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In partnership with the Monuments Men Foundation, Sony also launches informational and educational websites with lesson plans and maps detailing the team's historical efforts.

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In 1914, shortly after Germany invaded neutral Belgium, the German authorities exacted revenge for the shooting of several of their soldiers on patrol in Louvain. They executed more than 200 civilians, then methodically set fire to homes and to the University of Louvain’s library. About 250,000 books went up in flames, including 800 that had been printed before the year 1500. Rebuilt and lavishly restocked between the wars, the library once again went up in flames in May 1940, the result of German shelling in World War II. This time, 900,000 books were reduced to ashes, 200,000 of which had been donated by Germany under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

Antique books by Isaac Newton and other historical figures, lifted from an Italian church by a G.I. during World War II, were returned in a ceremony at the Italian Embassy here on Wednesday, the latest in a call for aging veterans and their families to repatriate such "souvenirs" of the war.

The forces that tore Europe apart during World War II also coveted its artistic heritage.

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Robert Edsel talked about his book, Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation’s Treasures From the Nazis, in which he reports on the rescue and protection of historic pieces of art in Italy during World War II. The Nazi Army, who occupied Italy in 1943, looted numerous historic artifacts and artwork that dated from the Renaissance and the Roman Empire. In his book, the author recounts the Allied mission to reacquire the artwork and focuses on the efforts of two men, art scholar Fred Hartt and artist Deane Keller, who pursued missing works by Michelangelo, Caravaggio, and Donatello.

The way Robert Edsel tells the story, it all began in 1997 on the Ponte Vecchio. He'd recently sold his oil-and-gas exploration business for $37 million, and moved to Florence with no grand plan except to find a grand passion.

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