Rashmi bookmarks “The Monuments Men”

by Robert M. Edsel.

In a special meeting held at the Met in 1941, the Fogg Art Museum's associate director Paul Sachs addressed the war and its impact on the arts community: "If, in time of peace, our museums and art galleries are important to the community, in time of war they are doubly valuable. For then, when the petty and the trivial fall way and we are face to face with final and lasting values, we...must summon to our defense all our intellectual and spiritual resources ... Art is the imperishable and dynamic expression of these aims. It is, and always has been, the visible evidence of the activity of free minds."

Along with every other physical and emotional plunder, Adolf Hitler had set about stealing the finest art treasures in Europe, a process wherein he and his armies took it upon themselves to judge what art deserved to be preserved, and what could be ruthlessly destroyed. Set in 1944-1945, “The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History” is the account of a mission to save some of the world's greatest art from the Nazis.

Without a question this is a fascinating slice of history, and there were so many things here that I was not aware of. (For one, I did not think it possible to hate the Nazis any more, but after reading this book, I do). More importantly however, this recount sheds light on the extremely adverse conditions that the MFAA (Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives) men and women worked under. With little or no official / political support, or access to arms and ammunition, a small band of American and British art historians, museum curators and academicians risked their very lives to save cultural treasures. James Rorimer. Lincoln Kirstein. Walker Hancock. George Stout. Rose Valland. Harry Ettlinger. It is a pity that these names are not more well-known as war heroes.

Overall, however, while this is definitely an important part of history - and something that is unfortunately not as common knowledge as it should be - just as a reading experience, the narrative left much to be desired. Perhaps an introduction to the mission and its background could have been followed by a report of a handful of missions and/or highlights. Detailing each and every mission became very repetitive, and I reached a point where I had to force myself to finish the book.