Romans and the insignia that we see in rome and the mona lisa in the loop taken on one of napoleons ventures. What established it was a sufficiency and organization. With respect to artwork, it is estimated that 600,000 pieces of art were stolen and 8000 of which are personally selected by adolf hitler for a museum that he planned after the war in his hometown. But artwork was only a part of it. So for example homes and businesses, jewelry, insurance policies and Bank Accounts. Let me just mention these and we will come back to these a little bit later it will be found for an article in the wall street journal is a front page article and it said that there were doormen swifts Bank Accounts that had been set up during a war primarily by jews trying to show their money in the safest thing system in europe by the on lot of the third reich. And that after the war those who survived and if they didnt, their families who tried to recoup those Bank Accounts were told that they couldnt be found. In fact what happened was the accounts were drawn down month after month by charges over 50 years and taken into the profits of the bank. So i got permission from the state department to go to switzerland. I gave them a copy of this wall street journal article and i said, is this true . And i said yes, it is to an extent we have had this and we have found that there are 732 dormant Bank Accounts what shouldve been returned and were not. So if we put that up to the days values, thatll be 32 million they got major account information there were 54,000 possible accounts and 21,000 certain accounts and a somewhat was reached 1. 25 billion in respect to insurance, Companies Like this and many others do the following. There were insurance policies on the lives of individuals and what happened after the war is the families of those who were killed, their Life Insurance policies try to recruit and they were told that the policies have lost because the premiums were not paid while people were poor in auschwitz and so this is something that was part of the insurance claims under the former secretary of state in a consensual way after we got everyone together red so the dimensions of this were like peeling back the layers of an onion bread and one thing led to another. Slave labor ended up getting almost a billion dollars and this includes german private companies and for slavery. The majority of that were from nonjewish laborers and it ended up in a million and a half people are compensation as a result of that. So was an extensive effort this was a piece but only a piece. Thank you. Speaking about art and going back before entering world war ii, can you tell us what the poppies chuck and what do they do with what they took me back. Its interesting that we use the term moxy looting. It gives you a wanton act that people break into this and what we are talking about was much more systemic and beer . And it was from the leadership down and it was targeting certain categories of individuals and countries and it was enacted by various bureaucratic arms of the not the regime and they vary from country to country and it was much more for the taxation offices when they were lost half they had to pay certain taxes it is those working in poland and holland and they were working with the banks that were taking over jewish assets and i think the most wellknown organization and that is one that is originally to be confiscated as something that do not these were trying to subdue. It was turned into confiscating this and you can use the term to try to keep in your mind that it is really a bureaucratic effort from the top down. As we all knew that hitler had planned to have the greatest examine the role because he was going to on all of europe. Another knotty Party Leaders were collecting because they thought that it showed to be part of this as well. But like many regimes, the nazis really used it to their advantage. Debate so are to support the war effort. As it was to support the war effort, but it was an interesting thing where they would see the currency. So is used particularly in this fashion. To having an Extensive Knowledge of the nazi thats the goal art and other properties, in january of 1943 the allies that issued the london declaration declared their intentions to stop nazis from looting and also warning that they deserve the right to not recognize sales property made under duress. At the same time they became increasingly concerned about the damage and the destruction of Cultural Property. This concern manifested all in a twofold manner. First was the protection of artistic and Historic Monuments in war times. For short it is called the Roberts Commission because it was part of this was in the military establishment to deal with Cultural Property. So robert, can you tell us about the Roberts Commission and the creation of the Monuments Men . Yes. It is actually a little bit morning because we have some very long name that you have heard. As well as some acronyms. But essentially it really began 34 years earlier. Theres a man named george stout the pioneer and the conservation of works of art and we work at the museum at harvard and he had the vision in between the wars and in the ad then that were causing fires and a conviction due to correspondence that he had with friends that worked in german museums and many of them are having to flee germany and go to england to try to get away from the bad times they foresaw. And he was convinced that there is going to be Second World War. So matching that with the event he was observing in spain, he saw disaster on the horizon that the United States might become engaged in this war in the process, destroying so much of western civilization that it would be a permanent stain on the American Military in the United States area so even before the japanese sneak attack in 1941, he was preparing these templates during and before we were engaged in a war. And following december 7, very much like following september 11 of 2001, there would be an invasion or bombing of the east coast by the japanese and American Museum director was asked to convene about the third week in december to discuss initially the protection of the works of art at our main museums including the National Gallery of art which largely evacuated some of this in nashville, north carolina. As happened, it became clear quickly that what had happened is all that would happen in the shortterm in focus shifted as to how to protect things in this country and how do we help with mankinds greatest achievement. So they propose this concept of cultural preservation officers. One charged with saving rather than destroying. And they had envisioned a more elaborate setup of secretaries and vehicles by the time this unfolded and he was very suspicious of Museum Directors and he was convinced that by the time they got a hold of these ideas they would muck it up so much that it wouldnt end up going anywhere. So within the next year or so he kind of gave up on the idea which in the military was the camouflaging of aircraft. But his great supporter was paul sacks introducing this in the United States known as the museums studies course and it was a farm club for Museum Directors, curators and the cultural country that we know today. There were some 20 babies that became monuments officers. For those of you who are old enough to see that Mission Impossible tv series, peter graves would sit down and flipped through his dossier of experts to decide which ones he wanted to have to deal with the challenges of the mission. He on this working for the Roberts Commission. Starting with all the students who graduated since 1920. There were some 20 students there were architects, linguists, most had been educated in europe. And the key factor was who was already in the military because they quickly realized it was going to be much easier to transfer someone in the military than it was to get someone in the wasnt already enough. So this is where this idea comes from. Late 1942, the idea comes from a lot of different groups, people at the fray. A lot of those in the Roberts Commission. But it is the idea of george stout that is largely represented in the represents in late 1942 and in april of 1943. He says pretty simply makes a lot of sense to me, that idea in their often running getting the formalities that up with election of officers dont really began until the summer of 1943, and of course the invasion of sicily at our to have it at this stage. That is the interesting exhalation rather than the complicated version. Its interesting that this was called monuments and archives. Many felt like third class citizens. Compared to the fine arts and in any event. Besides establishing these Monuments Men and the Roberts Commission, part and parcel of this program was intelligence gathering and you have to know what is actually gathering in europe and much of this was accomplished by american diplomats and Service Operatives in spain and portugal as well as government in exile in london. Also gathering intelligence about what the nonjews were doing in terms of alluding Cultural Properties were individuals like this. Played by Kate Blanchet in the movie and robert, can you tell us a little bit about her enact. By my way of thinking she was one of the great heroines of world war ii. For all of you that have put up with the guys are driving you to world war ii movies, this is your film and you have a heroine in this film achieves a remarkable woman. Its hard to believe that she could transform herself in this way, but she doesnt quite sicily. Jesus woman part of the dominated and if any of you have been to paris, you have walked past this building and so it became the central headquarters for the nazi looting operation in particular. With tens of thousands of work stolen from the great collectors and friends. Someone also dealer families that were brought in and they were often times photographed and this was a particularly evil or pernicious individuals. So rothschild is an example and they were the letter r and then they would have a number. And there could be a 6000 number. Many at the officers usually found, which they have done a great job writing about this, a jewelry chest that might have hundreds of objects in them and this includes one who referred to eightpoint collection and there were 10,000point in it. So the numbers get to be pretty staggering very quickly rated roses there with the responsibility and the germans know that they need her there to make sure that the lights are working great but she understands german and they dont notice. Her boss is another hero, he is a director of the ranch museum including the louvre, has placed her there and so she is making secret notes and is they ar each of the 20 times they make these exhibits and stewart referenced things. If there is any value to it, there would be champagne and they would have a regard in any one of his 20 Michael Jackson alfred, whether it is or not. Its amazing the number of photographs that we have, knowing that some of these things were part of what they wanted to have themselves. Sometimes she wrote that she was looking for photo negatives and over the course of four years she noticed largely the number of works that have come through and she recognizes me because they are so famous. She knows the location of many that have been taken. Its not really a diary, but an album with all of these different notes and scraps of paper that have been put together were they are in one place. So at the end of the liberation, she survives this and shes considered a collaborator and she doesnt turn over all the information she had to her boss on her advice because no one knows who to trust. And her loyalties are over and above and she is encouraged to work with an officer who at the time as the curator of the Cloister Museum goes on to be the next director of the mat after the war. And they did is over six months is to be a dance of courtship. Trying to see if he can be trusted with this information. There are two people destiny each holding half of the same key. And she persists with this until 1981 when she dies and never gives up on and becomes a pain in the side to many people that just want this to go away. And so on the other hand he realizes he can play a role in recovering the works of art stolen from france. He is transportation but he doesnt know where to go. So this is the dynamic between the two of them, back and forth and will he really return these things to france. Its a fascinating dynamic and i think it is one of the great parts of the film that the actors have really teased out of the story. You mention sicily. In 1943 the allies invaded sicily. And there were very few Monuments Men and they had some successes and barriers and all of this is a lane and roberts third book, saving italy. But robert, could you briefly talk about this . Do they have transportation and do they have mass . It was really a pathetic getting. It was president roosevelt that realized they needed to buy time for the army of bureaucracy to be overcome to get some of these guys over there. On his orders, a man let me show a number by you showing your hands who has been to harvard okay. So from the 1920s to the 1990s when he died with it action of the end he knew that he was that fad so he arrives three weeks after the American Invasion and he is flown to all algeria thinking that he is to be in north africa. And then he says i really dont know anything about that area. And he didnt. But he gets there. Theres no vehicles or operation. They are just winging it. But the monuments officers at the beginning of combat are about 40 years old and i have really accomplished careers. Many have kids. So they were pretty clever and resourceful and trying to figure out how to do things. While they didnt help any, they didnt Pay Attention to him either. To the extent that they could come up with solutions, they were pretty effective area to the operation on its face over and over again the point that general marshall wrote his protege, general marshall and said you need to be very careful because people here are reading horrible newspaper accounts and damaging italy by by the allies. And they were at the Civil Affairs division. They had the ability to Pay Attention. The monuments officers will post the buildings out of bounds American British troops couldnt live in them, damage them, taking. In the Army Officers of the troops just ignored it. So by the time of november and is number one the operation was clearly failing, the general, general eisenhower changes the face of the war and he issues the directive december 29, 1943. Albeit six months after the war and italy have gone. And so if it comes down to the lives of our men or object, the lives of our men count more. However, that will not be tolerated. In this was the change. Because the monuments officers never got more help than that. And the senior monuments officer said it was the first solid ground under our feet. And they show this directive and they had currency with them. And by the time of the normandy landings, that same order similarly worded was issued two weeks before the normandy landings. We are way behind schedule. So i ask my colleagues to keep their answers short. But once they landed in france, in june of 1944, the germans began hiding their own Cultural Property in the property that they have looted, primarily in southern germany in salt mines, monasteries, castles, air raid bunkers. Some germans at this point, especially in 1944 late in the year, they believe that they would lose the war. The smartest thing to do was to get all this to a safe haven outside of germany. And the United States government initiated something called Operation Safe haven. To be the intelligence gathering capability of the treasury department, economic administration, to find out where these assets were going. In 1997 and 1998, he oversaw the production of two government report about Operation Safe haven and monetary gold and victim gold. And these reports were quickly produced and were not well received. So can you tell us what prompted the Clinton Administration to be produced and what was the outcome of these reports . Robert has done an enormous service. But i want to try to put it in a broader german context. That is a great tribute to the United States army and the United States of america. Contrasting this enormous effort to get it to return to its rightful owners with this coming from the east to berlin. So they were intent on doing just the opposite. Stripping germany and its museums of everything that they could do was taking it back to russia as were compensation for their enormous lawsuits. So here we are doing exactly the opposite, trying to preserve it and get it back to its original owners, while they are trying to compensate themselves for the losses in with respect to the reports, we have had lawsuits that were being brought against the hispanics. And we realized that there was a broader story than the amounts put in swiss banks by victims. In that broader story is how did the germans finance a war effort for 12 years . When their curren