Kunstschutz
Encyclopedia
Kunstschutz is the German term for the principal of preserving cultural heritage and artworks during armed conflict, especially during the First World War and Second World War, with the aim of protecting the enemy's art. It is associated with the image of the "art officer" (Kunstoffizier) or "art expert" (Kunstsachverständiger). Its probity was not questioned in Germany until the end of the 1980s, but was seen as looting or spoliation by countries such as Russia, Belgium, France and Italy whose artworks were 'saved'.
on land warfare created in 1899 and 1907, which had included the protection of cultural property, led to international shock at the burning of Leuven
library in Belgium and the bombardment of Reims Cathedral
in France, both in 1914 (Louvain library would be re-formed and rebuilt in the 1920s but destroyed again in the 1940 Battle of France
). To counter these protests, counterbalance the destruction, redeem itself in the eyes of international agencies and regain its image as the land of culture par excellence, German propaganda created the principle of Kunstschutz. This principle allowed Germany to experiment with new formulas for saving and developing cultural heritage and originated many, often fertile initiatives. Clemen, professor of art history at the University of Bonn
and inspector of monuments in the Rhineland
, was one of the principle's first instigators. A German soldier 'saved' cultural objects in Saint-Quentin, Aisne
, though these were only returned in 1998, whilst a painting similarly removed from Douai
museum only returned in 2000 after being discovered at a sale in Switzerland. The museum at Metz
has put on an exhibition on the activities of its former German curator, the archaeologist Johann Baptist Keune, in protecting the artistic heritage of the Moselle during the conflict.
58 crates of marble and bronze statues (by Donatello
and Michelangelo
among others), 26 ancient Greek statues, 291 large paintings (including works by Titian
, Botticelli and Raphael
) and 25 crates of smaller paintings set out for Germany and Austria in convoys which many Italian intelligence officers secretly followed and reported back on to their government and thus to the Allies. One of those officers was the anti-Fascist Rodolfo Siviero
, who transmitted his reports to the Allies via his partisan contacts and continued to hunt down and return looted and illegally acquired Italian artworks from Germany after 1945. One of those he returned was the Spiridon Leda (1505–1515) from the Leonardo da Vinci
school, acquired by Goering before the war. In Naples the national museums were looted, with paintings taken including the Danaë
by Titian, The Blind Leading the Blind
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the Portrait of a young woman, known as Antea
by Parmigianino
and the Apollo Citharoedus
from Pompeii
.
Goebbels
had also edited a 1000-page inventory of French artworks in the occupied zone
of France. Count Franz Wolff-Metternich was responsible for the Kunstschutz in France from 1940 to 1942 and most works in French museums were taken Collections belonging to Jews such as the Rothschild and the David-Weills were evacuated using the funds of the French national museums and gathered together in the Musée du Jeu de Paume, where Goering took his pick before putting them all in special trains bound for Berlin. Rose Valland
, one of the French curators, took secret notes on the contents of each train out. Ribbentrop, the German foreign minister, tried to get hold of Diana Bathing by François Boucher
, whilst Hitler himself took part of Alfred Schloss's collection of 300 Dutch paintings for his personal museum at Linz
.
German art looting also occurred in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and elsewhere.
World War One
The Germans' lack of respect for the international Hague ConventionsHague Conventions (1899 and 1907)
The Hague Conventions were two international treaties negotiated at international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands: The First Hague Conference in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907...
on land warfare created in 1899 and 1907, which had included the protection of cultural property, led to international shock at the burning of Leuven
Leuven
Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...
library in Belgium and the bombardment of Reims Cathedral
Reims Cathedral
Notre-Dame de Reims is the Roman Catholic cathedral of Reims, where the kings of France were once crowned. It replaces an older church, destroyed by a fire in 1211, which was built on the site of the basilica where Clovis was baptized by Saint Remi, bishop of Reims, in AD 496. That original...
in France, both in 1914 (Louvain library would be re-formed and rebuilt in the 1920s but destroyed again in the 1940 Battle of France
Battle of France
In the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
). To counter these protests, counterbalance the destruction, redeem itself in the eyes of international agencies and regain its image as the land of culture par excellence, German propaganda created the principle of Kunstschutz. This principle allowed Germany to experiment with new formulas for saving and developing cultural heritage and originated many, often fertile initiatives. Clemen, professor of art history at the University of Bonn
University of Bonn
The University of Bonn is a public research university located in Bonn, Germany. Founded in its present form in 1818, as the linear successor of earlier academic institutions, the University of Bonn is today one of the leading universities in Germany. The University of Bonn offers a large number...
and inspector of monuments in the Rhineland
Rhineland
Historically, the Rhinelands refers to a loosely-defined region embracing the land on either bank of the River Rhine in central Europe....
, was one of the principle's first instigators. A German soldier 'saved' cultural objects in Saint-Quentin, Aisne
Saint-Quentin, Aisne
Saint-Quentin is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France. It has been identified as the Augusta Veromanduorum of antiquity. It is named after Saint Quentin, who is said to have been martyred here in the 3rd century....
, though these were only returned in 1998, whilst a painting similarly removed from Douai
Douai
-Main sights:Douai's ornate Gothic style belfry was begun in 1380, on the site of an earlier tower. The 80 m high structure includes an impressive carillon, consisting of 62 bells spanning 5 octaves. The originals, some dating from 1391 were removed in 1917 during World War I by the occupying...
museum only returned in 2000 after being discovered at a sale in Switzerland. The museum at Metz
Metz
Metz is a city in the northeast of France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers.Metz is the capital of the Lorraine region and prefecture of the Moselle department. Located near the tripoint along the junction of France, Germany, and Luxembourg, Metz forms a central place...
has put on an exhibition on the activities of its former German curator, the archaeologist Johann Baptist Keune, in protecting the artistic heritage of the Moselle during the conflict.
World War Two
Kunstschutz's altruistic image in World War I was profitable for its reinstatement in World War II. On the initiative of marhsal Hermann Goering, a specialist military corps known as the Kunstschutz was reactivated following the Armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces of September 1943 to requisition Italian artworks and transport them to Germany, under the pretext of saving them from Allied bombing. In FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
58 crates of marble and bronze statues (by Donatello
Donatello
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi , also known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence...
and Michelangelo
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art...
among others), 26 ancient Greek statues, 291 large paintings (including works by Titian
Titian
Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
, Botticelli and Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
) and 25 crates of smaller paintings set out for Germany and Austria in convoys which many Italian intelligence officers secretly followed and reported back on to their government and thus to the Allies. One of those officers was the anti-Fascist Rodolfo Siviero
Rodolfo Siviero
Rodolfo Siviero was an Italian secret agent, art historian and intellectual, most notable for his important work in recovering artworks stolen from Italy during the Second World War as part of the 'Nazi plunder'.- Life :...
, who transmitted his reports to the Allies via his partisan contacts and continued to hunt down and return looted and illegally acquired Italian artworks from Germany after 1945. One of those he returned was the Spiridon Leda (1505–1515) from the Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
school, acquired by Goering before the war. In Naples the national museums were looted, with paintings taken including the Danaë
Danaë (Titian series)
The Danaë series comprises at least five oil-on-canvas paintings by the Venetian master Titian, completed between 1553 and 1556. The works are based on the mythological princess Danaë. According to Ovid she was isolated in a bronze dungeon following a prophecy that her firstborn would eventually...
by Titian, The Blind Leading the Blind
The Blind Leading the Blind
The Blind Leading the Blind is an oil painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, dating from 1568 and housed in the Capodimonte Museum, Naples, southern Italy. Other titles include Blind and The Parable of the Blind....
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the Portrait of a young woman, known as Antea
Antea (Parmigianino)
Antea is a painting by the Italian Mannerist artist Parmigianino, executed around 1524-1527.-History:...
by Parmigianino
Parmigianino
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola , also known as Francesco Mazzola or more commonly as Parmigianino or sometimes "Parmigiano", was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, Bologna, and his native city of Parma...
and the Apollo Citharoedus
Apollo Citharoedus
An Apollo Citharoedus, or Apollo Citharede, designates a statue or other image of Apollo with cithara . Among the best-known realizations of this aspect of Apollo is the Apollo Citharoedus of the Vatican Museums, a 2nd century AD colossal marble statue of by an unknown Roman sculptor...
from Pompeii
Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
.
Goebbels
Goebbels
Goebbels, alternatively Göbbels, is a common surname in the western areas of Germany. It is probably derived from the Old Low German word gibbler, meaning brewer...
had also edited a 1000-page inventory of French artworks in the occupied zone
Zone occupée
The zone occupée was the area of France where German occupying troops were deployed during the Second World War after the signature of the Second Armistice at Compiègne...
of France. Count Franz Wolff-Metternich was responsible for the Kunstschutz in France from 1940 to 1942 and most works in French museums were taken Collections belonging to Jews such as the Rothschild and the David-Weills were evacuated using the funds of the French national museums and gathered together in the Musée du Jeu de Paume, where Goering took his pick before putting them all in special trains bound for Berlin. Rose Valland
Rose Valland
Rose Antonia Maria Valland was a French art historian, a member of the French Resistance, a captain in the French military, and one of the most decorated women in French history...
, one of the French curators, took secret notes on the contents of each train out. Ribbentrop, the German foreign minister, tried to get hold of Diana Bathing by François Boucher
François Boucher
François Boucher was a French painter, a proponent of Rococo taste, known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories representing the arts or pastoral occupations, intended as a sort of two-dimensional furniture...
, whilst Hitler himself took part of Alfred Schloss's collection of 300 Dutch paintings for his personal museum at Linz
Linz
Linz is the third-largest city of Austria and capital of the state of Upper Austria . It is located in the north centre of Austria, approximately south of the Czech border, on both sides of the river Danube. The population of the city is , and that of the Greater Linz conurbation is about...
.
German art looting also occurred in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and elsewhere.