Rose Valland - NS Plundering - Assignment Order by Tom Topol

A recent TV report inspired this article. The story was new to me, and I believe the brave actions to save looted artworks must be told to a broader audience.

Rose Antonia Maria Valland (1 November 1898 – 18 September 1980) was a French art historian, member of the French Resistance, captain in the French military, and one of the most decorated French women. She secretly recorded details of the Nazi plundering of National French and private Jewish-owned art from France, and, working with the French Resistance, she saved thousands of works of art.

Spy Activity

Rose was the perfect spy. Her inconspicuousness was the best camouflage. When the Germans occupied Paris, and the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) moved into its booty camp in the Jeu de Paume building, she was already there. An art historian, she had worked for French museums before and was in charge of public and private collections in Paris and the surrounding area.

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