russian Army”. I underscore that all paintings were subsequently restituted to their rightful owners, some shortly after the war, others only recently. But this underscores the current nature of this remarkable period in history as items once considered the prize of the Nazi thieves reenter the commercial market voluntarily rather than under threat or theft. These are exciting times.

Anne d’Harnoncourt, the world famous and beloved director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, died quite unexpectedly Sunday evening at her home in Philadelphia. She was just 64 years of age. Art and culture were imbued in her soul.

Rene, her father, was not only a painter and scholar on Mexican and Native American art, but also served as the director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City from 1949-1968. Anne earned her master’s degree from the Courtauld Institute, where she was a classmate of my dear friend, Ted Pillsbury. Ted went on to greatness as the director of the Yale Center for British Art and later the Kimbell, while Anne worked briefly at the Tate Gallery before beginning her storied career in Philadelphia in 1967 as an assistant. After a brief stint as the assistant curator of 20th century art at the Art Institute in Chicago, Anne returned to Philadelphia where in 1982 she became the museum’s director and eventual CEO.

During her tenure she did it all, designing innovative installations, developing blockbuster exhibitions that staked a permanent claim for the city of Philadelphia among the elite of art museums in our Nation, and energizing a donor base who in turn oversaw astonishing growth of this remarkable institution. She walked with kings and paupers with equal comfort and understood the museum’s responsibility to appeal to all citizens of the city–those that loved art as well as those yet to discover it. All the while, she preserved the time honored tradition of — and continually redefined respect for — the object. "What we want is for new things to be great of their kind, and for each new work to have conversations with the rest of the collection."

I was in Philadelphia Monday and Tuesday at the invitation of National Endowment for the Humanities’ Chairman Dr. Bruce Cole and the ongoing roll-out of the PICTURING AMERICA program. As often happens the greatest supporters of the arts are also those first in line to assist Dr. Cole and the NEH’s innovative programs. Thus it was no surprise to meet a remarkable group of volunteers and civic leaders at the truly one-of-a-kind home of Martha McGeary Snider, where I was asked to briefly speak about the Monuments Men. It was, however, a bittersweet occasion.

Everyone had tears in their eyes over the loss of Anne d’Harnoncourt. Everyone. The measure of loss was palpable and hung over yesterday’s otherwise great PICTURING AMERICA ceremony. Several people I met could not speak as the wound was so great. Indeed, Anne’s loss is truly immeasurable. Few people are truly irreplaceable: she is an exception. Her passing highlights the crisis in our museum leadership ranks, a subject I will be addressing in a lengthy blog next week.

The great city of Philadelphia, which Anne loved so much, will recover, and in time her legacy advanced by the same group of supporters she cultivated and who cultivated her over many years. But those challenges ahead belong to tomorrows. Today we mourn the loss of this great friend and champion of the arts.

Relations between Russia and Germany have been extremely challenged in the arena of cultural restitution of looted works of art during World War II.  This is a highly emotionally charged subject that often inspires considerable rhetoric from nationalists in Russia who cite the obvious for why Russia shouldn’t return any German works of art:  Hitler and the Nazis started the war, not the Soviet Union.  Of course, this is inarguable.  The horrific losses of the Soviet Union, estimated to be as many as 25 million people—7.5 million soldiers and 17.5 million civilians—is so mind boggling in scope as to be difficult to grasp.  (Think about a city the size of Mexico City vanishing as a point of reference.) 

I am frequently asked what I think about the ongoing debate that always simmers with periodic flare-ups on the occasion of a newly discovered or confirmed German work of art being located in Russia.  Some point out that the Hague Convention makes no provision for any country to keep such artifacts as compensation for war losses.  That is true of course.  However, I don’t believe that those who framed the convention could have foreseen that one nation could be so thoroughly devastated and destroyed as Russia experienced during the War.  Truly, the losses in all areas were staggering.  The problem of how to deal with this situation is but another example of the altered legacy left us by Hitler and the Nazis.

Reason does, on occasion, prevail.  In fact, the more often these matters are left to the cultural officials and museum officials rather than the politicians, the more likely and frequently a solution will be found.  Recently, Russia’s lower house of Parliament (the State Duma) approved the return of six stained glass windows to St. Mary’s Church, Marienkirche, in Frankfurt-upon-Oder.  These windows had been housed in Moscow’s Pushkin Museum.  This followed the return in 2002 by Russia of 111 stained glass panels to the church which had been stored at the Hermitage Museum and, at the time, were thought to be all of the stained glass windows in Russia’s possession.  No doubt the precedent established in the earlier return made this recent decision easier.  Still, there has been a public hardening of positions in Russia since 2002, so I consider this a small sign but still a sign of progress. 

This horrible situation will require decades to solve.  It is a generational problem, a process, not an event.  It is a thaw….but one that over time, I believe will occur in one form or another.  Without visiting Russia, in particular such places as Pyskaria….cemetery outside St. Petersburg, where up to one million people are buried, most of whom starved to death during the Blockade, it is impossible to appreciate the open wound so many people in Russia still feel from the events that took place more than 67 years ago.  

Exciting news has been reported from an area of Germany just across from the Czech Republic border where treasure hunters have been searching for years for the lost Amber Panels, the famed wall panels handmade by German craftsmen and gifted by King Frederick William I of Germany to Peter the Great of Russia in 1716. Each piece of translucent brownish-yellow fossil was painstakingly hand carved and fitted by German master craftsmen over the course of twelve years and subsequently installed in Tsarskoye Selo or Catherine Palace as it is more familiarly known in the west.

The invading Nazis looted the panels in late 1940 and shipped them to Königsberg Castle. They survived Allied bombing in August 1944 and were about to be shipped to Saxony in January 1945 when Soviet forces stormed Königsberg. Until now, most experts have believed that the panels were destroyed during the ensuing battle, probably unknowingly by Soviet artillery. In the early 1990’s one of several small, portable amber mosiacs that hung in the room over the large and enormously heavy panels surfaced at an art market in Germany giving rise to stories that the panels existed. Still, no other evidence of their existence has surfaced.

(This is but one of many such old mine entrances I saw during my trip) 

In 2001 I visited this area of Germany and the Czech Republic and saw the area in which these multiple “digs” were taking place even then. In fact, the search for the panels has been ongoing since the end of the war and more recently by treasure hunters, each convinced that he has the key piece of information, the key map, the unimpeachable source, that will lead to the hidden chamber.

Late yesterday Peter Haustein, Mayor of Deutschneudorf, reported that he believes his long search to find the hidden storage chamber was nearing a successful conclusion. He believes that his team has located a stash of gold bars that is related to the clues he has developed over many years. Out of concern for possible mines or other boobytraps in the chamber, no one has yet entered to determine its contents, but evidently that day looms near. It was very common for the Nazis to seal these caves and other storage facilities with mines as the Monuments Men found out on a number of occasions.

The world awaits the outcome with great hope….the greatest treasure hunt in history continues!!!! Stay tuned.

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.

This vehicle, carrying a custom crate containing the portrait of King Charles I, was in transit to Manod for underground storage. Officials had to lower the level of the road to create sufficient passage-way. This was but one of many types of problems confronting museum officials as they rushed to protect their national heritage (from Rescuing Da Vinci, pg 53)	Anthony van Dyck, Equestrian Portrait of Charles I, c. 1637-38. Oil on canvas, 3.7 x 2.9m (14 ft 2 in x 9 ft 6 in). The National Gallery, London.

I visited the National Gallery today and walked directly into the room with magnificent painting by Anthony van Dyck of Equestrian Portrait of Charles I, an enormous canvas measuring about 12 by 10 feet. This great work, painted in 1637, was just one of thousands of works of art at the National Gallery and other London museums that were at risk during World War II.

In preparation for war, museum officials packed up tens of thousands of paintings, sculptures, and other priceless treasures and began the complicated process of transporting them to famous but remote country estates and castles for safekeeping. Some would remain there for the duration of the war, but in many cases others had to be relocated again to quarries and mines in the Wales region where they were placed underground.

Movement of the van Dyck was a particularly cumbersome problem due to its size. It was loaded on its own truck and secured to a large wood panel, then covered with a tarpeline for added security. Seems simple enough, et?

In fact, the well-mapped out road to its intended destination overlooked one crucial detail: road overpass height! As such, the vehicle couldn’t pass beneath the bridge above, even after deflating the tires. These kind of problems bedeviled art officials in allied countries over and over again.

In this instance, officials actually lowered the road a sufficient depth to allow passage. The painting ultimately arrived safely to Manod Quarry where it sat out the war. All this effort was perversely rewarded: the National Gallery along with most of London’s main museums were damaged by German bombing and subsequent fires during the blitz of the great city. That we can visit today this incredible museum and enjoy such wonderful works of art is a credit to the museum officials — and Monuments Men — who worked so diligently at protecting these treasures of civilization for us all.

Great leadership so often occurs quietly, frequently out of view. When you see a well-performing team, a company that regularly excels, or an organization setting new standards in a particular field, there is always a great leader inspiring others by example. (With rare exception, the opposite is true: bad leadership sets a powerful example that destroys an organization just as effectively.)

The Chief Archivist of the United States, Professor Allen Weinstein, is a great leader of our nation’s National Archives, repository of the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights to name only a few of the most prominent documents among millions. He is the ninth archivist of our country, a man who is an accomplished historian and author in his own right. He is also a gentleman.

(Professor Chief Archivist of the United States, Professor Allen Weinstein and me signing the agreement to donate Album #8)

So often times the remarkable and most memorable moments of a big event are those that take place out of view of the public. Such was the case at the donation ceremony for the “Hitler Albums” that occurred two weeks ago at the National Archives. The signing ceremony to formally document the gift to our nation took place in Professor Weinstein’s office. Present were officials from the National Archives, my excellent and dedicated attorney Thomas Kline, people on my staff who had made the trip to Washington, and my mom and aunt. We had a few minute wait before our short walk to the Archivist’s Reception Room for the press conference which was filled with journalists from news agencies throughout the world.

As I stood in the doorway of Professor Weinstein’s office, he and I discussed the importance of what we were doing that morning–preservation of documents–and the irreplaceable role documents play in the lives of every person, business, and nation. Professor Weinstein reached inside the breast pocket of his suit jacket and pulled from it the Petition for Naturalization completed by his mother when she applied for citizenship to the United States. He opened it up and said to me, “this is where it all began for me; this is the document that tells me who I am and reminds me where I came from. I carry it with me everyday, everywhere.”

(Chief Archivist of the United States, Professor Allen Weinstein and me at the “Hitler Album” press conference at the National Archives.)

I had to catch my breath. Here I was, in the office of the Chief Archivist of the United States, with a common man in all the ways admirable, and exceptional in many other respects. The measure of the man–and the leader–was revealed to me in that moment as he demonstrated in the most personal of ways not only why documents are so important to him but why he is so supremely qualified to be the chief custodian of our nation’s documentary heritage.

During my life I have been enormously fortunate to be in the presence of many great men and women. One personal quality that is a common trait among them is humility. Allen Weinstein has that quality and more.

(Chief Archivist of the United States, Professor Allen Weinstein and me standing before one of the two "Hitler Albums")

It was a distinct honor to, in conjunction with the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, donate to the Nation the "Hitler Albums" yesterday. (Album 8 was gifted to the National Archives yesterday; Album 6 will be gifted to the National Archives at a later date and until then, will remain in our possession.) The Hitler Albums contain photographs of works of art that were looted by the Nazis during World War II which were subsequently presented to Adolf Hitler. Until the discovery of these two albums, only 39 such albums were known to exist, all of which entered the National Archives after the war. These 39 albums were in fact the "smoking gun" documents used by the prosecution during the Nuremberg Trials to prosecute the most infamous Nazi leaders including Hermann Goring, Alfred Rosenberg, and Hans Frank, among others.

Professor Weinstein characterized this discovery "as one of the most significant finds related to Hitler’s premeditated theft of art and other cultural treasures to be found since the Nuremberg Trials. The National Archives is grateful to Mr. Edsel and the Monuments Men Foundation for today’s donation of Album 8 which will allow scholars and historians immediate use of these materials."

I will have a lot more to say about these albums, in particular Album 6 which remains in our possession, in the weeks ahead. A copy of my remarks at the ceremony follow. I would like to add that all of the National Archives officials with whom we have worked these past several months are professionals of the highest caliber. It would make every citizen proud to know that their taxpayer dollars are paying the salaries of people who so conscientiously and caringly preserve the irreplaceable documents of history in the possession of various National Archives facilities. In particular I would like to thank Professor Allen Weinstein, Dr. Michael Kurtz, Greg Bradsher, Gary Stern, Susan Cooper, and Miriam Kleiman. It was a joy working with them. Friendships have been made.

Remarks of Robert M. Edsel
National Archives Ceremony
November 1, 2007

My name is Robert Edsel. Today I am the author of Rescuing da Vinci, co-producer of the documentary film The Rape of Europa, and, more importantly, the founder and President of Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art. However, eleven years ago, when I sold my business in search of a more meaningful life, I had no educational background or training in art or history. Like many others, I had seldom visited a museum. What I knew about World War II came either from my father, a World War II vet in the Pacific, or from books written by Steven Ambrose and others. That all changed one day, while standing on a bridge in Florence, when I wondered aloud, “How did so many of the great artistic and cultural treasures of Europe survive the most destructive conflict in history”? Who were the people that saved them?

What began as a simple question launched me on a journey that has since consumed my life and today brings me to Washington to stand before you. Along the way I learned a lot about the greatest villains in history—Adolph Hitler and the Nazis—and came into contact with a group of unknown heroes, known as the “Monuments Men”. This small group of museum directors, curators, art historians and educators from 13 nations, about 70% of whom were Americans, collectively located, preserved and ultimately returned to the victims more than 5 million cultural items, including many of the world’s greatest works of art, stolen by Hitler and the Nazis. Their search was the greatest treasure hunt in history.

First, the villains: Adolph Hitler and the Nazis perpetuated the greatest theft in history. As part of Hitler’s plan to construct the world’s greatest museum in his hometown and then fill it with the most important masterpieces, Nazi organizations were formed to systematically rob individuals, churches, and museums. This wasn’t theft incidental to war. Rather, it was planned years in advance. Albums filled with photographs of the most precious items seized from victims were then presented to Hitler to both document the effectiveness of the looting operation and to allow him to peruse the catalogues at his leisure and select works of art he wanted for his Fuhrer Museum.

In the closing days of the war, 39 of these albums were located by the Monuments Men. They were subsequently used at the Nuremburg trials not just as evidence, but as the “smoking gun” to a theft that took place over 8 tragic years. I direct your attention to the projection screen.

After the war and the trials, the world was busy rebuilding. New dangers arose. The unfinished work so remarkably performed by the Monuments Men was lost in the fog of history. However, with the fall of Communism, rise in art prices, and international accessibility of the internet, all that changed. Great scholars, including Lynn Nicholas, Nancy Yeide and the National Archives’ own Michael Kurtz and Greg Bradsher, among others, invested years studying the mind-numbing volume of documents from the Nazi era, so many of which are in the National Archives. Their work, which began to tell this epic story, laid the foundation for increased interest worldwide. Rarely does a day pass without news of a major World War II restitution case. Even with the increased pace of claims, we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg as people gradually awaken to the fact that hundreds of thousands of items, worth billions of dollars, remain missing.

But this is just a part of the altered cultural legacy left us by Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. Also missing are millions of documents of inestimable value not just to history, but to our civilization. Among the missing documents are more of these albums, until now thought to have been destroyed at war’s end.

Earlier this year, as part of our ongoing research into the Monuments Men, I was contacted by an organization that knew of our efforts and then introduced to the heir of an American soldier who was stationed near Berchtesgaden in early May, 1945. This soldier removed these two albums—the Hitler Albums—from Hitler’s home, known as the Berghof. These albums, Albums 6 and 8 of the series, contain photos of some of the earliest stolen works of art from many of the most prominent collectors in Paris at the beginning of the war—names such as Wildenstein, Kahn, Seligmann, and Rothschild to name a few. We worked closely with the heirs to explain to them the importance of the albums based on our understanding of them at the time, and subsequently acquired them.

We are here today because we are donating the Hitler Albums to the National Archives under separate terms. Album 8 is being gifted today and will enter the National Archives collection. Album 6 will remain in our possession, available to researchers and scholars, to be used to bring visibility to this story and encourage others who may have such documents to come forth.

I founded the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art to honor the legacy of the Monuments Men and women by resuming the job they so remarkably performed more than 60 years ago. In addition to our research on the Monuments Men, which includes writing biographies and gathering photos of each member of this amazing group, we also intend to act as a clearinghouse for people who believe they may have works of art or documents that were taken or even stolen during the war. The Monuments Men Foundation wants to illuminate the path home for these items. But we need the help of the public—to identify and locate all of the heroes, and to work with us to preserve, not destroy, perhaps seemingly worthless old documents such as these albums. We are in a race against time.

While we are working on the past, we remain focused on the future. By putting the great legacy of the Monuments Men to work, we hope to not only help people recover their precious belongings, but perhaps more importantly use all that was learned during World War II to do a much better job protecting cultural treasures in future conflicts. It is an ambitious undertaking to be certain, but anything less would diminish the achievements of the Monuments Men.

Click Here to Read the Press Release about the Hitler Albums