Nefertiti, 1951, unknown Photographer
Dr. Jörg Daur
Deputy Director, Custos of modern and contemporary art
The Wiesbaden Museum experienced a chequered history during the Second World War and in the years that followed. From 1935 to 1945, under the direction of Hermann Voss, the museum entered its darkest period. Voss was the special commissioner for a "Führer Museum" in Linz planned by the National Socialists, and during his tenure he acquired numerous high-calibre paintings that have recently had to be investigated to determine their rightful provenance or are still being investigated. After the end of the war, the building became the "Central Collecting Point" of the American troops as a collection point for art treasures from Berlin hidden in mines - including, for example, the bust of Nefertiti (Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection in the Neues Museum) or the Man with the Gold Helmet from Rembrandt's circle (Gemäldegalerie), but also a central location for the restitution of cultural assets seized by Nazi persecution. Organised by the "Monuments, Fine Arts & Archives Section", 345 art protection officers, the "Monuments Men" and "Monuments Women" were entrusted with the task of protecting and preserving the cultural treasures in destroyed post-war Germany.
On 7 November 1945, US officers protested the removal of over 200 important works of art from German museums to the United States with the Wiesbaden Manifesto.
U.S. FORCES, EUROPEAN THEATER GERMANY
1. We, the undersigned, Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Specialist Officers of the Armed Forces of the United States, wish to make known our convictions regarding the transportation to the United States of works of art, the property of German institutions or nationals, for purposes of protective custody.
2. a. We are unanimously agreed that the transportation of these works of art, undertaken by the United States Army, upon direction from the highest national authority, establishes a precedent which is neithermorally tenable nor trustworthy.
b. Since the beginning of United States participation in the war, it has been the declared policy of the Allied Forces, so far as military necessity would permit, to protect and preserve from deterioration consequent upon the processes of war, all monuments, documents or other objects of historic, artistic, cultural or archaeological value. The war is at an end, and no doctrine of »military necessity« can now be invoked for the further protection of the objects to be moved, for the reason that depots and personnel, both fully competent for their protection, have been inaugurated and are functioning.
c. The Allied Nations are at present preparing to prosecute individuals for the crime of sequestering, under the pretext of
»protective custody«, the cultural treasures of German-occupied countries. A major part of the indictment follows upon the reasoning that even though these individuals were acting under military orders, the dictates of a higher ethical law made encumbent upon them to refuse to take part in, or countenance, the fulfillment of these orders. We, the undersigned, feel it is our duty to point out that, though as members of the Armed Forces we will carry out the orders we receive, we are thus put before any candid eyes as no less culpable than those whoseprosecution we affect to sanction.
3. We wish to state that from our own knowledge, no historical grievance will rankle so long, or be the cause of so much justified bitterness, as the removal, for any reason, of a part of the heritage of any nation, even if that heritage may be interpreted as a prize of war. And though this removal may be done with every intention of altruism, we are none the less convinced that it is our duty, individually and collectively, to protest against it, and that though our obligations are to the nation to which we owe allegiance, there are yet further obligation to common justice, decency and the establishment of the power of right, not of expediency or might, among civilized nations.
Farmer u.a.: Wiesbadener Manifest (1945), kommentiert von Tanja Bernsau und Elisabeth Furtwängler, in: Translocations. Anthologie: Eine Sammlung kommentierter Quellentexte zu Kulturgutverlagerungen seit der Antike, 2020.
The "Sonic Memory" project, funded as part of the cultural promotion programme „Hessen kulturell neu eröffnen“, honours the work of this special unit of the US Army with an outdoor listening station in front of the Wiesbaden Museum. With the help of a hand crank, visitors can generate their own electricity and listen to six audio tracks in German and English.
The audio tracks tell the story of the Central Collecting Point, its first director Walter Ings Farmer and the "Wiesbaden Manifesto" he initiated, as well as the topic of provenance research and restitution. In addition, a historical sound recording of Monuments Man Kenneth Lindsay talking about the bust of Nefertiti from the collections of the National Museums in Berlin is even heard from the station, and a piece reports on one of the directors of the Collecting Point.
The project was realised by Jürgen Czwienk, author and director, the Museum Wiesbaden with the support of the Freunde des Museums Wiesbaden e.V., the Wiesbaden art studio Sonic Memory — Outdoor Hörstationen and the Monuments Men Foundation Dallas, TX. Czwienk has already set up similar listening stations in commemoration of historical events or personalities, including for example in front of the German National Library in Frankfurt and Leipzig or the Stadtpalais in Stuttgart. More stations are planned, including at the New Orleans National WWII Museum.
Literature
Dr. Tanja Bernsau, Wiesbaden, wrote her doctoral thesis on the Monuments Men and the Collecting Point at the Landesmuseum Wiesbaden:
Tanja Bernsau (Hrsg.)
Die Besatzer als Kuratoren? Der Central Collecting Point Wiesbaden als Drehscheibe für einen Wiederaufbau der Museumslandschaft nach 1945
640 Seiten
Münster: LIT Verlag, 2013
zugl. Univ., Diss., Mainz 2013
ISBN 978-3-643-12355-8
64,90 Euro
Movie
George Clooney and Matt Damon as Monuments Men — watch the official trailer!
Monuments Men and Women Museum Network
In 2021, the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art (MMF) launched the Mouments Men and Women Museum Network. The network has been particularly well received in the United States, including the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Isabella Steward Gardner, the Toledo Museum of Art and the Kimbell Art Museum.
Free entry for partners of the Monuments Men Foundation.
Visit the official homepage.
Geocache
Let's go!
A tour around the museum — follow the instructions and find the famous Nerfetiti!
