Robert M. Edsel
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Robert M. Edsel (b. 1956) is an American writer and businessman. He wrote a book, Rescuing Da Vinci, about art treasures preserved during and after World War II. Edsel founded the Monuments Men Foundation in 2007 and has donated two albums of photographic evidence of the Third Reich's theft of art treasures to the United States National Archives.
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[edit] Art detective
In the late 1980s, Edsel founded and ran an oil company, Gemini Production. He sold the company for US$37.9 million in 1995, and used some of that money to move to Europe with his wife and son.
In the late 1990s, while living in Florence, Edsel began to think about the methods and planning used to keep art out of the hands of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Following a divorce in 2000, Edsel moved to New York City, where he began a serious effort to learn about and understand the issue. By 2004, those efforts had become a full time career, and he established a research office in Dallas, his hometown.[1] By 2005, he had gathered thousands of photographs and other documents, and began writing the manuscript for Rescuing Da Vinci, which was published in 2006. The book received wide attention.[1][2]
[edit] Monuments Men
Edsel co-produced a documentary film, The Rape of Europa, based on the book by Lynn Nicholas. Narrated by Joan Allen and well-received by critics, the film began a theatrical run in September 2007 at the Paris Theatre in New York City.[3][4]
In 2007, Edsel created the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art. The foundation's mission is "to preserve the legacy of the unprecedented and heroic work of the men and women who served in the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (“MFAA”) section, known as “Monuments Men,” during World War II, by raising public awareness of the importance of protecting and safeguarding civilization’s most important artistic and cultural treasures from armed conflict, but incorporating these expressions of man's greatest creative achievements into our daily lives." He announced the foundation during a ceremony on June 6, 2007, the 63rd anniversary of D-Day, to celebrate Senate and House concurrent resolutions honoring the Monuments Men.[5][6]
[edit] Nazi albums
During the course of his research into the whereabouts of lost art and the efforts to save it, Edsel discovered the existence of two large, leather-bound photograph albums which documented portions of the European art looted by the Nazis. The two photographic albums were in the possession of heirs to an American soldier stationed in the Berchtesgaden area of Germany in the closing days of World War II.
The albums were created by the staff of the Third Reich’s Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), a special unit that found and confiscated the best material in Nazi-occupied countries, to use for exploitation. In France, the ERR engaged in an extensive and elaborate art looting operation, part of Hitler’s much larger premeditated scheme to steal art treasures from conquered nations. The albums were created for Hitler and high-level Nazi officials as a catalogue and, more importantly, to give Hitler a way to choose the art for his art museum in Austria. A group of these photograph albums were presented to Hitler on his birthday in 1943, to "send a ray of beauty and joy into [his] revered life." ERR staff stated that nearly 100 such volumes were created during the years of their art looting operation.
Edsel worked with the owners of the albums to acquire them for preservation. In November 2007, at a ceremony with Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein, Edsel announced the existence of these photograph albums to the public and, separately, his donation of the albums to the National Archives. Weinstein, called the discovery "one of the most significant finds related to Hitler’s premeditated theft of art and other cultural treasures to be found since the Nuremberg trials."[7]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Kennedy, Randy. "G.I. Joes to the Rescue of Rembrandts and Raphaels", The New York Times, 2006-12-19. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ Kaye, Randi. "Life after work" (video), CNN.com, 2007-03-08. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ Scheib, Ronnie; Variety Staff (2007-01-31). The Rape of Europa. Variety. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ Saltz, Rachel. "Art, Lost & Found", The New York Times, 2007-09-14. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ H.Con.Res 48. thomas.loc.gov. Library of Congress (2007-01-31). Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ S. Res. 223. thomas.loc.gov. Library of Congress (2007-06-06). Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
- ^ National Archives and Records Administration (2007-11-01). "National Archives Announces Discovery of "Hitler Albums" Documenting Looted Art". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-05-04.
