America and the Return of Nazi Contraband: The Recovery of Europe's Cultural Treasures

In the ruins of Hitler's Third Reich, Allied occupiers found millions of paintings, books, manuscripts, and pieces of sculpture hidden in thousands of secret hideaways. This book reveals how the American Military Government in Germany, spearheaded by a few dozen dedicated Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives (MFA&A) officers and enlisted men, coped with restoring Europe's cultural heritage. Caught up in often bitter diplomatic wrangling during and after the war, the American restitution effort struggled to unearth and return what the Nazis had hidden. (Based on the pioneering study of cultural restitution first published in 1985.)