Hunting Stolen Nazi Art

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 September 2021

⏱️ 47 minutes

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Summary

As the Nazi war machine rampaged across Europe it did not just take territory and resources from its conquests but also many thousands of pieces of art and other antiquities. Stolen from both galleries and individual victims of Nazi crimes allied troops discovered hidden caches of priceless artworks throughout Europe. As the war had proceeded it had been recognised that these cultural treasures needed protection from the fighting and where necessary rescuing and returning to their rightful owners. This job fell the men and women of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA) often known as "Monuments Men". Around 400 strong this team of dedicated art historians and museum staff risked their lives on the frontlines in order to save some of the world's most precious cultural heritage.

To help tell the story of these brave men and women Dan is joined by Robert Edsel founder of the Monuments Men Foundation. Robert guides us through the formation of the MFAA, its role during and after the war and the ongoing going work by his foundation to continue their legacy and reunite works of art that remain missing with their rightful owners.

In the second half of the podcast, Dan speaks to Eric 'Randy' Schoenberg an American lawyer and genealogist, based in Los Angeles, California, specializing in legal cases related to the recovery of looted or stolen artworks, particularly those by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust. Randy successfully sued the Austrian government on behalf of his client Maria Altmann and reclaiming five Gustav Klimt paintings that had been taken during the war. He talks about how he came to specialize in this aspect of the law, the case itself and the impact the return of the paintings had on both Maria's family and him.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello,
0:00.5	folks, Dan Snow here.
0:01.6	I am throwing a party to celebrate 10 years of Dan Snow's history hit.
0:06.1	I'd love for you to be there.
0:07.5	Join me for a very special live recording of the podcast in London,
0:10.4	in England on the 12th of September to celebrate the 10 years.
0:14.1	You can find out more about it and get tickets with the link in the show notes.
0:17.6	Look forward to seeing you there.
0:24.4	Hi, well, show notes. Look forward to seeing you there. Hi one, welcome to Dan Snow's History. I've got two people on the podcast today,
0:28.3	both of whom have inspired major Hollywood films. That was unintentional, but it's
0:34.3	happened. Both the guests have done that. The first guest you're going to hear from is Robert Edsel. He's a author. He wrote the fantastic successful Monuments Men,
0:43.8	the Allied heroes, Nazi thieves and greatest treasure hunt in history that then got made into a
0:49.0	movie, I'm sure many of you see, got made into a movie called the Monuments Friend, directed by
0:52.8	and starring George Clooney, heard of him.
0:56.2	It's the story of how the vast amounts of looted art taken by the Nazis from Jewish people, from art galleries, from victims right across occupied Europe.
1:08.2	All of that art had to be reconnected with its original owners.
1:12.4	And that work is continuing. That job goes on. And Robert Edsel has a foundation.
1:18.7	He is the founder. He's the chairman of the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of
1:22.9	Art. That work goes on. That brings me to our second guest, you'll hear in the second half of this podcast,
1:28.8	Eric Randall Schoenberg, Randy, to his friends, like me, is a lawyer, a genealogist.
1:35.2	He's based in L.A. And he, as you'll hear, as a kind of favor to a family friend,
1:42.4	said he would try tilting at the Austrian government.
	...

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