The Wiesbaden Manifesto – A Symbol for Protecting Cultural Heritage

What The Monuments Men Doesn’t Tell You

In The Monuments Men, George Clooney presents the story of American art protection officers who, while the war was still raging, followed in the wake of advancing troops across Europe. Initially focused on safeguarding monuments and architecture, they soon began searching for movable works of art hidden in repositories such as mines and bunkers—primarily artworks looted by the Nazis.

The film concludes with the discovery of such repositories, including Neuschwanstein and Altaussee. Yet in reality, this is where the story of the Monuments Men truly begins.

Other art protection officers arrived in Europe to collect, inventory, and restitute these recovered works to their rightful owners. This chapter remains largely untold by Clooney. Until recently, little attention had been paid to the existence of a Central Collecting Point in the small town of Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt. It was there that a crucial decision was made: German artworks would not be removed to the United States as war booty, but would remain in Germany—forming the foundation of today’s museum landscape.

Those German Paintings

The end of World War II marked a profound turning point for the visual arts. The much-discussed “zero hour” required a complete reconstruction of Germany’s museum infrastructure. Many buildings had been damaged or destroyed, staff associated with the Nazi regime had to be replaced, and collections needed to be restructured.

To address this, the American forces established a special unit of art protection officers—today known as the Monuments Men. One of their key operational centers after the war was located within the walls of the Museum Wiesbaden. Beginning in the summer of 1945, the Collecting Point received artworks largely originating from Berlin museums: the National Gallery, the Art Library, the Graphic Collection, the Egyptian Department, and others.

The first director of the Wiesbaden Central Collecting Point, Walter Farmer, had already taken significant steps to prepare the museum building for its new role. He arranged for glass to replace shattered windows, oversaw repairs to the damaged roof, and secured the building with barbed wire and guards to protect the incoming artworks.

He wrote to his wife Jocelyn:

“We are building a new world and want what is good to carry over from the old. (…) Nothing can stop my work. I am constantly on my feet, and yet it seems to me as if it progresses at a snail’s pace.”

Then came an unexpected development—one that ran counter to everything Farmer believed about the protection of cultural property. He received orders to remove 200 artworks to the United States.

Farmer was astonished. He had worked tirelessly, under difficult post-war conditions, to ensure that the artworks in Wiesbaden were safely housed. What was the rationale behind this order? Did the Americans intend to take German art as reparations? Were these 200 works merely the beginning of a much larger transfer?

“We Are No Better Than the Nazis!”

What Farmer did not know was that this action had long been debated in the United States.

As early as March 1945, Lucius D. Clay, then Deputy Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, had proposed bringing German art to the United States—without a clear understanding of the scale involved or the condition of German museums.

By July, with the Wiesbaden Collecting Point already in operation, the U.S. introduced a classification system for artworks:

• Class A: Artworks stolen by the Germans from public and private collections in occupied territories, without compensation

• Class B: Similar to Class A, but with some form of compensation

  → Both categories were designated for restitution and were not available for removal

• Class C: Artworks considered legitimate German property

  → These were deemed eligible for reparations to the Allies

In September, a press release was drafted announcing the planned transfer of artworks to the United States for safekeeping, citing inadequate storage conditions in Germany.

In November 1945, Colonel McBride was sent to Germany to assess conditions at the Wiesbaden Collecting Point. Following a highly critical report, General Clay ordered the removal of 200 artworks. Farmer received the directive via telegram dated November 6: he was to select 200 paintings and send them to the United States, where they would be held until conditions in Germany improved.

Farmer could not accept this decision. It fundamentally contradicted his understanding of cultural heritage protection. Art, he believed, must remain in its cultural context. He feared that both Germans and Allies would view the removal as an act of looting—no different from the actions they had condemned in the Nazis.

Farmer later wrote:

“We are no better and no worse than the Germans. The fact is that we have learned a lot from them—… dishonor.”

He was also deeply concerned about the impact on his team and the trust they had built.

The Wiesbaden Manifesto

In response, Farmer convened fellow Monuments Men stationed across Europe in Wiesbaden. Together, they drafted a statement that included the following words:

“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 that heritage may be interpreted as a prize of war.”

This document became known as the Wiesbaden Manifesto. On November 7, 1945, it was signed by 24 of the 32 art protection officers stationed north of the Alps.

The manifesto was addressed to their superiors—an act of insubordination, given their position within the military. Edith Standen, who worked with Farmer in Wiesbaden, forwarded the document to headquarters in Frankfurt. However, it had no immediate effect. Their superior, Bancel LaFarge, was aware of the potential consequences and chose not to escalate the matter further, especially as some officers were close to being discharged from military service.

The transport could not be prevented. On November 20, 1945, 202 artworks were selected—masterpieces by artists such as Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Titian, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein the Younger, Raphael, Andrea Mantegna, Édouard Manet, Rogier van der Weyden, and Johannes Vermeer. They arrived in Washington in December 1945 and were stored in the vaults of the National Gallery of Art.

An Exhibition Tour in the United States

At first glance, the manifesto seemed ineffective. Yet its impact unfolded indirectly.

In November 1945, American journalist Janet Flanner visited the Collecting Point and published the manifesto in The New Yorker. Shortly thereafter, Monuments Man Charles Kuhn published an article titled A Protest in the College Art Journal, followed by coverage in The New York Times in February 1946.

Public pressure began to mount. Ninety-five American art experts signed a resolution addressed to the U.S. President, demanding the return of the artworks and calling for an end to further transfers. The initiative was led by Juliana Force, director of the Whitney Museum, and Frederick Mortimer Clapp, director of the Frick Collection.

Faced with growing criticism, the U.S. government ultimately agreed to return the artworks—though not immediately.

On February 6, 1948, General Clay declared that conditions in German Collecting Points had improved sufficiently to allow their return. Before that, however, the artworks—kept in storage—were exhibited to the American public. From March 17 to April 25, 1948, they were shown at the National Gallery in Washington, attracting 964,970 visitors.

Following the exhibition, the Senate decided that 50 of the most valuable works should be returned directly to Germany, where they arrived in May 1948. The remaining paintings were sent on a traveling exhibition across 13 locations in the United States. After five venues, another 50 works were returned in September 1948. The rest continued to cities such as Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh before finally returning to Germany in April 1949. The Berlin collections were reunited.

What Remains

The Wiesbaden Manifesto helped prevent further transfers of German artworks to the United States—and ensured the eventual return of those already removed.

Most of the works stored in Wiesbaden found their way back into German museums, forming the core of today’s collections.

That, however, is the part of the story George Clooney does not tell.