Monument Men and Trophy Brigades: A Race to the Art

Abstract

This thesis examines and compares two small military units within the Allied forces during World War II - the Soviet Union trophy brigades and the US Army Monuments Men. Both units recruited their members from the art world and were ordered by their respective leaders to find art looted and secretly hidden by the Nazis. Both units also operated within the same timeframe and geographical areas. However, the operations and orders of these two units expressed vastly different motivations. Through historical research and documents, this thesis will argue that the trophy brigades were organized and dispatched to Germany by Stalin to collect art in compensation and revenge for the human and cultural losses inflicted by the Nazis in their country. By comparison, research will also show that the Monuments Men were commissioned by FDR and the US government, partially for political reasons, but mainly by a genuine desire to protect, salvage and repatriate artwork looted by the Nazis in Western Europe.