Beautiful Loot:: The Soviet Plunder of Europe's Art Treasures

Art historians based in Moscow, Akinsha and Kozlov spent eight years working in Russian and German archives, tracking down the fate of a vast hoard of cultural valuables looted from Germany by occupying Soviet forces at the end of WWII. In 1945, special Soviet brigades of museum officials, restorers, art historians and soldiers scoured Berlin, Leipzig and other cities, transporting to Moscow and Leningrad masterpieces by El Greco, Durer, Raphael, Van Gogh, Gaugin and Degas; manuscripts by Goethe, the Trojan gold excavated by Heinrich Schliemann, archival books, silverware, tapestries and procelain. The Soviets, who stole from German museums and private collections, justified their activities as retaliation for their country's devastation and for the extensive looting of Soviet art by the invading Germans. Russia kept the existence of these treasures a secret for decades, and the authors estimate that more than a million looted paintings and objects are still hidden. Their treasure hunt has yielded this incredible saga of plunder, greed, vengeance and Cold War politics. Photos. (Oct.)