Rape of Europa Documentary

The Rape of Europa is one of the most extraordinary documentaries I have had the pleasure of viewing.  After watching this amazing story, I'm ashamed to say I graduated college with a Bachelors degree in Art History without every knowing about incredible time in the world of Art History.  In some small fair way, I did graduate prior to this documentaries making but even so there should have been more said about the WWII era in Art History than "Hitler wanted to be a painter but was rejected." and "Nazi's hated modern art."

Really???

That was all that was said about this time period???

Nothing was mentioned about the extraordinary lengths to which the great museums of Europe went to protect their priceless treasures or of the thousands of Jewish gallery owners forced to flee for their lives because Hilter had an art fetish.

Out of the thousands of stories the documentary weaved together so
incredibly well, the one that stuck out the most to me was of a quite French art historian by the name of Rose Valland.  This incredible woman not only braved a Nazi occupied France but was able to spy on the Nazi's for four years!  In an age where everything is recorded on our cell phones or other electronic devices it is hard to image the daily feat memorizing each piece of art work that enters the Jeu de Paume Museum, where it came from and where it was being shipped to!  In four years this one woman was able to record more than 20,000 pieces of art, that's 13 pieces to memorize every day for four years!!  In college I remember nights chocked full of coffee and handwritten notes. My eyes blurring with the titles, artist names and dates of the works I would be tested on the following morning.  Remembering these futile exercise in memorization causes a slight shade of shame to appear on my cheeks when I read what little there is about this amazing woman.


After watching the documentary my book-shelf wish-list is piling high with Lynn Nicholes' Rape of Europa, Robert Edsel & Bret Witter's Monument Men and Rose Valland's Le Front de L'art (If I can find an english translation).

If anyone out there can offer any additional suggestions on books detailing this incredible period of Art History or further insight into the amazing life of Rose Valland please let me know!