Hitler's Last Hostages: Looted Art and the Soul of the Third Reich

by Mary M. Lane

Overview

Adolf Hitler's obsession with art not only fueled his vision of a purified Nazi state—it was the core of his fascist ideology. Its aftermath lives on to this day.

Nazism ascended by brute force and by cultural tyranny. Weimar Germany was a society in turmoil, and Hitler's rise was achieved not only by harnessing the military but also by restricting artistic expression. Hitler, an artist himself, promised the dejected citizens of postwar Germany a purified Reich, purged of "degenerate" influences.

When Hitler came to power in 1933, he removed so-called "degenerate" art from German society and promoted artists whom he considered the embodiment of the "Aryan ideal." Artists who had produced challenging and provocative work fled the country. Curators and art dealers organized their stock. Thousands of great artworks disappeared—and only a fraction of them were rediscovered after World War II.

In 2013, the German government confiscated roughly 1,300 works by Henri Matisse, George Grosz, Claude Monet, and other masters from the apartment of Cornelius Gurlitt, the reclusive son of one of Hitler's primary art dealers. For two years, the government kept the discovery a secret. In Hitler's Last Hostages, Mary M. Lane reveals the fate of those works and tells the definitive story of art in the Third Reich and Germany's ongoing struggle to right the wrongs of the past.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610397360
Publisher:	PublicAffairs
Publication date:	09/10/2019
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	402,713
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.60(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Mary M. Lane (b. 1987) is a nonfiction writer and journalist specializing in Western art,Western European history, and anti-Semitism. Lane received one of five Fulbright Journalism Scholarships at 22 years old, gained international recognition as the chief European art reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and published numerous exclusive Page One articles on the art trove of Hildebrand Gurlitt. Since leaving the Journal, Lane has been a European art contributor for the New York Times. She splits her time between Berlin and Virginia.

Table of Contents

Prologue: Wake-Up Call 1

Chapter I Portrait of the Dictator as a Young Man 9

Chapter II Enigma of War 29

Chapter III Eclipse of the Sun 57

Chapter IV Adolf's Silver Hammer 89

Chapter V Bad Company Corrupts Good Morals 123

Chapter VI Cultural Complicity 151

Chapter VII Revisionist History 173

Chapter VIII Our Sincere Condolences 193

Chapter IX Hitler's Last Hostages 223

Epilogue: Business as Usual 259

Timeline 267

Acknowledgments 271

Notes 273

Bibliography 297

Illustration Credits 303

Index 305

Photo insert located between pages 150 and 151

Editorial Reviews

"The revelatory saga of a monumental Nazi art theft and all the perpetrators, from
Hitler to the modern museum directors who ignored the glaring signs of looted art. This riveting unraveling of one of the most outrageous and monumental chapters in stolen art is a must-read art crime chronicle."—Anne-Marie O'Connor, author of The Lady in Gold

"Mary M. Lane skillfully chronicles the saga of a huge trove of art that had seemingly disappeared during World War II and the Holocaust. It's a gripping tale punctuated by plunder, profiteering, and self-serving rationalizations. Most chillingly, the outright deceptions continued long after the collapse of Hitler's
Third Reich."—Andrew Nagorski, author of 1941: The Year Germany Lost the War and Hitlerland

"In this valuable study of an important piece of history, Mary M. Lane tells a shocking story of theft, horror, and lack of redemption."—Laurence Rees, author of Auschwitz and The Holocaust: A New History

"Lane engagingly recounts how dealers who formerly represented avant-garde artists quickly adapted and dumped their 'degenerate' modernist clientele, except for purchases at knock-down prices for their private collection[s]. . . . A gripping,
original contribution to a still-unresolved Nazi crime."—Kirkus Reviews, starred

From the Publisher

★ 2019-07-01
Nazi looting of European art is old news, but this expert, disheartening account reveals that Germany still possesses a great deal and refuses to give it up.

Lane, the former chief European art reporter for the Wall Street Journal, writes that in 2012, German tax authorities raided the apartment of elderly bachelor Cornelius Gurlitt and found more than 1,200 precious artworks piled in every corner. They kept the news secret until a magazine revealed it in 2013 and then proceeded to stonewall the authorities, insisting that this was a tax matter and that the government had no obligation in other areas. Since then, aggressive claimants have received a few works, but most are housed at a Swiss museum following Gurlitt's bequest. Having delivered this news, Lane turns back the clock to recount the dismal yet captivating story, centered on Hitler, who, she reminds readers, grew up as an artist and remained obsessed by cultural matters throughout World War II. Another ongoing figure is satirical artist George Grosz, who immigrated before Hitler took power and saw his work reviled, confiscated, and never returned. Hitler's taste in art received enthusiastic cooperation from dealers including Cornelius' father, Hildebrand Gurlitt. Readers will gnash their teeth as Lane engagingly recounts how dealers who formerly represented avant-garde artists quickly adapted and dumped their "degenerate" modernist clientele, except for purchases at knock-down prices for their private collection. They happily accepted works that they knew were confiscated from Jews. After 1939, many dealers, led by Hildebrand, toured conquered countries collecting for Hitler's mythical future Führermuseum. When necessary, Hildebrand purchased works with an apparently unlimited national budget, although many ended up in his own collection, and most of them he successfully concealed after the war. Aware of art looting, the victorious Allies devoted modest effort to an investigation, but violent crimes took priority. Hildebrand and colleagues were cleared and resumed their careers.

A gripping, original contribution to a still-unresolved Nazi crime.

Kirkus Reviews

07/19/2019

Adolf Hitler's fascination with the art of Europe is well documented. There have been both impersonal and personal histories of how the Third Reich looted art throughout Europe and how the efforts of the Monument Men helped to liberate some of the art in postwar Germany. A new chapter to the story was added in 2012 when the German government found some 1,300 works hidden in an octogenarian recluse's apartment, explored here by former Wall Street Journal reporter Lane. Stacked within the residence were priceless treasures by Picasso, Chagall, Matisse, Degas, and dozens more, including work by artists deemed degenerate by the Nazis. It turned out that Cornelius Gurlitt was the son of Hildebrand Gurlitt, the Reich's "official art dealer," and that the works were mostly looted during the war. VERDICT What could have been an exploration of the continued ethical problems with the art world's handling of these items instead becomes an overly simplistic cultural history of German artists and Hitler's rise to power that covers the same ground as Susan Roland's Hitler's Art Thief. And while the Gurlitt family's story provides a new view on culture in Nazi Germany, the author overall relies too much on well-trod history.—John Rodzvilla, Emerson Coll., Boston

Library Journal

Read More