‘Just the way the Nazis did’: Evidence suggests Russians are stealing art from Ukraine on a World War II scale
“Our research suggests that this looting is state-sponsored by Russia,” said a researcher at the Smithsonian Institution, which is preparing a report on the massive scale of the theft.
Last fall, Ukrainian troops were closing in on Kherson, rolling back Russian forces who had seized the city after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.
At Kherson’s Regional Art Museum, a team of armed Russians in civilian clothes arrived along with several large trucks and buses. Over five days, they hauled away more than 11,000 pieces of art, including paintings, sculptures, graphics and other works from Ukraine and around the world, said Alina Dotsenko, the director of the museum.
“It was obvious that it was all planned. The decision to loot the museum was not made on the spot,” Dotsenko said. “It was all carefully planned.”
The theft, verified by human rights monitors and independent scholars, was not an isolated incident.
Russians in plainclothes load stolen artwork from the Kherson Regional Art Museum into the back of a truck in November. Courtesy Kherson Regional Art Museum
A growing body of evidence suggests Russian forces are systematically stealing art and cultural artifacts from Ukraine on a scale not seen in Europe since the Nazi plunder of World War II, according to researchers and experts documenting the damage.
The theft includes precious Scythian gold jewelry dating to the fourth century B.C., ancient coins and thousands of paintings from museums and private collections, researchers said. Some art and cultural sites have been severely damaged and destroyed, including centuries-old Orthodox Christian churches, libraries and paintings by one of Ukraine’s most beloved artists, Maria Prymachenko, whose work was hailed by Pablo Picasso as an “artistic miracle.”
The organized campaign of looting and destruction, targeting hundreds of cultural monuments, churches and museums, appears aimed at wiping out Ukraine’s history and cultural identity, experts said.
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Russian forces are stealing art and cultural artifacts from Ukraine on a scale not seen in Europe since World War II, researchers documenting the damage tell @NBCNews. https://t.co/TVWTxNfsxF
— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 6, 2023
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