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The Allies who liberated Europe were not blameless as members of the military were able ro smuggle "spoils of war", home. That is the subject of this outstanding documentary. Eastern Europe especially Poland was raped twice. Much documentation is surfacing recently as to original ownership of this property be it nations or individuals. The entire collection of the Lourve in Paris was removed & hidden throughout France. Unless these criminals could enrich themselves simply by stealing what could be carried away. Art objects & icons of civilizations were simply wantonly destroyed.
The Russian were complicent in this pillaging. Remember they were allies of the Nazis in the early years of World War II. While whole races of people were being killed, & world war raged, whole cultures from the millenium of these people were being destroyed. You can never minimize that. But those people left behind art of exquisite beauty & value, not only monetary but to the world itself. Of some interest was the attempts of various conquered people in western Europe who had more time to hide their treasures from the Germans. Many of these works have already lasted 1,000 years. Time is really no barrier with the technolgy we have today.
It happened in eastern Europe by the Nazi & later the Soviets & to lesser extent in western Europe. Even the United States itself sent shiploads of art objects back to the states for "safekeeping". Once by the Nazis & then by the advancing Russian Army as the Germans retreated later in the war. This discussion is not centered on the millions of people that were exterminated. I trust that much of that will & is being returned to its rightful owners. You know, that was how longer Hitler said the Third Reich would exist.
Interesting DVD ~2 hours about how in WWII Nazies stole art treasurers from the Jews & the efforts to recover them.Informative, well documented. Only complaint is that producer sometimes thinks is producing a music CD, & the background music hides the heavy accents of the speakers.Amazon had much better price than direct sources.
This is an amazing account of a little know aspect of Hitler's ambition during the Second World War. It's a MUST for every history buff.
This war led all the nations involved to commit unbearable horrors against each other. There are specific accounts of American attempts to avoid unnecessarily destroying some of their adversaires' cities and structures, but this documentary appears to have primarily a pro-allies perspective.
It recounts many atrocities of Hitler's ravages across Europe. The movie is aptly titled "The Rape of Europe" - the war and the conflicts led the Germans, Americans, and Russians to destroy each others' art and cultural heritages.I am an avid art historian, and I am grateful this documentary was made.
There are a few accounts of American and Russian carpet bombings. Unquestionably, Hitler and the Germans systematically stole or destroyed art and culture from others.
It is important for future generations to remember the immeasurable harm that came from the Nazis' conquest to attempt to achieve their vision of a larger and richer German empire, an empire that was built on the false moral premises that they were racially superior and it was acceptable for them to steal from racially-inferior people.Other reviewers have warrantedly criticized this documentary for not equally reporting on the American and Russian destruction of their adversaries' art and cultural buildings. I wish the documentary had accounted more of the allied atrocities.
World War II eventually led all the nations involved to participate in a rape of European arts, civility, and cultures.
This movie goes to great lengths to discuss the allied attempt to delay the bombing of the Cassino Abbey in Italy and discusses the allies appointing a special unit to restore art works to their original origins, but fails to address the other side. But I think it's a mistake to link these events as causal. Without a doubt, Hitler was a thief. Hitler took everything of value-dignity, humanity, art, gold, wine, women, children, body & soul-from anyone and everyone because it was a way of amassing power. In fact, many of the art works that remain unaccounted for were moved through the Widelstein family whereas the art that remained in Germany or with Hitler was repatriated to its righful owners. You want to believe the premise of the Rape of Europa, but the reality is Hitler didn't steal art because he was rejected from art school.
As a painter he could appreciate fine art, but as a dictator he knew it's value to the Third Reich. Property, gold-even the hair of concentration camp prisoners to stuff pillows. The removal and dessimation of cultural symbols played upon enemies psychologically. This movie almost has you believing that Hitler WENT to war to build a personal art collection. The Rape of Europa recounts the story of Hitler's rejection from the Vienna School of Art and suggests that because he failed to get into art school he made the plundering of art a priority during WWII. The Widelstein Family and many art collectors in the South of France helped Hitler move parts of his collection for money-and these people were Jewish. In other words, without the help of Jews some of this wouldn't have happened.
There is an interesting psychology in this. And as others reviewers have pointed out, what about the bombing of Dresden. One event doesn't necessarily lead to another. Hitler stole everything he could get his hands on to pay for WWII. There was too much assigning of blame and heroism in this movie.
It's like saying Hitler's bumpy complexion in his teenage years later led to the practice of taking the skin of concentration camp victims to cover lamp shades. It's a little absurd when more rational explanations are available for his actions-greed, a thirst for power, xenophobia, unpaid war bills.The Rape of Europa also fails to address some important points in the taking of art from Jews during WWII. The reality is that ART and culture are victims of war and everyone who choses to go to war is responsible for the demise of beauty. This is what dictators do.
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