The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) program was one of the most unusual military units ever created. Approximately 345 men and women from 13 nations — museum directors, art historians, architects, and curators — were given military uniforms and sent to the front lines with a mission: prevent the destruction of Europe's cultural heritage and recover art looted by the Nazis.

The Nazi Art Machine

Hitler and Göring had been systematically plundering Europe's art for years. Hitler planned a Führermuseum in Linz, Austria, that would house the world's greatest art collection. Göring amassed a personal collection of over 2,000 works. The ERR (Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg) — the Nazi art looting organization — had seized an estimated five million objects from across Europe.

As the war turned against Germany, the Nazis hid the stolen art in over 1,000 repositories: salt mines, castles, monasteries, bank vaults, and caves. Some repositories contained priceless works stacked like cordwood.

The Discoveries

The most dramatic find was the Altaussee salt mine in Austria, where the Monuments Men discovered over 6,500 works including Vermeer's "The Astronomer," van Eyck's "Ghent Altarpiece," and Michelangelo's "Madonna of Bruges." The mine also contained eight crates of bombs — placed there on Hitler's orders to destroy the art if Germany lost. Local miners had sabotaged the detonation plan.

At Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, they found the entire art collection of the Rothschild family. In a cave near Siegen, they found Rembrandt's self-portrait. The Mona Lisa was recovered from Château de Chambord in the Loire Valley, where it had been evacuated before the German invasion.

Two Monuments Men were killed in action. Their sacrifice — art historians dying to save art — represented a profound statement about what civilization means and what is worth protecting even in the midst of war.