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08/02/2007: ""Good" side stole billions in artwork from Germany"

German cultural institutions have issued a catalogue detailing thousands of objects of art that disappeared from Berlin at the end of the second world war, in the hope of pricking the conscience of governments to return them.

The detailed inventory, which one critic said read like a "book of mourning" for lost German artefacts, contains a staggering array of treasures, most of which are believed to have been seized by foreign soldiers in 1945. They include sculptures by Nicola Pisano, a delicate relief by Donatello, late Gothic Madonnas and an exquisite array of Baroque works rendered in stone and wood. Other star pieces include paintings by Botticelli and Van Dyck.

[ Those who claim to be good guys are usually charlatans, as the postwar record of the USA, UK and USSR bears out. ]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2139495,00.html