Wiesbaden manifesto

The Wiesbaden Manifesto was a declaration that American art protection officers wrote on November 7, 1945 to protest after the end of World War II against the shipment of art treasures from German museums in the United States.

History

Occasion of the Wiesbaden Manifesto was the November 6, 1945 Walter Farmer, the director of central collection point (Central Collection Point ) for works of art in Wiesbaden, by telegram handed down command, a transport of 200 paintings from the Berlin Gemäldegalerie and two paintings from the National Gallery Berlin to prepare in the United States. Among the selected quality paintings were among others, works by Titian, Sandro Botticelli, Rembrandt van Rijn, Peter Paul Rubens and Lucas Cranach. Walter Farmer initiated then a meeting of the Europe based American art protection officers, 32 of them to attend the meeting, while three could not be reached in time. All officers present signed a statement in which they expressed their rejection of the project expressed. One of the central tenets of this protest was:

"We wish to state that, from our own knowledge, no historical grievance will rankle so long or be the cause of so much justified bitterness as the removal for any reason of a part of the heritage of any nation even if did heritage 'may be interpreted as a prize of war. "

"We would like to point out that to our knowledge no historical offense is so durable and so much justified bitterness causes, such as the removal of whatever reasons was a part of the cultural heritage of a nation, even if this heritage could be regarded as spoils of war. "

Through the Declaration was the removal of the art, with the assurance in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC was founded, can not be prevented. However, the publication of the declaration in American newspapers, including the New York Times, in January and February 1946 led to controversial discussions in the U.S. and protests from employees of American museums when then-President Harry S. Truman. The paintings were eventually returned to Germany after an exhibition in 13 U.S. cities in April 1949.

Walter Farmer received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his work in 1996.