ROSE VALLAND und die Liebe zur Kunst

It took decades for Rose Valland (1898-1980) to be recognized and honored as a heroine by her own countrymen. In Germany, she remains largely unknown to this day. Yet, she saved over 60,000 works of art from loss and, in numerous cases, laid the groundwork for restitutions. Her impressive espionage activities read like a crime novel, particularly because one would not expect such daring from a PhD art historian with glasses and a modest appearance. Starting in 1940, Rose Valland, as a curator at the Musée Jeu du Paume, witnessed the transformation of the museum into a temporary storage facility for artworks, primarily from looted Jewish property. The goal of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) was to transfer these works into the "Greater German Reich." Art dealers like Bruno Lohse were on-site to make a preliminary selection, especially for Hermann Göring or the planned Führermuseum in Linz. Göring even traveled to Paris himself to secure the most valuable paintings; Rose Valland was present during these events. During the Nazi plundering, she began secretly registering works that passed through the Musée du Jeu de Paume. For four years, she kept track of these movements, meticulously documenting which collections the works came from, where they were transported, and for whom they were intended. She even used discarded notes from the museum's trash bins and eavesdropped on conversations among Nazi officials. She was able to do this because she spoke German, a fact she kept secret. The information she gathered, along with transport routes and final destinations, was passed on to the Résistance, which carried out acts of sabotage on railway lines, thereby preventing transport in some cases. She risked her life time and again. Even after the war, she worked in all occupation zones in Germany to recover looted art.