The monuments men
Allied heros, Nazi thieves, and the greatest treasure hunt in history
About this book
At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing the art he planned to collect as well as the art he would destroy: "degenerate" works he despised.In a race against time, behind enemy lines, often unarmed, a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, art historians, and others, called the Momuments Men, risked their lives scouring Europe to prevent the destruction of thousands of years of culture. Focusing on the eleven-month period between D-Day and V-E Day, this fascinating account follows six Monuments Men and their impossible mission to save the world's great art from the Nazis.
Subjects
- allied forces
- allied forces. supreme headquarters. monuments, fine arts and archives section
- antiquarian
- art and the war
- art thefts
- art treasures in war
- confiscations and contributions
- cultural property
- cultural property, protection
- destruction and pillage
- history
- new york times bestseller
- nonfiction
- nyt:combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction=2014-01-26
- protection
- world war, 1939-1945
- world war, 1939-1945, art and the war
- world war, 1939-1945, confiscations and contributions
- world war, 1939-1945, destruction and pillage
- world war, 1939-1945, europe
- world war, 1939-1945, germany