Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis (51 page)

BOOK: Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis
5.04Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

302
“art treasures”. . . . “extreme care necessary.”
Freight Waybill, Hartt Papers, Box 3, Folder 19.

302
“If there was going to be”
“Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 78.

302
“There were no more stops”
“Final Report on Art Deposits,” 28 July 1945, Keller Papers, Box 21, Folder 34.

303
Camaldoli Forest
Hartt,
Florentine Art Under Fire
, 109.

303
At 4 p.m.
“Final Report on Art Deposits,” 28 July 1945, Keller Papers, Box 21, Folder 34.

303
Late the following morning
Hartt,
Florentine Art Under Fire
, 109–10.

303
“[driving] through streets, people clapping”
Letter to Kathy, 22 July 1945, Keller Papers, Box 21, Folder 33.

305
“That’s for you, Deane.”
Letter to Kathy, 25 July 1945, Keller Papers, Box 8, Folder 55.

305
“Gen. Hume got up”
Ibid.

305
“He has been the only member”
Hume to Seymour, 1 August 1945, Keller Papers, Box 21, Folder 35.

305
“During the presentation ceremony”
Ralph Major to John Fulton, 20 November 1945, Keller Papers, Box 21, Folder 38.

306
“Have you ever been in Sezze Romano”
“Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 14–15.

306
“Yes, I remember you very well.”
Ibid.

SECTION IV: AFTERMATH

307
“There is something in preserving”
Letter to Kathy, 30 November 1944, Keller Papers, Box 7, Folder 50.

Chapter 28: Perspective

310
“a man with a divided soul”
Cooper and DeWald, “Report on the German Kunstschutz,” NARA, RG 239, M1944, Roll 71, 18.

310
“Had I then decided”
Karl Wolff, “Lettera a Giorgio La Pira, Sindaco di Firenze,” 28 October 1956, Poggi Papers, Serie VIII, n.157, 12.

311
“In all the stiff fighting for Florence”
“Final Report General,” 1 January 1946, Keller Papers, Box 23, Folder 52, 13–14.

311
“that with the approaching of the battlefront”
Karl Wolff, “Lettera a Giorgio La Pira, Sindaco di Firenze,” 28 October 1956, Poggi Papers, Serie VIII, n.157, 12.

312
August 3, 1944, order
“Bevollmächtigter General der Deutschen Wehrmacht in Italien, Abteilung Ia, Order re Borromean Islands,” 3 August 1944, Kunstschutz Papers, Siviero Archive.

312
“Germany has no plans for”
Anti Catalogue Files, 30 August 1944, Siviero Archive.

313
“a strange and characteristically German tale”
“Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 71.

313
“a clear case of attempted”
Cooper and DeWald, “Report on the German Kunstschutz,” NARA, RG 239, M1944, Roll 71, 18.

314
“The surrender of the German armies”
Waller,
The Unseen War in Europe
, 390.

314
No. 346 on “List 7”
Salter,
Nazi War Crimes
, 123.

314
one of the two most senior SS leaders
Ibid., 4.

315
“none of my so-called looting”
Goldensohn,
Nuremberg Interviews
, 132.

315
“One cannot be sure that”
Kerstin von Lingen, “Conspiracy of Silence,”
Holocaust and Genocide Studies
22, no. 1 (Spring 2008), http://hgs.oxfordjournals.org, accessed 19 August 2010, 93.

315
“Although I have no information”
Ibid.

316 * Ibid., 74.

316
In March 1948
Ibid., 92.

316
“minor offender”
Ibid., 93.

316
desk-murderers
Ibid., 95.

316
“one of the salon officers”
Ibid.

317
he knew nothing about the Holocaust
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 303, 331.

317
He was released in 1969
Lingen,
SS und Secret Service
, 206, 213.

317
Prien on Lake Chiemsee
Lingen,
SS und Secret Service
, 219; Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 352.

317
Gauleiter Franz Hofer
“CV, Franz Hofer, NS-Politiker, 1902–1975,” Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, http://www.dhm.de/lemo/html/biografien/HoferFranz/index.html, accessed October 16, 2012.

317
“the battle for Italy”
Kesselring,
The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring
, 222.

317
“embarrassed both sides intolerably,”
Ibid., 289.

317
“to kill Italian civilians as reprisals.”
“Case 44: The Trial of Albert Kesselring,” in United Nations War Crimes Commission,
Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals, Volume VIII
(London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1949), 9.

318
“testimony in favor of the accused.”
Hans Laternser, “An Seine Eminenz den Herrn Erzbischof von Florenz,” 19 January 1947, Elia Dalla Costa Papers, Archivio Storico Diocesano, Florence.

318
“Dear Counselor . . . I must declare”
Elia Dalla Costa, “Lettera a Hans Laternser,” 10 February 1947, Elia Dalla Costa Papers, Archivio Storico Diocesano, Florence.

318
The British Military Court
Lingen,
Kesselring’s Last Battle
, 119.

318
Believing this outcome too severe
Ibid., 129.

318
By September 1945
Dulles,
From Hitler’s Doorstep
, 16.

319
“incurred through the handling”
Lingen, “Conspiracy of Silence,” 93.

319
“Between you and me,”
Ibid.

Chapter 29: The Heroes and Their Legacy

322
Dr. Clara Baracchini devoted fifteen years
Giuseppe Bentivoglio (Pisa Superintendent Office), in discussion with Anna Bottinelli, 2012.

323
“The
Last Supper
may be getting worse”
“Art: War Casualty,”
Time
, December 9, 1946.

323
Newspaper accounts cited
“La Chiesa delle Grazie a Milano riapre al pubblico,”
L’Osservatore Romano
, 3 July 1945, 1.

323
“The surface was inflated with humidity”
Wittgens, “Il restauro in corso del Cenacolo di Leonardo,” 40.

323
“The head of Christ has nearly vanished”. . . . “The faces of Philip and James”
“Art: War Casualty,”
Time
, December 9, 1946.

324
“offers a possible guarantee”
Ibid.

324
“The process of restitution”
Ward-Perkins, “Restitution and Reparation of Works of Art,” 10 September 1945, NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/170.

325
The small pair of panel paintings. . . . The paintings were returned
Siviero’s finding of Pollaiuolos from Massimo Becattini, “Siviero 007. Inchiesta su arte e nazismo. Il cacciatore di opere d’arte,”
Archeologia Viva
, September–October (1998): 48; “Nazi Loot Pops Up in Pasadena,”
Life
(January 25, 1963), 43–44.

325
“These are worth something!”
Ernst Kubin,
Raub oder Schutz? Der deutsche militärische Kunstschutz in Italien
(Graz, Austria: Leopold Stocker Verlag, 1994), 185–91.

325
The whereabouts of two of the paintings
Galleria degli Uffizi,
Gli Uffizi: Catalogo generale
(Florence: Centro Di, 1979); Marco Chiarini, ed.,
Palazzo Pitti: guida alle collezioni e agli Appartamenti Reali. Catalogo completo della Galleria Palatina
(Florence: Becocci/Scala, 1995);
L’opera ritrovata: omaggio a Rodolfo Siviero
(Florence: Cantini edizione d’arte, 1984).

326
It remains one of many complicated cases
Mario Lolli Ghetti (“General Direction for Landscape, Fine Art, Architecture and Contemporary Art”), in discussion with the author, 2010.

326
By mid-2012, the Cultural Heritage Division of the Carabinieri
“Prosegue il recupero delle opere d’arte sottratte all’Italia durante il secondo conflitto mondiale,” 27 June 2005. From Carabinieri official website, http://www.nicola-bono.it/nicolabono.it/index.asp?PageTypeRef=3&IDLingua=1&IDScheda=685&IDsezione=32&Categoria=93&principale=0. Since 2005, few items have surfaced.

326
“Both sides, at the end of the war,”
Lombardi, ed.,
L’Archivio di Giovanni Poggi (1880–1961)
, 37.

326
“He is a person of immense learning”
Frederick Hartt, “Final Report: Toscana Region,” Keller Papers, Box 23, Folder 51, 11.

326
“devotion and loyalty”
“Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10.

326
“One thing is the carelessness”. . . . “This should be explained by him.”
Field Report, 7 June 1945, Keller Papers, Box 21, Folder 33, 2.

327
A series of notes handwritten by Poggi
Handwritten notes about Montagnana, Marano, Campo Tures, etc., Poggi Papers, Serie VIII, n.155, 5.

327
By 1946, Poggi and his team had reopened. . . . Poggi died
Lombardi, ed.,
L’Archivio di Giovanni Poggi (1880–1961)
, 39–41.

327
He ended his note. . . . “I am grateful for this opportunity”
Don Guido Anelli, Report to Giovanni Poggi, November 1945, Private Collection Italy.

328
On May 11, 1945. . . . “selfless help to this office”
“OSS Certificato di Apprezzamento a Don Guido Anelli,” signed William J. Donovan, 11 May 1945, Private Collection, Italy.

328
As a hard-line Christian Democrat
Luigina Anelli (Don Guido Anelli’s sister), in discussions with Anna Bottinelli, 22 December 2010 and 20 February 2011.

328
“was aimed at protecting”
Alessandro Cagiati, “Pratiche riguardanti il caso dell’Avv. Filippo Serlupi Crescenzi,” 23 June 1945, Florence, Private Collection, Italy.

329
“I am not a holy man,”
Beth Potier, “Classics Scholar Mason Hammond dead at 99,”
Harvard Gazette
, October 17, 2002.

329
“a model of moral integrity,”
Ibid.

330
“The work of both MFAA officers”
Norman Newton, “Recommendation for Award,” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/170.

331
“saving for posterity irreplaceable objects of art,”
“Citation for Bronze Star Medal,” Hartt Papers, Box 18, Folder 7.

332
“Here I am in this sodden hole”
Hartt to Berenson, 24 August 1945, Bernard and Mary Berenson Papers (1880–2002), Biblioteca Berenson, Villa I Tatti—The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Series IV: Correspondence, letters from Frederick Hartt.

332
“awfully dull after Italy”
Hartt to Berenson, 14 October 1945, Bernard and Mary Berenson Papers (1880–2002).

332
“I feel I must write the thing”. . . . “So much of the heritage”
Ibid.

332
“tireless energy”
Rodolfo Signorini, “Tumulate a S. Miniato le ceneri del grande studioso Americano, Si prodigò per salvare le opere d’arte durante il secondo conflitto mondiale, Hartt nella sua Firenze, A Mantova preparò la sua laurea su Giulio Romano,”
La Gazzetta
, 13 March 1993.

332
“means a great deal to me”
Hartt to Berenson, 6 April 1946, Bernard and Mary Berenson Papers (1880–2002).

332
While in Miami, Florida
Eugene Markowski, interview with the author, 2010.

332
“Class II homosexual acts”
Hartt personnel file, NARA.

333
“The reunion has been wonderful.”
Hartt to Berenson, 6 April 1946, Bernard and Mary Berenson Papers (1880–2002).

333
“I don’t know what narcissistic streak”
Hartt to Berenson, 3 November 1946, Bernard and Mary Berenson Papers (1880–2002).

334
“You’ll always be an outsider,”
Markowski, interview with the author, 2010.

334
She and Fred had remained lifelong friends
Ibid.

334
“Fred was a very complicated man”
Markowski, in discussion with the author, May 22, 2012.

334
What eluded Fred Hartt. . . . laid down Fred’s ashes
Markowski, interview with the author, 2010.

335
“As far as I can see”
Letter to Parents, 5 September 1945, Keller Papers, Box 5, Folder 28.

335
“Dearest Ones: I’ll be on the boat”
Letter to Kathy, 24 May 1946, Keller Papers, Box 8, Folder 60.

336
“the guys who really mattered”
Leonard Fisher, interview with the author, 2010.

336
“tried to hide his humanity”
Ibid.

337
“may be in ruins.”
Letter to Kathy, 12 May 1945, Keller Papers, Box 8, Folder 54.

338
“My years in the army”
Myra Tolchin, “Yale Portraitist Helped Save Art Looted By Nazis,”
New Haven Register
, 16 July 1978, Keller Papers, Group 1685, Box 2, Folder 18.

338
“He had the hand of an artist”
Alessandro Bernini, “La Ceremonia—L’ultimo saluto al capitano Keller—E stato tumulato nel ‘suo’ cimitero, alla presenza dei figli,” Keller Papers, Private Collection.

338
“The people of Pisa are bound”
Bernini, “A Pisa le ceneri del capitano Keller—martedì cerimonia al Camposanto,” Keller Papers, Private Collection.

338

Amicissimus ad amicus

Bernini, “La Cerimonia—L’ultimo saluto al capitano Keller—è stato tumulato nel ‘suo’ cimitero, alla presenza dei figli,” Keller Papers, Private Collection.

338

L’ultimo saluto al capitano Keller

Ibid.

338
“Dino died of a broken heart” . . . “a part of him”
Dorothy Bosch Keller (daughter-in-law of Deane Keller), interview with the author, 2010.

Other books

His Firefly Cowgirl by Beth Williamson
The Milch Bride by J. R. Biery
Death of a Bankster by David Bishop
Death at a Fixer-Upper by Sarah T. Hobart
A Ghostly Grave by Tonya Kappes