Both images: National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD
MERKERS, GERMANY, APRIL 12, 1945: Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr. and Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower inspect the German museum treasures stored in the Merkers mine.
HEILBRONN, GERMANY, 1945: This Self-Portrait by Rembrandt, being inspected by Monuments Men Dale V. Ford and Harry Ettlinger (right), was stored for safe-keeping in the Heilbronn mine.
you working on?’ I’d say, ‘I don’t know all the details on this but there is this group known as Monuments Men. Here’s what they did…. But tell me about what you’re doing?’ And — it still happens — people would say, ‘Forget what I’m doing. Go back to what you’re doing. How come I’ve never heard about this?’” These unexpected military heroes increasingly fascinated him. “Why in the heck would a bunch of guys in their 40s who had life made by any standard — with established careers, most of them with families — walk away from that, risking their lives during combat to protect works of art. Why would they do that?” Why do ordinary people do extraordinary things? In the case of the Monuments Men, their contribution to history inspired and motivated Edsel. “That’s the beating heart of the story, in my view, that hasn’t been told,” he says. “It’s not focusing on the bad guys, but focusing on the good guys and in the process, figuring
out why they did it. And how did they get General Eisenhower’s support. And how did everything get back the way that it was?” Clearly, American leaders, including Eisenhower, understood the sweeping ramifications a worldwide war could have on the objects that define cultures, nowhere more so than in Europe.
Rose Valland
Captain Walter “Hutch” Huchthausen
“The issue of preservation of cultural treasures is on the front page of our newspapers every single day whether it’s Syria, Mali, and Cairo — that issue
Captain Robert Posey
is not going away.” But the idea began with these dedicated men and women. Monuments officers remained on duty in Europe years after the war, sorting through the stolen material in hidden warehouses and salt mines. By the time the last Monuments officer returned home in 1951, more than five
Second Lieutenant James J. Rorimer
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