The Rape of Europa: A Continuing Saga

Pillage and destruction of cultural property has always been a by-product of armed conflict. Yet no military power in history has equaled the Third Reich in its ability to use culture not merely as a trophy of war, but as a weapon of war: a means to dominate, demoralize and control the nations that it sought to conquer by stripping them of their cultural and spiritual identity.

Only through the systematic confiscation, theft, concealment, forced sale and destruction of millions of artistic, religious and historical works and monuments would Europe, in Hitler’s mind, become a suitable home for a tausend jahre reich with Berlin as its capital. Pulling the plug on this diabolical plan is one of the great stories of modern time, brilliantly recounted by Lynn Nicholas in her 1994 book The Rape of Europa, which has been updated and adapted for the screen with remarkable never-before-seen footage by the writer-director-producer team of Bonni Cohen, Richard Berge and Nicolle Newnham.

Truly a “must see” documentary, The Rape of Europa reveals the heroism and tenacity of those who risked their lives to save what others could only covet, control or destroy, and continue to undo the damage caused by the German war machine more than 50 years later.

Among the many stories recounted in the film, one of the most memorable involves the work of the 400-person Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section of the U.S. military, established in 1943 to assist in the protection and restitution of cultural property during and after World War II. Their efforts, from the restoration at the fire-bombed Campo Santo in Pisa to the recovery of thousands of masterworks stored in mines and castles across Germany, inspired The Rape of Europa co-producer Robert M. Edsel, to document this part of the story in the recently published book Rescuing Da Vinci, which recently prompted a recent Congressional resolution and public ceremony honoring the Monuments Men for their work. Both The Rape of Europa and Rescuing Da Vinci should serve as a useful reference when the time comes to compare our reaction to cultural calamity more than 50 years ago to our current response to the cultural consequences of the conflict in Iraq where cultural heritage became an early casualty and continues to be destroyed with no clear end in sight.

Our advice: make The Rape of Europa required viewing and the Nicholas and Edsel books required reading for all current and future war planners and battlefield commanders.

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