From 1945 to 1951, the Monuments Men and Women located and returned approximately 3,500,000 stolen works of art and cultural objects to the countries from which they had been taken. The receiving countries were then responsible for restituting each object to its rightful owner. The Monuments Men and Women also acted as custodians of at least 700,000 works of art and cultural objects belonging to German museums until such time as those museums were repaired or rebuilt. Despite their enormous success, hundreds of thousands of works of art and other cultural objects remain missing to this day.

Some of these objects are in public and private collections in various countries around the world, including the United States. Others are in the possession of soldiers and their families, as they were oftentimes taken as souvenirs of military service. The Monuments Men and Women Foundation, recipient of the National Humanities Medal, continues the work of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program. It has successfully located and returned paintings, drawings, rare books, priceless documents, and religious objects to individuals, museums, and archives in Europe and the United States.

If you have information concerning a work of art, cultural object, or historical document taken during the WWII era and wish to follow in the footsteps of the Monuments Men and Women by helping the Foundation return it to the rightful owner, please complete the form below and someone from the Monuments Men and Women Foundation will contact you.

The Foundation accepts and maintains confidentiality from those wishing to remain anonymous.

The Monuments Men and Women Foundation research on art leads is generously supported in part by Bank of America.