My apologies for not reviewing this book. I was unable to download it before the archive date. I would in the future really like to read it

This is my first ever DNF, so that should say something in itself.
I went in excited to hear about all the lost art recovered and the possibility of the journey it made being revealed.
The book starts off strong with the (somewhat) recent reveal of a giant stash of art found in the hands of the Gurlitt family.
I found the book was more about the history of the individual artists rather than the art.
A large chunk of the book dealing with history prior to Hitler coming to power (or even being born).
I only got about 47% into the book so I have no idea if this ever got back on track.
I couldn't force more of this dry read.
Thank you (?) to NetGalley and Perseus Books, PublicAffairs for my ARC.

Hitler’s Last Hostages is and incredibly detailed and well researched book.  I have a degree in art history and I’m also a WWII buff, so I was excited to delve into this.  I was aware of the Gurlitt case and remember when the story was in the news several years ago, but this book shined a new light onto a less talked about part of WWII history. 

Cornelius Gurlitt, the son Hildebrand Gurlitt, was hiding over 1,200 works of art in his apartment including many infamous Old Masters, Impressionist, Cubist, and Expressionist pieces. Hildebrand Gurlitt was a German art dealer working for Hitler and the Nazi party to buy, loot, and in many cases steal works of art from civilians, mostly those of Jewish faith. 

After the introduction, Lane chronicles Hitler’s upbringing including his relationship with his mother and his father’s alcoholism, his time as a homeless youth in Vienna, to his eventual rise to power following the Germanic social and economic downturn that stemmed from WWI. 

We also follow several contemporary artists of the time including George Grosz, Otto Dix, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. These artists and their work were considered “degenerate” by the Nazi Party due to their un-German/non-Aryan nature. 

Lane did an incredible job researching this topic. It’s amazingly sad that after all these years, Holocaust survivors are still seeking restitution for property that is rightfully theirs. 

Thank you to the author and the publisher for proving me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found the organization and sequencing of this book would be difficult to use for research purposes. The information was well-researched, but the organization was sometimes difficult to follow. The heist that Cornelius Gurlitt’s father, Hildebrand Gurlitt, coordinated and kept secret for so long was astounding. The German government’s response to crime is even more astounding.

The prologue reads like a scandal from a magazine. The author gets a call in 2013 from her editor about a stash of Nazi-looted paintings found in the home of Cornelius Gurlitt, the son of Hildebrand Gurlitt, and wants her to cover the story. While investigating, she discovers the German government is focused on the art for taxation purposes rather than ethical or moral reasons. However, this modern-day story is not picked up in the book again until the end around 75%. 

Thereafter, information delves into the history of artistic movements in Germany shortly before WWII. The artists are detailed, specifically George Grosz. His history, education, family, and artistic background are detailed thoroughly for 10% of the book. I was unsure and asking myself why so much on this one man? But he is cycled back to at the end of this book and is used to mirror what was felt by many of the local artists holistically and to navigate what happened to them. 

Hitler comes into play at around 25% of this book, as a young man. His primary school, social, religious upbringing, and family history are accounted for. His obsession with art throughout his life projects into his political display as a leader. Claiming that art and Nazism are inseparable facets to the success of his regime, he restricts and censors all “degenerate culture” (non-Aryan art, or anything that does not support Nazism). He advocates for the success his Fuhrermuseum Project (his dream art museum) even when losing the war. 
Now, Hildebrand Gurlitt comes back into the picture. While using the Holocaust victims and others in turmoil to profit for himself, he was responsible for buying pieces for Hitler. But Gurlitt couldn’t help but secretly pocket his own pieces along the way.

The end of the book sequences back to Grosz and the artists who were “degenerate”, detailing what happened to them. After this recount, it goes back to the 2013-2018 case against Gurlitt. This was my favorite part.

Artist included in this book, but not limited to: Emil Nolde, Otto Dix, Ernst Kirchner, Pablo Picasso, Max Beckmann, Kathe Kollwitz, Gustave Courbet, Adolph Menzel, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, Eugene Delacroix, George Grosz, Henri Matisse, Max Liebermann, Edgar Degas

Many thanks to Perseus Books, Public Affairs, Mary M. Lane, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this advanced copy.

This book grew on me as a read it. Here's why:

The book starts in 2013, when the author, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, gets assigned to write the story of a certain waste of human skin named Cornelius Gurlitt. This reprehensible specimen had been found to have been hiding for decades literally thousands of works of art stolen by, or sold under coercion to, the Nazis, in the person of Cornelius Gurlitt's father, Hildebrand Gurlitt. This introduction moved along nicely and made me (as I think it would most readers) to ask themselves "How did he get away with it?"

Then, the book's action moves back to the birth of Adolf Hitler in 1889. It tells the story of his child- and young adulthood, and then moves very reasonably to the Weimar Republic and its art scene. It tells the story of many artists who lost their livelihoods and often their lives to the Nazis, and in particular spends a long time telling of the life and works of George Grosz. It was in the middle of one of these long passages about Grosz that I formulated in my mind the accusation that this book had a lot of irrelevant padding to make it book-length, because it seemed like so much information about Grosz was not really necessary to answer the "How did he get away with it?" question.

Nevertheless, I persisted because I got a free egalley copy of this book for review from those nice people at Public Affairs and Netgalley and I think that obligates me to make an extra effort, which turned out to be a good decision.

The narrative of the book continued and eventually the Nazis fell. Grosz re-entered the book as a depressed and moody older man, in spite of (or perhaps because of) escaping the Nazis and prospering to a certain extent in the USA. He returned to Germany in the 1950s and found no evidence that his most famous and powerful works had survived. We, the reader, know that many of them are lying in a drawer in the overstuffed apartment of the reprehensible Cornelius in Bavaria, but Grosz doesn't know, and he goes to his grave not knowing.

Ah-ha! I said to self. That's why so much on Grosz -- the return of his works to the public after the war would have provided a sense of closure and relief to a talented and principled man whose livelihood had been destroyed by the Nazis. But instead, a paranoid and conceited lunatic concealed artworks based on … it's never clear … a twisted sense that they were somehow his? that concealing them was revenge on those who accused his father (based on a mountain of evidence) of enthusiastic collaboration with the Nazis? that discreetly selling off just enough art to keep food on the table saved him from a lifetime of actually working for a living?

There's a few pages at the end of the book where the author ponders who is more reprehensible, the younger or older Gurlitt. If you have read this far, you may not be surprised to learn that I think the son is a much bigger villain, even though the father was the one who did the dirty deeds directly with the Nazis and their victims. The instinct for survival is strong, and the Nazis were stone-cold killers, so the father at least has the excuse that he is helping to preserve the life of his family in a time of extreme peril, whereas the younger Gurlitt lived in a time of absolutely no personal danger whatsoever. Younger Gurlitt could have accelerated the post-war healing process at any moment by a decision to be honest and generous. Only a twisted sense of entitlement kept thousands of stolen artworks hidden for two generations.

There's lots more fascinating detail too -- I particularly enjoyed the bits that compared the ragtag and only-partially-successful work of the so-called Monument Men with their portrayal in a recent star-studded Hollywood movie.

Oh, and for those of us looking to Germany as some kind of last bastion of humanitarian democracy, the book also is a big bucket of water tossed over those hopes, as German governments (both national and regional) behave shamelessly throughout this sorry episode.

This is an interesting book that gets more interesting as it moves along. Check it out, even if the name George Grosz means nothing to you right now.

The following is a final trivial point, but I fell down this information-era rabbit hole and I enjoyed it. I hope you will, too.

Question: What is the surname of former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George?

My life has been sadly lacking in opportunities to write about this gentleman, but nevertheless I maintain a strong opinion (unfettered by actual need) that it is "Lloyd George" and not "George". Mary Lane disagrees (Kindle location 2073 and elsewhere). Wikipedia gives this fairly unhelpful guidance: "His surname is usually given as 'Lloyd George' and sometimes as 'George'."

I will tell you from hard experience that typing "What is Lloyd George called?" does not yield a productive result. After a few iterations of increasingly strategic search-bar typing, Wikipedia yielded up this obscure nugget which restored (at least partially) my faith in mankind through the knowledge that at least two or three people have explored this topic to the point of mania.

Furthermore, I enjoyed that the overwhelming evidence points to "Lloyd George" as the correct answer. Sorry, Mary -- you deserve a better editor.

Hitler's last hostages refers to artwork and other rare and beautiful items that the Nazis looted during their occupation of much of Europe, which we are starting to learn more about through the efforts of people engaged as Monument Men during and after WWII.  The sheer numbers of things looted and hauled around Europe to fill the museums, homes, and government buildings of the Nazi leadership, was immense, and unfortunately, toward the end of the war, they destroyed many priceless things instead of having them retaken by the Allies.  What is really astounding is that one of Hitler's 4 main art dealers was also engaged in collecting works of art and that he was able to keep most of them, hidden, after the war; moreover, he wasn't even punished for collaborating with the Nazis!  The lengths that the present German government has gone to, to avoid both returning looted artworks, and not wanting to comment on the whole subject, makes one wonder just how sorry many Germans actually are for stealing Jewish art, jewelry, books, etc., since they fight hard to NOT have to give them back.  This book did a great job of illustrating how the whole scheme was dreamed up by a madman--Hitler--who was instrumental in not only taking Jewish--and other--lives, but also stealing their businesses, homes, and possessions.  A very interesting read for me.