The Monuments Men Part 2
Picking up
where we left off:
Then…there are the Nazi albums
Stay tuned!
and the next
question of course would be “What led him to the Monuments Men?”
That is a more
burning and complicated question. The more I read about Mr. Edsel’s life after
1995, the more the picture emerges of a suddenly enormously wealthy man with
time to spare and money to burn…who had the brains and the interests to seek a
truly original and gratifying and useful way to spend that time and money…a
wonderful example of what wealth can be used to accomplish in the hands of a
thoughtful person. We don’t know anything about his personal character, but
have to admire his dedication to historical preservation and research and the
Monuments Men. Clearly, he is a man entranced with this work.
In 1996, Robert
Edsel moved to Europe with his family. While living in Florence, Italy, in the
heart of the country responsible for so much that is beautiful and fine in the
art world, he began to think about the methods and planning used to keep art out
of the hands of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. No wonder he started thinking
about this. Even today remnants of Mussolini’s regime are still so evident in
Rome, Florence and other parts of Italy.
Following a divorce
in 2000, as night follows the day, Robert Edsel moved to New York City, where he
began a serious effort to learn about and understand the issue of the lost art.
By 2004, those
efforts had become a full time career, and he established a research office in
Dallas, his home town. By 2005, he had gathered thousands of photographs and
other documents, and began writing the manuscript for his first book,
RESCUING DA VINCI. This book received wide attention.
In September 2009,
his second book, THE MONUMENTS MEN, a narrative telling of the story of
the Monuments Men, was released by Hachette Book Group. Plans included
publication of that book in seventeen languages.
These were
followed, as we know, by the two other books mentioned earlier.
While this was
going on, he co-produced a documentary film, The Rape of Europa, based on
a 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.
In the meantime,
not to waste a second, he created The Greatest Theft in History,
an educational program, which includes the documentary film The Rape of
Europa as well as seven hours of additional clips, a companion website
featuring lesson plans, glossaries, timelines and other resources which allows
teachers to utilize this material for classroom use.
Again, and most
importantly, while all this was going on, Mr. 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 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.”
He announced the
Foundation’s creation during a ceremony at The White House on June 6, 2007, the
63rd anniversary of D-Day.
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