Synchronicity Between Donnelly’s Books and Monuments Men
Have you seen the trailer for the movie, Monuments Men, coming out in February? Packed with stars including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett and John Goodman, Monuments Men is about a World War II platoon that President Roosevelt tasks with rescuing art masterpieces from Nazi thieves. This subject fascinates me. Monuments Men is based on the true story of the men who went behind enemy lines in Germany to find stolen treasure, which included the personal, beloved items of those tortured by Nazis along with famous masterpieces from our past 1,000 years of culture. Their goal was to return this loot to the rightful owners.
Even though these men rescued a trove of art and belongings, they certainly did not save it all from the hands of the enemy. I find it provocative to consider what happened to the rest of the treasure. In her historical novels, The Song of the Goldencocks and The Path of Lord Jaguar, author Margaret Donnelly introduced me to the idea that at least some of the art stolen by the Nazis during World War II was smuggled to lands far and away from Germany. These books beg the questions, “What happened to the missing treasure? What atrocities might this treasure have funded in the hands of fugitive Nazi war criminals?”
The Song of the Goldencocks proposes that Nazi higher-ups who fled Europe prior to the Nuremberg trials and were given refuge in Argentina by President Juan Peron brought treasure stolen from victims with them. Over time, these men dispersed throughout South America. Death squads in many South and Central American countries began to employ Nazi SS-style tactics, kidnapping and brutally murdering millions of people. Could these murders have been the direct or indirect result of Nazi fugitives using stolen loot to finance dirty operations in this region of the world?
In The Path of Lord Jaguar (the sequel to Goldencocks), a descendent of a Nazi war criminal brings stolen treasure to the United States. Are there individuals and businesses here in the U.S. that are the beneficiaries of Nazi thieves?
If you’re interested in such topics, I recommend that you read Ms. Donnelly’s books. They will certainly make you think, and they will leave you well-prepared for the subject matter covered in Monuments Men.
Learn more about The Song of the Goldencocks. Learn more about The Path or Lord Jaguar. Watch The Song of the Goldencocks book trailer in youtube. Watch The Path of Lord Jaguar book trailer in youtube.
