Robert Edsel's Blog

Since its founding almost 3 years ago the Monuments Men Foundation has been working to encourage museums and collectors alike to comply with best practices guidelines. Simply stated, that means “know your collection” and where the objects were during the reign of the Nazis:  1933-1946.  Many museums, and some collectors, have embraced these guidelines. Some have been slow to catch up. A few continue to ignore the matter.

Belo’s Dallas station, WFAA, an ABC affiliate, broadcast a piece last evening highlighting a recent case we discovered several years ago at SMU’s Meadows Museum in conjunction with research on my first book, Rescuing Da Vinci.  Officials at the Meadows are now aggressively engaged conducting key provenance research on their collection as a whole and the two paintings covered by the story in particular, to their credit.

This case highlights one aspect of the work of the Foundation and the tangible results we continue to obtain while trying to work with important institutions like the Meadows Museum.

You can view the story by clicking on the following link:

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Art-Stolen-by-Hitler-Found-at-SMU-Meadows-Museum.html

The International Conference on World War II will be held from March 18^th – 20^th in New Orleans, Louisiana, sponsored by the National World War II Museum. This 3-day event will consist of keynote addresses, lectures, conferences, and roundtable discussions.

Robert Edsel is giving the keynote address on Friday, March 19 from 8:30am – 10:00, after which he will be discussing Art & War at 10:30, with Marc Pachter and Rick Atkinson. Some of the other topics that will be discussed during the conference are Allies at War, Death from Above, Espionage, Normandy, and War Crime Trials. There will also be an opportunity to meet Robert and the other speakers at a roundtable reception on Friday evening. Included with conference passes is the chance to view the museum’s exhibits as well as Beyond All Boundaries – the museum’s newest multi-experiential film at the Solomon Victory Theater. This film is truly a not to be missed visual experience.

If you are interested in attending this conference, please go to www.ww2conference.com to register on-line, or call 1-877-813-3329 x 500 or 504-527-6012 x 500. We look forward to seeing you there this week.

Elliott Dlin, the longtime director of Dallas’ Holocaust Museum. (Photo Courtesy of Dallas Morning News)

Everyone who has accomplished anything of importance has benefited by a key break from someone else.  Perhaps it was the opening of a door to see someone otherwise unavailable, or help with solving a seemingly irresolvable problem.  Oftentimes it’s something as simple as receiving an encouraging word.  This has certainly been true for the Monuments Men Foundation!

One of the people who played an important role in our work and was a constant supporter of mine was Elliot Dlin, an instrumental figure in the Jewish community and longtime director of the Dallas Holocaust Museum.  This week, Elliot died at the far too young age of 57.

I met Elliot at a booksigning for my first book, Rescuing Da Vinci, in 2006.  This large man, who possessed the charming and genuine smile of a happy boy, came bounding up to me, bypassing the line of people in the most kind and enthusiastic of ways, and said….”I’m Elliot Dlin and I can’t wait to show you some of the documents and letters your work has brought to mind!!!” His passion and and energy for not only his work, but LIFE, were hallmarks of his engaging personality.

Over the next three years I saw Elliot 3-4 times per year, sometimes at events, and on other occasions when I visited the Dallas Holocaust Museum.  Each time he would greet me with his warm smile and tell me how happy he was to see me – and I always knew he meant it.  This fine man and dedicated public servant followed our work closely and took time to relay his pride in our achievements.  He was a giver, a sharer, someone who wanted those around him to succeed.

In late 2006 Elliot contacted me, even before the Foundation was officially formed, to seek my assistance with several calls he had received from someone who claimed to have important Nazi documents.  Elliot selflessly turned this over to the Foundation to handle.  Over the course of the following year the Foundation not only determined the importance of the discovery, but ultimately acquired and then donated these documents to the National Archives.  It was a great success for the Foundation and the Dallas Holocaust Museum, and a significant benefit for our nation. No one was more pleased than Elliot and appropriately so:  but for his call to us, we might never have known about the lead.

We mourn the loss of this good man and extend to his family, and all those who knew and loved him, our most sincere condolences.

Elliot Dlin at the 2008 Hope for Humanities Dinner and Award Banquet. (Photo Courtesy of Dallas Holocaust Museum)

Today, The Monuments Men Year-End Newsletter for 2009 was released to the general public. Inside this newsletter, you can read about the various creative content we have produce, our ongoing engagement with the public through the media to bring much need attention to the Monuments Men, the various honors bestowed upon the Monuments Men Foundation, and all the incredible memories bringing this story to life.  Many thanks to all that have worked on this project through the years.

Please take a minute to read the The Monuments Men Year-End Newsletter.

If you would like to sign up for future newsletters, please click here (fill out form on the right side to submit).

I will be the guest on “THINK”, a wonderful program on PBS hosted by Krys Boyd, discussing my new book The Monuments Men.  The show will be broadcast today at 1pm on KERA, 90.1 for those in the North Texas listening area.  I appeared on this program several years ago when my first book Rescuing Da Vinci was released.

I hope you’ll have an opportunity to tune in and hear about my new book and these heroes, The Monuments Men.

Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy (1932 - 2009)

Senator Ted Kennedy, whose leadership of this nation spanned half a century, has died of a brain tumor. He lived 77 years, but filled them with far more than that of experiences.  In my view, despite his ambitions and those of his family to be elected president, he had a far broader and more lasting impact on our nation as Senator of Massachusetts.

This man was a critical early supporter of our Senate Resolution to honor the Monuments Men and women of all 13 nations. Out initial contacts with Senators began in January 2007 with visits to all 100 offices at the three buildings in which they office.  Christy Fox, who has been such a vital part of ongoing effort to recognize these heroes and preserve their legacy, accompanied me and helped me carry some of the Rescuing Da Vinci books we were giving each Senator as a way of explaining who these men and women were.  Senator Kennedy was one of the earliest visits we made.

Just entering his office was an overwhelming experience; I had to sit down and catch my breath.  On the walls were literally hundreds of photographs that covered the past 50 years of this country’s history:  every world leader, every major event–happy and sad, every notable moment was captured in some photograph hanging on those walls.  It was a visual representation of the trials and accomplishments of a young nation growing up, and the common denominator was Senator Ted Kennedy.

We quickly received word he supported the proposed Resolution full on.  With his Harvard connections to the Monuments Men (more than 30 were educated there), Boston connections to its great museums including the Museum of Fine Art and Isabella Stewart Gardner, and his long-standing support of the arts, it was no surprise he wanted to honor these heroes of civilization and assist our efforts.  But the moment I shall never forget was returning from a run one hot afternoon several months later to open my mailbox and see a letter from Senator Kennedy to me which stated, in part, the following:

With Senator Kennedy’s death we lose a stalwart champion of caring for others, especially those among our great nation whose voices are too often ignored.  He used his privilege and resources to make the world around him a better place.  His was a lifetime of service on behalf of others.  We as a nation, and in fact our world, are diminished for his loss.