I thought Monuments Men is history. A friend has corrected me.
The UK, somewhat belatedly, signed the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954) in 2017. What took the UK so long? Probably worried there would be a deluge of requests to British museums for artefacts appropriated in colonial wars and the like, although I don’t know if the Convention is retrospective. Anyway let’s get on with it, buried in the text is this clause: “establishment of special units within the military forces to be responsible for the protection of cultural property”.
The man for the job might have been General Sir Anthony Pigott. He read Archeology at Trinity College, Cambridge and enjoyed Field Trips to the Sahara. However, he left the army in 2003 and sadly died earlier this year; so we must look for a younger man. In January this year in St Petersburg I met Lt Colonel Tim Purbrick’s uncle, which is a slight digression. Tim Purbrick is our Monuments’ Man, appointed in 2018 to command the British Cultural Property Protection Unit (CPPU).
Disappointingly, he is no Indiana Jones or George Clooney (in his MM role) come to that. He has forged relationships with politicians, museums and police and military forces internationally. I wish him luck in a job that will require more political than military skill.
Some case histories. Alex had to decide whether or not to bomb Monte Cassino, Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris ditto about Dresden and other German cities; they both did. The Allies refrained from bombing Rome. Baalbek received only minor damage when Hezbollah used it as a base in the 2006 civil war in Lebanon. It’s a hard call but winning a war expeditiously usually saves lives on both sides; Heritage versus human lives.