706. Saving Italy by Robert M. Edsel. This book gives insight to the difficulty in saving art in Italy during World War II. The group, later called the Monument Men (women were involved, too), was put in charge of finding ways to preserve art in Italy as the war progressed during the Allied invasion. In June of 1943 President Roosevelt announced the creation of the Roberts Commission due to the efforts of George Stout. He had seen first hand the potential for destruction which modern weaponry posed for objects of art during the Spanish Civil War.
One of the reasons which urged the President to form the commission was the news of the results of bombing Milan, Italy. The building in which Leonardo da Vinci had painted the Last Supper had been destroyed. Just about the only thing that remained was the wall which held the painting. Priests, townspeople, volunteers had gathered earlier to build a wall facing the painting to protect it. Luck and the wall had saved the day.
Another aspect which persisted throughout the war was a war conducted on the world stage. In this war Nazis claimed that Allied forces were not only murderers but would come as looters of art and destroyers of art. The bombing of Milan's Santa Maria dell Grazie and its Refectory (where the monks ate their meals) in which the Last Supper was located gave much force to Nazi claims. The US did not want a repeat of such a thing. (Alas, not the last).
Numerous people volunteered from universities here in the United States. Not a few had training in Classical languages. These and experts in the history of art, landscape design, architecture would be essential. These were trained in northern Africa, in fact not far from the ancient ruins of Lepcis Magna. While there one of the trainees, Mason Hammond, a Classical scholar convinced the army to protect the ruins and began explaining the value of these to humanity.
In the beginning the group had training but no one had a clue, except the Monument people, where they fit in to the military machine of the US. They had little authority, near none in fact. But General Eisenhower issued a general order which gave legitimacy and authority to the group.
Matters were made worse when in mid-July of 1943, when it had become clear to Hitler that its ally, Italy, would not hold off the US/British invasion, the German army entered Italy in full force. The Allied advance slowed to a crawl, casualties were incredible (casualities not in thousands but tens and tens of thousands). Germany had decided on a slow retreat which would cost the Allies dearly. This was done in the hopes (which came close on occasion) that the Allies would split, since German intelligence knew that ties between US/United Kingdom and Soviet Union were thin.
What has this to do with art? In the rest of Europe Nazis had been plundering art from musea, private collectors but Italy was an ally. But when the German army entered the picture the desire which Hitler, Goering and others had for art accelerated. Large, very large collections of art were gathered, to be taken to Germany (Hitler had plans for a mammoth museum in Germany to house all of this) under the pretense of protecting art from the Allies. When the Italian army disintegrated, the German soldiers resented this and the utter disregard which Germans had for life other than fellow Germans became clear. Villages were simply eliminated, people forced out of their homes to watch an execution and in some cases the wanton destruction of property.
The University of Naples, where Thomas Aquinas had studied, met a nasty end. Some German soldiers hassled two Italian soldiers (remember Italy has in essence left the war), one resisted. The Germans decided that an example needed to be set. The Germans went through houses nearby and forced everyone out to watch the execution. When finished the Germans used armored vehicles to blow open the gates of the university, ran in with gallons and gallons of gasoline. Dumped it everywhere and then burnt the place to the ground. In another incident more than 80,000 documents from the Middle Ages, 250,000 books, 1,200 of these were printed by hand before 1500 AD were burnt. This had no military significance. It was just done in the process of leaving nothing behind.
The Allies, via bombing and the chaos created by war led to some unsavory incidents in Naples. Many had never seen art and in the agony of survival saw no value to it.
The Monument people had a difficult task.
But they were assisted by Priests who often risked their lives to save art dear to their town, citizens of Italy who found ways to work with the Nazis to save what they could, by a priest who even became a paratrooper and was frequently parachuted into enemy territory to gain vital information on the whereabouts of important pieces, by museum directors, custodians, art collectors. Some of these were Germans who valued art so much that they ignored orders.
It is interesting to see the list of those primarily responsible for saving Florence. Florence was in serious danger since the city contained large rail lines used by the Germans for supplies. Who were these people who saved Florence? The German Consul to Florence, Gerhard Wolf, the Archbishop of Florence, Cardinal Elia Dalla Costa, the Extraordinary Envoy and Minister Plenipotentiary of San Marion, to the Holy See, Marchese Filippo Serlupi Crescenzi and the Swiss Consul ion Florence, Carlo Alessandro Steinhauslin. Kind of an interesting group, eh? But it shows that those who know what art represents crosses nationalities, religion and government. Florence escaped but not without some serious damage.
(I have been to Italy a number of times. I have on occasion complained of lack of friendliness on the part of Florentines. After reading this, I now understand why the people of Florence are so protective of their inheritance. I will never complain again.)
There is another very interesting fellow in this: General Wolff, of the SS. A shadowy guy whose mystery will probably never be solved, did much to protect and save the art taken from Florence. He also engineered the surrendered of German forces in Italy. THAT is a story in itself, complex and convoluted almost beyond imagination.
So where did much of the art work end up? Much of it was stored in villas throughout Italy, monasteries and in salt mines in Austria. Get that, Austria? Not in one or two mines but hundreds of mines and caves. Thousands and thousands of works of art were found in these caves/mines. One was rigged to blow up- to prevent the art from falling into the hands of Jews or friends of Jews.
I mentioned monasteries. Monte Cassino was/is a famous monastery southeast of Rome. The Germans had held off the Ally advance using this area as a fortified position. The Allies decided to send a contingent just south of Rome by 35 miles at Anzio. The hope was to force a German retreat. The German command was ready. Only brave fighting by the British and Americans held off total disaster. Still the Germans held. Their defensive position had as its center Monte Cassino. Here was a monastery established by Saint Benedict in 529. The area provided a clear view for miles and miles. By this time there was more concern for ancient monuments but the Allies had been pinned down here for weeks. Moral was low. Air views by Allies showed no presence of Germans in the Monastery and also that there were. It was destroyed. After capture it was learned that not a single German was killed there. It was empty. But even Monument people felt that the attack was necessary, so desperate were the Allies for success.
The book is a monument to a soldier of a different type, one most, including me, have perhaps never thought of before.
The work at many places still continues to this day (2012, when the book was written).
A theme, present in the book throughout was this: is a work of art worth a soldier's life? I found this interesting. And just as the author I hope expected, it causes one to think. It seems unwise to separate the two- the value of art and the value of humans. Part of the reason that Rome is filled with people is the attractiveness of the city. What makes it attractive? Some of it has to do with the art which is there. This is just a thought. Another is this: Does great art (and there may be argument here) embody an idea? If it does, are there any ideas worth dying for?
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