Hitler's Art Thief: Hildebrand Gurlitt, the Nazis, and the Looting of Europe's Treasures Hardcover – September 22, 2015

Ronald chronicles a forest of behind-the-scenes accounts of the Nazi art looting machine focusing on Hildebrand Gurlitt, one of the major players in that machine. Why Gurlitt? Because his $1 billion plus legacy came to light in a Munich apartment in 2013, because Ronald had possibly found a previously hidden location of unrecovered Gurlitt-looted art in a Swiss bank, and because she wanted to help the reader understand the breadth of how the world help fund the Nazi war machine by buying stolen art so, hopefully, art purchasers will not finance future wars.Ronald has written a book that delves deeply into the people and events that shaped Hildebrand Gurlitt into the master thief/dealer/fencer of looted art that he became. She lays bare Gurlitt’s intricate network of people who helped him steal art, move it across international borders, sell some of it to fund the Nazi war effort, and keep the rest to enrich himself.The first third or so of this book is both a short history about Germany, Hitler, and especially the Gurlitt family during the run up to World War I and World War II. Ronald sets out to give the reader, who she assumes may know how the World Wars started but are unfamiliar with the motivations and interactions of some of the Germans who participated in or influenced the beginning of the wars. This first third of the book also details the struggles of Cornelius Gurlitt, Hildebrand’s father, for professional recognition and the resulting impact on Hildebrand.Some of the less positive reviewers have not had their expectations for this book met. The issues may be in their expectations, not the book. One such reviewer, Drury, claims that “Ms. Ronald, not an art historian, misidentifies Egon Schiele as part of the German Expressionist movement; rather, he was a member of the Austrian Secessionist movement.” I’m not sure we read the same book. On page 30, Ronald writes, “Like the dreary burghers who abhorred change, Hitler ranted to his friend Kubizek that the art and designs, of Klimt, Schiele [emphasis mine], and the other Viennese Secessionists of the Jugendstil, or ‘young style,’ were pornographic and degenerate.” Another negative reviewer wanted a “riveting modern story.” Ronald did not write a fiction book, she wrote about history that is still being played out today.Ronald’s thorough research supports her analysis of what drove Hildebrand Gurlitt to steal and fence art. It may help victims of pervasive Nazi looting and their heirs in their recovery efforts. This is not a book full of myriad stories of loss and still-hopeful recovery of stolen art, dreams, and dignity. Rather, it is a book that exposes the evil that created those stories.

A brilliant review of the multitude of deceptions necessary to hide the enormous thievery of Hildebrand Gurlitt during WW II. All perfectly in sync with the horrific destruction of millions of lives.Ronald quotes Eichmann‎:"A hundred deaths are a catastrophe. The death of million‎s is a statistic".Indeed the millions of works of art are mere statistics until she wrote this remarkable book.Referring to Hildebrand Gurlitt she wrote:"As Hitler's art thief. He stole the lives of his victims, as well as the lives of his wife and children. His crime, like the crimes of thousands of others, went unpunished, as it was judged best that order givers alone should be tried for crimes against humanity. No one was put on trial for art theft in Germany"In his on going effort to prosper he managed to sell these stolen works in France and UK and USA. My guess is that the bulk of his sold "stolen" works hang on the walls of public and private collections around the world.Ronald has been able to trace some of the immensely complex transaction due to now available records. It is not clear that the vast majority of art will ever be restored to the rightful owners or their heirs.These works are now property of the Kunstmuseum in Bern. With Switzerland's dismal record of covering up all illicit transactions in the past, it is yet to be seen what will happen with these more than 1500 works. Stay tuned and of course read this book.

It was such a complicated tale it took much detail to explain it all. The tentacles of the Nazi philiospohy extended all the way to fine art.If you loved the Monuments Men, continue the tale with this book.

A fascinating account of the amassing of fine arts for the well-known "connoisseurs" of the Third Reich, Hitler and Goering. It describes the remarkable attempt by the allies to see that the kidnapped art was restored to its original owners or their heirs. If this is your cup of tea, you will be well rewarded.

Fascinating story of Hildebrand Gurlitt,a now famous art thief, during the Nazi regime. The book patiently takes the reader step by step through the history leading up to Gurlitt's devious deeds. As a historian, Ronald leads the readers through the complicated history, step by step, and this becomes important as a foundation to understand Gurlitt's motivations for his deceptions. The details are superb, and I found myself wanting to know more and more as the book progressed. A must read for anyone wanting the "real" story and "real" facts.

I have really enjoyed reading about the art stolen by the Nazi's during World War II. This book is interesting but hard to follow in places. It doesn't read like a novel and you need to keep a cheat sheet on the people involved. I thought the individual stories of some of the families far more satisfying. "The Hare With The Amber Eyes" is a much better read.

There is too much wading through 50 years of very detailed German history before you get to the good parts about the aquired paintings. Since I already knew this history, I would have preferred a shorter and more specific telling of this true story.

Ha this a very interesting book and the view point of Hitler if you look at it could a change very much with a light view on the people he met. He would been a good artist if he kept o that path. Very indepth and recommended reading who like this subkject.

Ms Ronald's book sets the scene for the Hildebrand Gurlitt story by documenting at length the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party. Heard it all before? Of course. But you can't tell this story too often, witness the recurrence now in 2018n of anti-semitism in the UK, this time at the top of the Labour party.The thorough plundering of fine art collections to finance the war and for personal profit may be an old story but it came as news to this reviewer. Ms Ronald has marshalled a huge amount of research and tells the story energetically with an infectious passion.The Monuments Men should be as filmable as the FBI's Untouchables. In another age, there might be a superhero, Monumentman or Monumentwoman. But it isn't. Filmable. Because in real life the scales of justice are still unbalanced. The stolen property has not been restored. The victims have (largely) died uncompensated, the thieves have won, the guilt has not been acknowledged, the crimes have not been pursued and the wrongs have not been righted.There may be a lesson there. Perhaps that's a weakness in law-based property-respecting democracies that can't descend into the totalitarian cesspit. You can't make a film of that. Can you?

Ok for light reading but does not offer any further discourse to the subject apart from speculation.

I'm very happy for to Discover this amazing writer. Greetings from Brazil. I Hope That we have this book translated to portuguese language.