Author creates monument for art guardians
Jessica Grogan
Issue date: 9/27/07 Section: News
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According to Edsel, the monuments men were a group of roughly 350 men and women, 70% of whom were American, who traveled through Europe during World War II rescuing works of art from the hands of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
During the war, museums all over Europe began relocating their art, Edsel said.
With bullets flying and bombs dropping everywhere, museum officials were worried that these priceless works of art would be damaged or destroyed, Edsel said.
Secondly, Hitler, being an art enthusiast, kept a list of paintings he desired to place in his own museum and would order the items stolen for his private collection, Edsel said.
According to Edsel, the members of the Nazi party would often give each other paintings as gifts.
Hitler only desired works of art which had been produced by German or Austrian artists and paintings by such artists as Picasso, Matisse and Van Gogh were either auctioned off to the highest bidder or destroyed, said Edsel.
According to Edsel, the monuments men started out as a team of 50 men and women, but grew to 350 strong by the end of the war.
These individuals hitchhiked through Europe aiding in the repair of glass in churches, building temporary scaffolding on buildings that had collapsed and helping move works of art to safer locations, Edsel explained.
They also searched for the places where museum employees had hidden art.
Edsel described the paintings, statues and various other kinds of artwork were found in chateaus, salt mines and caves and the larger works were found baracaded in the bottoms of museums.
According to Edsel, the monuments men would move the art back to the museums.
Edsel told the story of 48 museum employees who lived in their museum for three years protecting the art.
By the third year, most of them died of starvation.
Despite these acts of bravery there were no parades to celebrate their return or rewards given for their service, Edsel said.
According to Edsel, this is why he decided to make their story known.
"Art is our culture, history, and connection to our past," he said. "People want to know this story."
In 1994, Edsel and his family moved to Florence and remained in Europe for five years while the author researched his story.
He said he discovered 50 of the Monuments Men, of which twelve are still living today.
When he returned to the U.S., no publisher would publish his book, so Edsel published it himself, he explained.
When asked why he went through so much to get the word out about the monuments men, he responded, "Passion drives me."
Several students attended the lecture including Marin Rieman, a fifth-year student from Bartlett.
Being an art and history enthusiast, she said she was attending the seminar because she had read about it in the newspaper.
Rieman said that Edsel was a "wonderful speaker."
"He really knew what he was talking about. He wrote the book," she said.
Edsel's book, "Rescuing da Vinci," can now be purchased at the UTC bookstore.
