{"id":6055,"date":"2026-04-30T16:38:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/?post_type=newsletter&p=6055"},"modified":"2026-04-30T16:38:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:38:37","slug":"monuments-men","status":"publish","type":"newsletter","link":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/newsletter\/monuments-men\/","title":{"rendered":"MONUMENTS MEN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Recovering of spoiled artworks<\/em>, 1945. James J. Rorimer papers, 1921\u20131982., Washington DC, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution (inv. 9944)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In May 1945, the Monuments Men entered the Altaussee salt mine for the first time. Deep within its galleries, they discovered thousands of works of art in storage \u2014 paintings, drawings, sculptures, books, furniture, and decorative objects \u2014 all looted by the Nazis. What followed was an extraordinary mission of recovery and restitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. troops discover artworks looted by the Nazis in the church in Ellingen, Germany, April 24, 1945

\u00a9 National Archives and Records Administration<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beginning in the fall of 1940, the Reich embassy in Paris organized the systematic looting of works of art, carried out by the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) under the command of Alfred Rosenberg. In Paris and across the provinces, the ERR sought out the works held in the greatest private and dealer collections, particularly those belonging to Jewish families. Inventoried, catalogued, and packed into crates, the works were gathered at the Jeu de Paume, where high-ranking Nazi officials hoping to claim them for themselves came to admire the pieces. The most prestigious works were first set aside for Hitler, who had been planning since 1939 to build the F\u00fchrermuseum in Linz, his hometown. Reichsmarschall Hermann G\u00f6ring, a voracious collector, then reserved the most important pieces for himself. Stamped H or G according to their intended recipient, shipments of art left Paris on a regular basis bound for Germany. In all, nearly 100,000 works were looted in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeu de Paume Museum, Exhibition for G\u00f6ring\u2019s visit, circa 1940, Archives diplomatiques, Service fran\u00e7ais de r\u00e9cup\u00e9ration artistique (inv. 209SUP\/991)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Faced with the scale of the looting and destruction of works of art, the Allied armies established the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA), better known as the Monuments Men. The unit brought together some 345 men and women from thirteen different nations, many of them museum curators and art historians. Initially working from abroad, they followed the Allied bombing campaigns from 1944 onward to rescue works from the rubble. Once they reached Germany, the nature of their mission shifted: rather than focusing on the preservation of damaged works, they now set out to locate the countless caches of looted art that the Nazis had hidden across Germany and Austria. The Altaussee salt mine was one of the largest of these depots, and the site where works destined for the Linz museum had been stored. Neuschwanstein Castle also housed a great many pieces, along with a restoration workshop set up by the Nazis. A massive operation of collection, sorting, and shipment then got underway: nearly 1,400 caches were ultimately discovered, and more than 5 million works and documents were returned by 1951.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward Adams, Buxheim repository packing and crafting shop, showing men packing up artworks from a Rothschild residence in Paris<\/em>, 1945, James J. Rorimer papers, 1921\u20131982, Washington DC, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution (inv. 9943)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In Paris, the Monuments Men found invaluable allies in Jacques Jaujard (1895\u20131967) and Rose Valland (1898\u20131980). Jaujard, director of the Mus\u00e9es Nationaux, spent the entire war protecting public collections as well as those of many private owners, including the Rothschild, David-Weil, and Bernheim families. In November 1944, he supported the creation of the Commission de R\u00e9cup\u00e9ration Artistique (CRA), tasked with finding the owners of looted works brought back to France by the Monuments Men. Fittingly housed at the Jeu de Paume, the commission oversaw the restitution of nearly 45,000 works. Rose Valland, who had been in charge of the museum during its use by the ERR, meticulously documented the works the Nazis stored there and their intended destinations. It was she who pointed Monuments Man James Rorimer (1905\u20131966) \u2014 a curator at the Metropolitan Museum before the war \u2014 toward the Neuschwanstein depot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Document from Maurice de Rothschild\u2019s restitution file, showing Madame du Barry\u2019s chest of drawers, now in the Mus\u00e9e du Louvre (inv. OA 11293), Archives diplomatiques, Service fran\u00e7ais de r\u00e9cup\u00e9ration artistique (inv. 209SUP\/1007)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eighteenth-century decorative arts made up a significant share of the looted works. Major collections were plundered, including those of Maurice, \u00c9douard, and Edmond de Rothschild, David David-Weil, and Jean Seligmann. Eighteenth-century masterpieces were shipped to Germany, among them Madame du Barry\u2019s chest of drawers, mounted with S\u00e8vres porcelain plaques and attributed to Martin Carlin (Mus\u00e9e du Louvre, inv. OA 11293). A Japanese lacquer secretary by Adam Weisweiler (1746\u20131820), formerly part of \u00c9douard de Rothschild\u2019s collection during the Second World War, is now in our gallery\u2019s collection. Seized in 1940, it was sent to Neuschwanstein Castle alongside some of the most important works from the Rothschild collections. Discovered there by the Monuments Men, it was returned to France in October 1945. Thanks to the CRA, it was finally restored to the Rothschild family in 1946.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adam Weisweiler (cabinetmaking attributed to), Fran\u00e7ois R\u00e9mond (bronzes attributed to), Louis-Simon Boizot (after), Claude Ramey (after), Secretary with the effigy of Minerva<\/em>, circa 1790\u20131795, formerly part of the collection of Alphonse and later \u00c9douard de Rothschild, confiscated in 1940, sent to Neuschwanstein, and recovered by the Monuments Men in 1945, before being returned to the Rothschilds in 1946, Galerie L\u00e9age<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today, several thousand works have yet to be reunited with their rightful owners. In France, the works known as Mus\u00e9es Nationaux R\u00e9cup\u00e9ration (MNR), placed in the custody of the museums of France in 1949, are still awaiting identification of their provenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Bibliography:<\/strong>
Hector Feliciano, Le Mus\u00e9e Disparu. Enqu\u00eate sur le pillage d\u2019oeuvres d\u2019art en France par les nazis<\/em>, Gallimard, 2008
Melissa Muller, Monika Tatzkow, Marc Masurovsky, \u0152uvres vol\u00e9es, destins bris\u00e9s. L\u2019histoire des collections juives pill\u00e9es par les nazis<\/em>, Beaux-Arts \u00e9ditions, 2009<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monuments Men and Women Foundation: https:\/\/www.monumentsmenandwomenfnd.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archives diplomatiques, Service fran\u00e7ais de r\u00e9cup\u00e9ration artistique, 209SUP<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

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In May 1945, the Monuments Men entered the Altaussee salt mine for the first time. Deep within its galleries, they discovered thousands of works of art in storage \u2014 paintings, drawings, sculptures, books, furniture, and decorative objects \u2014 all looted by the Nazis. What followed was an extraordinary mission of recovery and restitution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6056,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","inline_featured_image":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6055","newsletter","type-newsletter","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"url_news1":{"simple_value_formatted":"","value_formatted":"","value":"","field":{"ID":438,"key":"field_64c00914a1189","label":"URL","name":"url_news1","aria-label":"","prefix":"acf","type":"url","value":null,"menu_order":0,"instructions":"","required":0,"id":"","class":"","conditional_logic":0,"parent":437,"wrapper":{"width":"","class":"","id":""},"only_front":0,"frontend_admin_display_mode":"edit","no_values_message":"","wp-typography":"none","default_value":"","placeholder":"","wpml_cf_preferences":1,"_name":"url_news1","_valid":1}}},"mcc_id":null,"mcc_type":null,"mcc_status":null,"mcc_create_time":null,"mcc_send_time":null,"mcc_emails_sent":null,"mcc_delivery_status":null,"mcc_content_type":null,"mcc_archive_url":null,"mcc_long_archive_url":null,"mcc_plain_text":null,"mcc_content_html":null,"mcc_recipients":null,"mcc_list_id":null,"mcc_list_name":null,"mcc_segment_text":null,"mcc_recipient_count":null,"mcc_settings":null,"mcc_tracking":null,"mcc_social_card":null,"mcc_report_summary":null,"mcc___links":null,"mcc__edit_lock":null,"mcc__edit_last":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter\/6055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/newsletter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6055"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter\/6055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6070,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newsletter\/6055\/revisions\/6070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galerieleage.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}