Digitized Images

Some of the records listed and described in Dr. Greg Bradsher’s finding aid were microfilmed by NARA in the early 2000s. Digital images of the microfilmed records can be viewed free of charge through the Holocaust-Era Assets Collection at fold3.com. NARA has been uploading the images produced by fold3.com into the National Archives Catalog. The following microfilm publications are fully available in the Catalog as of November 2020:

• M1782: OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit Reports, 1945-46 

• M1942: Records Concerning the Central Collecting Points ("Ardelia Hall Collection"): Offenbach Archival Depot, 1946-1951

• M1934: OSS Washington Secret Intelligence/Special Funds Records, 1942-1946

• M1946: Records Concerning the Central Collecting Points ("Ardelia Hall Collection"): Munich Central Collecting Point, 1945-1951

• DN1924: Records of the Foreign Exchange Depository Group of the Office of the Finance Adviser, OMGUS, 1944-1950

• DN1929: Records of the Property Control Branch of the U.S. Allied Commission for Austria (USACA) Section, 1945-1951

• M1921: Records of the Cultural Affairs Branch Relating to Monuments, Museums, Libraries, Archives, and Fine Arts, OMGUS, 1946-1949

• M1923: OMGUS Finance Division Records Regarding Investigations and Interrogations, 1945-1949

• M1925: Records Regarding Intelligence and Financial Investigations of the Financial Intelligence Group, OMGUS, 1945-1949

• A3380: Reports from the Mediterranean and European Theaters of Operations Received from the Allied Military Government, 1943-1946

• A3389: Records Concerning the Central Collecting Points ("Ardelia Hall Collection"): Selected Microfilm Reproductions and Related Records, 1945-1949
   

The microfilm publications listed below are in the process of being uploaded to the Catalog and are currently partially available to view and download:

• M1947: Records Concerning the Central Collecting Points ("Ardelia Hall Collection"): Wiesbaden Central Collecting Point, 1945-1952  

• M1948:Records Concerning the Central Collecting Points ("Ardelia Hall Collection"): Marburg Central Collecting Point, 1945-1949

• M1949: Records of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section (MFAA) of the Reparations and Restitution Branch, OMGUS, 1945-1951

• M1943: Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) Card File and Related Photographs, 1940-1945 

• M1944: Records of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historical Monuments in War Areas (The Roberts Commission), 1943-1946  
   

In addition, relevant files from two series of records have been digitized in house and are available in the Catalog:

• Records of the German Military Commander in France Relating to the Seizure and Transportation of Cultural and Other Property (Record Group 242) 

• Five folders titled Art Treasures vol 1-5, from the series Reference Documents Received from American and Foreign Sources (Record Group 238)
   

Monuments Men and the Allied Effort to Save European Cultural Heritage at the Eisenhower Library

The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, often referred to as the Monuments Men, was an international group established in 1943 that worked under the Civil Affairs and Military Government Sections to help protect cultural property during and after World War II. Their mission was to identify art, architecture, monuments, and archives that needed to be preserved; work with Allied commanders to limit damage to these cultural resources; work with local officials to stabilize and repair damages to monuments and architecture; identify and locate art, archives, and other cultural resources that had been removed by German forces; gather recovered works into staging areas for identification and preservation; and return the works to legitimate owners.

• Cable from General Marshall to General Eisenhower Regarding Protection of Artistic and Historic Monuments in Italy, October 14, 1943 [Eisenhower's Pre-Presidential Papers, Principal File, Box 132, Cables Official (GCM/DDE) July 29, 1943 - February 19, 1944 (3); National Archives Identifier (NAID) 7585075]

• Memorandum from John J. McCloy to General Eisenhower, December 13, 1943 [Eisenhower's Pre-Presidential Papers, Principal File, Box 75, McCloy John J. (3); NAID 7584064]

• The Ancient Monuments of Italy, Part I, March 19, 1944 (section 1 of 2) [Lauris Norstad Papers, Box 14, The Ancient Monuments of Italy Part I (1); NAID 7585003]

• The Ancient Monuments of Italy, Part I, March 19, 1944 (section 2 of 2) [Lauris Norstad Papers, Box 14, The Ancient Monuments of Italy Part I (2); NAID 7585004]

• The Ancient Monuments of Italy, Part II, March 19, 1944 [Lauris Norstad Papers, Box 14, The Ancient Monuments of Italy Part II; NAID 16911769]

• Memorandum from General Dwight D. Eisenhower Regarding Preservation of Historical Monuments in Europe, May 26, 1944 [Eisenhower's Pre-Presidential Papers, Principal File, Box 13, Bradley Omar N. (6); NAID 7505528]

• Annex XX (Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives) to Basic Preliminary Plan, Allied Control and Occupation of Germany (Control Council Period), February - April 1945 [Eisenhower Library Collection of 20th Century Military Records, Series II, Box 20; NAID 7585009]

• Cable from General Marshall to General Eisenhower, April 10, 1945 [Walter Bedell Smith Collection of WWII Documents, Box 28, Eyes Only Cables 1945 (incoming) (3); NAID 7585000]

• Cable from General Eisenhower to General Marshall, April 11, 1945 [Walter Bedell Smith Collection of WWII Documents, Box 28, Eyes Only Cables 1945 (outgoing) (4); NAID 7585002]

• Monthly Report of Military Governor, U.S. Zone, 20 September 1945, No. 2: Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives, September 20, 1945 [Eisenhower's Pre-Presidential Papers, Principal File, Box 150, Military Government of Germany: Monthly Report of the Military Governor, U.S. Zone (2); NAID 7583533]

• Monthly Report of Military Governor, U.S. Zone, 20 October 1945, No. 3: Reparations and Restitutions, October 20, 1945 [Eisenhower's Pre-Presidential Papers, Principal File, Box 150, Military Government of Germany: Monthly Report of the Military Governor, U.S. Zone (4); NAID 7583534]

• Notes for Use at Luncheon Given at Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 2, 1946 [Eisenhower's Pre-Presidential Papers, Principal File, Box 192, Speeches November 1945 - April 1946 (1); NAID 7583544]

• Arts, Monuments and Archives: A Provisional Technical Manual for Civil Affairs/Military Government, April 1951 [This guide draws heavily on the wartime experiences of the Monuments Men] [Eisenhower Library Collection of 20th Century Military Records, Series III, Box 5; NAID 7585010]