The Monuments Men (61 page)

BERNTERODE, GERMANY, MAY 1945: The bronze coffin of Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia was one of four enormous coffins found at the Bernterode repository by Monuments Man Walker Hancock.
(Walker Hancock Collection)

BERNTERODE, GERMANY, MAY 1945 Monuments Men George Stout (left), Walker Hancock (center right), and Steven Kovalyak (right) during the excavation of Bernterode. The soldier standing between Stout and Hancock is a Sgt. Travese.
(Walker Hancock Collection)

ALTAUSSEE, AUSTRIA, MAY 1945: Dr. Hermann Michel, Monuments Man Robert Posey, and an unidentified U.S. Army officer standing in front of the mine administration building during the confusing initial days after arriving at the Altaussee mine.
(Robert Posey Collection)

ALTAUSSEE, AUSTRIA, MAY 1945: Austrian mine workers, including Karl Sieber (seated at lower left, in suit) and Dr. Hermann Michel (seated between two U.S. Army soldiers), are sitting on two of the half-ton bombs that had been hidden in crates marked “Attention - Marble - Do Not Drop.”
(Robert Posey Collection)

ALTAUSSEE, AUSTRIA, MAY 17, 1945: Monuments Men Robert Posey and Lincoln Kirstein were greeted by the terrifying scene of “palsied” tunnels upon their arrival on May 13, 1945. Within several days, however, they were able to inspect the mine’s contents. Here, a mine worker and a GI sit atop the rubble, spades in the foreground, after having created enough space to pass over to the other side.
(Robert Posey Collection)

ALTAUSSEE, AUSTRIA, MAY 1945: One of the many mine chambers in which the Nazis had constructed wooden shelves to house the enormous number of stolen works of art. To understand the volume of space in this one chamber, note the nine-foot ladder in the center right portion of the photograph.
(Robert Posey Collection)

ALTAUSSEE, AUSTRIA, JULY 10, 1945: Removal of priceless works of art from the salt mine at Altaussee posed problems for Monuments Man George Stout unlike any ever contemplated. Stout constructed a pulley to lift Michelangelo’s
Bruges Madonna
onto the salt cart to begin its long trip home to Belgium. Visible on the far left is Monuments Man Steve Kovalyak, an expert in packing art, who was a key assistant to Stout.
(National Gallery, Washington, D.C., Gallery Archives)

ALTAUSSEE, AUSTRIA, JULY 1945: The central panel of the Ghent Altarpiece, due to its size and weight, proved particularly challenging to move through the narrow passageways. Other panels of the altarpiece are visible in the background behind Stout. Note the tissue that has been applied to the painted surface to secure loose or flaking paint, a process known as “facing.” Stout was proud of his U.S. Navy background and usually wore an “N” for “Navy” on his jacket or helmet.
(National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD)

HEILBRONN, GERMANY, 1945: This
Self Portrait
by Rembrandt, inspected by Monuments Men Dale V. Ford and Harry Ettlinger (right), was stored for safekeeping by museum officials from Karlsruhe in the Heilbronn mine. The painting was ultimately returned to the Karlsruhe Museum. This was just one of thousands of paintings and other works of art that were found in Heilbronn, as can be seen by the crates stacked behind each man.
(National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD)

NEW JERSEY: Almost sixty-five years later, Harry Ettlinger reflects with pride on a life well-lived as a Monuments Man as he stands in front of his grandfather’s print of the very painting he was never allowed to see as a Jewish boy growing up in Karlsruhe, Germany.
(Bill Stahl)

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Secondary Figures

John Edward Dixon-Spain:
World War I Veteran; British Monuments Man assigned to U.S. First Army with George Stout

S. Lane Faison Jr.:
Served in the OSS, precursor to the CIA; interrogated many Nazis involved in artistic and cultural looting

Dale V. Ford:
Interior designer; Monuments Man assigned to U.S. Seventh Army after the end of active hostilities; worked with Harry Ettlinger at the Heilbronn mine

Ralph Hammett:
Architect; Monuments Man assigned to Communications Zone

Mason Hammond:
Classics scholar; advisor on fine arts and monuments, Sicily, and the unofficial first Monuments Man

Albert Henraux:
President of the French Commission de Récupération Artistique

Thomas Carr Howe Jr.:
Director of the California Palace of the Legion of Honor in San Francisco; Monuments officer assigned to Altaussee

Sheldon Keck:
Conservator; assistant Monuments officer assigned to Walter “Hutch” Huchthausen in U.S. Ninth Army

Stephen Kovalyak:
Athletic coach; Monuments officer assigned to various repository evacuations

Bancel LaFarge:
Architect; first Monuments Man ashore in Normandy, when attached to British Second Army; promoted to SHAEF headquarters in France in early 1945