Rose Valland (Inspiration for Claire Simone)
Rose Antonia Maria Valland (1 November 1898 – 18 September 1980) was a French art historian, a member of the French Resistance, a captain in the French military, and one of the most decorated women in French history. She secretly recorded details of the Nazi plundering of National French and private Jewish-owned art from France.[1]
World War II
In 1941, she was put in paid service and became the overseer of the Museum at the time of the German occupation of France during World War II. Through the "Special Staff for Pictorial Art" (Sonderstab Bildende Kunst) of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg für die Besetzen Gebiete (The Reich Leader Rosenberg Institute for the Occupied Territories), or ERR, the Germans began the systematic looting of artworks from museums and private art collections throughout France. They used the Jeu de Paume Museum as to their central storage and sorting depot pending distribution to various persons and places in Germany.[1]
While the Nazi plundering was being carried out, Rose Valland began secretly recording as much as possible of the more than 20,000 pieces of art brought to the Jeu de Paume Museum. Valland kept secret from the Germans the fact that she understood German. In fact, she never formally studied this language, but some trips in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s had helped her to get a good grasp of a then widely used scholarly language. For four years she kept track of where and to whom in Germany the artworks were shipped and risked her life to provide information to the French Resistance[2] and about railroad shipments of art so that they would not mistakenly blow up the trains loaded with France's priceless treasures. The museum was visited by high-ranking Nazi officials and Valland was there when Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring came on 3 May 1941 to personally select some of the stolen paintings for his own private collection.[1]
A few weeks before the Liberation of Paris, on 1 August 1944, Valland learned that the Germans were planning to ship out a last five boxcars full of art, including many of the modern paintings which they had hitherto neglected. She notified her contacts in the Resistance, who prevented the train from leaving Paris. The train was subsequently liberated by the French Army.[1]
(From Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Valland)
World War II
In 1941, she was put in paid service and became the overseer of the Museum at the time of the German occupation of France during World War II. Through the "Special Staff for Pictorial Art" (Sonderstab Bildende Kunst) of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg für die Besetzen Gebiete (The Reich Leader Rosenberg Institute for the Occupied Territories), or ERR, the Germans began the systematic looting of artworks from museums and private art collections throughout France. They used the Jeu de Paume Museum as to their central storage and sorting depot pending distribution to various persons and places in Germany.[1]
While the Nazi plundering was being carried out, Rose Valland began secretly recording as much as possible of the more than 20,000 pieces of art brought to the Jeu de Paume Museum. Valland kept secret from the Germans the fact that she understood German. In fact, she never formally studied this language, but some trips in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s had helped her to get a good grasp of a then widely used scholarly language. For four years she kept track of where and to whom in Germany the artworks were shipped and risked her life to provide information to the French Resistance[2] and about railroad shipments of art so that they would not mistakenly blow up the trains loaded with France's priceless treasures. The museum was visited by high-ranking Nazi officials and Valland was there when Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring came on 3 May 1941 to personally select some of the stolen paintings for his own private collection.[1]
A few weeks before the Liberation of Paris, on 1 August 1944, Valland learned that the Germans were planning to ship out a last five boxcars full of art, including many of the modern paintings which they had hitherto neglected. She notified her contacts in the Resistance, who prevented the train from leaving Paris. The train was subsequently liberated by the French Army.[1]
(From Wikipedia:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Valland)
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