Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFA&A)

The “American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas,” known as the Roberts Commission, created the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFA&A) on 23 June 1943. The MFA&A was attached to elements of the U.S. Army; its cultural advisors were given military ranks and incorporated into the occupation administrations established in the U.S. Zones of occupation in Germany and Austria. It was the first time a national army worked to assess and limit damage done to cultural and artistic monuments and property during the conduct of military operations. Towards the end of World War II, the MFA&A discovered the ERR depots, including Neuschwanstein and Altaussee, brimming with Nazi looted cultural property. By July 1945, U.S. forces had established several collecting points, the most important one being in Munich, where cultural experts processed looted cultural property that U.S. forces had recovered.  Edgar Breitenbach was the chief investigator for the MFA&A in Munich as of October 1945. Breitenbach helped recover close to 90 missing Schloss Collection paintings that were processed, inventoried and repatriated to France for restitution to the Schloss family. He noted that it was not until the summer of 1946 that real progress was achieved in recovering paintings from the collection, following the discovery of a painting by van der Helst near the border with Switzerland. When the MCCP closed its doors in 1951, the custodianship of looted property at the MCCP was turned over to the Bavarian State.  Literature: Plunder and Restitution. Findings and Recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States and Staff Report. December 2000. [about:blank https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/pcha/PlunderRestitution.html/html/Home_Contents.html]. Flanner, Janet. Men and Monuments. Harper, 1947. Nicholas, Lynn H. [about:blank The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War]. [about:blank Vintage Books], 1995. Edsel, Robert M. [about:blank Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History]. Preface Publishing, 2009. Rothfeld, Anne. “Nazi Looted Art.” The Holocaust Records Preservation Project, Part 2. Prologue Magazine. Summer 2002, Vol. 34, No. 2. [about:blank https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2002/summer/nazi-looted-art-2.html]. Breitenbach, Edgar. “Historical Survey of the Activities of the Intelligence Department, MFA&A Section, OMGB, 1946-1949.” _College Art Journal. _Vol. 9, No. 2 (Winter, 1949-1950), pp. 192-198. [about:blank Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art]. [about:blank https://www.monumentsmenfoundation.org/]. M1949- [about:blank Records of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) Section of the Preparations and Restitution Branch, OMGU.S., 1945-1951]. [about:blank https://www.fold3.com/title/795/omgus-monuments-fine-arts-and-archives].