One of the best-made, most wide-ranging, and most heart-breaking documentaries ever made. The extent of cultural and humanitarian destruction in WWII remains unfathomable to this day…as does the examples of unparalleled and unheralded acts of heroism. The best and worst of humanity, depicted in beautiful, heart-wrenching detail:
Just as the Nazis sought to impose their race-based morality onto the diverse population of Europe, they also sought to redraw the cultural face of Europe by rearranging or destroying its great artworks. Even in the upheavals of war the Nazi leaders devoted precious time and energy to the gathering of works of art. They carried out multiple operations with cross purposes. While Alfred Rosenberg’s propaganda unit (ERR) appropriated artworks that would buttress the Party’s racist ideology and pilfered the great Jewish collections of Europe, Hitler employed distinguished art historians and corrupt dealers to steal masterpieces that would confer prestige and symbolic legitimacy on the German nation.
Lasting Impression 