Category: World War II

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The Monuments Woman

Cover of Rose Valland: Resistance at the Museum. Author: Corinne Bouchoux. England: Laurel Publishing, 2013.
Cover of Rose Valland: Resistance at the Museum. Author: Corinne Bouchoux. England: Laurel Publishing, 2013.

Almost sixty years after the end of World War II, the French government formally recognized Rose Valland (1898–1980) for her efforts as a Résistant during the Nazi Occupation of Paris between 1940 and 1944. A plaque was placed on the south wall of the Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume (the Jeu de Paume museum) commemorating Rose’s role in saving precious art stolen by the Germans.

Rose and her boss, Jacques Jaujard (1895–1967), were responsible for ensuring 100% of the Louvre artwork was returned to the museum. Jaujard convinced the Germans to keep their hands off of public or state owned art. Rose was responsible for directing the Americans and British to the various sites in Germany where the Germans had stored the tens of thousands of pieces of artwork stolen from French private collections and other occupied countries.

The Monuments Men

Many of us are familiar with the story of a small group of men who, in the latter stages of World War II, were given the responsibility for identifying cultural works of art, protecting these priceless items from destruction by advancing armies, and tracking down the art stolen by the Nazis. These men were called The Monuments Men.

The movie The Monuments Men was based on Robert Edsel’s best seller The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History. It is a fascinating story of the efforts of these men and one woman.

One of the real heroes of this monumental task was a French art historian, art curator, and member of the French Resistance. Rose Valland was also a spy operating right under the noses of the Nazis.

Rose Valland was The Monuments Woman. Read More The Monuments Woman

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Curious George Flees the Nazis

 

Rey, H.A. Curious George. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1941. Cover illustration by H.A. Rey (1941). Available at Amazon and all fine bookstores.
Rey, H.A. Curious George. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1941. Cover illustration by H.A. Rey (1941). Available at Amazon and all fine bookstores.

I’m often asked where I find the topics for my blogs. It boils down to reading a lot of books and delving into the research for whatever book I’m working on at the time. Anyone who has done research for the purpose of producing a written piece knows what it’s like going down the “rabbit hole.” In other words, you get side tracked and a week later you pop up your head and say “I better get back to my original target.”

I read books, periodicals, historical articles, and anything I can get my hands on that pertains to the subject I’m working on. So in early January 2017 I noticed an article in The Wall Street Journal entitled “As ‘Curious George’ Turns 75, New Light On His Escape from the Nazis.” Coincidentally, several days earlier in a separate source, I found the address where George’s creators lived in pre-war, pre-occupied Paris.

H.A. & Margret Rey

curious
Hans and Margret Rey. Photo by Penny Stearns Palmer (date unknown). Wikimedia Commons.

I’m always fascinated by relationships that endure for decades. One of the reasons for these successful relationships seems to be where each partner brings a different “skill set” to the relationship—typically one’s strengths offsets the partner’s weaknesses. You might say they are the ideal partnerships. In most cases, the partners share a common interest. In the case of H.A. and Margret, they both loved monkeys. Margret would write the stories and H.A. would illustrate them. Read More Curious George Flees the Nazis