The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War by Lynn H. Nicholas

Author:Lynn H. Nicholas [Nicholas, Lynn H.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780307739728
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 2009-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

In Woolley’s somewhat optimistic words, protection now became “what it always should have been, a matter of military discipline, and as such it was cheerfully accepted by the combatant forces. The tendency to regard the Monuments officer as an interloper trying to press his own point of view against the claims of military necessity was eliminated, and he was looked upon as an adviser.”16

The whole Monuments operation was now reorganized. Its offices were brought to Naples from Palermo, and a more flexible assignment system was approved which would allow officers to be sent forward where the need was greatest. Specific instructions were sent to lower-ranking officers, and work was immediately begun on easily distributed pocket-sized booklets listing monuments for each region to replace the excessively bulky “Harvard lists.”

Naples began to settle down. The medical unit left the Pinacoteca unscathed, and at Caserta, which remained the Allied headquarters until well after the war, the contents of the repositories were evacuated elsewhere. But Sir Brian Robertson, the British commander, would not give up the Royal Palace, in which complete cafeterias and bars had been installed. His cultural contribution was limited to an introduction to a guidebook for the edifice urging troops to “respect its age and beauty” so that future generations could “say without criticism or regret, ‘The British used this place as a club for their men when they were here.’ ”17 At least, Woolley later wrote, “the experience of the Royal Palace at Naples was never repeated in the course of the Italian campaign … the experience was worth the price.”18

Everyone now felt much better about the prospect of occupying Rome. The message of protection of historic buildings had been emphasized and acknowledged. Soon they would take the Eternal City and the Germans would probably give up. Allied forces had already broken through the eastern end of the enemy front, and had apparently surprised them with their amphibious landing at Anzio, actually behind the German lines, on January 22. All that now remained was to sweep forward to breach the fortified “Gustav” line centered on the ancient mountain Abbey of Monte Cassino.

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