Evening star., 1945-03-25
y. Commission Performs Vital Role in Safeguarding
Europe's Landmarks by Charting Precision Bombing
BY James Waldo Fawcett

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When the American Commission for
the Protection and Salvage OF Artistic
and Historic Monuments in War Areas
was set up several years ago even its
friends were doubtful Of its success.
The odds were against it. Among those
who sponsored the endeavor there were
some who believed that 1t could be
nothing more than pious aspiration.
Modern war, they reluctantly said,
would be difficult to civilize.
And, of course, they were correct in
their Judgment. 1t is solemn fact that
the liberation of Europe has cost and
will cost irreplaceable losses Of churches,
schools art galleries, museums and other
buildings belonging to humanity at large.
No one who has seen photographs Of
the debris of Caen or st. Lo or any
other Of hundred devastated towns
can entertain the slightest doubt con-
cerning the efficiency of contemporary
engines of destruction. Whole cities
have been pulverized.
Yet the losses might have been
greater had it not been for the effort
of the commission, authorized by Presi-
dent Roosevelt, June %, 1943. With
Associate Justice Owen j. Roberts as
It's chairman, it quietly has undertaken
a work unparalleled in the history Of
the world.
Sparing Cologne Cathedral
To illustrate the purpose and the
effect Of the commissions procedure,
the instance of Cologne may be cited.
Everybody knows that the famous ca
thedral there has survived repeated Al
lied bombings of the neighborhood. OBJ
servers who have been in the town since
it was occupied by the liberating forces
also have reported that the celebrated
Eigelstein-Tor, medieval castle con-
tanning a valuable collection of relics of
the Middle Ages, similarly has come
through" innumerable attacks. In
neither case has escape been a matter
of accident. The cathedral and the
castle are extant largely because Ameri-
cans planned it that way"
Proof of the altruistic labor Of the
Roberts Commission and associated
agencies is to be found in a series OF
publications which now are restricted to
military use but which eventually may
be released to the general public. Some
are called aliases, same manuals, some
handbooks, some guides; but, without
regard to differences in designations, the
objectives invariably are the same-to
instruct military personnel as to what
to spare, what to protect, what to
salvage.
Protecting French Monuments
A sample compilation is labeled:
Army Service Forces Manual, Civil At
fairs Handbook: France: Cultural Insti-
tutions. 1t runs to 178 closely printed
pages of text and maps. A brief intro
duction explains that civil affairs Of
ficers will seek "to reduce to minimum
the human suffering and material dam
age" resulting from the war and from
disorder incident thereto. But the basic
philosophy thus summarized is more
fully expounded in supplementary par
agraphs reading in part: consciousness
of their national artistic supremacy, of
the value of their art treasures and
tuOIluIIl6IlJS Is one Ol Tile ulOSt
notable characteristics of the French
people. This means that particularly
valuable aid to .gaining French conf
dence Is the protection of French public
and private monuments and works of
art.
Double Value of Protection
THE French people are strongly in
dividualistic, and, particularly in the
provinces, have always been somewhat
suspicious of tourists because they be-
lieve that they are the people who in
the past, have taken away some of their
monuments as souvenirs Unfortunate
ly, this was occasionally true. It is OBJ
vious that no mobile work of art must
be taken from France. 1t is
equally obvious that immobile' objects:
Religious monuments, including statues
of saints of no artistic value, calvaries,
dolmons prehistoric monuments),
places of worship themselves, ruins, etc.,
must also be protected and respected
"On the other hand, the materialistic
considerations of an economically mind
ed people must not be overlooked. visi-