Art Historiography during World War I: Kunstschutz and Reconstruction in the General Government of Warsaw
Art Historiography during World War I: Kunstschutz and Reconstruction in the General Government of Warsaw

Summary/Abstract: Within weeks of the outbreak of World War I, major losses of buildings and art monuments had already occurred. German troops were responsible for the destruction of the historic centres of Leuven in Belgium and Kalisz in the Russian partitioned area of Poland, as well as the shelling of the Reims cathedral. Russian offensives laid waste to small towns and villages in East Prussia and Galicia. Events in the Eastern theatres of the war barely struck a chord among the Western European population. However, in Belgium and France violations of international regulations of the Hague Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land (1907) ‘for the preservation of cultural heritage during hostilities of war’ were harshly condemned in the Entente states’ war propaganda. As a result of growing international pressure, the Reich government implemented the approach of Kriegsdenkmalpflege, a plan that was substantially developed by Paul Clemen, a university professor from Bonn. This paper contains initial observations about the activities of the Kunstschutz from 1915 to 1918 in the General Government of Warsaw under German civil administration. The paper will then formulate research questions for a comparative analysis of the programme’s activities in the various European theatres of war.

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