Monuments Men: The Story Of How FDR Stole 20% Of Europe's Art Back From The Nazis

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World War II, Hitler and Joseph Goebbels looking at works of art stolen from the Italians. (Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Do you remember the 2014 film The Monuments Men, starring George Clooney and Matt Damon? It was loosely based on a book that told the real-life story of a group of people tasked with hunting down and reclaiming priceless works of art and important cultural artifacts from the Nazis during World War II. Thanks to the book and movie, people today are more aware than ever of the story of the Monuments Men and how the U.S. was instrumental in recovering a significant chunk of Europe's art.

Hitler And Art

Adolf Hitler was a frustrated artist himself, so he understood the monetary and cultural value of art. Naturally, after World War II broke out, he sent his forces to loot the great estates, churches, museums, libraries, galleries, and universities of Europe, where they seized paintings, sculptures, religious artifacts, books, musical instruments, and other cultural artifacts with the goal of destroying Jewish art and preserving that which supported his idea of the superiority of the Aryan race. They took priceless works by many of the great masters—including Picasso, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, and Michelangelo—and Hitler himself sifted through the documentation, hand-picking the pieces he wanted to display in an art museum he planned to build in Austria. When the Allied nations got word of the plan from museum officials and art historians, they formed the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, a group of about 350 (mostly) volunteers representing 13 countries who were charged with the recovery of the stolen art. They eventually became known simply as the Monuments Men.