Preserving Culture: The Monuments Men and WWII Art Conservation

Art is an expression of human creativity. Artistic objects include various visual representations such as monuments, structures, museums, paintings and sculptures. Robert M. Edsel, the author of The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and The Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, illustrates the effort made by men to conserve art during World War II. This war demolished various European cities and artifacts. During the war, a team of men bonded together to save these artifacts. The goal was not only to save the art from the destruction of the war, but also most notably from Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. Were The Monuments Men’s causes important to the war? Was art worth the protection of The Monuments Men and possibly their lives? Art

Art is a key element in understanding history and culture. It is the written words, drawings, constructions of a nation. Eric Mortimer Wheeler, an archaeologist and British officer, was part of one of the first efforts to conserve art during the war. A fellow officer asked Eric Wheeler how important the destruction to buildings in Leptis Magna, a great city of a Roman emperor, by the British army were. His words were, “They’re irreplaceable. They’re history. They’re… It’s our duty as soldiers to protect them, sir. If we don’t, the enemy will use that against us (Edsel 35)”. Another example of art’s importance is seen when Walter Hancock gave a Torah to a Jewish chaplin. It was previously thought by Jewish survivors at his previous service that all Torah scrolls were destroyed. When the Jewish chaplin brought it to his next service, the scroll received great emotional response, “the people weeping, reaching for it, kissing it, overcome, with joy at the sight of the symbol of their faith (Edsel 310)”. Art protection was crucial during World War II. “This was the moment of art conservation; there was not a second to lose if the world’s cultural patrimony was going to be preserved (Edsel 27)”. The Monuments Men were a group of skilled technicians tasked with the job of conserving art at the time of World War II. “Their initial responsibility was to mitigate

The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) “was still struggling to become relevant (Edsel 52)”. For example, when Private First Class Lincoln Kirstein arrived in England to join the Monuments Men operation, no one informed he was coming or have even heard of The Monuments Men. “The base at Shrivenham was filled with civilian experts and Civil Affairs officers, but there was no military structure in place for the MFAA organization at all (Edsel 223)”. Additionally, when a list of monuments that were to be protected during Operation Overload in France, the following illustrates the view of others on the importance of this Monuments Men document during the war. “The MFAA list of Protected Monuments was rejected by field officers as too comprehensive and detrimental to battlefield maneuvers (Edsel 64).” The MFAA was not taken as seriously as other soldiers, and that was because their job about preserving art was not seen as that