Art spy
I watched a two-part TV series on National Geographic TV entitled "Nazi Art Thefts." This was based on a book entitled "The Rape of Europa" by Lynn H. Nicholas (note that this is also the title of a famous painting by Titian). There are many fascinating stories told in this narrative, but one that caught my attention, that to me was previously unknown, was the heroism of Rose Villand, the art spy.
Rose was an employee of the French National Museum working at the famous Jeu de Paume in Paris. She was a small, mousy looking woman with metal frame glasses, hardly noticeable. Many will remember the Jeu de Paume as the repository of the Impressionist paintings in Paris, an essential place to visit. But, before the war it had more space than most other institutions, so the Germans, when they occupied Paris in 1940, decided to use it as the transfer point for the art collections that they were stealing. The first people from whom art was stolen were of course the Jews. Paris was the center for art dealing, and there were many prominent Jewish art dealers there. Among the most prominent was Andre Seligman. Hermann Goering visited his gallery in 1938 and at great personal risk Seligman threw him out! Naturally, when The Germans occupied Paris, the first art dealer whose paintings they stole was Seligman's. He was shipped to Auschwitz and so his collection was declared under the ownership of the State. The next big collection was that of the Rothschilds. In all the Germans stole ca. 16,000 Jewish-owned art works in Paris and surroundings alone. The Germans of course kept a record of all this art theft, but unknown to them, Rose Valland spoke German and took note mentally of every item that came into the Jeu de Paumes and most importantly where it was shipped to. Every evening she wrote in a diary the details of each item, the date, a description of the painting, its origin and then the address for the shipping. She even managed in many cases to actually copy the shipping order. In this way Rose Villand kept a meticulous record of the theft of Jewish-owned art in Paris.
Sometimes a German officer would walk into the Jeu de Paume and simply choose an item to grace his home, and Rose hurried to help him. But, the best art was kept for the higher ups. To show the significance the Nazis ironically attributed to the value of this art, Goering visited the Jeu de Paume 20 times during the five years that the Germans occupied Paris. He transferred many items to his personal collection at the Karinhalle outside Berlin. A large collection was established at the Castle Neuschanstein in Germany, where it was found by the Allied troops after WWII. From there, 49 train car loads of Jewish-owned art was returned to France. But the owners had mostly been sent the other way in similar box cars and few returned to claim their property. Rose Valland's handwritten diary, still preser4ved in the archives of the National Museuem in Paris was the only record of the provenance of these treasures. Also, many art works (ca. 2,000) from Karinhalle were looted by US troops and local peasants, and much of it disappeared. Recently a single item by Bouchet was recovered from the art museum in Utah.
A similar process occured in Holland and Belgium. While the National Museums in France hid their most precious items in chateux throughout the country, the Nazis hunted them down and stole them. After the war, the US formed the Robert's Commission to decide what to do about looted art. From this came a group of individuals, the so-called "Monument's men" who moved with the US forces into Gerrnany and there in reverse hunted down the stolen artifacts, most of which were then returned to their country of origin.
In a completely separate initiative, after the war an effort was made by various groups to find stolen Jewish artifacts, much of it taken by German soldiers during the war. A German non-Jew Ralph Rasmeisel has dedicated himself to continuing this task. He has a collection of Jewish artifacts that he has acquired and tries to match with Jewish descendents, often from dedications inscribed on the object. He has also found genizahs where Hebrew documents were stored but overlooked by the Nazis. The process goes on, but the restitution can never be anywhere nearly complete.
Rose was an employee of the French National Museum working at the famous Jeu de Paume in Paris. She was a small, mousy looking woman with metal frame glasses, hardly noticeable. Many will remember the Jeu de Paume as the repository of the Impressionist paintings in Paris, an essential place to visit. But, before the war it had more space than most other institutions, so the Germans, when they occupied Paris in 1940, decided to use it as the transfer point for the art collections that they were stealing. The first people from whom art was stolen were of course the Jews. Paris was the center for art dealing, and there were many prominent Jewish art dealers there. Among the most prominent was Andre Seligman. Hermann Goering visited his gallery in 1938 and at great personal risk Seligman threw him out! Naturally, when The Germans occupied Paris, the first art dealer whose paintings they stole was Seligman's. He was shipped to Auschwitz and so his collection was declared under the ownership of the State. The next big collection was that of the Rothschilds. In all the Germans stole ca. 16,000 Jewish-owned art works in Paris and surroundings alone. The Germans of course kept a record of all this art theft, but unknown to them, Rose Valland spoke German and took note mentally of every item that came into the Jeu de Paumes and most importantly where it was shipped to. Every evening she wrote in a diary the details of each item, the date, a description of the painting, its origin and then the address for the shipping. She even managed in many cases to actually copy the shipping order. In this way Rose Villand kept a meticulous record of the theft of Jewish-owned art in Paris.
Sometimes a German officer would walk into the Jeu de Paume and simply choose an item to grace his home, and Rose hurried to help him. But, the best art was kept for the higher ups. To show the significance the Nazis ironically attributed to the value of this art, Goering visited the Jeu de Paume 20 times during the five years that the Germans occupied Paris. He transferred many items to his personal collection at the Karinhalle outside Berlin. A large collection was established at the Castle Neuschanstein in Germany, where it was found by the Allied troops after WWII. From there, 49 train car loads of Jewish-owned art was returned to France. But the owners had mostly been sent the other way in similar box cars and few returned to claim their property. Rose Valland's handwritten diary, still preser4ved in the archives of the National Museuem in Paris was the only record of the provenance of these treasures. Also, many art works (ca. 2,000) from Karinhalle were looted by US troops and local peasants, and much of it disappeared. Recently a single item by Bouchet was recovered from the art museum in Utah.
A similar process occured in Holland and Belgium. While the National Museums in France hid their most precious items in chateux throughout the country, the Nazis hunted them down and stole them. After the war, the US formed the Robert's Commission to decide what to do about looted art. From this came a group of individuals, the so-called "Monument's men" who moved with the US forces into Gerrnany and there in reverse hunted down the stolen artifacts, most of which were then returned to their country of origin.
In a completely separate initiative, after the war an effort was made by various groups to find stolen Jewish artifacts, much of it taken by German soldiers during the war. A German non-Jew Ralph Rasmeisel has dedicated himself to continuing this task. He has a collection of Jewish artifacts that he has acquired and tries to match with Jewish descendents, often from dedications inscribed on the object. He has also found genizahs where Hebrew documents were stored but overlooked by the Nazis. The process goes on, but the restitution can never be anywhere nearly complete.
posted by Jack Cohen at 9:13 AM
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