부산대학교 도서관

Hitler’s plan to destroy world Jewry was closely tied to his plan to remake world culture, primarily by purging what he regarded as Jewish influence in the artistic world. Afterlives is the catalogue for an exhibition—mounted at the Jewish Museum, New York—illustrating both the Nazi looting of artistic treasures and the ongoing postwar effort for restitution of paintings, sculptures, and books to private and public collections. The essays in the volume provide historical context for Nazi policies and explain the various postwar attempts at cultural reconstruction. Of particular interest are photographs from the “Room of the Martyrs” in Paris's Jeu de Paume Museum, which the Nazis used as a transit point for stolen art or as a site for destroying art deemed degenerate. Wartime images reveal the fate of many of these pieces. Some of the works that were not destroyed were restored to rightful owners; the photographic image is the only record of the existence of the art that was destroyed. Afterlives, and the exhibition it catalogues, reflects the greater attention recent scholars have given to the fate of cultural artifacts. It provides fascinating details, but some of the pages are a bit too crowded for easy reading. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.