RARE WORLD WAR II BOOK TO BE RETURNED BY VETERAN

AFTER FIGHTING HIS WAY ACROSS EUROPE DURING WORLD WAR II, JOHN PISTONE WAS AMONG THE AMERICAN SOLDIERS WHO ENTERED HITLER'S HOME NESTLED IN THE BAVARIAN ALPS AS THE WAR CAME TO A CLOSE. MAKING HIS WAY THROUGH THE HOME, PISTONE NOTICED A TABLE WITH SHELVES UNDERNEATH. EXHILARATED BY THE CERTAINTY OF VICTORY OVER THE NAZIS, PISTONE TOOK AN ALBUM FILLED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS OF PAINTINGS AS A SOUVENIR. 64 YEARS AFTER PISTONE BROUGHT THE ALBUM HOME TO OHIO, THE 87 YEAR OLD HAS RECENTLY LEARNED ITS FULL HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE: IT'S PART OF A SERIES COMPILED FOR HITLER FEATURING THE ART HE WANTED FOR HIS 'FUHRERMUSEM', A PLANNED MUSEUM IN LINZ, AUSTRIA. PISTONE'S ALBUM IS EXPECTED TO BE FORMALLY RETURNED TO GERMANY IN A CEREMONY AT THE US STATE DEPARTMENT IN JANUARY. GERMANY HAS 19 OTHER ALBUMS DISCOVERED AT THE BERCHTESGADEN COMPLEX THAT ARE PART OF A 31 ALBUM COLLECTION OF WORKS EITHER DESTINED FOR OR BEING CONSIDERED FOR THE LINZ MUSEUM.
PISTNE'S 3 INCH THICK, 12 POUND ALBUM'S JOURNEY FROM OBSCURITY BEGAN THIS FALL WHEN A FRIEND BECAME CURIOUS ABOUT THE BOOK SITTING ON PISTONE'S BOOKSHELF. THE FRIEND DISCOVERED AFTER SOME INTERNET SEARCHING THAT THE DALLAS-BASED MONUMENTS MEN FOUNDATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF ART WAS INVOLVED IN 2007 IN THE RESTITUTION OF TWO OTHER ALBUMS THAT WERE PART OF A SERIES DOCUMENTING ART STOLEN BY THE NAZIS. ITS FOUNDER, ROBERT EDSEL, BECAME INTERESTED IN WHAT WAS DONE TO PROTECT ART IN WORLD WAR II, TRAVELED TO OHIO TO EXAMINE THE ALBUM. SEEING IT CONVINCED HIM THAT PISTONE HAD ONE OF THE MISSING ALBUMS OF THE SERIES ON THE PLANNED MUSEUM. STAMPED ON THE ALBUM'S SPINE IN 'GEMALDEGALERIE LINZ' AND THE ROMAN NUMERALS FOR 13. IT STILL HAS THE STICKER FROM THE BOOK'S BINDER IS DRESDEN. EDSEL STARTED HIS FOUNDATION IN 2007 TO HONOR AND CONTINUE THE WORK OF THE ORIGINAL MONUMENTS MEN, THE ROUGHLY 345 MEN AND WOMEN FROM 13 NATIONS WHO HELPED ALLIED FORCES PROTECT CULTURAL TREASURES DURING THE WAR. AFTER THE WAR, THEY BEGAN TRYING TO FIND THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS OF PIECES OF ART LOOTED, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF WHICH ARE STILL MISSING. THE DISCOVERY OF THE ALBUMS COULD HELP. IN PISTONE'S CASE, EXPERTS HAD THE NAMES OF THE ARTWORK FEATURED IN HIS ALBUM BUT THE PHOTOGRAPHS COULD HELP MATCH THEM TO THE CORRECT PIECES OF ART. BEFORE THE BOOK MAKES THE TRIP OVERSEAS, IT AND ONE OF TWO OTHER ALBUMS THE FOUNDATION HELPED DISCOVER WILL GO ON DISPLAY FOR ABOUT THREE MONTHS AT THE NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM IN NEW ORLEANS FOLLOWING THE STATE DEPARTMENT CEREMONY, EDSEL SAID.