National Museum Recuperation (MNR or Musées nationaux récupération) is the French state organization that manages the looted artworks recovered from Nazi Germany and returned to France after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Of 61,000 looted artworks returned to France, 2143 remain in custody of the MNR.

History

After the defeat of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, 61,000 plundered artworks recovered by the Allied

Monuments Men A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

in Germany were returned to France which was responsible for restituting them to their original owners. 45,000 artworks were returned to their owners, while others were entrusted to the custody of the national museums. These artworks constitute what are called MNRs for Musées Nationaux Récuperation, ("National Museums Recuperation"). The acronym MNR refers to all these works, around 2000, but also constitutes the prefix of the inventory numbers of the only old paintings entrusted to the Department of Paintings of the Louvre (about half of all the works). Jewish art collectors in all countries occupied by Nazi Germany were targeted for looting. In France, Jews were plundered by the Nazi looting organisations known as the E.R.R. (

Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg The Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce (german: Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg or ''ERR'') was a Nazi Party organization dedicated to appropriating cultural property during the Second World War. It was led by the chief ideologue of the Nazi Par ...

) and M-Aktion, and well as by the French occupation authorities. Artworks in the MNR are supposed to be researched and returned their legitimate owners if they can be located. The 2131 MNR artworks, are kept at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, the

Orsay Museum Orsay () is a commune in the Essonne department in Île-de-France in northern France. It is located in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France, from the centre of Paris. A fortified location of the Chevreuse valley since the 8th century ...

, the National

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

and in other museums throughout France. France has published an online database of MNR artworks at the Site Rose-Valland Musées Nationaux Récupération

Seizures

From the beginning of the occupation, the German embassy in Paris, and its representative,

Otto Abetz Heinrich Otto Abetz (26 March 1903 – 5 May 1958) was the German ambassador to Vichy France during the Second World War and a convicted war criminal. In July 1949 he was sentenced to twenty years' hard labour by a Paris military tribunal, he was ...

, under the pretext of "securing" art, organized major seizures of art collection. In September 1940, the responsibility for plundering artworks of Jewish art collectors shifted to the nazi looting organisation known as the

or Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce or (ERR). In France, looted art was inventoried initially at the Louvre, then at the Jeu de Paume which was made available to the ERR in November 1940. Nazi war criminal

Hermann Goering Hermann or Herrmann may refer to: * Hermann (name), list of people with this name * Arminius, chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci tribe in the 1st century, known as Hermann in the German language * Éditions Hermann, French publisher * Hermann, Mis ...

visited frequently to select artworks for his own personal collection. After cataloguing, the confiscated objects left for the Louvre where they were crated before being shipped. Between April 1941 and July 1944, the ERR sent 138 wagons to Germany containing 4,174 cases, or about 22,000 lots.

Inventories: MNR, OAR, REC

The decree of September 30, 1949 which puts an end to the ''Commission de récupération artistique'' (CRA) obliges the administration of museums to create a specific inventory on which will be registered the works selected by the selection commissions, then entrusted by the OBIP to the custody of the museums. The museums decide to inventory them under the acronym R of "recovery". Les sigles des objets au Louvre sont : * ER : Antiquités égyptiennes Récupération * AGRR : Antiquités gréco-romaines Récupération * AOR : Antiquités orientales Récupération * REC : Récupération Arts graphiques anciens * OAR : Objets d'art anciens Récupération * MNR : Peintures anciennes et XIXe siècle Récupération * RFR : Sculptures Récupération Les sigles au Musée national d'art moderne sont : * R n° P* : Récupération Peintures modernes * R n° OA* : Récupération Objets d'art modernes * R n° D* : Récupération Dessins modernes * R n° S* : Récupération Sculptures modernes In 2017, the Louvre museum dedicated two new rooms to present 31 paintings from artistic recovery (MNR) in addition to the 76 paintings presented in the permanent museum tour, accompanied by a specific mention indicating their origin. File:Pietro_longhi%2C_la_presentazione%2C_1740_ca._01.JPG,

Pietro Longhi Pietro Longhi (1702 or November 5, 1701 – May 8, 1785) was a Venetian painter of contemporary genre scenes of life. Biography Pietro Longhi was born in Venice in the parish of Saint Maria, first child of the silversmith Alessandro Falca and ...

, ''Présentation'', Louvre MNR 562 File:Andrea solario, annunciazione, 1506.JPG,

Andrea Solario Andrea Solari (also Solario) (1460–1524) was an Italian Renaissance painter of the Milanese school. He was initially named ''Andre del Gobbo'', but more confusingly as ''Andrea del Bartolo'' a name shared with two other Italian painters, ...

, ''Annonciation'', Louvre MNR 256 File:Dalila coupant les cheveux de Samson MNR362-Moulins.jpg, ''Dalila coupant les cheveux de Samson'', Musée Anne-de-Beaujeu MNR 362 File:Charles Meynier - Statues of Diana the Huntress in a landscape.jpg, Dianne chasseresse,

Musée de la Révolution française The Musée de la Révolution française (Museum of the French Revolution) is a departments of France, departmental museum in the French town of Vizille, south of Grenoble on the Route Napoléon. It is the only museum in the world dedicated to the ...

MNR 603 .

Criticisms

Until the recent creation of public databases, the MNR, along with other institutions formally responsible for restituting looted artworks, were the object of criticisms for opacity and inefficiency.

Recent restitutions

A few examples of restitutions include: * The Louvre to the heirs of Richard Neumann * The Louvre to the heirs of Armand Dorville * Lucy Jonquet * The

and

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

to the heirs of Marguerite Stern * 17th century Italian portrait of a woman "Simon Vouet" to the heirs of Gabrielle Philippson

Bibliography

Books

* * . * . * . * . * . * .

For children

* . * .

Films

* John Frankenheimer, ''Le Train'', 1964 * George Clooney, ''

'', 2014

Notes and references

{{Reflist

External links

France Archives: Services français de récupération artistique (209SUP)

Database Récupération artistique (MNR Rose-Valland) (2131 artworks)

MNR : Musée Nationaux Récupération
*
Guide des recherches dans les archives des spoliations et des restitutions
', Caroline PIKETTY, Christophe DUBOIS et Fabrice LAUNAY

Organizations based in France Nazi-looted art Art collections