The Monuments Men

by Robert Edsel
Hennepin County Library paperback, 534 pages plus notes and index
genre: non-fiction, history, WWII

I wanted to read this book because I had seen movie trailers and was curious. I only read to page 107 and then skim-read bits and pieces of the rest. The narrative and information were interesting, but not gripping to me. (I'm not a history buff.) I believe the author did a tremendous job and I learned a lot, but I couldn't see dedicating the time to read every word.

Part of my reluctance was the constant awareness that the human atrocities are far worse than the destruction of human-made objects. Yes, I appreciate the culture and the historic and emotional value of these objects (not to mention the dollar values!), but the loss of millions of lives (both of soldiers and civilians) and particularly the genocide of the Holocaust, will always remain the larger story of WWII. (Whew! What an unwieldy sentence.)

I had never before heard of Hitler's "Nero Decree" in which he declared that Germany's infrastructure should be destroyed so the Allies could not make use of it. Some of his people decided that meant that anything of value (ammunition, supplies, artwork, etc.) should also be destroyed. So incredibly sad! And to learn that even before this decree, he destroyed artwork that he didn't like - modern, cubist, etc. Wow! What a megalomaniac. But I already knew that.

I went online and watched a fantastic National Geographic piece on the Monuments Men - it had footage and photos from the 1940s as well as clips from the Hollywood film. (I love that George Clooney played George Stout!) It was also nice to see interview clips with Harry Etlinger, who is still alive (and in his 90s). There were some other clips. I was curious about so many things related to the art theft by the Nazis. Now I want to see The Monuments Men and The Woman in Gold! (Neither is currently available on Netflix.)