Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section

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Congressional Gold Medal of Honor for the Monuments Men (obverse)

The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section ( MFA & A , also MFAA ) was a division of the US Army for the protection of works of art during and after the Second World War . It existed from 1943 to 1946 and was subordinate to the Civil Affairs and Military Government Sections . The art protection officers working there were known as Monuments Men .

Today the department is best known for rescuing Nazi looted art , organized by the task force Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR). The extraordinary work of the unit was thematized in the film Monuments Men - Unusual Heroes 2014 .

Members of the so-called Monuments Men were u. a. Walker Hancock , George Stout , Stefan P. Munsing , James Rorimer , Lincoln Kirstein , John Davis Skilton , Walter Farmer, and Harry Ettlinger .

history

The MFA & A was by no means the first institutionalized action in which a country campaigned for the preservation of the enemy's cultural treasures during a war. In the Hague Land Warfare Regulations of 1907, all signatory states had already committed themselves to the protection of cultural property during war. In the First World War, for example, soldiers from the German army were assigned to so-called art protection in the combat areas. Their role, however, was often dubiously linked to art theft activities or merely served as a propagandistic fig leaf to gloss over the actual war damage to cultural property. Out of concern for their own, but increasingly also for European art treasures during the Second World War, art historians in the USA formed around Paul J. Sachs ( Harvard University ) to organize measures for the protection of cultural property. The resulting Roberts Commission , named after Owen Roberts , ensured through the establishment of the “American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas” on June 23, 1943, that experienced and committed art protection officers were on site the front line should be in order to document damage to cultural monuments, to initiate repair measures, but also to take preventive action by naming architecture and architectural monuments worthy of protection, which should be spared from the attacks and when taking quarters. The comparable British Macmillan Commission , named after Hugh Pattison Macmillan , was not installed until May 1944. In fact, however, the competing military requirements ensured that the unit in the Italian theater of war only had a nominal strength of 27 officers, including 13 British, "while a battalion would have been required" (Rainieri). The war led to massive destruction of cultural property, which could hardly be reduced by the art protection measures.

The Ghent Altarpiece being salvaged from the art depot in the Altaussee salt mine, 1945

In addition to buildings and monuments worthy of protection, the collections of European museums, libraries, archives and churches were affected. Their holdings (works of art of all kinds, books, documents and church treasures) had been moved from the towns to mines (e.g. Altaussee salt mine ), castles (e.g. Neuschwanstein Castle ), remote mansions and barns during the war. Numerous important works of art from the countries occupied by the Wehrmacht were deported to Germany or to unknown sites. After the fighting ended, the members of the MFA & A were faced with the task of locating these camps and returning the works of art to their owners. This marked the beginning of “the greatest treasure hunt in history.” With the help of the French art historian Rose Valland, the Allies searched for some of the depots , some discovered accidentally, and their contents were secured. Since permanent storage of the stored objects was not conducive to most of these relocation sites, the American occupiers collected the works of art they found in so-called "Central Collecting Points", which - in addition to a few smaller CCPs - primarily in Munich , Wiesbaden , Marburg and Offenbach were established.

The MFA & A had set itself three goals for its work: cultural property protection, restitution and building up the museum landscape. The first goal essentially concerned the tasks during the war, but also the gathering of the cultural goods in the CCPs. The two other tasks could only be carried out after the end of the war and only with the cooperation of the German employees.

Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art

Robert M. Edsel (far left) with then US President George W. Bush and four Monuments Men 2007

In the United States today, the history of this military unit is being researched by Robert M. Edsel and his foundation. The Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art is a foundation in memory of the people who served as Monuments Men in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section during and after World War II. The founder is Robert M. Edsel, who has dealt intensively with Nazi looted art .

The Monuments Men Foundation was awarded the National Humanities Medal in 2007 . In May 2015, the foundation returned five paintings stolen by US soldiers to their rightful owners in Germany.

reception

Congressional Gold Medal of Honor for the Monuments Men (back)

See also

literature

  • Tanja Bernsau: The occupiers as curators? The Central Collecting Point Wiesbaden as a hub for the reconstruction of the museum landscape after 1945. Lit, Münster 2013, ISBN 978-3-643-12355-8 .
  • Tanja Bernsau: Spies for the Protection of Cultural Property - The Art Looting Investigation Unit. Akademiker-Verlag, Saarbrücken 2016, ISBN 978-3-330-51011-1 .
  • Robert M. Edsel, Bred Witter: Monuments Men - On the hunt for Hitler's looted art. From the English by Hans Freundl. Residenz Verlag, St. Pölten / Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-7017-3304-0 .
  • Robert M. Edsel: Saving Italy. The race to rescue a nation's treasures from the Nazis. Norton, New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-393-08241-8 (English).
  • 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 .
  • Konrad Kramar: Mission Michelangelo - How the miners from Altaussee saved Hitler's looted art from destruction. Residence, St. Pölten 2013, ISBN 978-3-7017-3315-6

Web links

Commons : Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christina Kott: The German 'art protection' in the First and Second World War. A comparison. In: Ulrich Pfeil (Ed.): German-French cultural and scientific relations in the 20th century, an institutional history approach. (= Paris Historical Studies, Volume 81). Munich 2007 ([Online urn: nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb00044809-8 ]).
  2. ^ Ruggero Rainieri: The Allies and Art Protection in Italy , in: Christian Fuhrmeister, Johannes Griebel, Stephan Klingen, Ralf Peters (eds.): Art historians in war. German military protection of art in Italy 1943–1945 . Böhlau, Cologne 2012, p. 35
  3. ^ So the title of the book by Robert M. Edsel and Bred Witter: The Monuments Men. Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History. London, New York 2009.
  4. ^ Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art - About The Foundation . Retrieved February 7, 2008.
  5. ↑ NNEH News Archive ( Memento of 20 December 2007 at the Internet Archive ).
  6. ↑ Monumentsmenfoundation.org: Monuments Men Foundation returns Paintings to the Hesse Family and to the Anhaltische Gemäldegalerie in Dessau, Germany , press release of May 5, 2015
  7. ↑ "Monuments Man" Harry Ettlinger receives Gold Staufer Medal on mwk.baden-wuerttemberg.de. Retrieved October 29, 2016.
  8. ↑ http://history.house.gov/Institution/Gold-Medal/Gold-Medal-Recipients/