Monuments Men Discovering Manet “Wintergarden” at Merkers (courtesy National Archives and Records Administration)
The feature film “Monuments Men” gives educators a wonderful opportunity to teach about this fascinating effort by the US forces under Gen. Dwight Eisenhower to rescue the art treasures of Europe. See the resources below, as well as our Featured Document and Featured Video selections on this topic.
Background to the Story
Commission for Art Recovery (Ronald Lauder) – Click on Resources to find links to many websites with policy papers and other information about looted art.
Monuments Men Education – The site has lesson plans, videos and more.
Monuments Men Foundation: For Educators — The educators section of this site offers their curriculum “The Greatest Theft in History” available for purchase. This features the award winning documentary “The Rape of Europa.” View sample lesson plans on this page and a clip of an interview with Harry Ettlinger, one of the original “Monuments Men.”
Monuments Men and Nazi Treasures: 10-page prologue to the book published by the National Archives and Records Administration
Not All Monuments Men Were Men – Article in the New York Times about women civilian art experts who accompanied the male team to rescue stolen art in Germany during the war.
Multimedia
Monuments Men Foundation YouTube Channel – Twenty-two videos about the Monuments Men, including historic films and later interviews.
National Archives Holocaust-Era Images : A collection of photographs depicting US soldiers examining art stored in German salt mines and castles.
Podcasts — Excerpts from interviews with the Monuments Men
Speech by Sgt. Harry Ettlinger – speech by the last remaining member of the Monuments Men
Video excerpt of Nuremberg trial on plundered art and property from Jewish homes
Alfred Rosenberg, Hitler’s Art Man
Alfred Rosenberg Diary at USHMM – Rosenberg was the head of the “Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg” [Task Force of the Reichsleiter Rosenberg, or ERR], which led the effort to plunder the art treasures of Europe, shipping more than one million railroad cars of artwork and artifacts to Germany by war’s end. See also the article on Rosenberg.
Video about Rosenberg and the recovery of the diary (ICE)