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| van Eyck, The Mystic Lamb, Ghent's Altarpiece, 1432 |
Last week, we told you about
Ghents Altarpiece’s vicissitudes from the XVI c. until 1937.
Since it was
longed for by the Germans and since they had to give the lateral panels back due
to the Treaty of Versailles, and even if it wasn’t a war riot, it was
expectable that they would come back for it during the WWII. As a prevention
measure, it was taken to the Castle of Pau, where other many French museum
treasures had been sheltered. When the Germans approach, they moved it to the
Chambord Castle. But, despite the written promise not to touch these works, in
1942 they take everything.
Hitler had planned building a
museum for the Aryan Race in Linz, and therefore, he started take everything he
thought deserved being there. To Hitler, the Ghent’s Alterpiece had a special
meaning: it was said to be a map of hidden secrets, of where the “Arma Christi”
was, the instruments of Christ’s Passion. He thought this knowledge would give
him superpowers.
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| Altaussee, 1945 (Wikipedia) |
Around 1942, the Allied’s advance
led him to hide his art collection in castles and mines. The Altarpiece was
hidden in the salt mine of Altaussee, which was operating and reconditioned
just to be used as hiding place of around 12000 artpieces, which included some
of Michelangelo, Titian, Rembrandt, Vermeer… (and the Gioconda?)
In 1944, Eisenhower, USA’s
president, starts a commission of restitution and conservation of artworks, in
order to preserve the culture of the countries in war, formed by specialists in
the issue (the famous “Monuments Men”). United Kingdom had had a similar
initiative already. The the Allies only noticed the scale of the plundering
when the nazis ocuppy Paris, but they don’t know where the works where hidden.
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| L.Kirstein (Image: Monuments Men Foundation) |
L. Kirstein and R.K. Posey are 2
of the Monuments Men, who were part of the Third Army under the orders of
General Patton. In Trier, Posey has an unbearable wisdom toothache and the
troop’s dentist was 100 kms away, so Kirstein looks for a local dentist. During
the removal, the dentist tells them about his brother-in-law, H. Bunjes. He had
been close to Goering, who listed all the should be robbed artowrks. He had
studied about the French gothic and got tired of seeing how laws were broken,
how everything was being destroyed and plundered, so he deserted. He was hidden
in a cabin with her family. Asking for shelter, he gave them the exact location
of the stolen artpieces (Bunjes killed himself soon before war ended.)
Hitler, before dying, commands
destroying industries, bridges, etc., to avoid the progress of the Allies,
it’s the so called “Nero Decree”. He donates then his art collection to the German
State and orders to get the entrances to the mines blocked, but not destroying
them. However, the Altaussee major, Eigruber, mistook this message and planned
to destroy the mines thinking it was the last wish of Hitler, even disobeying a
personal letter by M. Bormann.
The Allies set up the "Operation
Ebensburg" to rescue the artpieces from this mine without knowing about Eigruber’s
intentions and without knowing there was a parallel second operation by the
Austrian resistance under the orders of a double agent, Gaiswinckler.
Meanwhile, Michel and Sieber, who were in charge of the conservation of the
works kept in this mine, in middle of their desperation, contacted the
partisans and told them how Eigruber had filled the mine with bombs. Helped by the Chief Civilian Personnel Officer
of the mine and the miners themselves try to take the artworks to an
inner grotto, called "St. Barbara’s Chapel", and to deactivate the detonators.
But these movements were suspicious and the major sets up a 24 hour vigilance.
Gaiswinckler gets to know that the Americans were close and tells two of them
to ask them for help. The end of war was close: the Germans, before fleeing,
bomb the entrance to block the mine definitely.
That’s how Posey and Kirstein
find the mine: they have no idea of what might have happened inside. The miners
help to take the debris away and get to enter again on 16th June 1945. The
Altarpiece was there, safe and sound.
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| R.Posey (Image: Monuments Men Foundation) |
They take it to München, where an
inventary a distribution center was established. Posey would be in charge of
returning the Alterpiece to Ghent on a special cargo plane.
They had to cross a thunderstorm,
but the pilot had to land at 2 AM in a deserted militar airport. The captain was desperate: he
couldn’t contact with anybody of the American Embassy. Finally, the Altarpiece
is taken to the Royal Palace of Brussels, and then exhibited in the Royal
Museum before being returned to its Cathedral in November 1945.
Since 2012 it’s being restored
with funds from the Getty Foundation, commissioned by the Belgian Royal
Institute for Cultural Heritage.
This is a tiny summary
of
Charney, N. Stealing the mystic lamb. New York, Publicaffairs, 2010
If you want more
details, I suggest reading it!
Another sources:
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