The Lost Masters by Peter Harclerode
Adolf Hitler was not content with merely the seizure of Europe's territory but desired its treasure as well. Fired by his ambition to establish the world's finest museums and galleries in his former home town in Austria, he systematically looted Europe's treasure houses to accumulate a hoard of important and priceless art collections. Some of the prizes seized by special Nazi loot organizations and battalions came from museums and galleries; others were from private collections of prominent and wealthy families, many of whose members later perished in German concentration camps. Much loot was recovered at the war's end, but vast quantities disappeared once again with the arrival in Germany of Josef Stalin's Red Army, which indulged in wholesale pillage while the other Allies picked over the ruins of the Third Reich for their own enrichment. To this day, any of those who suffered the loss of their collections remain impoverished and empty-handed. This work is an account of the looting of Europe and the history of the attempts by those who lost so much to reclaim their art heritage in the face of indifference from governments and the international art trade, and which has since continued to make huge profits from looted works of art, which frustrating attempts by the rightful owners to seek restitution. It also contains a tale of how courage probably saved the world's most enigmatic smile from destruction.
Peter Harclerode is the author of several books of military history and related subjects. Brendan Pittaway is an investigative journalist currently workin
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780575052543 |
| ISBN 10 | 0575052546 |
| Title | The Lost Masters |
| Author | Peter Harclerode |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Orion Publishing Co |
| Year published | 1999-08-05 |
| Number of pages | 416 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |