Art Restoration Under the Nazi Regime

This book is the first in-depth study of the restoration and conservation field in the National Socialist era. It presents a completely new perspective on the physical manipulation of fine, applied arts and other cultural property, under the regime from 1933 to post war in 1948. It investigates the motivations behind the participation of the conservation and restoration profession in this network of profit, crime, persecution and ideological broadcast.

Furthers our understanding of the history of conservation, Nazi cultural policy, and governance in the Third Reich Places conservation and restoration in the wider political, practical, and ideological context of the period Explores the role of conservation and restoration in propaganda and the relationship between population and regime

Autorentext

Morwenna Blewett is an associate member of the Senior Common Room at Worcester College, the University of Oxford, UK.

Klappentext

Morwenna Blewett has produced an important and highly original study of the complicity of art conservators and restorers in Nazism.

** Alan E. Steinweis, University of Vermont, USA

This deeply researched book unveils for the first time the complicity of art conservator/restorers in Hitler's Germany. It is both fascinating and harrowing. Highly recommended.

Joyce Hill Stoner, University of Delaware, USA

Paying meticulous attention to both archival materials and the broader historiography of Nazi culture and politics, Blewett convincingly shows how conservators and restorers became actors in building a foundation for the racist, anti-Semitic conception of a Volksgemeinschaft ('people's community') that remained central to Nazi politics.

Michael Tymkiw, University of Essex, UK

This groundbreaking study illuminates the overlooked but important role of art conservators and restorers in Nazi Germany, revealing how their expertise intersected with racial ideology and cultural plunder across Europe.

Nikolaus Wachsmann, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK

Blewett not only exposes patterns of professional complicity but also asks us to reflect on the enduring danger that knowledge and skill are vulnerable to being co-opted by power. This is a book of rare insight that speaks directly to our responsibility to confront uncomfortable truths and to protect historical memory against distortion.

Toby Simpson OBE, Wiener Holocaust Library, London, UK

This book is the first in-depth study of the restoration and conservation field in the National Socialist era. It presents a completely new perspective on the physical manipulation of fine, applied arts and other cultural property, under the regime from 1933 to post war in 1948. It investigates the motivations behind the participation of the conservation and restoration profession in this network of profit, crime, persecution and ideological broadcast.

Morwenna Blewett is an associate member of the Senior Common Room at Worcester College, the University of Oxford, UK.

Inhalt

Introduction.- 1. Before the Regime: Professionalisation, Collaboration and Practice.- 2. Seizure of Power: Fracture, Cleansing, Control.- 3. Perverting the Course of Art History.- 4. Paving the Path to Genocide: Paper and Blood.- 5. Invading and Looting: Ideology and Collaboration.- 6. Looting Agencies: Workforce and Objectives.- 7. Post War: Assisting the Allies.- Conclusion.