1. Missing paintings. A database has been created in an attempt to keep track of masterpieces that were lost or destroyed during World War II. In most cases, the only pictures are black-and-white thumbnails. In a sobering moment, the film floats thousands of these images over a black void.
2. Empty museums. In a (mostly successful) effort to protect the greatest works of art in the world, countries involved in the war shipped their museums’ works to country villas. “The Rape of Europa” has disconcerting images of the moves and the subsequently empty galleries of the Louvre, the Uffizi, and the Hermitage. In one photo, the Louvre's Winged Victory is carefully shuffled down the stairs by staff on tenterhooks. At the Galleria dell’Accademia, the David and surrounding sculptures are encased in pill-shaped brick enclosures. The safeguarding becomes art itself; the protection preventing the viewing of the art.
3. Masterworks out of context. Immediately after the War, the allies began searching for and happening upon missing art. Hitler stored his personal cache of stolen art deep in a salt mine. In the mine, soldiers are seen casually propping up pieces like, say, Vermeer’s “The Astronomer.”
The Battle of Monte Cassino saw the Americans fighting for an Italian hill. During the battle, American bombers destroyed the monastery and its priceless frescoes. A veteran of the engagement questions the need for any hand-wringing about the loss of art. He says (essentially), “If it was necessary to capture that position, who cares about the art?” In cases like this, I can’t disagree.
Since this testimony threatens to nullify the purpose of the film, the filmmakers are brave in including it. Luckily, their immense scope justifies the film’s importance. Because it’s not just art. “The Rape of Europa” details Hitler’s plans for a utopian society, including a grand museum in Linz, Austria. His culture war dictated the destruction or sale of all non-Bavarian art. (This really means any art that didn’t mesh with his pinched, anti-modernist aesthetic.) This aspect of Hitler’s aspirations is small but nonetheless significant.
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