All language subtitles for Forbidden History S06E03 The Nazi Quest for Holy Relics 1080p DSCP WEB-DL AAC2 0 H 264-BTN_track3_[en1g]

Narrator:
At the end of world war ii,

Allied soldiers
Uncovered vast hoards

Of stolen goods across europe.

Under hitler's command,

The nazis had systematically
Plundered museums

And private collections
For priceless treasures

And works of art.

*

The scale at which
The nazis looted

And stockpiled the greatest
Masterworks of european art --

It's truly staggering.

There's works by picasso,
Works by klimt,

Works by caravaggio.

There's many works of art
That have simply disappeared.

*

Narrator: while ravaging europe
Of its cultural heritage,

Rumor has it that hitler
Was also on the quest

For an even bigger prize --
Holy relics...

*

Especially the holy grail

And the power that having
These objects would bring.

*

Selwood: so, on the one level,
These objects

Are historical artifacts
Of artistic and cultural merit.

But one can't get away
From the fact that

The occultism of nazism also
Imbued them with special powers.

Charney: he believed that there
Was a coded treasure map

Built into the painting
That would have led

To some of the most
Venerated christian relics.

Janulis: hitler was organizing
A different type of power.

He was organizing the power
Of religious persuasion.

*

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Captions paid for by
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*

Narrator: on january 30, 1933,

Adolf hitler was appointed
The chancellor of germany.

Over the coming months, he grew
In power and became a dictator.

He saw himself
As king of the world.

*

Walters: what nazism
Was trying to achieve

Was basically creating
A political religion,

And that's an incredibly
Powerful thing.

No one has really created
A political religion

Before this point
In quite the same way.

*

Selwood: if you look at nazism,

If you look at all of
Its elements holistically,

You can't but come
To the conclusion

That there's something
Very religious about it.

And by that, I mean
It had beliefs.

It had a central figure.

It had an idea for how
You would reach salvation.

It had a mission. It had dogma.
It had imagery.

You only have to think of
The cathedrals of light

At nuremberg, built by speer,

Of the hypnotic chanting
And marching,

Of the adulation towards
This one christ-like figure,

Which is how hitler monstrously
Liked to present himself.

So it should be seen
As an ideology,

But with absolute cult
Wrapping around it.

*

Mcmahon: what he strove to do

Was to replace
Organized religion in germany

With a new nazi religion --
That jesus would be an aryan,

That instead of the bible,
There would be "Mein kampf,"

And that instead
Of the crucifix,

There would be the swastika.

*

Janulis: this would have been
A horrifying church.

It's a church that believed
In racial purity.

A church that was part
Of a socialist government

That believed that anybody
That wasn't of the purest form

Was not worthy of living
Or would have been subjected

Below the aryans.

Also, they were pulling
And hijacking elements

Of pagan religion,
Occult religion,

And throw in just
The nazi brutality.

Imagine going to that church.

[ singing in german ]

Narrator: german expansion
Throughout europe began in 1938

With the annexation of austria
And then continued

With the occupation
Of czechoslovakia in 1939.

[ engine rumbling ]

At the same time, hitler's
Number two, heinrich himmler,

Was expanding his knowledge
Of the occult.

He was convinced the nazis
Could achieve great victories

By harnessing the powers
Of the relics.

*

Picknett: several of the other
Nazis in the hierarchy

Did lean towards the occult,

But mainly, of course,
It was heinrich himmler,

Head of the ss,
Who had this glorified idea

Of how the chivalric ideal
Of the medieval times

Could somehow be channeled
Through him and his henchmen.

But he was completely bonkers.

Janulis: the nazis were
Systematically looting europe

Of all of the ancient
Holy relics that they could.

But if you think about it
From his perspective,

Churches in europe
At this time period

Had a lot of power

And persuasion
Over the local population

By taking the most
Sacred things,

You're taking the power
And the influence

And essentially
Kind of ripping the heart out.

He wanted the churches
To be dictated by him.

The new religion.
The new empire.

Hitler's empire.
Hitler's religion.

Picknett: hitler had an idea
For after the war.

He was going to have this
Sort of palatial museum,

Which would be the best
And biggest museum in the world

And would have
The best art in it.

So he basically sent his
Storm troopers out

To bring that back to germany.

*

Narrator: noah charney is
An art-crimes investigator

And has been studying
The nazis' obsession

With artworks and relics.

*

Charney: to understand the
Nazi interest in holy relics,

It's important to know
The place of origin of nazism.

And it really grew up
In a socioeconomic world,

In middle-class
Germany and austria,

Where people were focused on
Mysticism and the supernatural.

This belief in the occult

Was really in the cultural
Oxygen of the time,

So it sounds, maybe,
Funny to us today,

But at the time,
It was not very exotic.

And the nazi party actually
Began as an occult fraternity

Before it morphed
Into a political party.

Hitler and himmler
Had this concept

Of creating
A sort of new religion.

And one of the things
That fascinated them

Was the legend of parzival,

Which was a medieval
Christian poem

That had been popularized
In the late 19th century,

And also through wagner's
Interpretation

Of the grail myth.

*

The arma christi,
Or weapons of christ,

Were the implements that were
Used in christ's passion.

We've got the crown of thorns,
The holy nails,

The veronica veil,
And pieces of the true cross.

These objects were venerated
By catholics

But also thought by some
To have supernatural powers.

And certain key nazis,
Himmler and hitler above all,

Really believed that they did.

The holy grail is incredibly
Significant for all sorts

Of reasons for different people.

For devout christians,
It's the cup that caught

The blood of christ
As he hung on the cross

Just after the spear of destiny
Pierced his side.

It is, for other christians,
The vessel that he drank out of

At the last supper.

It is, for people in search
Of global domination,

A vessel that is meant
To provide that power.

Picknett: if anybody wanted
The holy grail,

It was adolf hitler.

It was the thing that was
Going to give them

Absolute invincibility

And great knowledge
And the meaning of life

And everything else
They would want.

It was the holy grail.

*

Narrator: as the story goes,

Hitler thought he could locate
The holy grail

If he could get his hands on
The ghent altarpiece.

Within it, he believed,
Was a secret code

That would lead him
To the relic.

The 12 panels
Of jan van eyck's famous

"Adoration of the mystic lamb"

Is believed to be the most
Influential painting in history

And perhaps the greatest artwork
That the nazis stole.

*

Charney: everything bad
That could possibly happen

To a work of art
Has happened to this one.

It's been stolen at least
Six times, all or in part.

It's been the object of forgery.

It was nearly destroyed.
Parts of it were burned.

It was dismembered, pillaged,
Used for ransom.

The final and most
Dynamic adventure

Of the ghent altarpiece
Led it here to this salt mine

Deep in the austrian alps
That was converted by the nazis

Into this high-tech
Stolen-art warehouse.

*

Narrator: and it's within these
Mines that more clues

To the nazis' secret obsession
With holy relics can be found.

*

*

Narrator: during world war ii,

The nazis systematically
Looted valuable artworks

From across occupied europe.

But was this for monetary gain?

Or did hitler have
A more sinister motive?

*

Bellinger: the reality is there
Are thousands upon thousands

Of masterworks still lost.

Not clear whether the nazis
Hid them so carefully --

We've yet to find them --
Or whether they destroyed them,

If they, perhaps,
Were particularly repugnant

In terms of their
Religious iconography.

*

Narrator: the altaussee
Salt mines in austria

Were one of the many
Underground storage facilities

Used by the nazis.

It's believed that
In this location alone,

Over 7,000 pieces of art
Were hidden.

*

Noah meets with harald pernkopf,

A local expert,
To get a better understanding

Of how the nazis used this
Underground treasure vault.

Pernkopf: so, now we're
Going to walk

About 700 meters
Inside the mine.

That's where the art
Was hidden.

Tell me a little bit
About why this was

Such an ideal atmosphere
To store art.

In here, we have
70% of humidity.

7° of celsius,
And the air is very salty,

So this may make perfect
Conditions, except for iron.

So, iron gets rusty
In here.

But all kind of paintings
Or even paper --

You think 70% or 75% of humidity
Would be too wet,

But the salt
Preserves perfectly.

And I imagine there were
No concerns about bombs

Because we're very well-secured
Inside this mountain.

Yes. We are 700 meters
Inside the mine,

And we have 200 meters
Of solid rock above us.

*

So, about how many pieces
Of art were stored here?

It was 7,000 paintings

But also gold-coin collections,
Weapon collections,

Michelangelo's
"Madonna of bruges."

There were eight different
Rooms -- big rooms,

40,000 square meters
Of storage room.

All were connected
With railroad tracks.

That's why they didn't
Have to carry them far.

It's hard to say
How many things were in here.

And it's more hard to say the
Value of the whole collection.

Sure.

*

Narrator: when the
Monuments men discovered

The altaussee treasure trove
At the end of the war,

The ghent altarpiece was among
The priceless works of art.

Charney: he also wanted it
Because it was considered

The single most important
Painting ever made.

And so it was to be
The centerpiece of his planned

Super museum at linz.

But there are also
Some alternative theories

About why he may have wanted it.

One of them goes
That he believed

That there was
A coded treasure map

Built into the painting
That would have led

To some of the most
Venerated christian relics,

And that he might have wanted
These for both symbolic

And, perhaps,
Supernatural reasons.

Bellinger: the occult was
Incredibly important

To the nazis,

But not for the straightforward
Reasons one might think.

[ marching band music playing ]

Yes, himmler clearly believed
In this mumbo-jumbo,

But the reality is that
The efficacy of it

Was not in performing rituals
That did anything.

It was in cloaking
The entire nazi project

In a certain magical legitimacy

That leaped way back into
The deepest mythical history

That the german people really
Needed to boost their morale

And to feel good
About themselves.

*

Narrator: this was just one
Of many locations

Where the nazis
Hid their stolen loot.

All across europe,
Secret lairs can be found

Where they stashed
Priceless valuables

And, more importantly
To the regime, holy relics.

*

Poland was invaded
By the nazis in 1939,

And it became an important part
Of the reich's strategy

For taking over europe.

*

Like france and italy,
Its artwork and holy relics

Were ruthlessly stolen
By the nazis.

*

Polish journalist and explorer
Joanna lamparska

Has spent several years

Investigating the nazis' theft
Of art and holy treasures.

*

It's generally accepted
That the nazis hid this loot

All over occupied europe.

It was a vast collection
Of material.

*

Lamparska: they moved all very
Valuable items to germany first,

To berlin, to museums,

To private collection
Of himmler, hitler, and so on.

But when allies were
Approaching from the west

And when russian army started
To approach from the east,

They chose a few castles
And palaces,

An abbey in lower silesia,

To collect all these
Church and museum items,

Valuable things, just to
Protect them from other armies.

Narrator: today,
Beneath a church in poland,

Underground tunnels are believed
To still hold powerful relics

Stolen by the nazis
For their own occult use.

*

Narrator: throughout the nazi
Occupation of europe,

It was accepted practice
For soldiers

To ruthlessly steal priceless
Works of art wherever they went.

Of particular importance
Were religious relics

Believed by the german leaders
To possess occult powers.

*

One of the locations that was
Used to store their plunder

Was lubiaz abbey
In southwest poland.

It's a former monastery
And, architecturally,

One of the largest christian
Complexes in the world.

*

Its underground spaces were used
Extensively by the nazis

To build research laboratories
And manufacturing plants.

*

Polish journalist and explorer
Joanna lamparska

Has come to lubiaz

To search its subterranean
Tunnels and chambers

With a team of experienced
Local treasure hunters.

Can they find evidence
Of the priceless holy relics

And other valuables allegedly
Hidden at the site?

Lamparska: they had to find
Hidden places,

And in the end of war,
They brought it here.

Explorers and treasure hunters

Believe that something still may
Be hidden in this abbey.

*

Narrator: among this labyrinth
Of tunnels and passageways,

Secret rooms and spaces

Lay hidden behind brick
And stone walls.

*

The team is using
High-tech methods

To explore these dark voids.

*

Lamparska:
Christoph is using so-called
Inspection endoscope camera

It is a very small camera.

Stick to a wire
Or a cable or a stick,

And you put it into
A very narrow hole

To see what is on
The other side of the wall.

*

In this abbey, the germans
Made a military factory

During the war, and they robbed
The whole monastery,

And they hid all valuables
From this building somewhere.

As far as we know, they were
Buried in a crypt for a moment.

Then they were stolen.

But there was a lot
Of treasure hunters

Who still believe that something
Could be hidden

In the locked chambers
In the cellars of this abbey.

*

Some people are
Looking for gold.

Some people are looking
For works of art.

No one knows
What is hidden here.

*

Narrator: churches under the
Shadow of the nazi regime

Saw their prized relics
And masterpieces spirited away,

But this was more
Than mere robbery.

Hitler and many in his regime

Positively loathed
The christian religion.

[ cheering ]

*

Selwood: the reason why hitler
Had such a loathing

For catholicism was that,
Fundamentally,

The idea behind catholicism
And christianity

Is that everybody
Is equal in god's eyes,

That everybody shares
God's love.

To nazis,
That's absolutely anathema.

For them, there are
Complete hierarchies

Of the order of people.

So they had to exterminate
Those values

That they didn't believe in.

So a war was begun
Against catholicism.

Mcmahon:
The nazis are arresting priests.

They're closing down
Roman catholic organizations.

They're shutting down
Catholic political parties.

And so there's just this
Growing stress and tension

Between catholicism and nazism.

*

Narrator:
Hitler took a very firm line
With the polish people.

He knew they were
All practicing christians,

Regular and faithful
Churchgoers,

But wanted them to follow and
Believe in a new nazi ideology.

*

Lamparska: catholic church was
A very strong link

To polish national history,

And it was very important for
Germans to close the churches,

To destroy them,
To turn them into prison,

Just to humiliate the christian
Community in poland.

*

They took over thousands
Of polish churches.

Many of those priests were sent

To either concentration camps
Or killed.

Most of the relics and artifacts
Were taken and essentially

Just wiped the polish
Church culture from existence.

*

Narrator: one of the most
Bizarre examples

Of nazi cultural vandalism

Can be found here
In saint michael's church,

Located in the town of olesno
In present-day poland.

A member of the local clergy
Leads joanna to the site

Of this extraordinary crime.

*

Lamparska: during world war ii,
Nazis come here

And take down the biggest
And most beautiful bell

Of the saint michael church.

It was taken to germany and was
Lost until the end of the war.

*

Gough: the nazis are estimated
To have seized

Over 175,000 church bells
Across europe.

This is going at the heart
Of the spirituality

Of each individual community
That they were taking over.

*

Selwood: because the nazis
Never wasted anything,

They took the metal
And they melted it down,

And they used it for munitions.

So they've taken these bells
From buildings of peace

And turned them into weapons.

Mcmahon: so terrified were
Priests at the prospect of

Their holy relics,

The chalices and the monstrances
And the bells,

Being stolen by the nazis

That they even put them into
Coffins and staged fake funerals

In order to hide these items
From prying nazi eyes.

[ bell chiming ]

Narrator: fortunately for
The parishioners of olesno,

The mystery of their
Church bells

Had a happy conclusion.

Lamparska: for 60 years,
A christian community in olesno

Was wondering
Where the bell could be.

They heard something
About bell cemetery in hamburg.

They heard that somebody
Recovered the bells

In other cities,

So they decided
To look for information.

And when they were informed
That there was a church

In germany with a bell
From olesno,

They decided to act,

And they recover this
Piece of art.

[ bell chimes ]

Narrator: but not all religious
Objects stolen from churches

Were put to such practical uses.

For the nazis,

Some holy relics served
Much more occult purposes.

*

Narrator: as the nazis stormed
Across europe,

Taking control of country
After country,

Soldiers plundered
The greatest art,

Holy relics, and gold
Wherever they went.

In the end, they amassed
A vast fortune of stolen goods,

Which they hid in salt mines
Across germany and austria.

The nazis' grand plan
Was to capture

And then display some of
The greatest holy relics

In the world.

*

In the end,
They only captured one piece,

The holy lance, which was
Claimed to be the actual spear

That pierced christ's side
While he was on the crucifix.

*

Selwood: the spear of destiny,
Or lance of longinus,

Was something that hitler felt

Had deep symbolic
Significance for him

When he first saw it
In the museum in vienna,

He said he felt as if he'd
Formerly held it,

That it was his
Talisman of power

And it gave the destiny of
The world to him in his hands.

*

Narrator: despite the nazis
Having taken it to nuremberg,

Today, this legendary object
Is kept with other

Priceless artifacts
In the treasury

Of the hofburg palace in vienna.

*

Doctor franz kirchweger
Is the collection's curator.

Narrator: this extraordinary
Assortment of objects

Is part of
The imperial regalia,

The ceremonial crown jewels
Of the holy roman emperors.

Dating back to medieval times,

The most important parts
Were the imperial crown,

Imperial sword, and the
Christ-linked spear of destiny.

*

Bellinger:
This spear that supposedly
Pierced the side of christ

And thus was empowered
With his power

Then went on to develop
Even greater legend as it passed

From the hand of one
Powerful man to the other,

Under the belief that
If they wielded this spear,

They were omnipotent

And they could bend the world
To their will.

Mcmahon: for hitler,
Having the imperial regalia

Of the holy roman empire

Was his aspiration
To create a 1,000-year reich.

I mean, the holy roman empire
Lasted 1,000 years,

So he wanted his reich
To last the same amount of time.

And in the same way
That holy roman emperors

Had sacred relics

Which gave them authority
Before the people,

Hitler viewed the sacred relics,
Such as the spear of destiny,

In the same light.

*

Bellinger: hitler got his hands
On a spear of destiny.

Now, the fact is that several
Different objects

Have been presented
As the spear of destiny,

Which, again, goes to show you

That the importance
Of this object

Isn't really
In the thing itself.

It's in what it stood for.

*

Walters: the whole story of
The spear of longinus

And the way it's treated by
These sort of junk historians --

It's like the
Ark of the covenant

In episode 1 of "Indiana jones"

It's gonna give them,
The nazis, infinite power.

It's just total nonsense.

It's just another relic

That's meant to be
Associated with christ.

And you know, and I know, that
That's just simply not true.

Narrator: for centuries,

Nuremberg had been home
To the imperial regalia,

And hitler thought that the city
Was where they belonged.

But in the late 1700s,

These crown jewels were hastily
Moved from nuremberg to vienna

To avoid napoleon's clutches,

And hitler was determined
To take them back.

In 1938, the lance,

As well as the rest of
The imperial regalia,

Was brought back to its
Former home of nuremberg.

*

Bellinger: nuremberg was
Sacred to the nazis.

It was the traditional heart
Of the holy roman empire.

And the holy roman empire
Had been, at its heart,

A german state.

And so hitler wanted to return
These items of power

To this heart and rule his
Third reich from it.

Selwood: nuremberg was
The heart of nazism.

It's where hitler held
All the early rallies.

It's where they would
Reconvene every year

To extol the virtues of nazism.

But it was also
Deeply symbolic place.

It was one of the great medieval
Cities of southern germany.

It was a place where the church
And relics and cathedrals

Had very powerful sway.

It was a symbolic place
In the german mind.

And the nazis harnessed
All of that

And made it their
Occult headquarters.

[ speaking german ]

[ anthem plays ]

Charney: it's an amazing
Feeling to be here

For the very first time at the
Nazi rally grounds in nuremberg.

If you can imagine
Tens of thousands of people

Gathered here
During six enormous rallies

Between 1933 and 1938.

This is the zeppelin field,
And over here on this grandstand

Is where hitler would have given
His most famous speeches.

[ hitler speaking german ]

[ crowd cheers ]

There are a couple of ideas
About why hitler

Wanted to possess
The crown jewels so badly,

Particularly
The spear of destiny.

The more accepted theory
Is its symbolic value,

That it would
Symbolically link him

To all of the past
Germanic kings,

The holy roman emperors,

And he saw himself as
The latter-day version of them,

A new incarnation
For the third reich.

But then there are the more
Exotic theories that may posit,

And it's entirely plausible that
Hitler would have believed this,

That some of these holy relics,

Particularly
The spear of destiny,

Might have granted the owner
Some sort of superhuman powers.

In fact, the legend goes
That the spear of destiny,

If it's carried in battle,
Whoever carries it can't lose.

And we know that hitler and
Himmler were researching things

That would support
The war effort

For supernatural means, as well.

So it's entirely plausible
To believe

That hitler thought
Hedging his bets,

The possession
Of the spear of destiny

Might have helped from
A military standpoint, as well.

*

Narrator: hitler's dreams would
Eventually lay in tatters,

And as their evil empire
Collapsed around them,

Where did the nazis
Hide these precious relics?

*

Narrator: during world war ii,

The nazi regime
Systematically looted artworks

And religious relics
From across occupied europe.

*

The most important relic
Hitler ever got his hands on

Was the holy lance,
Or spear of destiny,

That he kept in nuremberg,

Together with other
Priceless pieces

Which comprise
The imperial regalia,

Or german crown jewels.

Art historian noah charney
Follows the trail.

Charney:
When the second world war was

Brought to germany
And the allies started bombing,

There was a serious concern
That some of the art treasures

Of nuremberg,
Including the crown jewels,

Would be destroyed
In an allied air raid.

In order to prevent this,

It was ordered
That the crown jewels

Should be stored
In a secret bunker,

A vault underneath
Nuremberg castle,

Where I'm standing now.

That vault is where
The crown jewels remained

Throughout the war,

Until they disappeared
From this locked vault.

*

Narrator:
Today, this tunnel system is
Known as the kunst bunker.

*

Noah meets guide
Andreas clemens,

Who can tell him more
About the intriguing site

Where the imperial regalia
And the holy lance

Were safely hidden
From the allies.

*

Clemens: the bunker originally
Was a beer cellar.

The beer cellars are now
640 years old.

There are four
Football fields of them,

And in some spots,
They're up to four floors deep.

*

This place was bombproof.

The spot where we're
Standing right now

Has approximately 24 meters
Of solid sandstone rock on top.

So that was safe from bombs.

Next thing they did, they put in
A ventilation system.

So fire was no problem here.

Bombs were no problem here.

The place was dry.
The place was well-ventilated.

So, at least during wartime,

This was perfect
To store artwork.

*

Narrator: even as the allies
Overran germany,

The treasures stored
In the kunst bunker

Should have remained hidden.

But a u.S. Army
Intelligence officer

Named walter horn
Had a lucky break.

Yet horn wasn't an average
Intelligence officer.

He had an extensive education
In art history.

Walter horn was a
Senior intelligence officer

In the u.S. Army,
And at the end of the war,

He was interrogating
A 48-year-old german private,

A rather beleaguered figure
Called fritz huber.

And he was asking him about
Biological, chemical weapons

That the americans were worried
That hitler may have concealed

In certain ways that could be
Used at the end of the war.

They weren't getting anywhere
In the interrogation.

And then huber just asked him

Whether he was interested
In old art

And not realizing, maybe, that
Horn was a professor of history,

A medievalist at harvard.

And he then started
To describe artifacts

Which horn suddenly realized
Was the imperial regalia,

Including the spear of destiny.

And it was buried
Underneath nuremberg castle

In an air-conditioned bunker.

Narrator: the american forces
Captured nuremberg

In april 1945,

And horn sent
A report detailing

Where they could find
The nazis' secret bunker.

But before the u.S. Soldiers

Could enter the
Aladdin's cave of treasures,

The imperial regalia
Were removed

By three clever nazi soldiers
Who were one step ahead.

Clemens:
Towards the end of the war,

It became clear that
Rather sooner than later,

Nuremberg would be conquered
By the americans.

They were coming
Quite close.

The three men in charge
Of the bunker

Wanted to save
The regalia from the,

As they put it,
Culturalist americans.

So they conspired to remove
The most important pieces --

Crown, scepter, orb,
And sword.

*

Narrator: by july 1945,
Germany was defeated

And horn had transferred
From intelligence

Into the monuments, fine arts,
And archives program.

This group, better known
As the monuments men,

Was established by the u.S.
Government to track down art

And cultural items
Stolen by the nazis.

And they had been sent
To the nuremberg bunker

To track down
The imperial regalia

Detailed in horn's report.

*

The monuments men
Find the bunker.

They do an inventory,
And early on, they notice,

Huh, the four most important
Pieces were missing.

And they start looking for them,
For those three guys.

They find two of those guys,

And they interrogate them
For several hours.

And at first, they keep
Their mouths shut.

And at one point, one of them
Gives up the location,

Shows the real regalia
To the americans,

Supposedly, after they
Promised him the regalia

Would not be taken to the u.S.

But would be given back
To vienna.

So, it's interesting
That they chose four objects,

But they didn't take
The holy lance.

No. It shows you what was
Considered important.

They chose what they
Considered important --

The symbols of power,
Not the relics.

*

Narrator:
So, how much art and relics

Were eventually returned
By the monuments men?

And are there any pieces
Still hidden today?

*

Narrator: during world war ii,
The nazis stole valuable pieces

Of art and priceless
Holy relics from across europe.

*

But thanks to the efforts
Of the united states'

Monuments, fine arts,
And archives program,

Or more commonly known
As the monuments men,

Lost masterpieces,
Such as the ghent altarpiece

And the imperial regalia
Of the holy roman emperors,

Were recovered amid the
Chaos and devastation

That followed germany's
Eventual defeat.

*

While many looted works
Surfaced from the nazis'

Hidden network of caves
And bunkers,

A significant number of other
Pieces have vanished forever.

*

Selwood: the legacy of the nazis
Having spent so much time

Plundering and looting
Cultural artifacts, relics, art,

Is still with us.

These objects still surface
Today on the black market,

In auction houses,
In private collections,

And there are still lists
Of the vast number of them

That remain missing.

*

Narrator: almost 80 years
After their theft,

Individuals and organizations
Around the world

Are still on a quest
To recover these lost works.

*

In the polish city of krakow

Is a collection
Of restored paintings

That reflect the fate of so many
Of these stolen nazi treasures.

*

Journalist and explorer
Joanna lamparska

Visits st. Mary's basilica
To learn the fate

Of the cycle of
"Saint catherine of alexandria"

From art-conservation expert
Katarzyna pakula.

These are kulmbach paintings.
Yes.

Originally, it was eight
Panel paintings

Made by hans suss von kulmbach
Who was a painter,

Renaissance painter
From nuremberg.

And they have been
Ordered to krakow

In the golden age
Of polish culture.

It was the beginning
Of the 16th century.

*

The eight paintings that made
Up this medieval masterpiece

Were taken by the nazis
During world war ii,

But were recovered
And returned at its end.

*

Unfortunately, after the war,
Out of eight paintings,

From one other piece,
Six paintings came back.

So still two are missing.

And some are
Supposedly searching

And the polish
Minister of culture

And hoping that they
Are still existing.

How does it feel to lose all
These beautiful pieces of art?

It is a great loss.

It is a great loss,
Of course, for the church

And for the cultural from
The emotional point of view.

It is priceless,
And they are unique,

And they are of
The best quality

We know of the works
Of hans von kulmbach.

Walters:
I think it's a huge tragedy that
So much of this religious art,

Iconography, and treasure
Is still missing, even today.

Now, some of it clearly
Was simply destroyed

You know, maybe
In allied bombing raids,

You know, which is obviously
Even more tragic in a way.

And then you've now, today,

Got people trying
To find this treasure.

You've got people whose
Entire life's work is to try

And, maybe,
Find one work of art.

*

Bellinger: while we do have a
Sense of certain specific items

That we are searching for,
And there are people out there

All the time
Trying to recover them,

We really don't know the true
Magnitude of what's missing

And don't even know,
In some respects,

What we should be looking for.

Janulis:
Many of these artworks

That are considered
Still missing

Are actually being
Actively traded through

Black-market networks,

And it's become even easier
To do so now

With the internet
And the deep web.

And there are people
Who fetishize

Some of these artifacts
And trading them as commodities.

And that goes on every day.

Hoffman: there are many existing
Commissions in europe

And in the united states
And canada

To try to repatriate a lot of
These pieces as they're found.

Some of them eventually wound up
In state and local museums

And have been relocated
To the families

From whence they were stolen.

But many of them still reside,
Probably, in private collections

Or remain underground,
Maybe never to be found.

*

Picknett: many people
Are still obsessed

With finding the missing art,

Including, of course,
The people's families

Who originally owned some of
These because a lot of the art

Was originally owned
By jewish families

Who simply had it
Removed from them.

Hoffman:
At least 600,000 of them

Were stolen from jewish families

And some 100,000 of them
Still remain at large.

*