map of Austria showing occupation zones

Soviet-American Cooperation Regarding Hitler’s Führer Museum Documentation, 1945-1946

Today’s post is by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland. Adolf Hitler desired to create a museum in Linz, Austria, to house art objects he had acquired before and during World War II. The German art authorities created a large quantity of documentation relating to the acquisition of … Continue reading Soviet-American Cooperation Regarding Hitler’s Führer Museum Documentation, 1945-1946

Gordon Gilkey: A Man for All Seasons

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives at College Park, MD. At the beginning of my freshman year at Oregon State University, I went to see the Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (now Liberal Arts) to discuss with him the courses I should be … Continue reading Gordon Gilkey: A Man for All Seasons

The Monuments Men in June 1945: The Evacuation of Siegen Completed

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Archivist at the National Archives in College Park The Monuments Men (the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFA&A) Specialist Officers) were busy during June 1945 locating and overseeing some 600 emergency repositories containing cultural property and providing for the evacuation of some of that property to more … Continue reading The Monuments Men in June 1945: The Evacuation of Siegen Completed

The Monuments Men in May 1945: Buxheim and Neuschwanstein

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Archivist at the National Archives in College Park Schloss Neuschwanstein, two miles east of Fussen, a picturesque little town, some 80 miles south of Munich, in southern Schwabe, Bavaria, had been a central Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) repository for looted cultural property. A considerable bulk of this … Continue reading The Monuments Men in May 1945: Buxheim and Neuschwanstein

The Monuments Men in April 1945: Siegen, Finally

Today’s post is written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Archivist at the National Archives in College Park On March 31, 1945, the 12th Army Group reported that probably the most important repository in the area immediately ahead of the forces under its command was at or near Siegen, some fifty miles east of Cologne. It noted … Continue reading The Monuments Men in April 1945: Siegen, Finally

The Kümmel Report

Today's post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher and Dr. Sylvia Naylor, Archivists at the National Archives in College Park. Dr. Alfred Hentzen, on the staff of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, was mobilized into the German Army in mid-1942.  While serving on the Intelligence Staff of a Panzer Division in North Africa, he … Continue reading The Kümmel Report

The Monuments Men During February 1945: Locating Repositories of Looted and German Cultural Property

Today’s post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, archivist at the National Archives in College Park. At the end of January, Lt. Gen. Omar N. Bradley, head of the 12th Army Group, wrote the G-5s of his four Armies (First, Third, Ninth, and Fifteenth) regarding the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFA&A) Specialist Officers and their … Continue reading The Monuments Men During February 1945: Locating Repositories of Looted and German Cultural Property

The Monuments Men During January 1945

Today’s post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives in College Park.  As December 1944 ended and January 1945 began, the German counteroffensive in the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) was two weeks old and the Allied forces had stopped the German effort to cross the Meuse River and capture Antwerp. … Continue reading The Monuments Men During January 1945

Letter from ACLS Chairman William Dinsmoor to AOTUS Solon Buck

Committee of the American Council of Learned Societies on the Protection of Cultural Treasures in War Areas

Today’s post was written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, Senior Archivist at the National Archives in College Park. The idea of establishing an American commission to assist in protecting and restituting cultural property in war areas grew out of discussions among American educators and museum officials about the potentially dangerous impact of the European war on historic … Continue reading Committee of the American Council of Learned Societies on the Protection of Cultural Treasures in War Areas

Everett Parker Lesley, Jr.: The Monuments Man who drafted the Wiesbaden Manifesto

Today’s post, written by Dr. Greg Bradsher, is the next installment in an ongoing series of posts on real-life Monuments Men. The movie, The Monuments Men, has focused great attention on the Monuments Men (and women) and their work during and after World War II. Of course the movie cannot tell the story of the … Continue reading Everett Parker Lesley, Jr.: The Monuments Man who drafted the Wiesbaden Manifesto