Robert Edsel's Blog

It was one of the highlights of my recent years speaking to this great group of people and in the magnificent space of our nation’s World War ll Museum this past Saturday evening.  They expected 200 people would attend: by the time I walked to the podium there were 400 people present.  As testament to the “untold” aspect of these heroes’ story, the Museum, for it enormous breadth and depth of collection, has nothing about these remarkable men and women who distinguished themselves and our nation in the protection of the world’s great cultural treasures during war.

Dr. Nick Mueller, President of the National World War II Museum provided me a wonderful tour of the museum's new expansion space which will be dedicated on November 5-7, 2009.

Dr. Nick Mueller, President of the Museum and lifelong friend of the late Dr. Stephen Ambrose, whose vision Dr. Mueller and his fine team has shaped and developed, introduced me with very kind remarks about the exciting story of these heroes and the importance of their achievements.  I was deeply humbled to be among so many veterans and to have my mom and aunt present, both of whom were married to veterans.  In fact, my father, Ray, was a combat veteran of the Pacific having served as a young marine in Saipan and Nagasaki, bayonet fixed.

This American aircraft is just one of many incredible items on display for visitors to the Museum.

There is a lot more to tell about this amazing experience and I will do so in the days ahead leading up to the broadcast of this event on C-SPAN within the next couple of weeks.  Stay tuned!

It was an honor to speak at our Nation’s World War II Museum in New Orleans this past Saturday evening.  There were more than 400 people in attendance, twice the size audience that was expected.  This has happened repeatedly in my travels lecturing:  audiences everywhere are interested in the story of how a handful of 40 year old men managed to save so much of the art we all enjoy today.  Dr. Nick Mueller, President of the Museum and lifelong friend of the late Dr. Stephen Ambrose, whose vision it was to build this magnificent museum, shared with the audience his determination to in time incorporate the telling of this story about the Monuments Men into the Museum’s comprehensive presentation of the story of World War II.   There could be no greater evidence of how “untold” the story of the Monuments Men is than the fact that there is NOTHING about it in the Museum’s detailed and in depth coverage of the war.  Dr. Mueller has been quick to see the power of this story and what an important part it is to the telling of the war experience, especially in the years that followed the end of the war as the Monuments Men remained in Europe for more than 6 years finishing the job they started.

This presentation was taped by C-SPAN and will be aired nationally in the coming days.  Stay tuned for broadcast details and photos from the event!

I’ve been in New York City all week for the launch of The Monuments Men. The big event of the week is our launch party tomorrow evening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Today I have been giving television and radio interviews across the country from a studio in Manhattan. Chris Evert, an acquaintance from my days playing tennis and working for Lamar Hunt’s World Championship Tennis tour, is in the studio next door taping a program.

It is very gratifying to hear the reaction of others to reading these heroes’ story.  Still, this is a process, a marathon race, not a sprint.  “Miles to go before I sleep…”, but we’re off to a good start!

It seems incredible to imagine the Nazis weren’t more concerned with saving themselves in the face of the Western Allied advances that followed the successful landings at Normandy than adding to the vast quantities of stolen works of art they had assembled after more than 5 years of theft.  But in fact, the Bruges Madonna, Michelangelo’s only sculpture to leave Italy during his lifetime, was only the latest in a high profile string of thefts.

The Bruges Madonna, was stolen by Nazi officials on this date 65 years ago from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Bruges, Belgium.  It was no doubt destined to join the other masterpieces stolen by the Nazis for Hitler’s planned Führermuseum in Linz, Austria.  The two ton marble statue, almost life-like in size, was no easy work of art to maneuver.  But out it left, in the middle of the night, for places east, back in the Fatherland.

By the time the Monuments Men arrived in Bruges, just days later, they were astonished to discover it was gone, doubly so that they had missed saving it by a sliver of time.

Find out what happened to the Bruges Madonna, and thousands of other priceless works of art, in my new book, The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.

I am Harry Ettlinger, the youngest and one of the very, very few WWII Monuments Men still alive.

As we go through life, we keep learning and bring to our minds a great variety of experiences.  Recently I saw a film about the destruction of Buddhist figures by the Taliban in Afghanistan.  It ended with a showing of a banner over the entrance of the Art Museum in the Capital of that country.  Its message: “No nation can exist without culture and history.”

I realize today that as Monuments Men, we started the work to restore the culture taken away by Nazis from hundreds of millions of human beings. Today, we must distribute that important part of history to the billions of men and women in this world.

In a tiny way, I, having been given the privilege of working as a Monuments Man, feel now compelled to aid in spreading the message, so eloquently stated on that banner.

You can start by reading Robert Edsel’s new book The Monuments Men.

Monuments Men Bernard Taper, Harry Ettlinger and Horace Apgar and myself at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. This preceded the Senate Ceremony honoring these men and women on June 6, 2007. (Photo Courtesy of Robert M. Edsel Collection.)

The outpouring of support and words of encouragement for the launch of The Monuments Men is tremendously gratifying. Thanks go to the hundreds of friends and well-wishers who have contacted me beginning last evening.  No calls and emails have meant more than those I’ve received from the Monuments Men themselves and their kids.  I hasten to add that my publisher, Center Street, a division of Hachette, and our team led by my editor Michelle Rapkin, have thrown their full resources behind this book.  The full force of their effort will be known to all in the coming weeks.

Interviewing my father, a World War II veteran of the Pacific, at the World War II Memorial. (Photo Courtesy of Robert M. Edsel Collection.)

An undertaking such as the epic telling of these heroes’ story and, to a degree, the illumination of a critical seam to a distinct but major new understanding of World War II and the role of art does not cause an overnight result.  A friend wisely commented to me yesterday, it is a marathon race, not a sprint.  Endurance and steadfastness are critical components of the endeavor.

It continues to be my honor to represent these heroes and their families and to share their stories with people around the world.  I hope you will tell others about their story….that word of mouth recommendation is where the battle will be won!

Tomorrow begins the realization of more than 7 years of work:  publication of my new book entitled The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History. This is the narrative telling of these heroes’ stories through the experiences of just 8 men and 1 woman–the unlikeliest of spies–who are in a race with time to save the greatest cultural treasures from Nazi fanatics.  The book can be ordered online and will be in bookstores nationwide.  It is being published in more than 16 languages, and will also be available as an audio book.  I hope you will read the amazing stories of the men and women which I have told using their letters home to loved ones written during combat.

Harry Ettlinger speaking at the Hope for Humanities Dinner in Dallas, November 2008. (Photo Courtesy of Robert M. Edsel Collection.)

This Friday we will have the first of many Guest Blogs…appropriately, the first guest blogger will be Monuments Man Harry Ettlinger.  Harry figures prominently in The Monuments Men.  He provides a fresh insight into these events and speaks eloquently as to why this part of history is so vitally important.

Please check it out this Friday!

On the night of August 24, 1940, German bombs fell on London for the first time during World War II.

The Luftwaffe began bombing industrial targets in England in early July, and had recently increased night bombing runs. Perhaps worried that Churchill would be even less likely to negotiate, or out of fear that British bombs would fall on Berlin in retaliation, Hitler had been ignoring his military advisor’s urgings to bomb the capital itself. However on the night of August 24, 170 Heinkel HE 111s set out to bomb oil installations at Thameshaven and an aircraft factory in Rochester, but veered off course and bombed parts of London by mistake.

It might not have been an intentional military maneuver, but the first bombings of London marked a turning point early in the war. Churchill angrily ordered the bombing of Berlin, which had also been avoided until this point. On the night of August 25-26, the RAF Bomber Command sent 95 planes to hit industrial targets in the German capital, most notably the Tempelhof Airport and the Siemensstadt area of factory buildings. 81 of the planes dropped bombs on Berlin that night. Five more raids on Berlin occurred within the next two weeks, but damage was minimal.

Hitler was in turn angered by the retaliation bombing, and decided to proceed with a sustained attack on London. He was convinced that the terror bombing would make the British more likely to negotiate after all, and ordered “for disruptive attacks on the population and air defenses of major British cities, including London, by day and night.”

Headline from "Victory Extra", Boston Massachusetts (Photo Courtesy of Robert M. Edsel Collection.)

Headlines around the world trumpeted the news 65 years ago as the German Commander of Paris, Major General Dietrich von Choltitz, surrendered the occupying forces that had controlled the city for more than four years.  Despite orders from Hitler to lay waste to the city, Choltitz departed from his history of destruction and chose instead to surrender.  He would later say, “It is always my lot to defend the rear of the German Army.  And each time it happens I am ordered to destroy each city as I leave it.”

The Cathedral of Notre Dame was not damaged, but fighting took place directly in front of the church. This burned-out truck was abandoned by German troops fleeing the city. (Photo Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).)

On August 26th, the day after the German surrender, French General de Gaulle led a victory parade down the Champs-Elysees.  Three days later the United States 28th Infantry Division followed the same parade route to celebrate the reclaiming of the city.

American soldiers look upon the Eiffel Tower after Paris was liberated. (Photo Courtesy of NARA.)

Almost one year would pass before French museum officials were prepared to escort back to Paris its most famous “citizen”, the Mona Lisa. In the weeks that followed other treasures from the Louvre began their journey home from the chateaux and other hiding places where they sat out the war.

Ollie and I (Photo Courtesy of Robert M. Edsel Collection.)

Several months in Europe conducting research and visiting friends culminated this past week with the launch of The Monuments Men:  Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, my new book about these remarkable heroes of civilization.  I had numerous print, radio, and a few television appearances in front of worldwide audiences.  (Some of the links to these interviews can be found on this website).

I’ll take from this week alone several memories that will forever be cherished:  a celebratory dinner with close friends Thursday after the launch at one of my favorite restaurants; being “desperately” wanted by BBC World radio impromptu for an interview; and seeing one of my books in a bookstore.

But one of my happiest moments was meeting Ollie Brittan, a young boy who is working during the summer as an assistant to the very capable concierge team at Claridge’s Hotel headed by Martin, Miles, Karin, Bobby and others.  When I first introduced myself to Ollie and asked him if he liked working at Claridge’s, he said “I LOVE it Sir”.  Each day when I walked in with my arms full of books and press materials Ollie was there to assist me.

Before departing we had a chance to visit and I gave him a copy of my book.  This fine young boy, work ethic quite intact, has his sights set on one day working at Claridge’s.  I suggested to him he in fact might some day own it as hard working and polite as he is.  It was a wonderful way to end a remarkable summer as I now prepare for our biggest launch on September 3rd in the United States!