Art protection

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In the event of war, art protection is the protection of cultural assets , historical and architectural monuments as well as works of art , which is one of the duties of the military administration in occupied countries according to the Hague Land Warfare Code (Articles 46 and 56). This protection includes securing the monuments against destruction, robbery or confiscation as well as the creation of conditions for the restoration of damaged works and the maintenance and care of art.

German art protection during the Second World War

During the Second World War , this art protection obligation was initially applied in May 1940, when the art historian Franz Graf Wolff-Metternich was appointed head of art protection. In July 1942, his deputy Bernhard von Tieschowitz (1902–1968) was appointed director. Art protection was assigned to the High Command of the Army Quartermaster General and was often in conflict with other groups of the Wehrmacht and the Nazi state , such as the SS , the Gestapo or the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR). Hitler thought nothing of art protection. Some high-ranking Nazi functionaries practically hunted down art treasures (see also looted art ).

The seat of the French art protection ( French le art protection ) was Paris . One of the first official acts was the listing of over 500 castles and monuments in France to protect against the German army. From this it followed, at least in theory, that these buildings and institutions were excluded from military uses.

In parallel to the expansion of the fighting and the German occupations in Europe, the protection of art was also expanded in these countries. In addition to France, Belgium and the Netherlands, this department of the military administration was also active in Italy and Greece from 1943 onwards . Ernst Kirsten and Wilhelm Kraiker, for example, two soldiers of the Wehrmacht who were seconded to protect art, wrote their “Greek Studies”, first published in 1955, on the basis of guide sheets for the German art protection. There was no protection of art in the eastern countries. Despite the existence of these art protection agencies, the Germans carried out extensive art theft in the occupied countries during World War II.

US art protection during and after World War II

See: Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section , Marburg Central Collecting Point and Munich Central Collecting Point .

After the Second World War

After the Second World War, more attention was paid to the protection of art when the rules of the Hague Land Warfare Code of 1907 were expanded - for example through the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954.

Nevertheless, art theft by Allied forces and occupation troops in Germany occurred at and after the end of the Second World War .

The Barbarastollen has been used since 1975 as the central salvage site of the Federal Republic of Germany for the storage of photographically archived documents of great national or cultural historical importance.

The International Blue Shield Committee was founded in 1996 to improve the protection of cultural property from the effects of war and armed conflict, as well as disasters.

See also

literature

  • Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Aid (ed.): Protection of cultural property in armed conflicts. 7th edition. Federal Office for Civil Protection, Bonn 2007 ( PDF ).
  • Paul Clemen : Art Protection in War. Reports on the condition of the art monuments in the various theaters of war and on the German and Austrian measures for their preservation, rescue, research. 2 volumes. A. Seemann, Leipzig 1919 (digital copies of Volume 1 and Volume 2 in the Internet Archive ).
  • Nikola Doll: The "Rhineland Gang". A network of art historical research in the context of the theft of art and cultural assets in Western Europe. In: Ulf Häder: Museums in Twilight. Purchase policy 1933–1945. (= Publications of the Coordination Office for the Loss of Cultural Property, Volume 2). Coordination Office for the Loss of Cultural Property, Magdeburg 2002, ISBN 3-00-010235-3 , pp. 53-78.
  • Frank Fechner, Thomas Oppermann, Lyndel V. Prott (ed.): Principles of the protection of cultural assets. Approaches in German, European and International Law. (= Tübingen writings on international and European law, Volume 37.) Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-428-08538-8 .
  • Cay Friemuth: The stolen art. The dramatic race to save the cultural treasures after the Second World War. (Kidnapping, recovery and restitution of European cultural assets 1939-1948). Westermann, Braunschweig 1989, ISBN 3-07-500060-4 .
  • Christian Fuhrmeister, Johannes Griebel, Stephan Klingen, Ralf Peters (eds.): Art historians in the war. German Military Art Protection in Italy 1943–1945 (= publications of the Central Institute for Art History in Munich, Volume 29). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2012, ISBN 978-3-412-20804-2 .
  • Günther Haase: Art theft and art protection. A documentation. Olms, Hildesheim 1991, ISBN 3-487-09539-4 .
  • Lutz Klinkhammer : The “Art Protection” department of the German military administration in Italy 1943–1945. In: Sources and research from Italian archives and libraries. Volume 72. Gruyter, Berlin 1992, ISSN  0079-9068 , pp. 483-549.
  • Ernst Kubin: Robbery or Protection? The German military art protection in Italy. Stocker Graz et al. 2001, ISBN 3-7020-0694-X .
  • Christina Kott: The German art and museum policy in occupied northern France in the First World War. Between art theft, art protection, propaganda and science. In: Critical Reports. Volume 25, No. 2. Jonas Verlag, Kromsdorf / Weimar 1997, ISSN  0340-7403 , pp. 5-24 ( PDF ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Different view: " Schroeder, Prof. Dr. Hans Friedrich . Lubeck, St. Anne Museum; Lubeck, Schwartauer Allee 7. Reported Director of the Art Protection Organization for Russia. “In: The AAM guide to provenance research . ISBN 978-0-931201-73-8 , p. 270; see also Mario Morgner: Lost Wonder of the World - The Amber Room , p. 185.