The Power of an Idea: United States Army Announces the Training of a Modern-Day Monuments Men Force
My quest began with a seemingly simple question: “How did so much of the world’s shared art and cultural heritage survive the most destructi
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Robert M. Edsel
- Jul 24, 2019
A Wonderful Honor
It was quite an honor and thrill to be in Castellabate, Italy last Saturday evening to receive the Pio Alferano Award for service to the arts. The open-air celebration and fireworks show that followed added to the excitement. I met a wonderful group of people and beautifully arranged, like only the Italians can do. One highlight: these very moving remarks delivered by Dr. Vittorio Sgarbi [translated into English below], one of the foremost cultural critic and art historians i
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Robert M. Edsel
- Jul 19, 2019
He Looked Down the Hill from his Resting Place and Smiled: The Stolen Masterpiece by Jan van Huysum
Monuments Man Lt. Fred Hartt, a towering figure in the art world and one of the saviors of Tuscany’s incomparable works of art – both during World War II and again in 1966, when floods devastated the city – died in 1991. His remains are buried in the cemetery on the hill of San Miniato in Florence, the only city he ever considered home. His spirit, and that of Monuments Man Capt. Deane Keller, who is also buried in Tuscany (at the Campo Santo in Pisa), were present today as w
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Robert M. Edsel
- Jul 16, 2019
The Monuments Men of the 21st Century: the Italian Carabinieri
During World War II, the United States and England established the high bar for the protection of cultural treasures during war through the work of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section of the Western Allied armies. The fullness of the achievements of the Monuments Men and Women, both during and especially after the war, are only now being realized. Today, however, that mantle of leadership has passed to the Cultural Heritage Protection Unit of the Carabinieri, the I
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Robert M. Edsel
- Feb 21, 2019
And Then There Were Three: The Passing of Monuments Man Rouben Sami
Certainly the greatest privilege of my work these past sixteen years has been meeting the Monuments Men and Women and the friendships that evolved with them and their families. In the fall of 2014, one of the Monuments Men Foundation researchers learned that Rouben Sami, who served as Deputy Director of the Offenbach Collecting Point, was alive and well. A week later, I was sitting in the kitchen of his South Florida home visiting with Rouben, his wife, Lena, and daughter, Re
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Robert M. Edsel
- Dec 5, 2018
Our Better Angels: Remembering President George H.W. Bush
Today, our nation honors President George Herbert Walker Bush and his lifetime of public service. By now, most Americans are familiar with his extraordinary and continuous service to others – to his family as a father and husband; to the cause of freedom as a decorated World War II veteran; and to our nation as Ambassador to the United Nations, Director of the CIA, Congressman, Vice-President, and President. Given the bitterness and divisiveness of politics in 2018 America, m
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Robert M. Edsel
- Nov 11, 2018
Honor our veterans!
This Sunday, November 11, will mark the 100th anniversary of the end of The Great War, the “war to end all wars,” back when no one imagined that they would ever need to be numbered. On this Veterans Day, our family will pause to remember and give thanks to all Americans who have served in the United States Armed Forces. My wife, and our two boys, will be inside the comfort of our home, out of harm’s way, enjoying a freedom paid for by others, a gift we all too often take for
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Robert M. Edsel
- Nov 7, 2018
The Passing of a Great Man and Friend: Monuments Man Harry Ettlinger
Today we mourn the passing of a great American and friend, Monuments Man Harry Ettlinger, who died yesterday after 92 remarkable years. In the course of my work honoring these heroes of civilization, I have known 21 Monuments Men and Women. I was closest to Harry Ettlinger. Harry embodied every great quality that defines a selfless and honorable American. He was an immigrant – the last Jewish boy to have a bar mitzvah in his hometown of Karlsruhe, Germany, just weeks before K
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Robert M. Edsel
- Jan 25, 2018
In Memoriam: Dr. Bruce Cole, Champion of the Arts
Works of art and other cultural treasures have not survived the ages by accident. Learned people of previous generations understood the importance of preserving mankind’s most noble and creative moments, seeing them as signposts in the development of civilization. Over centuries and through wars, natural disasters, and religious and political upheavals, they served as guardians of our shared cultural heritage. Recently, one of those guardians passed away – Dr. Bruce Cole. Dur
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Robert M. Edsel
- Dec 16, 2016
Hitler’s Tapestry Returned to Bavaria
This morning, Friday December 16th, in Munich, the Monuments Men Foundation, in conjunction with the National World War II Museum, returned to the Bavarian State Museum a 16th century Flemish tapestry that once hung in Adolf Hitler’s famed Eagle’s Nest, in Berchtesgaden, Germany. Lt. Col. Paul Danahy of the 101st Airborne removed the tapestry and sent it home as a souvenir. It hung in the stairwell of his home for years. His daughter, Cathy Hinz, inherited the object upon his
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Robert M. Edsel
- Aug 25, 2015
The Islamic State’s Murder of a Modern Day Monuments Man
Khaled al-Asaad, 83-year-old retired Syrian archaeologist known admiringly as “Mr. Palmyra” for his extraordinary knowledge of that revered 2,000 year-old Roman era city, has been killed. Jihadists of the Islamic State publicly beheaded al-Asaad, and then hung his body by his wrists from a traffic light positioning his head on the ground below. Attached to his waist was a sign listing his alleged crimes: attending “infidel conferences,” and acting as “the director of idolatry
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Robert M. Edsel
- Aug 15, 2015
Happy Birthday to Monuments Man Rouben Sami!
Today, I’d like to wish a happy 94th birthday to Monuments Man Rouben Sami! I was privileged to meet with Rouben and his wife Lee at their home in Florida just this past year, the 21st? Monuments Man I’ve met and interviewed during my many years of research. His recollections about the work he did as Deputy Director of the Offenbach Archival Depot (OAD) brought back a flood of memories for me about another Monuments officer I interviewed and came to love—Colonel Seymour Pomre
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Robert M. Edsel
- Jun 18, 2015
Monuments Man Lennox Tierney passes away at age 101
Monuments Man Lennox Tierney has died, age 101. Only five Monuments officers are still living. Of the twenty Monuments Men and women I have interviewed, only Tierney and Sherman Lee had served in the Pacific Theater, primarily in Japan. Fluent in Japanese, and a greater scholar of Asian art, Tierney was assigned to General MacArthur’s occupation headquarters as Commissioner of Arts and Monuments following the end of the war. In this role, he advised General MacArthur on all
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Robert M. Edsel
- Jun 6, 2015
Eight Years Honoring the Heroes!
Eight years ago, on the 63rd anniversary of the D-Day landings, I announced the formation of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art. Four Monuments Men participated in that ceremony. Today only one of those four is still with us bringing the number of living Monuments Men and women to just six. We always knew we were in a race against time to gather their stories and honor them. What I couldn’t know at the time was the degree of success the Foundation would
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Robert M. Edsel
- Nov 7, 2014
Monuments Man Horace Apgar 1923-2014
We are all saddened to learn that Monuments Man Horace Apgar has died. Our long held hope was to see him standing aside the other Monuments officers at Congress in 2015 to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. We have done everything in our power to not only obtain this richly earned recognition for the Monuments Men and women, but to see that the medal is created and presented as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this didn’t happen soon enough for Horace to receive. But
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Robert M. Edsel
- Jul 14, 2014
“Rose Valland: Resistance at the Museum”
Rose Valland is one of the greatest and yet unknown heroines of World War II. After risking her life spying on the Nazis, day after day for four long years, Rose lived to fulfill her destiny: locating and returning tens of thousands of works of art stolen by the Nazis during their occupation of France. Yet her remarkable story, like much of her personal life, has remained unknown to the broad public… until now. “This book, written by French Senator Corinne Bouchoux, was origi
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Robert M. Edsel
- Jun 18, 2014
The paintings behind the Monuments Men cover
This is one of the most famous photos of the Monuments Men, and it just so happens to also be the cover photo of The Monuments Men. It was taken in May 1945, and shows Monuments Man Lt. James Rorimer with three soldiers of the Seventh Army carrying three paintings down the steps of the Castle of Neuschwanstein in Bavaria, Germany, where they had been hidden by the Nazis. But have you ever wondered what the three paintings are? From left to right on the photo above are: Chardi
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Robert M. Edsel
- Jun 7, 2014
Tell Congress You Support the Monuments Men!
1.) House Bill (Click here to Vote!) H.R. 3658: To grant the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the Monuments Men, in recognition of their heroic role in the preservation, protection, and restitution of monuments, works of art, and artifacts of cultural importance during and following World War II. (Bill H.R. 3658 Full text) Watch Rep. Kay Granger present the bill to Congress here. 2.) Senate Bill (Click here to Vote!) S. 1862: A bill to grant the Congressional Gold M
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Robert M. Edsel
- Jun 6, 2014
A D-Day View from Monuments Man James Rorimer
While tens of thousands of Allied troops were flooding the beaches of Normandy on D-Day (June 6, 1944), the Monuments Men were impatiently waiting to cross the English Channel for their chance to contribute. For Monuments Man James Rorimer, and future director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the gravity of the situation gripped him that day: “We are told that the invasion of Western Europe by overwhelming forces is underway…Now I am thinking of the combat troops and the ta
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Robert M. Edsel
- Jan 15, 2014
70th Anniversary of the Bombing of Monte Cassino
On February 15, 1944, after weeks of demoralizing battle, 229 waves of Allied bombers dropped 493.5 tons of high explosives and incendiaries on the historic Abbey of Monte Cassino, completely devastating the building. The decision to bomb was made based on the belief that German troops occupied the Abbey. This was the first major test of Eisenhower’s directive of December 29, 1943 which stated that commanders must “respect those monuments so far as war allows.” But Eisenhowe
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