Repatriation of Art from the Collecting Point in Munich after World War II
Within weeks after the United States entered World War II in December 1941, a group of American museum curators, art historians and conservators met to find ways of dealing with the wartime threat to art works. Their efforts led to the appointment of Advisers on Fine Arts attached to the fighting units of the American and British Armed Forces. These officers of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Services (M FA&A) did whatever lay in their power to protect what General Eisenhower called the 'historical monuments and cultural centers which symbolize to the world all that we are fighting to preserve.'
After the defeat of Germany, the MFA&A was charged with locating the German repositories of art and archives, protecting them from loss and deterioration, and returning looted objects to the countries from which they had been removed. Under great pressure of time, a number of Allied collecting points were established, of which the largest was the Central Art Collecting Point in Munich. The author, then a young naval lieutenant, was given the task of setting up and administering this vast and sensitive operation.
Repatriation of Art deals with the background and beginnings of the Central Collecting Point. The account is based partly on the author's own memory and papers, but also on documents he found in the National Archives in Washington. The text of the documents, published in the appendix, provides fascinating reading as well as important new material for understanding a unique chapter in the history of art, warfare and civilization.