Art

Toledo's World War II art connection

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School students and Toledo residents wait in line outside the Toledo Museum of Art to view more than 90 European paintings Nazis had buried deep in a German salt mine. In 1949, more than 100,000 people streamed into the museum in a 10-day exhibit of paintings.

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An Army escort brings the more than 90 European paintings Nazis had buried deep in a German salt mine to the Toledo Museum of Art .

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Toledo residents wait in line inside the Toledo Museum of Art to view more paintings Nazis had hid.

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Toledo residents and Catawba Island school students wait in line inside the Toledo Museum of Art.

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The Toledo Blade bused students to the Toledo Museum of Art to view more than 90 European paintings Nazis had buried deep in a German salt mine.

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Crates of artwork are opened up under Army supervision.

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People in a gallery at the Toledo Museum of Art.

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Guards watch over crates of European masterpieces.

TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART

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Photo shows the convoy that delivered the paintings included in the 1949 European Masterpieces exhibit of paintings that came to Toledo as the last stop of an American tour.

TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART

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Photo shows the convoy that delivered the paintings, which had been stored in a German salt mine during World War II. They were taken to the U.S. for safekeeping, where they went on a tour through museums in cities including Toledo, and later returned to Germany.

TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART

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Lines of people waiting to see a 1949 exhibit called European Masterpieces from Berlin Museums wait outside the Toledo Museum of Art.

TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART

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Otto Wittmann of the Toledo Museum of Art points at one of the paintings on display at the museum in 1949.

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