Monuments Men Recognition Act of 2014

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3658) to grant the Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the Monuments Men, in recognition of their heroic role in the preservation, protection, and restitution of monuments, works of art, and artifacts of cultural importance during and following World War II.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous materials for the Record on H.R. 3658, currently under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of H.R. 3658, the Monuments Men Recognition Act of 2013, introduced by the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger). This bill authorizes the minting and award of a single gold medal collectively in honor of the heroic role played by the men and women of that group in ensuring the preservation, protection, and restitution of monuments, works of art, and artifacts of cultural importance during and following World War II. The medal would be given to the Smithsonian Institution, where it would be available for display or loan as appropriate.

Mr. Speaker, even before the stain of World War II began to spread across Europe, priceless cultural objects were being damaged or appropriated from their rightful owners by corrupt governments. When the horrific carnage of war descended over the continent, many other works--paintings, monuments, cathedrals and other buildings--were threatened, damaged, or destroyed, marring or obliterating centuries of incredibly beautiful handiwork.

Recognizing this disaster, President Roosevelt formed the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas in 1943, and the Commission facilitated the formation of the monuments, fine arts, and archives section under the Allied armies. The men and women who worked tirelessly at the Commission, at home but mostly abroad, were empowered by General Dwight D. Eisenhower to carry out their work throughout Europe, even on the front lines, and became known as the Monuments Men.

As I had noted earlier as we were talking about one of the other medals,

my father happened to serve in Italy during World War II. I know that was one of his concerns as he was going around seeing the damage and the carnage that had happened there, what had been lost to that war. Of course some of those artworks were irreparably damaged or some never even recovered. As we have seen in headlines as recently as the last couple of weeks, some are still even being recovered. Without the heroic work of the Monuments Men, much of Europe's cultural heritage would have been lost or forever remain hidden after it was stolen.

After the war, many of the Monuments Men stayed in the business of preserving and displaying art. Many became renowned directors and curators of preeminent international cultural institutions, professors at institutions of higher education, and founders of artistic associations.

If we did not know this story before, most of us now know the outlines thanks to a pair of books by Robert Edsel detailing the Monuments Men's work and, of course, the George Clooney film of the same name released earlier this year. Some of us may have seen a documentary on their work produced about a decade ago, called, ``The Rape of Europa.'' I do want to thank the gentlewoman from Texas for hosting a screening of that movie that I think sort of brought that to the attention of many here in Washington a few months ago.

Mr. Speaker, of the 350 Monuments Men, two of whom died in actual combat, only a few of the men and women we know today as the Monuments Men are still alive. We and the world owe them an incalculable debt. One way we can acknowledge their contributions is to award them the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition of their work. The bill has 297 cosponsors in the House, and a companion bill introduced by Senator Blunt has 77 cosponsors. I ask for immediate passage of this important legislation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Granger).

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close and reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my friend sharing that story and personalizing it. I had a chance to tour much of Europe and Eastern Europe back when I was in school, and seeing the devastation that hit cities like St. Petersburg and Leningrad; Warsaw, which was completely leveled; Prague; Budapest; Berlin, it is amazing that there was really almost anything that was preserved. I think we are better for it as a world and as a culture to have that.

With that, I urge passage of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, though I intend to speak, I want to reserve the balance of my time and allow the gentlewoman from Texas, who was the lead sponsor on this bill, to speak before I do.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I would like to thank Ms. Granger in particular for bringing this bill forward. I was proud to be a small part in supporting this and trying to help push it forward. I am glad we are here today.

I want to be real clear. A lot of people think of war as nothing more than destruction, which that is the main function is to destroy your enemy. They don't think sometimes what it is all about, particularly in the case of World War II. In the case of World War II, it was about a way of life. It was about a whole set of societal values. One set valued art and culture, even the art and culture we may not understand. I am not understanding of many of the fine works of art, but I appreciate how difficult they are, and I appreciate others appreciating.

In a war, it would be the easiest thing in the world to simply destroy everything, steal everything, and just move forward. In this particular case, the United States of America took the lead, but we weren't alone. The Monuments Men was made up of people from 13 different countries simply trying to preserve a piece of our culture, our shared culture.

The Monuments Men was not made up of warriors, yet they became warriors. They were made up of artists; they were made up of museum directors; they were made up of curators--people who had been taught the value and understood the value of fine art. They went to war to protect and preserve it, because without that continuing link of culture, you would have to ask: Wouldn't we be a little less than who we are today?

Their memory today is very important, particularly those who still survive. The mention has already been made about how many pieces of art--5 million pieces of art. They weren't just pictures on a wall. They were also figurines. There were religious artifacts, across the board. Five million pieces protected, kept for future generations, recovered from people who would otherwise steal them for their own personal use, probably would have destroyed them when they saw the end of their own culture.

I want to speak today of the one American who served in what I think is a pretty typical story of who these people were. The one American who was killed in action in this particular unit, his name was Walter Huchthausen. He was born in Perry, Oklahoma, educated at the University of Minnesota and Harvard University, where he earned a master's degree in architecture in 1930. He wasn't ROTC. He wasn't militarily trained. He was an instructor at RPI in Troy, New York, and then director of the department of design at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in my own district, from 1935 to 1939. Then he went to the faculty at the University of Minnesota until he enlisted in 1942--not got drafted, enlisted--yes, to protect America, but also to take his special expertise, to do something special in a difficult situation. He was killed in action when he was caught in a firefight. As usual, in many military actions, it wasn't supposed to happen then and there.

I think that tells you something about who these people were. They were there trying to help the next generation and generations to come maintain that line of connection, and they did it. For that, they deserve this honor; they deserve our undying gratitude.

With that, I want to add my thanks for their actions, my thanks to Representative Granger for allowing us do this, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for the time.

I rise in strong support of the Monuments Men Recognition Act. I want to thank the gentlewoman from Texas for her work on this bill, Ms. Granger, and for her kind thoughts and expressions of appreciation. It was a great honor to work with her and the gentleman from Massachusetts on this particular bill.

I also had the opportunity to have some interchange with Robert Edsel, and not a finer gentleman and American is there. He wrote the original book that kind of talked about the Monuments Men, and he also, I guess, had something to do with the movie with George Clooney. That helped to bring a measure of fame to these brave men and women, but the United States Congress should go further and bring this official honor to them for their work in preserving our cultural heritage.

Over the last few years since I have been in Congress, and my first term was 2007, the Monuments Men seemed to be a continual presence in my service. In 2007, my first year, I was proud to support a resolution honoring them. In a ceremony on the Senate side that I went to, I had the fortune to meet Mr. Edsel, who told their story, but also to meet a few of the surviving Monuments Men.

Then I saw the movie this past year and my admiration and interest in what they had done, their courage and their contribution to the world's culture was deepened. I went back and I looked at my book, and I saw Mr. Edsel's card and a letter he had sent me after we had spoken, and I called him and said I wanted to help. Then I contacted Ms. Granger and went to work to help line up sponsors for this particular bill.

The mass genocide carried out by Hitler and the Nazis is incomparable and their crimes unimaginable. We think of concentration camps and mass killings, but their efforts to destroy cultural artifacts was an extension of that tragedy and that horror.

It is important to remember that Hitler didn't want to just annihilate the Jews and other disfavored populations; he wanted to erase all traces of these people from the planet. That included their so-called ``degenerate'' art. Art which I saw in the book included some of the great artists of all time. I think it was Toulouse-Lautrec maybe had a coloring of how he did his colors. Hitler thought that it was degenerate because the grass was blue and the sky was green, and he thought for some reason that was degenerate. Well, it was art. Fortunately, the Monuments Men had the foresight and heroism to prevent them from being successful.

As we recognize the Monuments Men, it is a good time to reflect on what art means to us in our lives. Art shines a spotlight on who we are and who we wish to be and how we want to be remembered. When we destroy it, we destroy an essential part of ourselves, our culture, and our society, and we destroy that for future generations to learn of us.

The Monuments Men did more than just preserve these paintings that could hang in a museum; they preserved our heritage, and for that we are forever grateful. With only five members of the Monuments Men alive today, we should act quickly to give them the honor and recognition they richly deserve.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. Again, I thank Ms.

Granger and Mr. Capuano for their leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I have been looking forward to this day ever since I first learned about the greatest untold story of World War II, and that was 8 years ago.

For me, my journey with the Monuments Men began at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2006 when I met Robert Edsel, who had just published his first book, ``Rescuing Da Vinci,'' and who later wrote ``The Monuments Men: Allied Heros, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History.'' It was that evening when I realized how critical these men and women were in preserving European cultural history and how remarkable their task was during the Second World War.

While death and destruction surrounded them, their mission was the complete opposite: to protect cultural treasures so far as war allowed. This special military unit was tasked with helping to locate works of art confiscated by the Nazis and return them to their rightful owners. The Monuments Men and women were able to locate, preserve, and return almost 5 million cultural items, including many of the world's greatest works of art.

Today, there are only six surviving members--five men and one woman-- of the Monuments Men. As Memorial Day approaches, I believe the veterans who participated in these daring missions are certainly worthy and deserving of the recognition of Congress' highest expression of appreciation.

Mr. Speaker, the medal authorized in this bill will be given to the Smithsonian for safekeeping and available for display, as well as available for loan as appropriate. In my view and that of many other Members, one very appropriate place would be the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, which is building a permanent exhibit on the Monuments Men and expected to open in 2016.

Before I close, there are several people I want to thank who helped make this possible: of course, Robert Edsel for uncovering this story and sharing it with the world; Congressman Michael Capuano for sponsoring this legislation with me; Congressman Steve Cohen for his tireless efforts to help build the support needed to bring this bill to the floor for a vote. I also want to thank Senators Roy Blunt and Robert Menendez for taking the lead on this bill in the Senate.

While we can never say thank you enough, I believe the Congressional Gold Medal is a worthy token of appreciation from a grateful nation to these members of the Greatest Generation.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, May 9, 2014, I was at home in Wisconsin taking care

of my amazing wife and our new baby daughter. Had I been present, I would have voted in the following ways:

(1) H.R. 1726--To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the 65th Infantry Regiment, known as the Borinqueneers--``yea.''

(2) H.R. 2203--To provide for the award of a gold medal on behalf of Congress to Jack Nicklaus, in recognition of his service to the Nation in promoting excellence, good sportsmanship, and philanthropy--``yea.''

(3) H.R. 2939--A bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Shimon Peres--``yea.''

(4) H.R. 3658--Monuments Men Recognition Act of 2013--``yea.''

(5) H.R. 1209--To award a Congressional Gold Medal to the World War II members of the ``Doolittle Tokyo Raiders'', for outstanding heroism, valor, skill, and service to the United States in conducting the bombings of Tokyo--``yea.''

(6) S. 309--A bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the World War II members of the Civil Air Patrol--``yea.''

(7) H.R. 685--American Fighter Aces Congressional Gold Medal Act-- ``yea.''

(8) H.R. 4628--To amend title 23, the United States Code, with respect to United States Route 78 in Mississippi, and for other purposes--``yea.''