The Rape of Europa Reviews (4)
The Rape of Europa (Starred Review)
Published November 1, 2008
Review by Candace Smith | Booklist Online
More than 60 years following World War II, thousands of art treasures stolen by Nazis as they swept through Europe are still missing. Private collectors, museum curators, and family heirs battle over the rightful ownership of priceless artwork that has resurfaced. Hitler’s plan, according to interviewed historians, authors, and other experts in this riveting program, was to obliterate enemy culture and history while adding to his private art collection. In well-selected archival footage, viewers witness German armies destroying architectural landmarks, burning libraries, and pillaging art museums. Hitler, an adequate artist himself, was obsessed with the work of the masters. Cameras pan Hitler’s watercolors and show him examining scale models of a planned mammoth art center to house ransacked sculptures, tapestries, and paintings. Eyewitness accounts of Nazi destruction range from town residents and museum workers who frantically packed and evacuated priceless paintings (including the Mona Lisa) one step ahead of the Nazis to the Allied “Monuments Men,” who identified and restored the stolen treasures. Interesting, too, are recollections from American soldiers who had to weigh orders to preserve the artwork (for example, precisely dropping bombs on Florence) with commands to defeat the enemy. Fascinating for presenting a well-rounded portrait of the plundering, pillaging, and moving of artwork, this enlightening program, based on Lynn H. Nicholas’ book of the same name and wonderfully narrated by Joan Allen, is a fascinating look at a shameful era in world history.