Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis (42 page)

98
“The fortified mountain and the building”
Ibid., 118.

98
Fifth Army commander Lieutenant General Mark Clark
Atkinson,
The Day of Battle
, 432.

99
“no practicable means available”
Ibid., 412.

99
“Germans in the courtyard”
Ibid., 433.

99
“no signs of activity”
Ibid.

99
“been looking so long”
Hapgood and Richardson,
Monte Cassino
, 169.

99
involved the entire chain of command
Carlo D’Este,
Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome
(New York: HarperCollins, 1991), 259.

99
On the morning of February 15
“Air Intelligence Weekly Summary no. 66,” 21 February 1944, Norstad Papers, Box 8, 9.

100
Hundreds of displaced persons
Hapgood and Richardson,
Monte Cassino
, 136.

100
230 were dead
Ibid., 211. The exact number of dead was never determined; 230 is the best estimate.

100
No Germans died
Ibid., 212

100
Abbot Diamare. . . . They and some thirty refugees
Ibid., 216–18.

100
press conference
John H. Crider, “President Upholds Shelling of Abbey,”
New York Times
, February 16, 1944.

100
“The loss of some temporary”. . . . “Does the Archbishop”. . . . “May I inquire if any”
“War in the Treasure House,”
Time
, February 21, 1944.

100
“destruction of the Abbey”
“Final Report General,” 1 January 1946, Keller Papers, Box 23, Folder 52.

100
“It was necessary more”
Alexander,
The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis: 1940–1945
, 121.

Chapter 10: Close Call

103
On January 22
D’Este,
Fatal Decision
, 119.

103
army of more than ninety-five thousand men
Ibid., 451.

103
preparing to launch a counterattack
Percy Ernst Schramm, ed.,
Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
(Wehrmachtführungsstab),
Band IV: 1. Januar 1944–22. Mai 1945. Erster und Zweiter Halbband
(Frankfurt am Main: Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen, 1961), 129, 151–59.

103
“Anzio was a fishbowl.”
Atkinson,
The Day of Battle,
370.

103
nineteen hundred American soldiers died
Ibid., 431.

104
In an effort to change the dynamics
“The Present Tasks and the Evolution of Allied Air Power in the Mediterranean,” Lauris Norstad Papers, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Box 14, Air Power in the Mediterranean, November 1942–February 1945.

104
Fifteenth Air Force. . . . The Twelfth Air Force
Ibid.

104
The lists designating towns
“Air Mission,” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/259.

104
To rectify this
H. C. Newton, “Report on Status of Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations,” 20 August 1944, NARA, RG 331 10000/145/205.

104
Peter Shinnie . . . February 1944
Woolley,
The Protection of the Treasures of Art and History in War Areas
, 29.

104
Norstad also issued
“Historic Monuments: Preface,” February 23, 1944, Norstad Papers, Box 14, The Ancient Monuments of Italy, Part I (I).

104
Group A included
“Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 47.

105
“it should be made quite clear”
“Historic Monuments,” 23 February 1944, Lauris Norstad Papers, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Box 14, The Ancient Monuments of Italy, Part 1 (1).

105 * Paolo Paoletti, Mario Carniani, et al., Firenze,
Guerra & Alluvione: 4 Agosto 1944/4 Novembre 1966
(Florence: Saverio Becocci), 37, 77; Marchese Filippo Serlupi Crescenzi, “Lettera a S.E. il Principe Carlo Pacelli,” 13 November 1943, Private Collection, Italy; Giovanni Poggi, “Memo,” 25 September 1943, Poggi Papers, Serie VIII, n.154, 4; Poggi, “Relazione sui Monumenti e le Opere d’Arte di Firenze durante la Guerra 1940–1945,” 5 June 1945, Poggi Papers, Serie VIII, n.157, 12; Poggi, “Descrizione giorni immediatamente precedenti e immediatamente successivi la distruzione del Ponte,” Poggi Papers, Serie VIII, n.159, 23.

105
“necessary to meet critical military requirements”
“Bombing Directive,” 2 March 1944, Lauris Norstad Papers, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Box 1, Bombing of Targets in Southern Europe (1).

105
“It is appreciated that”
Ibid.

105
Pilots, navigators, and bombardiers. . . . “Gentlemen”. . . . “We’ve been hitting”
NARA, film ID 107.370.

106
“Sure got a lot of things”
Benjamin C. McCartney, “Return to Florence,”
National Geographic
, vol. 87, no. 3 (March 1945), 275.

106
“northwest marshaling yard,” or “main marshaling yard”
Aerial Photo, Attack damage by 49 Martin B-26s on 11 March 44—War Theatre #12 (Florence, Italy)—Bombing, NARA, RG 342; “Air Intelligence Summary Report no. 70, 20 March 1944,” Norstad Papers, Box 8.

107
“gave a beginning to beautiful attitudes”
Giorgio Vasari,
Lives of the Artists: Volume I
, trans. George Bull (London: Penguin Books, 1987), 124.

108
one of his final works
John T. Spike,
Masaccio
(Milan: Rizzoli Libri Illustrati, 2002), 198.

108
“First time Florence has been bombed”
Bomb Tag, Roy Seymour Papers, Private Collection, United States.

108
Seventy-eight B-26 Marauders
“Air Intelligence Weekly Summary no. 70, 20 March 1944,” Norstad Papers, Box 8, 13.

108
“No flak or [enemy aircraft]”
“Central Mediterranean Operational Summary Number 79, for period ended 1800 hours 11 March 1944,” Lauris Norstad Papers, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Box 9, Central Mediterranean Operational Summaries, March 1944 (2).

108
March 11, more than one hundred
“Air Intelligence Weekly Summary no. 70, 20 March 1944,” Norstad Papers, Box 8, 12.

108
“The main concentrations of bombs fell”
Ibid.

108
Hartt had arrived in Italy
“Recommendation for Promotion,” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/159.

109
photographic interpreter for the 90th Photo Wing Reconnaissance
Ernest DeWald, Report of Damaged Monuments, 26 April 1944, NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/259.

109
“Chapel of Mantegna obliterated”
Frederick Hartt, “Notes on Bomb Damage to Cultural Monuments in Enemy-Occupied Italy,” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/7.

109
“I just couldn’t continue working.”
Eddie de Marco, “After 17 years as professor, Hartt reflects on art, life,” Hartt Papers, Box 23, Folder 1.

110
“The Eremitani has been very badly hit”
Hartt to DeWald, 6 April 1942 [
sic
], DeWald Papers, Box 4.

110
“With Florence, Rome & Venice”
Ibid.

111
“Neighboring Dominican convent”
Hartt, “Notes on Bomb Damage,” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/7.

Chapter 11: Refuge

113
In May 1944, the last of the shipments
Emilio Lavagnino, “Migliaia di opere d’arte rifugiate in Vaticano,”
Strenna dei romanisti
VII (1946), 88.

113
“The provisions arranged for the protection”
Minister Marino Lazzari, “Lettera a Giovanni Poggi sulla salvaguardia del patrimonio artistico nazionale,” 5 June 1940, Poggi Papers, Serie VIII, n.154, 12.

113
remote storage facilities
Ibid.

114
Within its thick walls
Lombardo,
Pasquale Rotondi
:
quando il lavoro è un’arte—Storia di un Soprintendente solo e senza soldi custode dei tesori italiani durante la seconda guerra mondiale
, 72–73.

114
First to arrive
Pasquale Rotondi, “Capolavori d’arte sottratti ai pericoli della guerra ed alla rapina tedesca. Estratto da una Relazione del Prof. Pasquale Rotondi Soprintendente alle Gallerie delle Marche, presentata il 18 ottobre 1945 alla R. Accademia Raffaello,”
Urbinum
, July–August 1945, 10.

114
Masterpieces from the Borghese Gallery
Rotondi, “Capolavori d’arte sottratti ai pericoli della guerra ed alla rapina tedesca,” 14.

114
Brera and Poldi Pezzoli Galleries
Ibid.

114
By summer’s end
Rotondi’s remarks during an interview in the television documentary “
La lista di Pasquale Rotondi
,” episode in the series
RAI La storia siamo noi
, 6 June 2005. Rome: RAI Educational.

114
He concealed the most important paintings
Lavagnino, “Diario di un salvataggio artistico,”
La Nuova Antologia
, August (1974), 515.

114
compelled Rotondi to hide paintings
Rotondi, “Capolavori d’arte sottratti ai pericoli della guerra ed alla rapina tedesca,” 19.

115
“That was a moment when”
Rotondi’s remarks during an interview in the television documentary “La lista di Pasquale Rotondi,” episode in the series
RAI La Storia siamo noi
, 6 June 2005. Rome: RAI Educational.

115
Pope Pius XII had offered sanctuary
Lutz Klinkhammer, “Arte in Guerra: tutela e distruzione delle opera d’arte italiane durante l’occupazione tedesca 1943–45,” in Giuseppe Masetti and Antonio Panaino, eds.,
Parola d’ordine Teodora
(Ravenna: Longo Angelo, 2005), 69.

115
In December 1943
Rotondi, “Capolavori d’arte sottratti ai pericoli della guerra ed alla rapina tedesca,” 26; Lavagnino, “Diario di un salvataggio artistico,” 515–17.

115
At one point, Rotondi’s wife. . . . “For what you did to me”
Story told by Rotondi’s daughter in interview in the television documentary “La lista di Pasquale Rotondi.”

115
forced into retirement on January 1, 1944
Alessandra Lavagnino,
Un inverno 1943–1944
(Palermo: Sellerio, 2006), 35.

115
By January 17, 1944
Lavagnino, “Diario di un salvataggio artistico,” 521.

115
On eighteen occasions . . . “by car, truck, and pickup truck”
Lavagnino, “Migliaia di opere d’arte rifugiate in Vaticano,” 87–88.

116
Six hundred miles away, a caravan of trucks
Schwarz,
Geniewahn
, 299.

116
Workers had been converting the mines
Emmerich Pöchmüller,
Weltkunstschätze in Gefahr
(Salzburg: Pallas-Verlag, 1948), 13.

116
Hitler’s concern for the safety
Schwarz,
Geniewahn
, 296–99.

116
“whether everything humanly possible”
Ibid, 297.

116
“had asked again whether the monasteries”
Ibid.

117
On Christmas Day in 1943
Ibid., 299.

117
“one of the most powerful Gauleiters of the Reich”
Pöchmüller,
Weltkunstschätze in Gefahr
, 50.

117
he became acquainted with
Alexander Langsdorff, “Lettera a Giovanni Poggi,” 18 June 1944, Carlo Anti Papers, Biblioteca Civica, Padua, Serie 2, n.2, 3.

117
He joined the Nazi Party
SS-Stammrollenblatt des Langsdorff, Alexander, Stammrollennummer R 4/6 129, 28 February 1934, BArch R 601–1816, Bundesarchiv Berlin.

117
“personal artistic and cultural consultant”
Sebastian Brather, Dieter Geuenich, Christoph Huth, eds.
Historia archaeologica: Festschrift für Heiko Steuer zum 70. Geburtstag
(Berlin: De Gruyter, 2009), 681.

117
During that time, he worked
Michael H. Kater,
Das “Ahnenerbe” der SS 1935–1945: Ein Beitrag zur Kulturpolitik des Dritten Reiches
(München: Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2001), 67.

118
at Himmler’s instigation
Jürgen Klöckler, “Verhinderter Archivalienraub in Italien; Theodor Mayer und die Abteilung ‘Archivschutz’ bei der Militärverwaltung in Verona 1943–1945,”
Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken
, vol. 86 (Rome: Deutsches Historisches Institut Rom, 2006), 504; Wolff-Metternich, “Concerning my Activities as Adviser on the Protection of Works of Art to O.K.H. from 1940–1942 (Kunstschutz),” NARA, RG 239, M1944, Roll 89.

118
“I experience Italy as never before”
Langsdorff Diary, Alexander Langsdorff Papers, Private Collection.

118
old rail tunnel near the town of Incisa
Telegram, Langsdorff to Heydenreich, 3 May 1944, Kunstschutz Papers, Siviero Archive, Rome.

118
German troops had previously assisted
Ludwig Heinrich Heydenreich, “Bericht Betr. Räumung des im Eisenbahntunnel S. Antonio bei Incisa untergebrachten Bergungsdepots von wertvollsten Kunstwerken,” 4 May 1944, Kunstschutz Papers, Siviero Archive.

118
Now Kesselring needed the tracks
Poggi, “Relazione sui Monumenti e le Opere d’Arte di Firenze durante la guerra 1940–1945,” 5 June 1945, Poggi Papers, n.157, 12.

118
“undeniably perfect in every way” . . . “must rank as the finest masterpiece ever created”
Vasari,
Lives of the Artists: Volume I
, 120.

118
required the use of cranes, fifteen train cars . . . “in very scary conditions”
Poggi, “Relazione sui Monumenti e le Opere d’Arte di Firenze durante la guerra 1940–1945,” 5 June 1945, Poggi Papers, Serie VIII, n.157, 12.

119
he celebrated at a beer garden in Fiesole
Langsdorff Diary, Alexander Langsdorff Papers, Private Collection.