Harry ettlinger biography

German American art expert (1926–2018)

Heinz Ludwig Chaim "Harry" Ettlinger (January 28, 1926 – October 21, 2018) was one of the Monuments Men. On October 22, 2015, Ettlinger and Richard Morton Barancik, a fellow Monuments Man, were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Ettlinger also worked closely with the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art and its founder Robert M. Edsel to continue the mission of the MFAA and preserve their legacy.

Biography

Ettlinger was born in Karlsruhe, Germany on January 28, 1926. He migrated from Germany with his parents and his two brothers in September 1938. When they arrived in the United States they first lived in Manhattan, eventually settling in Newark, New Jersey, where he graduated from East Side High School.

After leaving the service he attended Newark College of Engineering (now New Jersey Institute of Technology) on the G.I. Bill, graduating with a BS in mechanical engineering in 1950.

A resident of Rockaway Township, New Jersey, he died in 2018 at the age of 92.

In popular culture

In the film The Monuments Men the character Sam Epstein is based on Ettlinger and played by Dimitri Leonidas.

References

Today’s post comes from Miriam Kleiman, Program Director for Public Affairs at the National Archives. 

We are saddened to learn of the death of Monuments Man Harry Ettlinger at age 92.

Ettlinger spoke at a National Archives ceremonyon May 8, 2014 (marking the anniversary of V-E Day), when he and Robert Edsel, head of the Monuments Men Foundation, presented Archivist David S. Ferriero with the last known leather-bound so-called “Hitler Album” of artworks stolen by the Nazis. Found in Hitler’s home in Berchtesgaden, Germany, in the closing days of the war, the album was in private hands until the event.

This album, the fourth album donated to the National Archives by the Foundation, joins the 39 original “Hitler Albums” used as evidence at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. These albums are part of our extensive collection of millions of records created or received by the U.S. Government during and after World War II relating to Nazi-era looted cultural assets. As the Archivist noted at the event, “the National Archives has become the world’s leading resource on Holocaust-era assets, and these volumes enhance our role as that resource.”

At that time of the event, Ettlinger (then 88) was one of only six living Monuments Men. He spoke beside a photo of himself as a 19-year-old Army “buck private” viewing a Nazi-looted Rembrandt self-portrait that Monuments Men found and recovered. He shared that this masterpiece “had been in a museum three blocks from my home in Germany, but I was not allowed to go in because I was Jewish. Thanks to the Monuments Men, I finally got to see it.”

You can watch the National Archives’ video of this special event, including remarks by Ettlinger, as well as by the Archivist, Robert Edsel, and Greg Bradsher:

Washington Post reporter Mike Ruane captured the magnitude of the event in his story: “As a monumental man watches, the Archives gets an album made by Hi

In 2011 LBI helped a town in Germany honor its Jewish past and connect with one of its native sons, Harry Ettlinger. Now Ettlinger’s military service during WWII is the subject of an upcoming major motion picture. Those who want the full story will find it in the LBI archives.

Like many German and Austrian Jews who found refuge from the Nazi regime in the US, Harry Ettlinger, born 1926 in Karlsruhe, found himself back in Europe in 1944 wearing the uniform of a US Army private. Shortly after he was drafted, he was assigned to hunt for looted artwork stashed away in salt mines and castles as one of the “Monuments Men,” a team of Allied service members and art historians tasked with recovering art that was looted, displaced, or lost during the war. Before his 21st birthday, Ettlinger had helped rescue priceless works of art, from a Rembrandt self-portrait to the stained glass windows from the Cathedral in Strasbourg.

Memoirs, archival collections, photographs, and oral history interviews in LBI collections tell the stories of numerous young men and women who bravely returned to their native countries with Allied liberators. Hollywood will soon shine an especially bright spotlight on Harry Ettlinger’s story, however; George Clooney is producing, directing, and starring in a film about the “Monuments Men” slated for nationwide release in December, 2013.

With a star-studded ensemble cast that includes Daniel Craig, Cate Blanchett, and Matt Damon, the film will focus on the stories of real individuals, including Harry Ettlinger.

Mr. Ettlinger’s family history in Germany, of course, goes far beyond the episode depicted in the film, and LBI is proud to hold an archival collection that documents generations of Mr. Ettlinger’s family history in Baden-Württemberg: The Baer-Oppenheimer Family Collection.

Otto Oppenheimer: businessman, philanthropist, andein waschechter Brusler

As a child, Harry spent time in the town of Bruchsal with his grandparents, Otto and E

Heinz Ludwig Chaim Ettlinger (d. 28 Ocak 1926 –ö. 21 Ekim 2018), Amerikalı mühendis ve bilim insanı. Amerikalı mühendis Ettlinger Amerika Birleşik Devletleri "Güzel Sanatlar, Anıtlar Arşiv Araştırma" programında görev almıştır. 22 Ekim 2015'te "Anıtlar Araştırma" programı üyesi olarak yaptıkları çalışmalarla Ettlinger ve ekip arkadaşı Richard Barancik "Ulusal Kongre Altın Madalyası" ile ödüllendirilmiştir. .

Amerikalı mühendis ve bilim insanı Harry L. Ettlinger 21 Ekim 2018'de Trenton, New Jersey'de 92 yaşında ölmüştür.

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