The Rape of Europa tells the epic story of the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe’s art treasures during the Third Reich and the Second World War.

In a journey through seven countries, the film takes the audience into the violent whirlwind of fanaticism, greed, and warfare that threatened to wipe out the artistic heritage of Europe. For twelve long years, the Nazis looted and destroyed art on a scale unprecedented in history. But young art professionals as well as ordinary heroes, from truck drivers to department store clerks, fought back with an extraordinary effort to safeguard, rescue and return the millions of lost, hidden and stolen treasures.

The Rape of Europa begins and ends with the story of artist Gustav Klimt’s famed Gold Portrait, stolen from Viennese Jews in 1938 and now the most expensive painting ever sold.

Today, more than sixty years later, the legacy of this tragic history continues to play out as families of looted collectors recover major works of art, conservators repair battle damage, and nations fight over the fate of ill-gotten spoils of war.

Joan Allen narrates this breathtaking chronicle about the battle over the very survival of centuries of western culture.


Historical Background

According to U.S. estimates, the Nazis stole one-fifth of all the known artworks in Europe. While the Allies returned most of the displaced art in the decade following the war, much of the loot is still missing. Tragically, unique masterpieces were destroyed and lost to posterity forever. Other works of art—the last, forgotten victims of the war—survived but remain unidentified, traceable only with costly and difficult investigation.

By the mid-fifties the initial, massive restitution effort by the Allies had lost its priority and momentum to the pressures of the Cold War. Hundreds of works of art, their owners unidentified, still lay in government storerooms across Europe, or remained in the hands of unscrupulous dealers who waited for years before disguising their origins and feeding them slowly into the market.

But this long quiet period is over. The end of the Cold War and the opening of the archives of Eastern Europe revealed that many works believed lost had survived. The commemorations marking the end of World War II and the development of Holocaust scholarship also led to the re-examination and declassification of forgotten records, inspiring those who had long since despaired of finding their lost possessions to search again. Instrumental in bringing worldwide attention to this long-neglected story was the 1995 publication of The Rape of Europa, Lynn H. Nicholas's landmark book on which the film is based.

The documentary film by Actual Films builds on her scholarship by incorporating the latest historical research, examining the legal and political problems presented by contemporary restitution claims, and assessing the lingering effects of this massive cultural displacement, an aspect of the war that still haunts us today.

The revival of interest in the subject of looting and restitution has had dramatic results. American museums from Seattle, Washington to Raleigh, North Carolina have had to explain how stolen paintings ended up in their collections after the war. In France, a catalogue of unclaimed art held by the national museums and ignored for years is now available online. Other nations, feeling the pressure, have also revisited the often unjust decisions made by their governments after the war concerning ownership of looted art. Perhaps most notable is the case of the five paintings by Gustav Klimt, long held by the Belvedere Gallery in Vienna, that were awarded in 2006 by a panel of Austrian judges to Maria Altmann, the 90-year-old Los Angeles niece of a Viennese Jew from whom the paintings were stolen in 1938. She subsequently sold the pictures, one of them—the famed Gold Portrait of her aunt Adele Bloch-Bauer—to Ronald Lauder for a record $135 million.

Pillage and looting during warfare are not, of course, activities that originated with World War II. Even before the epics of Homer, human history recorded the time-honored tradition of victors seizing plunder from the vanquished. But the massive scale, the unprecedented bureaucratic organization and the legalistic rationalizations offered by the Nazis set their accomplishments apart. Not hundreds or thousands, but millions of visual objects were bought and sold, confiscated and transported around the continent of Europe.

Just as the Nazis sought to impose their race-based morality onto the diverse population of Europe, they also sought to redraw the cultural face of Europe by rearranging or destroying its great artworks. Even in the upheavals of war the Nazi leaders devoted precious time and energy to the gathering of works of art. They carried out multiple operations with cross purposes. While Alfred Rosenberg’s propaganda unit (ERR) appropriated artworks that would buttress the Party’s racist ideology and pilfered the great Jewish collections of Europe, Hitler employed distinguished art historians and corrupt dealers to steal masterpieces that would confer prestige and symbolic legitimacy on the German nation.

However diverse, these operations were all linked by an underlying, racist effort by the Nazis to use the expropriation and destruction of cultural property as a means to dehumanize their victims. The Holocaust has become a symbol of the dark side of humanity, and we have spent decades trying to understand what it means to live knowing that average people are capable of complicity in such a horror. The history of what happened to Europe's great art during and after the Second World War provides an important new lens through which to examine these seemingly imponderable themes.

In contrast to the wholesale looting of Hitler and the Nazis, the western Allies worked to mitigate the tragic, inevitable toll exacted on art and historic cities during their invasion of Italy, France and Germany. Central to this history is the unprecedented mission of the Monuments Men, mostly American art historians and museum curators who, drafted into military service, mounted a miraculous effort to protect monuments and recover millions of pieces of displaced art.

Moving back and forth in time, the film links investigations into looted art back to their wartime origins, tracing the remarkable journeys of individual masterpieces from wartime confiscation to present-day recovery by the families of the original owners. The Rape of Europa offers a privileged entry into the exclusive circles of the contemporary art trade and explores the little-known legacy of World War II that lured many post-war collectors and dealers into a Faustian bargain that continues to present day.

We live at a time when the common cultural heritage of humanity continues to be vulnerable to the threats of ideologues and the assaults of armed conflict, from the wanton destruction by Serbs of centuries-old mosques in Bosnia and Kosovo to the televised demolition by the Taliban of the ancient Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan and the rampant looting that accompanied the American invasion of Iraq. The Rape of Europa is an emotional witness to the destruction wrought on culture and art by fanaticism, greed, and warfare. But it is also a hopeful film that demonstrates how it is possible for humanity to protect the integrity of cultural property in armed conflicts.

Perspective on the film by Lynn H. Nicholas, author of The Rape of Europa

My interest in the issue of art looting began quite by chance in 1980 when I saw the obituary of a Louvre curator, Rose Valland, in the Herald Tribune. It said, among other things, that she had been a Resistance heroine and responsible for saving and recovering thousands of works of art both during and after World War II. I was living in Brussels at the time, without any particular commitments, and my curiosity having been aroused, I decided to look into just what had happened to all the works of art in Europe during the war. Despite the fact that I had long been involved in the American museum world, I had never given any thought to the issue, and apparently no one else had either, at least not for a long time.

I started slowly, in Brussels, asking people at the museums there what they had done during the war. As the story slowly emerged, all the Europeans were astonished at my ignorance and kept directing me to people who, by the late 1970’s, held high positions in US museums. And so it was, that upon my return to Washington in 1984, that I began the real work. As it turned out, no one had ever asked any of the “monuments men”, as those who dealt with the rescue of European art treasures during the war are called, about their work. I was very lucky. Since I had worked in museums for years, I did know many of them, and without exception, they were delighted to share their memories, letters, and photos with me.

These personal papers were just the beginning. At the National Gallery of Art, I found the day to day correspondence of the Presidential commission set up to deal with art looting. The National Archives was another revelation: here were not only all the Allied records and photographs of damage, recovery and restitution, but tons of German documents recording the looting of Hitler and his cronies. It is hard to describe how exciting it was to find the files containing the actual correspondence related to this activity, often annotated by Hitler and Goering themselves.

I soon realized that the amazing exploits of the Monuments men-and I include those from all nations including Germany who protected works of art, could not be understood without considerable analysis of Nazi thinking and policy. For example—the items that the Nazi collectors bartered and sold as opposed to those they confiscated and bought could only be explained by their theories on the degeneracy of races and cultures which were exemplified by the purges of their own museums before the war.

I was also well along with my book before the issue of what had NOT been recovered even occurred to me. Although vast amounts of movable art had been returned at the end of the war, thousands of items remained unaccounted for and tracking them down and reuniting them with their original owners has become a hot topic. Politics and world events have made an enormous difference to the development of this research--most especially the demise of the Soviet Union, the opening up of Eastern Europe and the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII, with its reexamination of what had been done in the first years of peace—much of which, when revisited, did not seem quite right. As things thought lost forever came to light, families and governments began to look back at dusty records and memory was revived. All this was further fuelled by the gigantic increases in the values of many of the missing objects, with the result that many a lost work has been identified and returned its proper place.

The history of looting is not just about objects. It is a story full of personal tragedy and loss, of bittersweet recovery of the fragments of vanished cultures and lives. The combination of devastating destruction and the most beautiful objects of civilization is very powerful and is made even more so by the visual medium of film. I was quite overwhelmed by actually seeing images of the stories I knew so well. With great sensitivity the filmmakers of The Rape of Europa have added new dimensions and brought this whole history to life in an unforgettable and exciting manner.

REVIEWS
Mark Walters of BIGFANBOY.com talks to Robert Edsel, co-producer for the documentary film The Rape of Europa . This interview was done at the AFI Dallas Film Festival in March of 2007.


How the Nazi Elite Plundered Europe's Art
by Manuela Hoelterhoff
Click Here >>



'The Rape of Europa' is a fascinating look at the
fate of great art during and after World War II
by Kenneth Turan
July 25, 2008
Click Here >>


Documentary Tracks Nazi Art Plunder
by Katherine Nichols
July 11, 2008
Click Here >>


Movie Review: 'The Rape of Europa'
by Terry Hunter
July 6, 2008
Click Here >>


'Europa' is scholarly, a lot to digest emotionally
by Joan E. Vadeboncoeur
June 20, 2008
Click Here >>


Raiders of the Lost Art
by Geoff Kelly
June 19, 2008
Click Here >>


Movie Documents WWII Art Thefts
by Dorothy Shinn
June 19, 2008
Click Here >>


Film Traces Nazi Bid to Steal Great Artwork
by Jim Slotek, Sun Media
June 13, 2008
Click Here >>



Nazi Art Thievery Explored in Fascinating Documentary
by Mark Hinson
June 12, 2008
Click Here >>


The Art of War Restores Humanity in Rape of Europa
by Colin Covert
May 29, 2008
Click Here >>


Annihilating a Collective Memory
by Max Ross
May 25, 2008
Click Here >>


Rape of Europa
May 22, 2008
Click Here >>


Doc Probes Hitler's Theft of Art Treasures
by Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
May 9, 2008
Click Here >>


Moving Documentary Details Nazi Art Theft
by Chris Knight
May 9, 2008
Click Here >>


'The Rape of Europa'
by Larry Ratliff
May 1, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
by Matt Anderson
May 1, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
May 1, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa - and the Barnes
by Robert Zaller
May 1, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa explores the Nazis' crimes against art
by David Fellerath
April 30, 2008
Click Here >>


Documentary Revisits Nazi Theft of Artwork
by Kenneth Baker
April 26, 2008
Click Here >>


Moments of Sorrow, Stories of Triumph
by Daniel Neman
April 25, 2008
Click Here >>


A Monumental Task
by Lois Goldrich
April 25, 2008
Click Here >>


'The Rape of Europa' debuts at Jewish Film Festival
by Jo Anne Triplett
April 23, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
by Josh Bell
April 23, 2008
Click Here >>


Film: Rape of Europa taps sadness of WWII
by John Serba
April 18, 2008
Click Here >>


Monumental Division
by Isa Tousignant
April 17, 2008
Click Here >>


'Europe' paints story of Nazis' art pillaging
by Tim Cuprisin
April 10, 2008
Click Here >>


Film Honors Those Who Saved War-Plundered Art
by Carrie Rickey
April 4, 2008
Click Here >>


'Europa' Details Nazis' Art Theft
by Mark Feeney
April 3, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
by Loey Lockerby
March 27, 2008
Click Here >>


Film Details how Allies Foiled Nazi Pillage of Europe's Art
by John Monaghan
March 21, 2008
Click Here >>


Film Recounts Nazi Looting of Art
by Frank Gabrenya
March 21, 2008
Click Here >>


Columbus Alive: Spoils of War
by John Ross
March 20, 2008
Click Here >>


Rape of Europa: Demons stealing Soul...
by John DeSando
March 21, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa: the Art of War
by Devin D. O'Leary
Mar 13, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
by David Bonetti
March 7, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
by Michelle Orange
March 7, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
by Carly Kaufman
March 7, 2008
Click Here >>


Epic WWII Battle Fought to Save Art
by Richard Nilsen
March 2, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa a fascinating documentary
by Moira Macdonald
February 8, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa: Those Darn Nazis!
by Michelle Orange
February 6, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
by Sean Axmaker
February 7, 2008
Click Here >>


Race to save art in WWII remarkable
by John Monaghan
February 1, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
by Corey Hall
January 30, 2008
Click Here >>


Rape of Europa : Art loss still felt
by Philip Marchand
January 25, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
99.1FM Radio One Metro Morning
January 25, 2008
Click Here >>


Recounting Hitler's art conquests
by Joe Leydon
January 11, 2008
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
by Jonathan Rosenbaum
January 4, 2008
Click Here >>



The Rape of Europa
by Robert Ebert
January 4, 2008
Click Here>>



Art Historians as Heroes
by John Griffin
December 21, 2007
Click Here >>


Smart Documentary Illuminates Dark Deeds
by Chris Garcia
December 14, 2007
Click Here >>


Art holocaust
by Hap Erstein
December 7, 2007
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa: Provocative masterpiece recalls Hitler's plunder
by Carrie Rickey
December 7, 2007
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa: An artful tale of Nazis' pillage
by Ariella Budick
December 7, 2007
Click Here >>


Thrill of a victory of beauty
by Carrie Rickey
November 29, 2007
Click Here >>


Shot Through the Art
How the Nazis looted and destroyed Europe's cultural treasures.
by Shaun Brady
November 28, 2007
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
November 9, 2007
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
November 9, 2007
Click Here >>


Audience Choice Awards
Documentary - 1st Place
3rd Annual Desert Jewish Film Festival
November 1 - 8, 2007


Documentary traces Hitler's war on art
by Mary Thomas
October 11, 2007
Click Here >>


Saving art from the battle lines of war
by Michael Sragow
October 5, 2007
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa shows art as a casualty of war
by Kenneth Turan
September 28, 2007
Click Here >>



Arty and War in Broad Strokes
by Desson Thomson
September 28, 2007
Click Here >>


Riveting Stories about Nazi plundering of Art
by Mark Feeney
September 28, 2007
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa: Review
by Ken Fox
September 23, 2007
Click Here >>


Art, Lost and Found
by Rachel Saltz
September 14, 2007
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
by Richard Lacayo
September 13, 2007
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
by Ariella Budick
September 14, 2007
Click Here >>


The Rape of Europa
September 13, 2007
Click Here >>



Slant Magazine
The Rape of Europa
by Nick Shager
September 12, 2007
Click Here >>


Time Out NY
The Rape of Europa (4 Stars)
by Tom Beer
September 11, 2007
Click Here >>


Jerusalem Post
Recovering Masterpieces
by Tom Tugend
September 5, 2007
Click Here >>


Santa Cruz Live
by Wallace Baine
September 3, 2007
Click Here >>


The Jewish Weekly
by George Robinson
August 31, 2007
Click Here >>


Monterey County Weekly
by Robert Sward
August 30, 2007
Click Here >>


Straight: Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly
by Ken Eisner
August 23, 2007
Click Here >>


Metro Active: Silicon Valley's #1 weekly newspaper
Art Attack: The Rape of Europa documents the Nazis' near 10-year-long heist of the art of a continent
by Richard von Busack
June 20-26, 2007
Click Here >>


The Ruth Group: Reclaiming American Democracy
The Rape of Europa
by Will Kirkland
June 4, 2007
Click Here >>


San Francisco Chronicle
Polite Applause
by Kenneth Baker, Walter Addiego
May 18, 2007
Click Here >>


The Evening Class
Interview with Bonnie Cohen and Richard Berg
by Michael Guillen
May 15, 2007
Click Here >>


Toronto Star
Celebrating Art, Lost, and Found
by Martin Knelman
May 11, 2007
Click Here >>


San Francisco Chronicle
His Mission - To Save Art Looted by Nazis, Here's how he did it.
by Jesse Hamlin
May 4, 2007
Click Here >>


Culture Vulture
The Rape of Europa (2006)
by Les Wright
May, 2007
Click Here >>


SF Weekly
by Gregg Rickman
April 25, 2007
Click Here >>


Relish Now! - RiverRun Reviews
Film Review of: The Rape of Europa
by Susan Gilmor, RelishNow.com
April 18, 2007
Click Here >>


Art & Antiques
Film Review of: The Rape of Europa
by Robert Nesmith
February 2007
Click Here >>


Variety.com
Film Review of: The Rape of Europa
by Variety Staff, Ronnie Scheib
January 31, 2007
Click Here >>


Art News/2006
Art Talk: War and Masterpieces
by Julie Brener
October 2006
Click Here >>


Stanford Magazine
Looting Europe: Filmmakers Track Nazi Art Theft
by Marguerite Rigoglioso
September/October 2006
Click Here >>