The Monuments Men
Page 43
Chapter 5: Leptis Magna
1.The collection of the former London Museum is today part of the Museum of London.
2.Woolley, The Protection of the Treasures of Art and History in War Areas, 14.
Chapter 6: The First Campaign
1.Woolley, The Protection of Treasures, 18.
2. Hammond letter to Reber, July 24, 1943, RG 165, NM-84, Entry 463, NARA.
3. Smyth, Repatriation of Art from the Collecting Point in Munich after World War II, 77.
4. Stout letter to Sachs, Sept 13, 1943, RG 239, M1944, roll 57, Frame 180, NARA.
The document on pp. 42–43 is drawn from Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Vol. III, 40–41.
Chapter 7: Monte Cassino
1. Report of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas, 68.
2. Ibid., 48.
3. Majdalany, Cassino, 122.
4. Ibid., 121–122.
5. Hapgood and Richardson, Monte Cassino, 227.
The document on p. 49 is drawn from Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Vol. III, 1.
Chapter 8: Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives
1. Ambrose, Eisenhower, 177.
2. Stout to Margie, October 31, 1943, roll 1420, Stout Papers.
3. Stout to Margie, January 17, 1944, roll 1421, Stout Papers.
4. Piña, Louis Rorimer, 123.
5. Woolley, The Protection of Treasures, 6.
Chapter 9: The Task
1. Report of the American Commission, 102.
2. Ambrose, Eisenhower, 301.
Section II
The letter on p. 69 is from the James J. Rorimer Papers, New York, NY.
Chapter 10: Winning Respect
1. D’Este, Eisenhower, 534.
2. Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers, 43.
3. Rorimer, Survival, 3–4.
4. Skilton, Defense de l’art Européen, 19.
5. Rorimer, Survival, 2.
6. Rorimer letter, February 4, 1944, Rorimer Papers.
7. Rorimer letter, March 10, 1944, Rorimer Papers.
8. Rorimer letter, June 6, 1944, Rorimer Papers.
9. Rorimer letter, April 30, 1944, Rorimer Papers.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Rorimer letter, May 7, 1944, Rorimer Papers.
13. Rorimer letter, April 6, 1944, Rorimer Papers.
14. Rorimer, Survival, 4.
15. Ibid., 8.
16. Ibid., 14.
The letter on p. 82 is from roll 1421, Stout Papers.
Chapter 11: A Meeting in the Field
1. Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers, 75.
2. Rorimer, Survival, 15.
3. “The Capital of the Ruins” was the title of a short report by Samuel Beckett, 1946.
4. Rorimer letter, undated, Rorimer Papers.
5. Ibid.
6. Smyth, Repatriation of Art, 16.
7. Rorimer, Survival, 19.
8. Ibid., 37.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid., 39.
The letter on p. 95 is from roll 1421, Stout Papers.
Chapter 12: Michelangelo’s Madonna
Details of this chapter are drawn from “Removal of Works of Art from the Church of Notre-Dame at Bruges,” Sept. 24, 1944. King’s College Archive Centre, Cambridge, The Papers of Ronald Edmond Balfour, Misc. 5.
Chapter 13: The Cathedral and the Masterpiece
1. Hancock to Saima, September 20, 1944, Walker Hancock Papers, Gloucester, MA.
2. Rorimer, Survival, 47.
3. Hancock to Saima, October 30, 1943.
4. Hancock, A Sculptor’s Fortunes, 129.
5. Hancock to Saima, October 31, 1943, Hancock Papers.
6. Hancock to Saima, October 30, 1943, Hancock Papers.
7. Hancock to Saima, January 28, 1944, Hancock Papers.
8. Hancock to Saima, April 11, 1944, Hancock Papers.
9. Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers, 110.
10. Hancock to Saima, October 6, 1944, Hancock Papers.
11. Interview with Bernard Taper.
12. Hancock, A Sculptor’s Fortunes, 136.
13. Hancock to Saima, October 6, 1944, Hancock Papers.
14. Hancock to Saima, October 10, 1944, Hancock Papers.
Chapter 14: Van Eyck’s Mystic Lamb
1. Interview with Robert Posey.
2. Posey to Alice, September 23, 1944, Robert Posey Papers, Scarsdale, NY.
Chapter 15: James Rorimer Visits the Louvre
1. Rorimer letter, September 8, 1944, Rorimer Papers.
2. Ibid.
3. Taylor, “The Rape of Europa,” 52.
4. Rorimer journal, September 27, 1944 entry, 28MFAA-J:-1-1, James J. Rorimer Papers, Gallery Archives, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
5. Simon, The Battle of the Louvre, 26.
6. Chamson, “In Memoriam, Jacques Jaujard,” 151.
7. Franz Graf Wolff-Metternich, “Concerning My Activities as Adviser on the Protection of Works of Art to O.K.H. from 1940–1942 (Kunstschutz),” p. 3, RG 239, M1944, Roll 89, frames 352–372, NARA.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., p. 12.
10. Ibid., attachment “Re: Professor Dr. Graf Franz Wolff-Metternich, born 31.12.99 in Felkingen, Catholic, married, Provinzialkonservator for the Rhine, living in Bonn, Blücherstrasse 2.”
11. Rayssac, L’Exode des Musées, 853.
12. Ibid., 706.
13. Von Choltitz, “Pourquoi en 1944 je n’ai pas détruit Paris.”
The letter on pp. 136–138 comes from the Rorimer Papers.
Chapter 16: Entering Germany
1. Hancock to Saima, October 25, 1944, Hancock Papers.
2. Photo no. 00060179, Ullstein Bild.
3. Hancock to Saima, October 25, 1944, Hancock Papers.
4. Hancock, “Experiences of a Monuments Officer in Germany,” 273.
5. Hancock, A Sculptor’s Fortunes, 139.
6. Ibid., 140.
7. Ibid.
8. Hancock journal, Hancock Papers.
Chapter 17: A Field Trip
1. Hancock, “Experiences of a Monuments Officer in Germany,” 277.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid., 279.
4. Ibid.
5. The analysis notes are drawn from Hancock journal, November 18, 1944, Hancock Papers.
The letter on pp. 153–154 is from roll 1421, Stout Papers.
Chapter 18: Tapestry
1. Canady, “James Rorimer Left Cloisters to Excel in a Bigger Job.”
2. Rayssac, L’Exode des Musées, 695.
3. Rorimer, Survival, 93.
4. Ibid.
5. Rorimer notes on Valland, 28MFAA-J:-2-11, Rorimer Papers, NGA.
6. Ibid.
Chapter 19: Christmas Wishes
1. Sasser, Patton’s Panthers, 127.
2. D’Este, Patton, 685.
3. Posey to Alice, July 9, 1944, Posey Papers.
4. Posey to Dennis, March 1, 1945, Posey Papers.
5. Nicholas, The Rape of Europa, 224.
The letter on pp. 171–172 is from the Posey Papers.
Chapter 20: The Madonna of La Gleize
The letter on pp. 175–176 is from the Hancock Papers.
Chapter 21: The Train
1. Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, Vol. III, 186.
2. Rose Valland note, July 28, 1944, R32-1, Archives des Musées Nationaux.
3. Rose Valland note, August 16, 1944, R32-1, Archives des Musées Nationaux.
4. Rose Valland note, February 1944, R32-1, Archives des Musées Nationaux.
5. Rose Valland note, August 20, 1944, R32-1, Archives des Musées Nationaux.
6. Michel Rayssac, Historail, January 2008.
7. Rorimer, Survival, 112.
8. Valland, Le Front de L’Art, 218.
9. Rorimer letter, April 23, 1944, Rorimer Papers.
10. Rorimer letter, October 22, 1944, Rorimer Papers.
11. Rorimer letter, June 6, 1944, Rorimer Papers.
12. Rose Valland letter, October 21, 1944, Archives des Musées Nationaux.
13. Rorimer Manuscript, 28MFAA-J:-3-14, Rorimer Papers, NGA.
Chapter 22: The Bulge
1. Posey to Alice, December 16, 1944, Posey Papers.
2. Ibid.
3. Stout to Margie, January 10, 1945, Roll 1421, Stout Papers.
4. Author’s interview with Robert Posey.
Chapter 23: Champagne
1. The details on the arrival of the Germans at the Jeu de Paume are drawn from Valland, Le Front de l’Art, chapter 7.
2. Ibid., 67.
3. Ibid., 68.
4. Ibid., 59.
5. The details on the liberation of Paris are drawn from Valland, Le Front de l’Art, chapter 23.
6. Valland letter, October 27, 1944, Archives des Musées Nationaux.
Chapter 24: A German Jew in the U.S. Army
The material in this chapter is drawn from the author’s interview with Harry Ettlinger, 2008; and Ettlinger, “Ein Amerikaner.”
Chapter 25: Coming Through the Battle
1. Hancock, “Experiences of a Monuments Officer in Germany,” 285.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
Chapter 26: The New Monuments Man
1. Duberman, The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein, 373.
2. Ibid., 387.
3. Ibid.
4. Rorimer letter, June 27, 1944, Rorimer Papers.
5. Kirstein letter to Cairns, October 13, 1944, box 13-202, MGZMD, 97, Lincoln Kirstein Papers, ca. 1914–1991, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division, Archives.
6. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, as cited in Martin Gray and A. Norman Jeffares, eds., A Dictionary of Quotations (New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1995), 323.
Chapter 27: George Stout with His Maps
1. Stout to Margie, undated letter, January 30–February 8, 1945, roll 1421, Stout Papers.
2. Journal entry, January 29, 1945, roll 1378, Stout Papers.
3. Stout to Margie, March 6, 1945, roll 1421, Stout Papers.
4. Stout to Margie, April 6, 1945, roll 1421, Stout Papers.
5. Stout to Margie, March 6, 1945, roll 1421, Stout Papers.
Chapter 28: Art on the Move
1. Yeide, Beyond the Dreams of Avarice, 17.
2. Sigmund, Die Frauen der Nazis, 65.
Chapter 29: Two Turning Points
The details of Ronald Balfour’s death are drawn from “Translation of Article in Rheinpost 12th September 1985, Hachmann, The Sexton, Eyewitness of Major Balfour’s Death,” King’s College Archive Centre, Cambridge, The Papers of Ronald Edmond Balfour, Misc. 5.
1. Hobbs, “A Michelangelo in Belgium?”
2. Rorimer letter, February 18, 1945, Rorimer Papers.
3. From Rorimer Manuscript, ERR 20, box 3-9, Rorimer Papers.
4. The details on the Nazis’ burning of art in 1943 are taken from notes made by Rose Valland and Jacqueline Bouchot-Saupique based on Valland’s eyewitness account, July 20, 1943, and July 23, 1943, Archives des Musées Nationaux. This story has been challenged by some historians, including Matila Simon in The Battle of the Louvre.
5. Rorimer, Survival, 114.
Chapter 30: Hitler’s Nero Decree
1. Speer, Inside the Third Reich, 437.
2. Ibid., 562.
Chapter 31: First Army Across the Rhine
1. Hancock to Saima, March 12, 1945, Hancock Papers.
2. Ibid.
3. Stout to Margie, March 19, 1945, roll 1421, Stout Papers.
Chapter 32: Treasure Map
1. Posey to Alice, March 18, 1945, Posey Papers.
2. Kirstein to Groozle, March 24, 1945, box 2-25, MGZMD 97, Kirstein Papers. Kirstein used a variety of nicknames for those in his inner circle, most of them a variation of “Goosie”; for this reason it is difficult to determine with certainty the recipient of a letter so addressed.
3. “St. Lô to Alt Aussee,” Posey Papers.
4. Kirstein to Groozle, March 24, 1945, box 2-25, MGZMD 97, Kirstein Papers.
5. Ibid.
6. Posey to Dennis, March 23, 1945, Posey Papers.
7. Posey, “Protection of Cultural Monuments During Combat,” 130.
8. Kirstein, “Arts and Monuments,” The Poems of Lincoln Kirstein, 264.
9. Kirstein, “Quest for the Golden Lamb,” 183.
10. Kirstein, “Arts and Monuments,” 265.
11. Bunjes letter presented at Nuremberg trials, Nuremberg Trials, Volume 9, 547–549.
12. Kirstein, “Quest for the Golden Lamb,” 183.
Chapter 33: Frustration
1. Rorimer letter, undated, Rorimer Papers.
2. Speer, Inside the Third Reich, 452–453.
3. Ibid., 453.
4. Ibid., 453–454.
5. Ibid., 455.
The letter on pp. 275–276 is from the Hancock Papers.
The letter on pp. 277–279 is from roll 1421, Stout Papers.
Chapter 34: Inside the Mountain
1. Hancock to Saima, April 4, 1945, Hancock Papers.
Chapter 35: Lost
1. Nicholas, The Rape of Europa, 332.
2. Hancock to Saima, November 25, 1945, Hancock Papers.
Chapter 36: A Week to Remember
1. Kirstein, “The Mine at Merkers,” box 13-206, MGZMD 97, Kirstein Papers.
2. Bradsher, “Nazi Gold: The Merkers Mine Treasure,” 8.
3. Posey to Alice, April 9, 1945, Posey Papers.
4. Kirstein, “The Mine at Merkers.”
5. Kirstein, “Hymn,” The Poems of Lincoln Kirstein, 274.
6. Stout journal, April 11, 1945, roll 1378, Stout Papers.
7. Bradsher, “Nazi Gold: The Merkers Mine Treasure,” 8.
8. D’Este, Eisenhower, 686.
9. David Eisenhower, Eisenhower at War, 763.
10. Bradley, A General’s Life, 428.
11. D’Este, Eisenhower, 720.
12. Ibid.
13. Kirstein, “The Mine at Merkers.”
14. Kirstein to Ma and Goosie, April 13, 1945, box 2-24, MGZMD, Kirstein Papers.
15. Stout journal, April 13, 1945, roll 1378, Stout Papers.
16. Ibid.
17. Stout journal, April 15, 1945, roll 1378, Stout Papers.
18. Stout journal, April 16, 1945, roll 1378, Stout Papers.
19. Ibid.
20. Stout journal, April 17, 1945, roll 1378, Stout Papers.
21. Kirstein, “The Mine at Merkers.”
22. Stout to Margie, April 19, 1945, roll 1421, Stout Papers.
23. Posey to Alice, April 20, 1945, Posey Papers.
Chapter 37: Salt
1. Photograph, Posey Papers. The word stürtzen was misspelled on the crate; stürzen would be the correct spelling.
2. Ambrose, Eisenhower, 392.
3. Ibid., 391.
4. Hobbs, Dear General, 223.
5. Ambrose, Eisenhower, 400.
6. Hirshon, General Patton, 628.
7. Ambrose, Eisenhower, 393.
Chapter 38: Horror
1. Hancock to Saima, April 9, 1945, Hancock Papers.
2. Hancock to Saima, April 12, 1945, Hancock Papers.
3. Hancock, A Sculptor’s Fortunes, 157.
4. Ibid., 158.
5. Hancock to Saima, April 20, 1945, Hancock Papers.
6. Hancock to Saima, April 15, 1945, Hancock Papers.
7. Kirstein to Goosie, April 20, 1945, box 2-24, MGZMD 97, Kirstein Papers.
8. Ibid.
9. Kirstein to Miss Marshall, April 24, 1945, box 8-90, MGZMD 123, Kirstein Papers.
Chapter 39: The Gauleiter
1. Pöchmüller, Welt-Kunstschätze in Gefahr, 57.
2. Kubin, Sonderauftrag Linz, 100.
3. Pöchmüller, Welt-Kunstschätze in Gefahr, 58.
Chapter 40: The Battered Mine
The details of the scene at Heilbronn are drawn from Rorimer, Survival, 135–143.
1. Rorimer, Survival, 137.
2. Rorimer letter, April 25, 1945, Rorimer Papers.
Chapter 41: Last Birthday
1. Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, 105–106.
2. Ibid., 97.
3. Wheelock, ed., Johannes Vermeer, 168.
Chapter 42: Plans
1. Stout journal, May 1, 1945, Stout Papers.
2. Pöchmüller, Welt-Kunstschätze in Gefahr, 68.
3. Rorimer, Survival, 160–161.
Chapter 43: The Noose
The details on Hitler’s will writing, marriage, and suicide are drawn from Joachimsthaler, The Last Days of Hitler, 128–130.
1. Adolf Hitler, “Last Will and Testament,” April 30, 1945, RG 238 Entry 1 NM—66, U.S. Counsel for the Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Box 189, F: 3569—PS, NARA.
2. Hitler dictated a “political testament” and a “private will” on April 29, 1945. The following day he committed suicide. At least three, but probably four, copies were signed and witnessed. Three copies were dispatched from the underground shelter in the Reichschancellery after Hitler’s death; the top copy to Grand Admiral Dönitz (courier Zander); another (without the “private will”) to Field Marshal Schörner (courier Johannmayer); and the third to the Nazi Party archives in Munich (courier Lorenz). None of the three couriers carrying these documents reached their destination, and the testaments and wills were later discovered in different hiding places. The set intended for Dönitz is now in the National Archives in College Park, Md. and the others are held by the Imperial War Museum in London. It is possible that Bormann carried the third “private will” with him when he left the bunker on the evening of May 1, 1945. It seems that a fourth set was likely handed over to the Soviet lieutenant general Vasily Ivanovich Chuikov during German general Hans Krebs’s fruitless cease-fire negotiations on May 1, 1945. It is unlikely that Hitler intended a fourth copy to be transmitted to the Russians. This was most probably a maneuver arranged by Goebbels and Bormann during the evening of April 30, 1945. Depending on whether Hitler’s signature on the fourth set can be determined as fake, he would either not have known of this fourth set (all witnesses would have still been in the bunker, though, to sign themselves and Bormann or Göbbels could have arranged that Frau Junge had slipped a fourth carbon in the typewriter), or it could have been that the fourth set was intended to be for Generalfeldmarschall Kesselring, who on April 29, 1945, was still involved in an independent surrender to the Allies in Italy and yet retained Hitler’s confidence. There is no evidence that at the time when Hitler was making his will he had withdrawn his confidence in Kesselring. Therefore Kesselring as a potential recipient of a fourth set of “political testament” and “private will” is not improbable.