Robert Edsel's Blog

The Four Freedoms flag or "United Nations Honor Flag"

On January 6, 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered the “Four Freedoms” speech to Congress. While the United States was not yet formally involved in World War II, this address was delivered during the height of the Nazi occupation of Europe. President Roosevelt proposed four fundamental freedoms that everyone had the right to enjoy, a direct counter to the laws the Nazis were implementing on the continent of Europe:

1. Freedom of Speech and Expression

2. Freedom of Religion

3. Freedom from Want

4. Freedom from Fear

(Freedom of Speech)

Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms paintings were inspired by the speech. These four paintings toured across the country in 1943, raising over $130,000,000 in war bond sales.

Below is the speech in its entirety:

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression — everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way — everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want — which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants — everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear — which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor– anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

To that new order we oppose the greater conception — the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.

Since the beginning of our American history, we have been engaged in change — in a perpetual peaceful revolution — a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly adjusting itself to changing conditions — without the concentration camp or the quick-lime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society.

This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights or keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose.

To that high concept there can be no end save victory.

From Congressional Record, 1941, Vol. 87, Pt. I

December 16 marks the anniversary of the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge – the largest and most deadly battle U.S. Forces were engaged in during World War II. The Ardennes Offensive, as it is formally called, was the last major German offensive launched during the war along the western front. The fighting centered around the Ardennes Mountains in Belgium, France and Luxembourg in brutally cold weather. American casualties were over 80,000.

The letters and journals of the Monuments Men reveal a marked change of pace during the Battle of the Bulge. On December 16, Robert Posey received his Christmas package from his wife Alice and his son, Woogie. As he wrote to thank them for the phonograph Christmas greeting, he had no idea that days later he would be called up from duty as a Monuments Man and ordered to the front lines to “keep firing until you can’t fire anymore” at the approaching Germans.

Walker Hancock first found out about the Bulge as he drove to Waimes, Belgium to make a monuments inspection – he was stopped by an advanced unit and told the village was back under German control. He spent Christmas Even in a cellar in Liège, Belgium. Christmas Mass the next morning was interrupted by German bombs.

Like all the Allied heroes of World War II, the Monuments Men risked their lives to protect freedom and save the world from Nazi terror. For this, we are eternally grateful.

Entry of the Color Guard at the National World War II Museum

More than 1,150,000 Americans have died in the wars our nation has waged to gain – and maintain – its freedom and independence. Through World War II the greatness of our nation was founded in the concept of shared sacrifice, the belief that those in uniform — and the families they left behind — shouldn’t shoulder the burden of defending our way of life alone.

Former President Teddy Roosevelt wisely observed that “…in the long run, success or failure [of the Republic] will be conditioned upon the way in which the average man, the average woman, does his or her duty, first in the ordinary everyday affairs of life, and next in those great occasional cries which call for heroic virtues.  The average citizen must be a good citizen if our Republics are to succeed.”

Our veterans, and those men and women in uniform, continue to do their part, even when harm’s way appears on our own military bases at home.  But at a time in our Republic’s history when Veterans Day has sadly become notable more for its holiday shopping promotions and as a day off from school or work, one wonders what has become of the Good Citizen of whom Roosevelt spoke?

Tom Brokaw giving a speech at the National World War II Museum

Last Friday, while in New Orleans for the dedication ceremony of the National World War II Museum’s new expansion space, including its one of a kind 4-D theater and film, Beyond all Boundaries, I witnessed the work of many Good Citizens, but two in particular worth highlighting:  Tom Hanks and Tom Brokaw.  Their official roles were as hosts of the various events, none more moving than the Parade of Veterans, 350 men and women who served in the Army, Navy, Marine Corp, Army Air Force and Coast Guard during World War II.  Tom Brokaw told the audience that writing The Greatest Generation was “the single most important professional experience of my life.”  Tom Hanks spoke lovingly of his father, a Navy veteran, and the importance of each person doing their part as a prerequisite to achieving the long sought victory, even if their role was that of a machinist.

But behind the scenes, when the cameras weren’t rolling, the “Toms” were everywhere:  arriving early and staying late, serving food to the veterans, attending cocktail parties and dinners for supporters of the museum, and meeting with museum officials to discuss additional ways they could help to preserve the legacy of the men and women who saved our world from the greatest threat it has ever known.  As Dr. Nick Mueller, President of the museum, often stated, every time he and his friend of 30 years, the late Dr. Stephen Ambrose, called the “Toms” for help, they both enthusiastically appeared.

Tom Hanks talking with veterans

Personally I was struck less by what Tom Hanks and Tom Brokaw did than I was the spirit in which they did it:  gracious, humble, honored to be of help.  They were the Good Citizens, in this case extraordinary men applying their resources — none more powerful than their time —in a way that served as an inspiring example for others.  These are the same traits I’ve witnessed in my interviews with the citizen-soldiers known as the Monuments Men, a small group of men and women who saved and preserved the greatest cultural treasures from the destruction of World War II and theft by Hitler and the Nazis: graciousness, humility, inspiration.

So on this Veterans Day, I think NOT of the commercialism of the holiday or the de-coupling of the bond of shared sacrifice that built our great nation, rather I take hope in the example set by Tom Hanks, Tom Brokaw, and many other Good Citizens in New Orleans this past weekend. I give thanks to our veterans, and all those in military service, including their loved ones, who keep us safe.

I have been asked to write a guest entry for the blog.  Before I began working here, I did not know much about the Monuments Men.  I knew they saved art during WWII, but that was all I knew.  They were a pretty incredible group of people.  From Ettlinger to Valland, there are some great people with some incredible stories.   I wonder what Rose Valland was thinking when she decided to keep notes on these works of art.  Did she know that it would lead to finding them later?  Did she think they were for her own personal records and memories?  I wonder, what was the initial spark that forced her to begin to document what was going on with the art pieces?  Minus the actual combat part, their work must have been fascinating.  I wish I was getting a paycheck to discover the stolen art hidden by the Nazi’s.  Talk about thinking outside the box, wow!

Though there are many different inspirational stories between the Monuments Men, there is one unifying theme.  They all felt the need to serve a purpose greater than themselves.  In today’s society, for the most part, all people care about is themselves and their latest bell or whistle.  I don’t think our society cares how many innocent people we kill on a daily basis, much less saving the cultural treasures in the Middle East.  A childhood buddy of mine was in the first platoon into Saddam’s main house and they did some terrible stuff to that house including the relics and treasures there.  I can only imagine what has happened to other cultural treasures in one of the oldest regions in the world.  If more people knew about The Monuments Men and their mission, we could have a special unit deployed in the Middle East focused on saving the cultural treasures of the region.  Maybe the people in charge of our nation’s foreign policy do not want to save the cultural treasures.  Maybe they do not want to preserve the culture from that region.  No W.M.D.’s and oil isn’t cheap, one has to wonder, what are we doing there?

I’m grateful that someone had the foresight to see the importance of saving the cultural treasures for future generations before they were destroyed.  In the times of World War II, people were more educated and understood the importance in saving cultural treasures for future generations.  Nationwide, our public school systems cut back funding for the arts before any other subjects.  Today, MTV and all the rest of the filth on television, teaches our children that cultural treasures are pieces of jewelry that Paris Hilton wore.  When you see how little importance our nation puts on the arts and culture, it’s not hard to see why this has not become a bigger issue.  It is going to take the masses getting educated, rising up and demanding that we save the cultural treasures in the Middle East before anything will change.  So I’m here doing my small part, helping Mr. Edsel and the Monuments Men Foundation in raising awareness and educating people about The Monuments Men and their mission.

Today there is a great seminar of experts and interested parties discussing how we can make continued improvements to our efforts to complete the mission of the Monuments Men as to objects stolen during World War II as well as the steps needed for the United States to do a better job in the protection of cultural property during future conflict.  I spoke at this conference last year and was honored to be asked to speak again.  Now, as then, scholars, students, and other interested parties have come together with a common commitment to protect and preserve the cultural heritage belonging to all of us.

I’ll have more to add about this critically important event in the days ahead.

German poet Heinrich Heine said: “Das war ein Vorspiel nur, dort wo man Bucher verbrennt, verbreent man auch am Ende Menschen.” (“This was only foreplay. Where books are being burned there will eventually be humans burned.”)  That was in 1821!!!!  How did he foretell the events that 110 years later would lead to the greatest war the world has ever known?

Of course, the gap between burning books out of fear and ideology and the taking of human lives is thinner than any of us want to consider.  Events in Nazi Germany proved that point in painful detail.  Heine could have also expanded his observation to include the burning of paintings because that, too, was part of Hitler’s determination to influence how people thought, what they believed in, and who they obeyed.

The importance of Heine’s observation is timeless:  they are words of warning to us all…to pay attention…to think for ourselves, and to speak up and act when the very freedoms all people of good will cherish are under attack.

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!

In the course of research for my new book, The Monuments Men, and while filming The Rape of Europa, I had a chance to get to know the country of Poland and its remarkable people. During the period we were filming in both Cracow and Warsaw, I took a couple of days off to visit some other sites, in particular Auschwitz…the ghastly site of the concentration camps where millions of Jews and other victims of Hitler’s “final solution” were murdered.

When visiting such places, I go with a mind full of images and stories I have seen and heard, eager to merge them with the physical experience of being there. No matter how many images a person sees of Warsaw and the devastation it experienced as a consequence of World War II, it doesn’t really take hold until you walk the streets of the city, look into people’s eyes (especially those of the children), and see the great attractions which illuminate so well the history of the city and its citizens. This was my experience in Warsaw, a beautiful city today but one that looked like the pock-marked surface of the moon after the Nazis lade waste to it as they fled. You can’t believe the city is the same place.

One image that spoke volumes about how determined the Nazis were to destroy not just the Polish people’s lives and property but also the very soul of the nation and its values concerns the statue of the great music composer Frederic Chopin. This remarkable sculpture was unveiled in Lazienki Park in 1926. During summer, piano recitals are held at the foot of the monument. Note its scale by focusing on the people sitting on the bench to the left in the photo below. This is how it appears to visitors today.

The bronze monument to Poland's greatest musician, Frederic Chopin, was designed by Waclaw Symanowski and erected in Warsaw in 1910.

However, in 1941, a little more than a year after the Nazi invasion of Poland, the statue was dissected by the Nazis and placed on a flatbed railcar for transport to a smelter. This was but just one of enumerable acts by Hitler and the Nazis to destroy the most treasured cultural icons of each conquered city. In Russia notable such examples were the homes of the great poet Pushkin, and the remarkable composer Peter Tchaikovsky

Fryderck Chopin Monument cut up on rail car. (Photo Courtesy of National Archives and Records Administratiion.)

When I boarded the plane to depart Poland, I couldn’t help but admire so deeply the courage and fortitude of the Polish people. The Poles were the first victims of the Nazi invasion on this day 70 years ago. By war’s end more than 6 million Poles had died. Nazi Concentration camps had been built throughout the country at which millions of innocent people were murdered. The list of horrifying events that took place during World War II seems endless. Yet through it all, the Polish people found the will not just to survive, but to flourish. Their determination to rebuild their great cities and society as it was before the war is a living testament to the pride they have for the great history of Poland, and their courage and determination to triumph.