U.K. Army To Form A Special Unit That Will Be Dedicated To Saving Treasures From War-Zones

The Telegraph: Army sign up 'Monument Men' to save treasures from warzones

Army sign up 'Monument Men' to save treasures from warzones.

Expert team to travel to warzones to advise on how locating and saving cultural treasures in echoes of George Clooney film.

The Army aims to recruit a ‘Monuments Men’ team of art and archaeology experts to help protect priceless cultural treasures in war zones and choke off terrorist funding from antiquities smuggling.

The specialist unit of up 40 advisers will be staffed by expert reservists with backgrounds in museums, archaeology, the art world or criminal investigations, according to proposals seen by the Telegraph.

The cultural property protection unit will mirror the ‘Monuments Men’ team of British and American art experts who saved priceless European art treasures carried off by the Nazis and were portrayed in a recent George Clooney film.

WNU Editor: I know someone who served in such a unit for the South Korean Army during the Korean war. As he told me .... it was extremely dangerous. They were usually the last ones to leave a town/city before it became occupied by the enemy .... grabbing whatever valuables that they could get their hands on .... literally minutes before the enemy shows up.

Hitler's Ghost Still Fascinates Us

This Dec. 2, 2009 photo taken in Dallas shows a lost album that once belonged to Adolf Hitler, part of a series compiled for Hitler featuring photographs of art he wanted for his 'Fuehrermuseum,' a planned museum in Linz, Austria. The book, taken by U.S. serviceman John Pistone during World War II from Hitler's home, is expected to be formally returned to Germany in a ceremony at the U.S. State Department in January. (AP Photo/Mike Fuentes)

WWII Vet Had Hitler's Art Book On Bookshelf -- Yahoo News/AP

DALLAS – After fighting his way across Europe during World War II, John Pistone was among the U.S. soldiers who entered Adolf Hitler's home nestled in the Bavarian Alps as the war came to a close.

Making his way through the Berghof, Hitler's home near Berchtesgaden, Germany, Pistone noticed a table with shelves underneath. Exhilarated by the certainty of victory over the Nazis, Pistone took an album filled with photographs of paintings as a souvenir.

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My Comment: War and conflicts bring about the worse in people, but one aspect that is rarely covered is war booty and the theft of national treasures. It is amazing how many people find such collections fascinating. But art is art, and while the Nazis were monsters, they understood its value. If returning this book can help a family somewhere .... more power to it.