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History (Education)

How a clever French museum director secretly saved the Louvre's artwork from Nazi plunder

When the Germans arrived, they were shocked to find the Louvre emptied of its treasures.

Mariordo (Mario Roberto Durán Ortiz) (left), public domain (right)

The "Mona Lisa" and thousands of other art pieces were hidden around France during WWII.

People can often feel when war is brewing, and some take precautions just in case. A combination of political unrest, bombastic language and sabre-rattling from leaders, on-the-ground shifts in military presence or police activity and other indicators can signal that war is imminent, and in the 1930s, Jacques Jaujard saw the writing on the wall.

The deputy director of French National Museums foresaw Germany's invasion of France before the war even started, and he knew what was likely to happen when they arrived. The Nazis would plunder France's museums and loot the world's art treasures from the Louvre, but Jaujard wasn't about to let that happen. Major artworks started being evacuated from the Louvre in 1938, the year before the war even started.

- YouTubeyoutu.be

On August 25, 1939, Jaujard closed the Louvre for three days "for repairs" and put out and all-hands-on-deck call to pack up the thousands of pieces held in the Louvre—paintings, drawings, statues, vases, tapestries, and more—and put them in hiding. Museum curators, guards, students of the Louvre School, and even employees of a nearby department store helped with the effort.

It was no easy task. Transporting art treasures is an art in itself, since changes in humidity and temperature can damage them.

"They had to improvise, because nothing on such a grand scale had ever been attempted before — and the Louvre was, and remains really, probably the biggest museum in the world,” James Gardner, author of The Louvre: The Many Lives of the World’s Most Famous Museum, told the New York Post.

And it all had to be done in secret, without anyone who might inform the Germans catching wind of it. According to The Collector, between August and December 1939, two hundred trucks transported the Louvre's 3,690 paintings and thousands of statues and antiquities. The "Mona Lisa" was among the treasures evacuated, of course. She left the Louvre cushioned in velvet in an ambulance 10 days before the Germans arrived.

mona lisa, louvre, art, world war twoToday, the "Mona Lisa" sits safely behind glass at the Louvre.Victor Grigas

Throughout the war, the infamous smiling lady would be moved six times to abbeys and chateaux in the French countryside and a small museum in southern France, each time in a temperature-controlled armored van.

“The ‘Mona Lisa’ was like a resistance fighter who’s always trying to stay one step ahead from the approaching German army,” Gardner told the New York Post.

Items from dozens of other museums were also moved and spread throughout France, hidden in castles, chateaux, and abbeys in remote areas where they weren't likely to be discovered by Nazi invaders. Thousands of pieces all had to be categorized, catalogued, and dispersed.

the louvre, art museum, franceThe Louvre was first built in 1793.Benh LIEU SONG

When the Germans finally arrived at the Louvre, they were shocked to find it almost completely empty. They stared at frames with no art in them and some reproductions, such as a plaster copy of the Venus De Milo.

Thankfully, Jaujard and the Louvre's art also had a German ally on their side. Count Franz Wolff-Metternich was a German art historian appointed by Hitler to oversee France's art collection. Metternich, however, was not a member of the Nazi party and apparently did not want to see the world's greatest works of art fall into the hands of art-loving war criminals like Hermann Goering and Joseph Goebbels. Jaujard wrote in his diary that Metternich almost seemed relieved to find the Louvre empty when he arrived in 1940. Throughout the war, he used every means at his disposal to keep the art pieces safe while managing to avoid suspicion that he was trying to prevent them from being looted by the Nazis.

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The clandestine conspiracy to keep the Louvre's treasures safely away from Hitler's clutches worked. Though the Nazis stole thousands of pieces of art during the war, largely from Jewish families' private collections, they were unsuccessful in finding and taking the art that Jaujard and his colleagues had hidden.

In 1944, Jaujard was appointed Director of the French Order of Arts and Letters and helped establish the French Commission on Art Recovery. He would later become Secretary General of the Ministry of State in charge of cultural affairs. For his services during the war, he was awarded the Medal of the Résistance and named a Commander of the Legion of Honor.

Not too shabby for a man who dedicated his life to preserving and protecting the world's most beloved artwork.

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Education

All-female flight crews known as 'Night Witches' bombed the crap out of Nazi targets in WWII

The Germans were terrified of these pilots whose silent planes swooped in like ghosts.

Avgeekjoe/Flickr

The Night Witches were feared by the Germans for their stealth bombing runs.

If you like stories of amazing women, buckle up, because this one is a wild ride.

During WWII, the Soviet Air Force's 588th Night Bomber Regiment flew incredibly harrowing missions, bombing Germans with rudimentary biplanes in the dead of night. The Germans called them Nachthexen—"Night Witches"—because the only warning they had before the bombs hit was an ominous whooshing sound akin to a witch's broom.

The "whoosh" sound was due to the fact that the women would cut the planes' engines as they approached, gliding in stealthily before dropping their bombs. And the Night Witches moniker was fitting, considering the fact that the 588th was an all-female regiment.

Their missions were incredibly dangerous, especially considering how the women were equipped. Most of the recruits were in their late teens to mid-20s, and crew members had to learn how to pilot, navigate and maintain the aircraft so they could serve the regiment in any capacity. They underwent an intensive year of training to learn what usually took several years to master.

The planes they flew were rickety biplanes made of plywood and canvas, which were usually used for crop dusting and training. According to the Wright Museum, a tracer bullet could easily cause the plane to burst into flames, causing some of the women to refer to their aircraft as "a coffin with wings." The planes' top speed was just 90 mph, and the weight of the two bombs and crew they carried meant they had to fly low. That made the planes easily visible targets, so the women only flew their missions under the cover of darkness.

The open design of the aircraft and the fact that they flew at night also meant that the women were fully exposed to frigid temperatures during Soviet winters. According to The History Channel, the planes would get so cold, touching them would tear off bare skin.

Since there had been no women in combat in the Air Force before, they were given hand-me-down men's uniforms and had to tear up bedding to stuff into the end of their boots to make them fit properly. Due to the limited capacity of their aircraft and limited funds, they also were deprived of the modern equipment their male counterparts had access to—radar, radios, machine guns and even parachutes. Instead, they had to use maps, rulers, compasses, stopwatches and pencils to perform their missions. And if they needed to bail out, they just hoped they were close enough to the ground to survive.

Up to 40 two-person crews would be sent out each night to complete between eight and 18 missions each. They would go out in groups of three, with two planes acting as decoys to draw the German searchlights and flack gun attacks away from the third. The one advantage the small, slow biplanes had was maneuverability, so they relied on fancy flying to create a diversion. When the navigator of the third plane tapped the pilot on the shoulder, she would kill the engine and silently swoop in for the bomb drop. The three planes would each take turns in this manner until all three planes had dropped their payloads.

The term "Night Witches" was coined by the Germans, but the women took on the nickname with pride. They had every reason to be proud. They were so feared that any German who downed one of their planes was automatically awarded the prestigious Iron Cross medal.

From June 1942 to October 1943, they flew more than 23,000 combat sorties, collectively logging over 28,000 flight hours and dropping more than 3,000 tons of bombs and 26,000 incendiary shells on Nazi targets. Their bombing raids wreaked havoc on river crossings, railways, warehouses, fuel depots, armored cars, firing positions and other valuable logistical targets. They also made 155 food and ammunition supply drops to other Soviet armed forces.

By the end of the war, the Soviets has lost 32 Night Witches in service. The 588th Regiment was highly decorated; of the 89 Soviet women who received the Hero of the Soviet Union award—the country's highest honor in WWII—22 were Night Witches.

However, when the Soviet Union held a massive victory parade after the war, the Night Witches weren't included in it. Their planes, which these badass women had painted flowers on to add a feminine touch, were deemed too slow.

Learn more about the Night Witches with NBC News Learn:

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WWII vet finally meets the girl who wrote him a letter that he's carried for 12 years

CBS Evening News/YouTube

Frank Grasberger has been wishing he could meet Dashauna Priest for more than a decade. The 95-year-old WWII veteran from Strongsville, Ohio received a letter from Priest wrote when she was in the third grade 12 years ago, and he has kept it as a prized possession since then.

The letter was addressed, "Dear WWII Veteran," and read, "Thank you for saving us from Hitler. If it wasn't for you we would never have freedom. You made freedom for us. You sacrificed your life. I'm so happy you made sacrifices." It was signed, "Your friend, Dashauna Priest."

Grasberger's wife, Delores, told CBS News that he carries the letter everywhere. He said he sees it as a symbol of a life well-lived.

"I'm tickled to death that I have a letter like this," Grasberger told CBS. "I'd never be without it...it's something that somebody thought of me that much."

Delores added, "When he has that letter with him, he has a feeling of faith, and trust, and love."

Priest, now 21, told CBS News that she remembers writing the letter and was honored to do so because she so admired people in uniform. Now Priest has a uniform of her own as a member of the National Guard, and she wore it when she went to surprise Grasberger at the senior residence facility where he lives.

The Grasbergers had always wanted to find Priest but had never been able to. Knowing about his attachment to the letter and how much it meant to him, the staff at the residence facility tracked her down and arranged the surprise meeting for him.

Grasberger was overjoyed. Just watch:

WWII veteran meets woman who wrote him thank-you letter 12 years agowww.youtube.com

Priest told CBS that meeting Grasberger was the beginning of a friendship, then corrected herself. "Family, not friendship," she said.

What a beautiful story of gratitude, honor, sacrifice, and connection. You just never know the impact one small gesture will have on someone else's life.

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French woman reunites with the American boyfriend she hasn't seen in the 75 years since they fell in love during WWII.

Truly beautiful. If only we could all be so loved.

France 24/YouTube


75 years later, D-Day veteran meets long-lost French lovewww.youtube.com


There are millions of love stories in the world, but occasionally one stands out—like this one.

Falling in love is a universal human phenomenon without a universal definition. It can be a slow-building fire or a flash in the pan. It can happen over years, or over a single cup of coffee. Sometimes it fizzles and fades, and sometimes it lingers for a lifetime.

We all love a good love story. With so much pain and sadness in the world, stories of the enduring power of love lift us up and remind us of the beauty of real human connection.

We also love stories of people living well into old age and having significant experiences in their later years. Such stories give us hope and remind us that anything is possible.

This story of an American man and a French woman who met during the WWII is both, and it will make you believe in the mystery of love and the enduring power it can have.

K.T. Robbins and Jeannine Ganaye fell in love when Robbins was stationed in France 75 years ago, but their relationship would be short-lived.

He was 24. She was 18. He was serving in the U.S. army, stationed in her village in northeastern France. They were both caught up in the trials of war and the triumphs of new-found love.

According to TODAY, when Robbins was transferred to the Eastern Front, he had to say a quick goodbye to Ganaye. They talked of the possibility of him coming back for her. He took a photograph of her with him.

They wouldn't see one another again after that.

Robbins was sent back to America after the war, where he eventually got married and started a hardware store. Ganaye moved on, too, marrying and having five kids of her own in France.

They'd both left WWII with thoughts of reunion. Ganaye had even started to learn English in the hopes that Robbins would return. But life happened, and those hopes had to be abandoned. "You know, when you get married, after that you can't do it anymore,'' Robbins said.

Neither forgot about the other, however. And neither could have predicted that they'd get another chance 75 years later.

Robbins and Ganeye—now Pierson—recently reunited for the first time since the war, and it's seriously the sweetest thing.

He is 97. She is 92. His wife of 70 years has passed way, and her husband has passed as well.

Robbins was interviewed by French a television station for a D-Day anniversary segment, and he shared the photo he still had of Pierson.

He thought maybe they could track down his former sweetheart's family, never imagining that she would still be alive herself—or that she would live within 40 miles of the village of Briey, where they had met more than seven decades before.

In a video shared by France 24, a reporter informs Robbins that Pierson is alive and well, and that she is waiting for him to meet with her. His surprise and joy is palpable as he laughs and kisses the reporter on the forehead.

The video then cuts to the former couple's reunion, and their chemistry is instantaneous. "Jeanine Ganaye," Robbins says, as he walks up to her. The two embrace, and she kisses his face over and over. There are smiles and tears as they sit side by side, holding onto one another's hands.

"I always loved you," Robbins tells her. "You never got out of my heart."

Pierson told the television station, "I always thought about him, thinking maybe he was out there, that maybe he'd come." The two spent several hours together before they had to part once again—but this time with plans for another meeting.

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