A Must-See Documentary: The Rape of Europa

One-fifth of all the known significant works of art in Europe were stolen by Hitler

I’m not sure what John and I were expecting that night last winter when we dialed up the 2006 documentary The Rape of Europa. But with Covid in full swing, it was easy to lock the door, turn out the lights, and commit ourselves to a two-hour war documentary. We were already fighting our own war in 2020, right?

About halfway into it, tears in my eyes, heart pounding out of my chest, I had to take a fifteen-minute break just to pull myself together. I was that invested in what was happening on the screen--indeed, what had happened all around me here in Italy. I was sitting right in the thick of it, amid palazzi that still bore the scars of Nazi rifle fire.

Most Americans forget--or never knew--that from 1943-1945, Italy was occupied by Nazis. What was left of the Italian army was under German authority, directed to take out their own countrymen, the partigiani, or Resistance fighters, by whatever cruel and violent means necessary.

A German WWII propaganda poster that reads, in Italian: Germany is truly your friend.

But the real story is why the Nazis were in Europe to begin with, and one of the most important reasons was that Hitler and his right-hand man, Hermann Goring, coveted all that luscious, breathtaking art, much of it in Italy. This documentary explores the Nazi plunder of priceless masterpieces, including a thwarted attempt ot loot the Winged Victory of Samothrace in Paris, one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world.

On September 3, 1939, two days after the Nazis invaded Poland, when France officially declared war, Winged Victory was painstakingly removed from her perch in the Louvre and slid down a wooden ramp toward the bottom of the steps. No one knew whether the ancient statue with her magnificent, fragile wings would survive the removal, let alone a trip across the French countryside to Chateau de Valancay. Miraculously, she made it, and was hidden alongside the Venus de Milo and Michelangelo’s Slaves, safe from Hitler and Goring’s rapacious grasp.

Winged Victory, artist unknown. One of the most breathtaking and recognizable sculptures in the world.

Even if you aren’t as nutty about art as I am, you will find yourself thunderstruck by the heroism of the Europeans, Russians, and Americans who went to extreme lengths to save the treasures of Europe.

Joseph Orbeli, a Soviet-Armenian academic appointed to Russia’s Hermitage Museum in the years leading up to WWII, managed to preserve one of the most important art collections in the world. Through his foresight and daring, over 700,000 works of art were smuggled out of Leningrad before the two-and-a-half-year siege. He wrote in his diary: “On June 22, 1941, all employees of the Hermitage were called to the museum. Hermitage researchers, security personnel, and technical employees all took part in the packaging, spending no more than an hour a day on food and rest. And from the second day, hundreds of people who loved the Hermitage came to our aid ... We had to force these people to eat and rest by order. The Hermitage was dearer to them than their strength and health.”

Hundreds of Russians died protecting their cultural masterpieces. Even more starved to death, so hungry, they licked glue off old wallpaper in a desperate attempt to stay alive.

Hitler’s orders were to destroy the city of Leningrad and its entire population, according to a directive sent to Army Group North on the 19th of September, 1941. He came perilously close to doing just that. The Siege of Leningrad was the largest loss of life ever known in a modern city. Hitler ordered his Wehrmacht to loot and destroy historic landmarks located outside Leningrad’s walls, with most art collections transported to Germany. But he never achieved his goal of plundering the Hermitage.

Russia’s celebrated Hermitage Museum in Leningrad

As Führer, Hitler railed against modern art, calling it the “degenerate” product of Jews and Bolsheviks and a threat to the German national identity. Still, he went to great lengths to steal (and destroy) as much of it as he could. Some claim, with reason, that Hitler’s main purpose in WWII was to acquire the world’s great masterpieces and build a museum in his hometown of Linz to showcase them. Others point out that as a twice-failed art student, Hitler had a chip on his shoulder that no amount of looting and plundering would rid him of.

But all can agree that Hitler didn’t just want to purify his race. He wanted to purify art, and by extension, the world. What’s remarkable about The Rape of Europa is how everyday heroes were able to push back against such a terrifying juggernaut. Listening to narrator Joan Allen recount the efforts of a special unit of U.S. Army specialists called the Monuments Men, soldiers who risked their lives to locate and recover art sized by the Nazis, will send chills up your spine. In fact, I defy any Marvel Comics franchise to keep you on the edge of your seat like this documentary will--a story which happens to be true, relevant, and an essential part of our understanding of ourselves and the world.

The real Monuments Men.

Find it. Watch it. And never forget why monsters like Hitler must not be allowed to rise to power.

Have you seen The Rape of Europa or have special knowledge to share on the subject of Hitler’s pillage of Western Europe’s masterpieces? If so, please leave your comments below.