Customer Reviews

Hitler's Museum: The Secret History of Art Theft During World War II

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This production basically takes a look at van Eyck's Ghent Altar which is Belgium's most prized relic. During the Second World War, this piece changed hands numerous times, and was moved from place to place. The story of this art treasure's startling journey is presented in a rather disjointed fashion here. The focus is not merely on Ghent's Altar as underlying it is Hitler's great quest to gather all of Europe's great art in a museum in his hometown of Linz, Austria. It also addresses Stalin's plunder of of German art collections. It is worth a look but there are better books and production on the theme of looted artwork during WW II and their fate:
The Rape of Europa
The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in HistoryRescuing Da Vinci: Hitler and the Nazis Stole Europe's Great Art - America and Her Allies Recovered It
The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War

This is effectively two different shows on one DVD. The second builds on the first, but includes some of the same material already covered in the first, so if you are watching both it is tedious.

The format did not cover the material as coherently as I had hoped for; the presentation jumped around a good bit, so at times the order things happened in wasn't as clear as it could have been.

I was also disappointed in the lack of depth in the material. While it did cover the Ghent Altarpiece, that was not what most of the time was spent on; it was almost a second thought. Overall the lack of cohesion was a serious problem. Sections were quite good, but overall it was most disappointing.

The program lacks any of the required organization that surely most have preoccupied Hitler as to how the stolen property was to be centrally gathered and eventually exhibited.