“They’ve been had! The Monuments Men were had!” exclaims Emmanuelle Polack, the art historian in charge of World War II provenance inquiries at the Louvre, in Plunderer: The Life and Times of a Nazi Art Thief. The new documentary, directed by Hugo Macgregor and currently streaming on pbs.org and the PBS app, unravels the past and present tentacles of a key Nazi art looter, Bruno Lohse, who was in charge of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), Alfred Rosenberg’s special looting task force, in Paris during WWII. Plunderer asks us to rethink what we know about looting, art restitution, the art market, and who the war’s heroes and villains really were.
The practice of WWII art restitution considers the crime of art looting as specific to the wartime years. It is an investigation into actions taken in the distant past by Nazi operators and middlemen who have been relegated in history as the enemy. But what Plunderer shows is that many of those players returned to the art world without serving time for their crimes, and continued to operate in the legitimate art trade after the war. Bruno Lohse and others went to great lengths to conceal their wartime pasts, as well as art they still possessed after the fall of the Third Reich, and continued their devious trade into the 21st century. Many art dealers during and after the war were knowingly complicit in the sale of looted art.
Another key player in Plunderer is historian and professor Jonathan Petropoulos, author of Göring’s Man in Paris, who found himself unwittingly in the center of one of Lohse’s elaborate schemes. Petropoulos is just one of many who, despite best efforts, was ensnared by the Nazi’s cunning.
The first episode of Plunderer introduces the audience to Lohse and shows how the Nazis systematically looted Jewish-owned art, particularly in France, and how this process was tied directly to the deportation and extermination of the Jewish population. Most effectively, the film demonstrates how Lohse took advantage of the power struggles among the Nazi hierarchy to ingratiate himself with someone like Hermann Göring, Hitler’s right-hand man and designated successor.
While he was initially sent to Paris to create an inventory of looted art, Lohse became Göring’s personal art dealer in France. He was given a nearly unlimited line of credit at the bank, a private car, and a direct phone line to reach Göring at all times. To secure art, he became involved in the dangerous criminal underworld in France and, as the documentary asserts, was personally involved in the interrogation and deportation of at least one Jewish art dealer and his wife to Auschwitz. His boss at the ERR, Colonel Kurt von Behr, operated a prison campin Paris for Jewish detainees.
This episode also introduces Rose Valland, the art historian and Resistance spy who worked in the Jeu de Paume museum, which had been taken over by the ERR. Valland documented the numerous works of art Lohse stole from the Jewish-owned collections, and would become his lifelong nemesis.
After the fall of Germany, Lohse was only lightly interrogated by the American OSS’s Art Looting Investigation Unit, and eventually exonerated in a French war crime trial. Later, he remained close with several of his American interrogators, including James Plaut, Theodore Rousseau, who became the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s chief curator and deputy director, and S. Lane Faison, a professor at Williams College. Lohse tried to sell art to The Met multiple times. Although no sales were concluded, Petropoulos believes that he likely sold art to other American museums through middlemen.
Documents in The Met archives, which I found through the research for my book, The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland, show that Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives officer James Rorimer, the director of The Met Museum, was horrified at the willful “whitewashing” of Lohse’s wartime actions by his own military colleagues. Rose Valland, along with Rorimer, continued to try to hold Lohse accountable, hoping for a retribution that never materialized. “I think [Rose Valland] really is enemy number one of Bruno Lohse,” states Emmanuelle Polack in the documentary.
The latest installment of the documentary series, “Plunderer,” delves into the sinister postwar schemes orchestrated by Bruno Lohse, a notorious Nazi art thief. Professor Jonathan Petropoulos, an expert on Nazi looting, finds himself entangled in a complex web of deception when he is led to believe that the stolen “Fischer Pissarro” painting, looted during WWII, has been located and the heirs of the current owner wish to return it. This sets off a chain of events involving a Swiss bank, an art foundation in Luxembourg, and a network of tax shelter entities linked to Russian oligarchs and illicit activities like nuclear arms smuggling, as revealed in the Panama Papers.
The ensuing media frenzy surrounding Petropoulos’s involvement in the case results in his resignation from the Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights at Claremont McKenna University, although an investigation clears him of any wrongdoing. As Petropoulos reflects in the documentary, crossing paths with Lohse comes with dire consequences.
“Plunderer” shines a spotlight on the enduring legacy of Nazi art theft, showing how the perpetrators continued to operate in the shadows long after the war ended. The murky waters of the art market and the lackadaisical approach of some American investigators allowed Nazi collaborators to profit from stolen art with questionable origins for years. As provenance expert Marc Masurovsky aptly puts it, “The crime of plunder is a lucrative one.” The documentary underscores the urgent need for accountability in the art world and a reckoning with the lingering presence of Nazi-looted art in prestigious institutions.
“Plunderer: The Life and Times of a Nazi Art Thief” is now available for streaming on pbs.org and the PBS app, offering viewers a compelling glimpse into the dark underworld of stolen art and the ongoing quest for justice. With the rise of social media and the internet, the way we consume information has drastically changed. Gone are the days of waiting for the newspaper to arrive in the morning or tuning in to the evening news on TV. Instead, we can now access news and information instantly with just a few clicks on our smartphones or computers.
One of the most popular ways to consume news online is through news websites. These websites are dedicated to providing up-to-date information on a wide range of topics, from politics and current events to entertainment and lifestyle. Many news websites also offer multimedia content such as videos and podcasts, making it easy for readers to engage with the news in a variety of formats.
In addition to traditional news websites, social media platforms have become a popular source of news for many people. Platforms like Twitter and Facebook allow users to follow news outlets and journalists, making it easy to stay informed about breaking news and trending topics. Social media also allows for real-time updates and live coverage of events, providing a unique and often more immediate way to consume news.
While the rise of online news consumption has its benefits, it also comes with challenges. With so much information available at our fingertips, it can be difficult to discern what is true and what is fake news. The spread of misinformation is a growing concern, as it can have serious consequences on public opinion and decision-making.
To combat this issue, many news organizations have implemented fact-checking processes and editorial standards to ensure the accuracy of their reporting. Additionally, social media platforms have introduced tools to help users identify and report fake news, such as fact-checking labels and algorithms that prioritize trustworthy sources.
Overall, the shift towards online news consumption has revolutionized the way we access information. While it offers convenience and instant access to news, it also requires media literacy and critical thinking skills to navigate the vast amount of information available online. By staying informed and being cautious of misinformation, we can make the most of the digital age and stay well-informed about the world around us.
