Rose Valland, the Art Spy

By Brigitte Chevet

As an assistant at the Jeu de Paume Museum in Paris during WWII, Rose Valland risked her life documenting the Nazis plunder of art. She then collaborated with the Monuments Men and toured Germany to find the missing art pieces. Nominated Captain Fine Arts of the French Army, she never stopped trying to “save a little of the beauty of the world.” 60,000 out of the 100,000 works of art shipped to Germany would return to France thanks to her tireless activity. Even today, her archives are crucial for the restitution of art pieces to their owners, mostly descendants of the Jewish families who were dispossessed during the war.