When Stout arrived there on May 21, 1945, shortly after hostilities ended, he chronicled the contents based on Nazi records: 6,577 paintings, 2,300 drawings or watercolors, 954 prints, 137 pieces of sculpture, 129 pieces of arms and armor, 79 baskets of objects, 484 cases of objects thought to be archives, 78 pieces of furniture, 122 tapestries, 1,200-1,700 cases apparently books or similar, and 283 cases contents completely unknown. But after Vienna’s Academy of Fine Arts rejected a teenaged Hitler for his “unfitness for painting,” his singular dream of becoming an artist was crushed. And the ones he got often broke down. His plans, however, were thwarted by a combination of local miners wanting to save their livelihood and Nazi officials who considered Eigruber’s plan folly, according to books by Edsel and Nicholas. Find out more about the unlikely World War II heroes who saved Europe’s art treasures. Hitler’s interest in art, however, never waned, and after launching World War II, he led the Nazis in the systematic looting of famous works of art that formed the cultural soul of Western civilization. Its mission focuses on restitution of missing art, and education and preservation of these heroes' legacy. On July 19, he reported that 80 truckloads, 1,850 paintings, 1,441 cases of paintings and sculpture, 11 sculptures, 30 pieces of furniture and 34 large packages of textiles had been removed from the mine. In Berlin, Hitler leafed through photo albums filled with pictures of stolen artworks, and just as if he was flipping through a mail-order catalog, he selected those pieces he wanted for the world’s greatest art museum that he intended to build in his hometown of Linz, Austria—the Fuhrermuseum. ... Real 'Monuments Men' Width in pixels px Height in pixels px Copied to your clipboard Unable to copy. Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, THE MONUMENTS MEN centers around an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. Two months earlier, Hitler had issued the “Nero Decree,” which stated in part: All military transport and communication facilities, industrial establishments and supply depots, as well as anything else of value within Reich territory, which could in any way be used by the enemy immediately or within the foreseeable future for the prosecution of the war, will be destroyed. Robert Edsel talks about “The Monuments Men,” which is based on his New York Times bestseller and tells the story of the greatest treasure hunt in history. The hand that had gingerly painted watercolors would eventually be raised in a Nazi salute and rule Germany with an iron fist. "No chance of getting them," he wrote in April 1945. "Calm and beautiful, the altarpiece was, quite simply, there.". When the Monuments Men entered the Altaussee Salt Mine in Austria, they discovered hidden inside its 137 tunnels more than 6,000 paintings as well as masterpieces such as Michelangelo’s “Madonna of Bruges” and the “Ghent Altarpiece.” It took six weeks for them to empty Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle, the fairy-tale structure that served as the model for Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disneyland, of all its hidden treasures that had been plundered from France. Two members lost their lives in combat. Captain Robert Posey and Pfc. The deepest tunnels were more than a mile inside the mountain, safe from enemy bombs even if the remote location was discovered. It’s a war adventure, a comedy, a drama and an art film, literally…and that’s the problem. "Loaded less than two trucks by 11:30," Stout wrote on June 18. The Real Story Behind Plymouth Rock. the entire gold reserves of the Nazi German national treasury. The Monuments Men True Story vs Movie – George Stout, James Rorimer The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History – Kindle edition by Robert M. Edsel, Bret Witter. Claudette Barius / Sony Pictures. Stout transformed German sheepskin coats and gas masks into packing materials. Within days, they’d also found priceless works by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. He spoke about the recoveries at Altaussee and two other mines briefly in that 1978 oral history, but spent most of the interview talking about his museum work. Hundreds of thousands of plundered documents and artworks—including pieces by Monet, Van Gogh, Cezanne, Rodin and Botticelli—remain at large. "All hands grumbling," Stout wrote. He seized hundreds of items for his own collection and needed to attach two railroad cars to his personal train to haul away his loot. In one journal entry, Stout said he calculated the boxes, crates, and packing materials needed for a shipment. 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