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WASHINGTON — A new generation of Monuments Men and Women, who restored artifacts stolen by Nazis in World War II, is taking its place in the military as the first class of curators, archaeologists and more was sworn in Friday.
Dallas-based author and philanthropist Robert Edsel, who has been a key force in popularizing the World War II Monuments officers through a book, movie and foundation, tasked the inaugural class in the revived Army Monuments Officer Training program with carrying out vital preservation work in a commencement address.
Born out of a partnership with the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative and the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command, the AMOT program teaches participants how to preserve cultural treasures while serving in the Army Reserve.
“Cultural heritage gives us as human beings, as people with particular nations and communities, a sense of identity. It gives us a sense of our history,” said Richard Kurin, the Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar and Ambassador-at-Large, during his remarks. “It provides the touchstones for learning about the past, and provides knowledge and hopefully some wisdom to live in the present.”
Edsel said the program is “immensely” important. In his keynote address to the class, he said they will likely face greater challenges than the original Monuments officers, but with increasing conflict and climate change-driven natural disasters, there is a great need for people dedicated to cultural preservation.
Earlier on Friday, Edsel assisted in laying a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. He was accompanied by the nephew of one of the two Monuments Men killed in action during World War II, and Col. Scott DeJesse, who is leading the AMOT program.
After the ceremony he said the need for officers focused on cultural preservation could be seen in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, where U.S. forces didn’t protect many cultural treasures.
“I see something like that happen and I wonder how, if we did such a great job during World War II … how could we do such a poor job now,” Edsel said.
Around the time of the invasion Edsel said he had already begun looking into the Monuments Men in World War II. He said he realized many people didn’t know about this history, which pushed him to popularize the stories and work.
Edsel wrote and self-published the book The Monuments Men in 2009.
“Everybody has a connection to this story,” Edsel said of the Monuments Men. “But it needs someone to translate it where they can see that.”
Initially Edsel said he wanted to resurface a modern Monuments Men and Women service, but received varying levels of support from the government, and that slowed the process.
The pivotal moment, he said, was the adaptation of his book into the 2014 Monuments Men movie. One of the film’s stars, George Clooney, pushed to have the movie screened in the White House during the Obama administration. Matt Damon, Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett were among the other actors in the movie.
“That was a critical moment in my view,” Edsel said about the screening. “You’re getting people that are decision makers to at least know who these people were in World War II with the hope that if whenever the next conflict comes, someone says, ‘Hey, well do we have those Monuments Men and Women out there?’ ”
The modern day force features people from Italy, Lebanon, Austria, The Netherlands and Honduras. Edsel said it’s a great start for the program.
While the partnership was finalized in 2019 with the first session scheduled for March 2020, the pandemic delayed it until this past week. Over the course of 10 days the participants learned skills to complete their directive, and to go on and bring lessons on cultural preservation to their own communities.
For Edsel, Friday’s ceremonies were an emotional event he said feels like passing the baton. He said he will advise and guide the program when needed, and will continue the work of the original Monuments officers to recover stolen artifacts in Europe.
“It was that belief at the beginning when no one else really believed about the power of a story to change things,” Edsel said. “And you know, here we are 20 years later.”