Cultural Heritage Protection Agencies During World War II

Stewardship of the Army Profession is the last of the Five Essential Characteristics of the Army Profession, but in terms of importance, it is just as, if not more important than the other four. The United States Army’s ADRP-1, or Army Doctrinal Reference Publication 1, even defines stewardship as “the responsibility of Army professionals to ensure the profession maintains its five essential characteristics now and into the future”. Such importance is placed on this characteristic because Stewardship of the Army Profession is the one that ensures the other four are maintained. I sought out the definition of stewardship because despite having spent almost three and a half years and West Point, I was not entirely sure what the doctrine behind Stewardship was. In doing this, I felt like I was better prepared for both this paper and ensuring that the corrections I made were stewarding the profession. With this newly acquired knowledge, I set out to make my corrections.

Tourism that has continued to develop suddenly stopped to improve during the World War I ,but immediately after the war showed a sudden improvement. Enemy States had curiosity among to know each other and wished to discover contested areas of the enemy territory. This shows that request for tourism was not only to travel but to discover. (Sivil, 2001: 12). “many british travellers witness the sites of battles such as those fought on the Normandy beaches and at St Nazaire. (Holloway, The Business Of Tourism, 2012) At the end of the Second World War, tourism has continued to spread to large areas. During this period Europe, tried to eliminate all of the injuries and the decline revealed by the war by using tourism and it was seen as a potential

An artist's job is to interpret, and express the aspects of life in a creative fashion. War has played a big part in shaping our human history, and many artists have portrayed their feelings about art through paintings, and even monuments. Whether it be to show; the joy of victory, the sorrow of defeat, or to educate the public on the gory realities of war. Art about war can also show us a great amount of history of the kinds of weapons that were used at the time. It is necessary for artists to interpret, and criticize all aspects of life; even ones as tragic as war, It can make the public more aware of what goes on in times of war.

There are also monuments that are more salient and mention the concentration camps that the individuals survived (Appendix B, Figure 2). The community purposefully includes monument inscriptions to show an individual’s connection to the Holocaust. This action creates tribute to those who were victims of the Holocaust. This practice also creates a collaborative means for the community to mourn over these survivors.

Now we move onto the monuments destroyed by the Nazis as Germany was retreating. A giant bronze statue of Paul von Hindenburg located Hohenstein (modern day Poland) was destroyed by the Germans; as was the Tannenberg memorial where Hindenburg's remains were kept was also partially demolished. Likewise in Austria, the Nazis set fire to several old monuments and buildings, a good example being the Schloss Immendorf castle, which was burned by the SS in 1945.

While death was the major tragedy of the Holocaust, all of the art stolen was definitely a dark spot. Most people don’t realize, but the art was taken from all Jews and many others by the Nazis. Some pieces of art have been found, but most still remain lost. Many that have been discovered are in museums and are not given to the true owners. There should be efforts spent on finding and recovering the art stolen by the Nazis to return it to their rightful owners.

The idea of keeping monuments in public spaces is a challenging choice for us all because for those who don’t like the idea of the monuments being removed they can become really violent much so that in the article “Battle Scars”

Furthermore, showing courage can bring on honor and admiration. In reference to this, during World War 2, the Monuments Men was a large group of American men and women who fought to protect the art and works of museums from the Nazis. The Monuments Men had to fight to protect works of art and to save famous paintings. They had a goal of restoring the art and taking the work back to it’s rightful owners. Robert M. Edsel noticed that the Monuments Men efforts’ has gone unrecognized. Edsel found out that the Monuments Men was never mentioned in the literature about World War 2. The courage that the Monuments Men displayed during World War 2 against the Nazis, was deeply admired by Robert M. Edsel. Injustices isn’t the only matter where one should

It all started with some passionate people in the United States who were worried about the cultural loss in Europe. The American Defense - Harvard Group began working with the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) to devise plans for protecting cultural property in Europe. National Gallery of Art (NGA) Director, David Finely, and Chief Justice and Gallery Chairman, Harlan F. Stone, became the group’s spokesmen in Washington. In December 1942, Stone took the group’s proposition to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt created the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in Europe. Later, the Commission’s scope was expanded to include all war areas. Owen J. Roberts was appointed as chairman, and the Commission became known as the Roberts Commission. In the group’s early days, it sought to formalize the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) program within the War Department. The group recommended would-be Monument Men, or members of the MFAA program. The Roberts Commission also told military strategists of potential targets for Allied bombers that should be protected because of its cultural

The Monuments Men is a group of men from all over the world who were devoted to protecting art history and recovering stolen art during ww2. The german Nazis have stolen priceless art from countries to put in a museum dedicated to Hitler. Near the end of the war when the Nazis started to lose they started to burn and destroy all the artwork, the Monument Men had to work hard and fast to discover and retrieve as much of the artwork as they could.

These forgotten heroes were called The Monument Men. During World War ll, the Nazis’s were known for making the greatest theft in history, looting from other European countries, taking countless pieces of precious items and artwork. The Nazis’s had looted 20% of the art from Europe. They may have stolen more than five million cultural objects from the countries it conquered, including thousands of the world’s greatest artistic masterpieces.

There was some key dissimilarity that occurred concerning the two philosophies in art also. Nazis had no positive approach concerning Originality that they thought to be a symbol of Communism and ethnic collapse. As an alternative they much moderately endorse art imitating the Nazi principle. However Fascists didn’t have any problem with originality (Shubert, & Goldstein, 2012).

If you wished to produce art, it would be a very complicated process to be “approved.” At the beginning of Hitler’s reign, about 50,000 artists were given approval by the Nazi regime. They had to go to the Reich Chamber of Visual Arts to be given the ability to produce art. Artists were instructed to make pieces related to propaganda, so that more people were for the Nazis. Many times the Gestapo(Military Police) made unannounced visits to art studios to make sure they were producing material that meets the Nazi criteria (Trueman).

For example, in Poland, the Gestapo completely destroyed cities and took important pieces of art. One of them was Raphael's "Portrait of a Young Man", which belongs to the Czartoryski Museum, in Krakow. It was taken to decorate a wartime residence at Krakow’s Wawel royal castle. Up until today Raphael's painting remains missing. Keeping a nation’s art from its people, not only forbiding them to see its art, it also fordbids them from its heritage and history, not allowing the citizens of a country to expand their cultural

Throughout history, art has caused wars and forged alliances. In modern times, cultural treasures are being sorted into place after much misplacement. Restitution/repatriation, the act of returning cultural treasures to their rightful owners or nation of origin, often ensues difficult legal decisions, but remains a moral necessity. This act of returning cultural treasures, grows more common due to the media’s interest or publicized legal battles. The movie “The Woman in Gold,” involving Gustav Klimt’s painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer, is an example of the influence it has on media.