WWII’s Stolen Church Bells

      In the 2014 movie Monuments Men, George Clooney portrays a character based on Lieutenant Commander George Stout, a member of The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) program. This U.S. special forces unit was tasked with retrieving and restoring artworks stolen by the Nazis during WWII. Part of their work involved the repatriation of church bells.

     In addition to seizing art from Jewish collectors, the Nazis plundered museums across Europe and stole church bells from occupied countries.

     The joyful sound of church bells that had rung for centuries was silenced when Nazi troops confiscated the bells intending to melt them down and repurpose the reclaimed materials for the production of armaments. Church bells were the heart of communities marking the rhythm of daily life—broadcasting emergency warnings, calling people to worship, and heralding life passages. The Nazis intentionally targeted bells to undermine spiritual life, cultural identity, and morale.

     Nations pleaded for bells to be spared citing the Hague Convention Treaty of 1907, Article 27: "In sieges and bombardments all necessary steps must be taken to spare, as far as possible, buildings dedicated to religion, art, science, or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not being used at the time for military  purposes." These requests were ignored. In defiance, many communities hid their church bells and some were even buried.

     The Nazis transported the stolen bells by rail or river to bell cemeteries called Glockenfriedhöfe where they were broken down and taken to smelters. It is estimated that over 150,00 of the 175,000 stolen bells were melted down. 

    The process of returning bells to churches is still going on. In 2021, a bell that had been buried for 80 years was unearthed in Krosno, Poland. (see video below)

     In the movie, George Clooney delivers this often-quoted passage, "I think you should know the truth as I see it. This mission is never  designed to succeed. If they were honest, they would tell us that.  They'd tell us that with this many people dying, who cares about art.  They're wrong. Because that's exactly what we're fighting for—for our  culture and for our way of life. You can wipe out a generation of  people. You can burn their homes to the ground and somehow they'll still come back. But if you destroy their achievements and their history then it's like they never existed. Just ash floating. That's what Adolf  Hitler wants. And it's the one thing we simply can't allow."