Similar to Nazi Germany, Russia Looting and Erasing Ukrainian Art En Masse
As Russian tanks rumbled across the border into Ukraine several months ago, there were some among us catching clippers of patterns of the wars that came before. Glimpses of Hitler and Goebbels danced in the shadows, as the Kremlin began suggesting that some of these lands really ought to belong to Russia again.
And then came the filtration camps and the genocide, admitted to by captured Russian troops.
Now, in yet another vision of the vile past, Russian troops are looting and erasing Ukraine’s history and culture.
The looting of art at times of war dates back millennia, with the Greeks and Romans among the worst perpetrators. Museums and private collections around the world are filled with looted art that changed hands during conflicts. During World War II, a secret Allied army known as the “Monuments Men” worked to protect European treasures from being pilfered by invading armies—with mixed success. Hitler’s stolen treasures are still being discovered across Germany. Millions of stolen pieces may never be found.
So far there are no specially trained armies in Ukraine to protect treasures from the precision Russian art thieves working under the cover of war to empty museums and destroy important pieces of Ukraine’s cultural heritage. There are just brave museum curators in regions where the Russians have seized control doing everything they can to hide and fortify their art and antiquities, using supplies smuggled in from the West to help them crate up paintings and sandbag statues.
Worse still…
Since Russia began its invasion in February, 250 cultural institutions have been targeted by Russian munitions. Thousands of important museums pieces have been destroyed during the bombing of Mariupol and elsewhere. In Melitopol, Scythian gold artifacts worth millions that date back to the fourth century B.C. were stolen from crates the museum had hidden them in.
This crime against history is an abhorrent one, and Russia’s culpability will not soon fade from the global memory.