America and the Return of Nazi Contraband: The Recovery of Europe's Cultural Treasures

ISBN-13: 9780521133401 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 290 str.

Michael J. Kurtz

Opis

In the ruins of Hitler's Third Reich, Allied occupiers found millions of paintings, books, manuscripts, and pieces of sculpture hidden in thousands of secret hideaways. This book reveals how the American Military Government in Germany, spearheaded by a few dozen dedicated Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFA&A) officers and enlisted men, coped with restoring Europe's cultural heritage. Caught up in often bitter diplomatic wrangling during and after the war, the American restitution effort struggled to unearth and return what the Nazis had hidden. (Based on the pioneering study of cultural restitution first published in 1985.)

Recenzje

"While other current publications deal with the restitution of looted art objects, none do so from the vantage point of the American military government, and it is this more than anything else that makes Kurtz’s volume such a contribution to the field." -Dana Herman, The American Jewish Archives Journal

Spis treści

Part I. Crisis and Response: 1. Looting and restitution; 2. Nazi looting: the war against European culture, 1933–45; 3. Preservers and restorers; 4. Wartime frustrations: great power diplomacy; Part II. First Efforts: 5. Restitution imbroglio: the American dilemma in the first six months of occupation; 6. The allies agree on restitution; Part III. America Leads: 7. Cultural restitution in the American zone, 1946–9; 8. A special concern: the Jewish inheritance; Part IV. Cold War and Beyond: 9. Conflict and cooperation: the politics of restitution in the Cold War; 10. Restitution at home: the American scene; 11. Renewed ferment: restitution in the post Cold War era; 12. Past, present, and future: an evaluation.