Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis (43 page)

119
“clandestine origin”
Salvatore Scarpitta Papers, Private Collection.

119
One attack in late March
Michael Salter,
Nazi War Crimes: US Intelligence and Selective Prosecution at Nuremberg
(New York: Routledge-Cavendish, 2007), 55.

119
Acting on Hitler’s orders
Hastings,
Inferno
, 445.

120
Wolff learned from his assistant
Eugen Dollmann,
The Interpreter: Memoirs of Doktor Eugen Dollmann
, trans. J. Maxwell Brownjohn (London: Hutchinson & Co., 1967), 301.

120
only meeting between
Wolff,
Mit Missen Hitlers
, 46.

120
as long as Wolff held his position
Wolff, Wolff Affidavit.

120
Father Pankratius Pfeiffer
“Wolff’s statement, 1972,” in Giorgio Angelozzi Gariboldi,
Pio XII, Hitler e Mussolini: il Vaticano fra le dittature
(Milan: Mursia, 1995), 252. This deposition was provided in conjunction with a defamation lawsuit brought by a relative of Pope Pius XII against historian Robert Katz. Dollmann suggests the request for the prisoner release took place after Wolff’s meeting ended, an “epilogue” per
The Interpreter
, 302. Jochen von Lang writes that Dollmann was used as the “go-between” for the request.
Top Nazi: SS General Karl Wolff, the Man Between Hitler and Himmler
(New York: Enigma Books, 2005), 248.

120
“expressed my firm belief” . . . “for the objective just expressed”
Gariboldi,
Pio XII, Hitler e Mussolini: il Vaticano fra le dittature
, 252–53.

121
“the Axis propagandist[s] [who] are trying”
“Casablanca Conference, February 12, 1943,” The Avalon Project Database, Yale University Law Library, http://www.avalon.law.yale.edu, accessed August 6, 2012.

121
“an obstacle on the path to peace”
Wolff,
Mit Wissen Hitlers,
48.

121
This extraordinary meeting
Lang,
Der Adjutant
, 233. No photographs or transcripts of their conversation are known to exist.

121
“instinctively raised my arm”
Gariboldi,
Pio XII, Hitler e Mussolini: Il Vaticano fra le dittature
, 253. Antonio Spinosa,
Pio XII, un Papa nelle tenebre
(Milan: Oscar Mondadori, 2004), 262–63, says that Wolff raised his arm at the beginning of the meeting, not at the end. He also notes that the conversation was carried out in German.

121
“For years I had lost the habit”
Gariboldi,
Pio XII, Hitler e Mussolini: Il Vaticano fra le dittature
, 253.

Chapter 12: Life on the Road

123
“a fairyland of silver and gold”
Atkinson,
The Day of Battle,
446.

123
In a city where those
Ibid., 449.

123
more than ten percent
Ibid.

123
“My patience has been”
Letter to Parents, 6 April 1944, Keller Papers, Box 5, Folder 25.

124
“Two of my British Capt. companions”
Letter to Kathy, 6 April 1944, Keller Papers, Box 7, Folder 46.

124
“If I have to pass”
Letter to Parents, 6 April 1944, Keller Papers, Box 5, Folder 25.

124
On May 18, Allied Forces
Hapgood and Richardson,
Monte Cassino
, 247.

124
remaining defenders
Atkinson,
The Day of Battle
, 532.

124
When the cost of “victory” was calculated
Tom Gibbs (Historian, The National World War II Museum), in discussion with the author, June 18, 2012.

124
Monuments officer Norman Newton
Norman Newton, “Inspection of Abbey of Montecassino,” 19 May 1944, NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/45.

124“
mostly leveled to ground floor”. . . . “Reconstruction of entire Abbey”
Norman Newton, “Montecassino Abbey,” 18 May 1944, NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/45.

124
who originally fought . . . “the situation of the Allied troops”
Ward-Perkins letter to Richardson, 16 September 1977, British School at Rome. Box B, Folder 1.

125
Fifth Army included soldiers
Hapgood and Richardson,
Monte Cassino
, 26.

125
“I haven’t worn my ribbon”
Letter to Kathy, 18 March 1944, Keller Papers, Box 7, Folder 45.

125
he had bought it on the streets of Naples
Keller, Handwritten account, Keller Papers, Box 22, Folder 39, 4.

126
“Kiss Mommie for me.”
V-mail to Dino, 29 May 1944, Keller Papers, Box 6, Folder 33.

127
“I have been as happy”
Letter to Kathy, 2 June 1944, Keller Papers, Box 7, Folder 47.

127
“mousy Venus Fixers”
Gerald K. Haines, “Who Gives a Damn about Medieval Walls?”
Prologue
8, no. 2 (1976), 101.

127
“ ‘scholarly mouse’ type”
Coles and Weinberg,
Civil Affairs
, 422.

127
Keller had departed Naples . . . “a tent city in olive groves”
“AMG Fifth Army,” Keller Papers, Box 20, Folder 16, 3.

127
“sounded more like a noise than a name”
“The Autobiography of a ‘Jeep’ ” United Films, 1943, http://archive.org/details/autobiography_of_a_jeep (accessed December 14, 2012).

127
“Good Lord, I don’t think”
Ernie Pyle,
Washington Daily News
, June 4, 1943.

128
ambush-and-retreat strategy
Atkinson,
The Day of Battle
, 534.

128
“beauty and desolation”
Letter to Kathy, 5 June 1944, Keller Papers, Box 7, Folder 47.

128
“The road was bumpy and dusty”
Handwritten account, 25 August 1945, Keller Papers, Box 22, Folder 39.

128
At the side of the main road
“Sectional History—Fine Arts,” Keller Papers, Box 23, Folder 56, 3.

129
“A middle-class Italian told me”
Keller, “American Impressions of Italians and Italian Customs,” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/1.

129
He lugged pipe
“Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 8.

129
“When I see a little boy”
Letter to Kathy, 5 May 1944, Keller Papers, Box 7, Folder 47.

130
“have but one aim”
“Selvagge distruzioni dell’aviazione nemica nella città di Firenze,”
Nuovo Giornale
, March 25–26, 1943.

131
impiegatucci
Keller, “American Impressions of Italians and Italian Customs,” NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/1.

131
fare una bella figura
Ibid.

131
“Maybe I am getting”
Letter to Kathy, 14 June 1944, Keller Papers, Box 7, Folder 47.

131
The town of Itri
“Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 12.

131
“Chi entra dopo di noi non troverà nulla”
“Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 14.

131
Temple of Jove Uxor
“Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 13.

132
“doing it by the numbers”
Interview with William Keller, 2005, courtesy of Actual Films.

132
He thought about Valmontone
“Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 18.

132
first dead American infantryman
Deane Keller, “Letter to the Editor,” April 1, 1948,
The Hamden Chronicle
, Keller Papers, Box 2, Folder 18.

132
“the life of one American boy”
Letter to Kathy, 25 June 1944, Keller Papers, Box 7, Folder 47.

132
“an admirable example of French Gothic”
Salvatore Scarpitta Papers, Private Collection.

133
“a very capable fellow”
“Sectional History—Fine Arts,” Keller Papers, Box 23, Folder 56, 5.

Chapter 13: Treasure Hunt

135
He first submitted recommendations
Ernest F. Fisher Jr.,
United States Army in World War II: The Mediterranean Theater Operations: Cassino to the Alps
(Washington, DC: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1977), 203.

135
“considerable historical and artistic merit”
Percy Ernst Schramm, ed.,
Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommando der Wehrmacht
(Wehrmachtführungsstab),
Band IV: 1. Januar 1944–22. Mai 1945, Erster Halbband
(Frankfurt am Main: Bernard & Graefe Verlag für Wehrwesen, 1961), 514.

135
On June 3 . . . “Führer decision”
D’Este,
Fatal Decision
, 391.

135
“continued imagining the possibility”
Bandinelli,
Dal Diario di un borghese e altri scritti,
183.

135
disastrous propaganda
Atkinson,
The Day of Battle,
568.

136
“the first army in fifteen centuries”
Ibid., 549.

136
Among them was
“Report for June 1944,” July 9, 1944, NARA, RG 239, M1944, Roll 63.

136
career as a singer
Richard Krautheimer and Kurt Weitzmann, “Memoirs of Fellows and Corresponding Fellows of the Mediaeval Academy of America: Ernest DeWald,”
Speculum
, vol. 44, no. 3 (July 1969), 526–27.

136
“walking stick in hand”
Markowski, interview with the author, 2010.

136
“the first officer”
Hammond, “Copy of Report of Professor Mason Hammond on his Work in Italy,” NARA, RG 239, M1944, Roll 22, Frames 88–115, 26.

136
Colleagues found him charming
Bryan Ward-Perkins (son of John Bryan Ward-Perkins), in discussion with the author, 2012.

136
Ward-Perkins and Lieutenant Colonel Sir Mortimer Wheeler
Report of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas
, 47.

137
DeWald arranged for three Monuments officers
Eighth Monthly Report, for June 1944, July 9, 1944, NARA, RG 239, M1944, Roll 63, AMG-23.

137
“Despite widespread damage” . . . “no further damage”
Hartt, “Damage to Cultural Monuments in Rome.”

137
After receiving his undergraduate
Walter Gleason (close friend of Perry Cott), interview with the author, May 9, 2010.

137
Cott had orders to verify
Eighth Monthly Report, for June 1944.

138
He spent his first night
Walter Gleason, interview with the author, May 9, 2010.

138
De Rinaldis informed Cott
Perry Cott, “Report on activity for first two days of occupation,” 11 June 1944, NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/48.

138
With the temporary addition of
“MFAA Inventory No. 31: Art Objects from Carpegna, Sassocorvaro, Urbino actually in the Vatican,” John Bryan Ward-Perkins Papers, British School at Rome, Inventories of Art Deposits.

138
Joining its remarkable collection. . . . Never before or again
Giovanni Morello, “Il ruolo della Santa Sede nell’azione di salvaguardia del patrimonio culturale e artistico italiano durante la Seconda guerra mondiale”
Quaderni della Fondazione Bellonci
, November 4, 2006, 13.

139
DeWald’s subsequent audiences
H. C. Newton, “Report on Status of Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations,” 20 August 1944, NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/203, 17.

139
first of six separate inspections
Ernest DeWald, “Works of Art Formerly Stored at Montecassino and Later Transferred to the Vatican,” 20 July 1944, NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/400.

139
when trucks of the Hermann Göring Division
Lavagnino, “Diario di un salvataggio artistico,” 518–19.

139
although a German officer
DeWald, “Works of Art Formerly Stored at Montecassino and Later Transferred to the Vatican,” 20 July 1944, NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/400, 2.

139
“delayed” . . .
“almost all the boxes”
Lavagnino, “Diario di un salvataggio artistico,” 522.

139
The sudden news of the Allied landings
Ibid., 523.

139
Crate no. 1. . . . Case No. 3: “completely missing”. . . . “The evidence therefore”
DeWald, “Works of Art Formerly Stored at Montecassino and Later Transferred to the Vatican,” 20 July 1944, NARA, RG 331, 10000/145/400, 2.

140
were likely in Germany
Report of the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas
, 75.

Chapter 14: Surprises

141
officials in Rome had lists
Hartt,
Florentine Art Under Fire
, 16.

141
“In smaller towns”
“Will Lang Cable #358 for LIFE, War & Art in Italy,” 7 July 1944, NARA, RG 239, M1944, Roll 40, 7.

142
“I am getting more careful”
Letter to Kathy, 7 July 1944, Keller Papers, Box 7, Folder 48.

142
“I shook my pants”
Letter to Kathy, 8 July 1944, Keller Papers, Box 7, Folder 48.

142
He made arrangements
Letter to Kathy, 16 July 1944, Keller Papers, Box 7, Folder 48.

142
In the early morning hours. . . . “artistically bypassed”
“Fine Arts Section,” Keller Papers, Box 19, Folder 10, 27.

142
“open city”
Kesselring,
The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Kesselring
(London: Greenhill Books, 2007), 309. The OKW Diary,
Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommando der Wehrmacht,
p. 529, also notes that on July 2, “the enemy had gotten close to the city border in the southwest and southeast of Siena. In order to preserve (spare) the city and its art treasures the order was given to evacuate it during the night.”