A painting by Leonardo da Vinci, stolen; another by Caravaggio, destroyed; a portrait by Raphael – along with thousands of other works of art – still missing. This is the legacy of Hitler, Göring, and other Nazis’ looting of Europe and Russia during World War II. Hitler diverted attention from the prosecution of the war to the systematic theft of Europe’s greatest art. His dream of building the world’s greatest museum- the Führer Museum in his hometown of Linz, Austria- obsessed him to the bitter end.

Museum officials and volunteers in Europe took extraordinary measures to protect art from Hitler and the ensuing war. When U.S. forces landed in Europe, they assembled a special force of American and British museum directors, curators, and art historians known as the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section. These “Monuments Men” attempted to minimize damage to European monuments and architecture, then track down stolen works of art. Their effort would become one of the greatest “treasure hunts” in history. In the end, Allied Forces located more then 1,000 repositories, in mines and castles, many of which contained art, sculpture, furniture, and other treasures stolen by the Nazis. But many pieces are still missing. Efforts to locate and return missing art continue to this day.

This book tells the story of the Nazi theft and Allied rescue of Europe’s art in brief text and hundreds of photographs from the period. Photographs rarely published – with clarity not seen before – illustrate masterpieces being handled in unimaginable ways.

“Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine was returned to the Czartoryski Collection after the war by Polish Monuments officer Major Karol Estreicher, MFAA officer Lt. Frank P. Albright, Everett Parker Lesly and an unidentified American GIs. This photo was taken upon their arrival at the Cracow Main Railway Station.”

One of Leonardo da Vinci’s great masterpieces, widely presumed to be a portrait of the Duke of Milan’s mistress (Cecilia Gallerani), the Lady with an Ermine had been in the collection of the noble Czartoryski family in Poland for several generations. At the onset of World War II, the family hid their treasures at their country estate. But the Nazis found and stole much of the Czartoryski collection, including Lady with an Ermine, in September 1939.

During the war, the painting was the object of competing affections between Governor-General Hans Frank and Hermann Göring. Kajetan Mühlmann, Nazi SS officer and “Special Delegate for the Securing of Art and Cultural Goods,” carried the painting from Cracow to Berlin and back on several occasions. After the war the Allies captured Frank and discovered the portrait in his possession. It was one of many Polish treasures returned by train to Cracow in late April 1946. This photograph shows Da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine with Polish Monuments officer, Karol Estreicher, who escorted the painting home from Germany.

Lady with an Ermine (click for color photo of the painting)