Thesis
Photo of the Ghent Altarpiece (see HOME page), considered one of the most essential pieces recovered from salt mines in Altaussee, Austria, 1945
~National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, MD.
Although looting of art and cultural artifacts is not new to history, during the 1930s and 1940s the Nazis engaged in systematic pillaging from private collections and museums throughout Europe on an epic scale. General Dwight D. Eisenhower brought together Allied forces composed of individuals with expertise in art whose mission was to preserve, document, and restitute those appropriated pieces. Their efforts and today's continuing restitution processes illustrate that stolen art and national treasures rightfully belong to those from whom they were taken, and that we have an ethical obligation to fulfill this responsibility.
"A crime committed 80 years ago continues to stain the world of art today." ~Ronald S. Lauder, World Jewish Congress