Is 'The Monuments Men' Based on a True Story?

The Big Picture

• The Monuments Men accurately portrays the group of art historians and curators who risked their lives to rescue looted art during World War II.
• The movie correctly highlights the role of Rose Valland, a French art historian, in secretly recording the Nazis' looting activities.
• While there were some variations and exaggerations, The Monuments Men accurately shows the efforts of the group to recover stolen art and prevent its destruction.

When a history book story gets turned into a movie, we usually expect some changes from the original. But sometimes, the story shown on the big screen strays quite a bit from the real deal. George Clooney's film, The Monuments Men, gives us a heartwarming tale of American heroes outsmarting Hitler, but the actual history is more intricate. The group known as the Monuments Men did indeed safeguard European cultural treasures and recover stolen art, but it's possible that the events in Hollywood were exaggerated. Let's dig deeper into that, shall we?

What Did 'The Monuments Men' Get Right?

The Monuments Men got many things right. As explained by US News, the Monuments Men were a group of art historians, curators, museum directors, artists, architects, and educators who risked their lives to rescue looted art and cultural treasures during World War II. The Monuments Men were assigned to the Allied unit MFAA (Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives) program tasked by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Some were military reservists, while others had no military experience and went through Basic Training. They were tasked with recovering looted art and returning it to its rightful owners.

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In The Monuments Men, as claimed by Slate, one of the most important sources of information for the Monuments Men was Rose Valland, who was renamed Claire Simone (Cate Blanchett) in the movie, a French art historian who worked as a curator at the Jeu de Paume museum in Paris during the Occupation. Claire secretly kept records of the Nazis' looting activities and passed this information on to Lt. James Rorimer, who in the movie was James Granger (Matt Damon). And, as in the movie, Rose was quite distrusting of James at the beginning but eventually shared the information with him.

Surprisingly, according to The National WWII Museum, one of the things the movie got right was when Robert Posey and Lincoln Kirstein, two Monuments Men, met a German dentist who told them about his son-in-law, who was an art scholar who knew France well and was there during the Occupation. As in The Monuments Men, the son-in-law turned out to be a former SS officer who knew Hermann Göring and the locations of stolen art. He knew which treasures had been distributed to German museums and which art dealers in Berlin were trading the looted works.

The Monuments Men worked tirelessly to track down and recover stolen art, often facing dangerous conditions. They raced against time to beat the Nazis to the art before it could be destroyed or hidden away. The issuance of the 1945 Nero Decree Ordered by Adolf Hitler was also correct, as stated by The Smithsonian Magazine, but it was officially titled the "Demolitions on Reich Territory Decree." It stated that in the case of his death or Germany losing the war, they should destroy any factories, supply depots, transportation, and communication facilities, as well as anything of value that the Allies could use. But if Hitler lived and Germany won the war, he planned to showcase much of the art in the unbuilt Führermuseum that he envisioned for his hometown of Linz, Austria.

Another important thing that The Monuments Men got correct, in accordance with the University of Denver Magazine was the finding of gold fillings and a stash of gold bullion, and as in the film, the press focused mainly on the gold rather than the recovered art.

Unfortunately, as in The Monuments Men, two men from the group died, yet the circumstances varied from those shown in the movie, as declared by Slate. And to this day, not all the stolen art has been recovered.

What Did 'The Monuments Men' Miss?

According to US News, the Monuments Men, known as the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) program was a much larger group, consisting of 350 men and women from 13 nations who worked to protect art and cultural artifacts during World War II. Among them were many women such as Capt. Edith Standen and Ardelia Hall, worked tirelessly to promote restitution of looted art to rightful owners. The MFAA program members protected vulnerable museums and churches and worked with other military units to prevent the destruction of cultural targets. Contrary to what is shown in the film, the Monuments Men did not work together as a group, contrary to the portrayal in the film.

Another important distinction from the movie, according to NPR, the Monuments Men had a lot fewer resources at their disposal to achieve their mission, making the task all the more difficult. George Clooney's character in the movie, Frank Stokes, was based on George Stout, who played a role in creating the Monuments Men, as claimed by The National WWII Museum. Stout was one of the first members of the unit and went ashore at Normandy. He later became the Lieutenant Commander of the MFAA program and served as the Chief of the Arts and Monuments Division in Tokyo, Japan. The National WWII Museum also explained that the son-in-law of the dentist did not have stolen art hanging in his home, but photos of Parisian landmarks.

According to The Smithsonian Magazine the Nero Decree, which ordered the destruction of German infrastructure as the Nazis retreated, was never implemented. Albert Speer persuaded Nazi generals to ignore the directive, believing it would be easier for Germany to rebuild if infrastructure was preserved.

Slate voiced that the two men who died, Ronald Balfour and Walter Huchthausen died in very different conditions. Ronald Balfour died from a shell burst while moving parts of a historic church's medieval altarpiece to safety. Walter Huchthausen was shot near Aachen, Germany. The Nazis destroyed art that they considered degenerate, like Cubist, Surrealist, and Expressionist paintings, but they did not destroy the art they valued.

In the end, the MFAA program played a vital role in saving countless works of art and cultural artifacts during World War II. Their work continues to be important today, as we strive to preserve our cultural heritage for future generations. So The Monuments Men may have had a few variations in the details from the story, but in a great deal, it is based on what happened to the men and women who formed part of this group.

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