Found: Hitler's Book of Looted Art; Nazi Art Mysteries, a List

I've been fascinated with art mysteries for years, especially those that deal with the looting, hiding, and misappropriating of European masterpieces by the Nazis. I've read so many mysteries that deal with this subject, many, or perhaps I should say most, of them based on fact.

Not all the artwork stolen by the Nazis was recovered, and during the occupation many things went awry. It was a tumultuous time, a scary time. Today I came across an article about the discovery in Ohio of one of the photo albums detailing plans for a Nazi super museum containing thousands of stolen artworks. The album was taken by a GI as a war trophy. This album and the other volumes could unravel the mystery surrounding the whereabouts of many of the lost masterpieces.

Hitler, an art school reject, was obsessed with his art collection and was planning a museum to rival the great museums in Germany. It was to be built in his hometown of Linz in Austria where he was going to display all the looted art in his Fuhrermuseum. Every Christmas and birthday, Hitler was presented with an album collection cataloguing looted Nazi art that he planned to install there.

Read the Entire Article HERE and  a 2009 article on the Real-Time Detective/Collector Robert Edsel  HERE. (See Non-fiction below for his book on the topic)

You might want to check out www.lootedart.com, an information database that also lists publications, news, conferences and events, as well as an object database (not just art looted by the Nazi).

And Art Theft: The Art & Crime Gazette is a great website for mystery authors and reader.

An Incomplete List of Crime Fiction that focuses on Nazi Art Theft. Be sure and check back, as I will be updating this list.

Edwin Alexander: Theft of the Master
Evelyn Anthony: The Poellenberg Inheritance
Jeffrey Archer: A Matter of Honor
Steve Berry: The Amber Room
Douglas Boyd: The Fiddler and the Ferret
Barbara Taylor Bradford: A Sudden Change of Heart 
Evelyn Breckman: The Evil of Time
T. David Bunn: The Amber Room
Lillian Stewart Carl: Garden of Thorns
Eric Christopherson & Brad Schoenfeld: Frame-Up
David Adams Cleveland: With a Gemlike Flame
Franklin Coen: The Plunderers
Robertson Davies: What's Bred in the Bone
J. Madison Davis: The Van Gogh Conspiracy
Debra Dean: The Madonnas of Leningrad
Maurice Dekobra: The Golden Eyed Venus
Aaron Elkins: A Deceptive Clarity, Loot, Turncoat
Linda Fairstein: Cold Hit
Dan Fesperman: Lie in the Dark
Timothy Findley: Famous Last Words
Martin Fine: The Lost Stradivarius
Alexander Fullerton: The Aphrodite Cargo
Jonathan Gash: The Ten Word Game 
Harris Greene: Canceled Accounts
Jonathan Harris: Seizing Amber
Robert Harris: Fatherland
April Henry: Circles of Confusion
Philip Hook:  Stonebreakers, The Island of the Dead, Soldier in the Wheatfield, An Innocent Eye
A. E. Hotchner: The Man Who Lived at the Ritz
Sara Houghteling: Pictures at an Exhibition
Richard Hugo:  Last Judgment
Russell James:  Painting in the Dark
J. Robert Janes: Mannequin
Edward I. Koch and Wendy Corsi Staub: The Senator Must Die
Rochelle Krich: Blood Money
Roberto Kusminsky: Counsel of the Wicked
Jane Langton: The Thief of Venice
Donna Leon: Wilful Behavior 
Robert S. Levinson:  Hot Paint 
Paul Lindsay: The Fuhrer's Reserve: A Novel of the FBI
Elizabeth Lowell: Amber Beach
Gayle Lynds:  Mosaic
Helen Macinnes:  Pray For a Brave Hear
Adrian Matthews: The Apothecary's House
Frank McDonald: Provenance
Earl Merkel: Dirty Fire
Howard Norman: The Museum Guard
Neil Olson: The Icon
S.K. Palumbo: Spoils 
Patrick Parker: Treasures of the Fourth Reich
Iain Pears: The Last Judgment
Lewis Perdue:  Daughter of God
Elizabeth Peters: Trojan Gold
J.C. Pollock:  Goering's List
Joe Poyer: The Balkan Assignment
Michael Pye: The Pieces from Berlin
Piers Paul Read: Patriot in Berlin
Robert L. Rodin:  Articles of Fait
Luis Sepulveda: The Name of a Bullfighter
Daniel Silva: The English Assassin
Loren Singer:  Making Good
Doublas Skeggs: The Estuary Pilgrim
Taylor Smith: Deadly Grace
Louis P. Solomon & Linda K. Jenkins: The Third Legacy
Neal Stephenson: Cryptonomicon
Wade Stevenson and Barbara Teel: The Salzdorf Wellspring
H. B. Terrell:  The Chrysalis
Janwillem van de Wetering: The Butterfly Hunter
Susan Vreeland:  Girl in Hyacinth Blue
Irving Wallace: The Seventh Secret
Sylvia Maultash Warsh: To Die In Spring
Clarissa Watson: Runaway
Zerries, A. J.: The Lost Van Gogh

Non-fiction: 
Robert M. Edsel: The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History
Hector Feliciano: The Lost Museum:The Nazi Conspiracy to Steal the World's Greatest Works of Art

DVD: 
Hitler's Museum: The Secret History of Art Theft During WWII
Rape of Europa Collector's Edition

As always, I welcome additions. Please leave a comment.


Check out Library Booklist for Annotations of many of these titles.