Harry Ettlinger Monument Man

A tank under fire in World War II
“We were part of a victorious army, but we didn’t loot or seek revenge against innocent people. We did our best to return priceless works of art to their rightful owners, to individuals, for institutions and for civilization.” - Harry Ettlinger

Harry Ettlinger - NJIT's Monument Man, Newark College of Engineering Class of 1950 

US soldiers recover art stolen by Nazis in a salt mine
 

“The spoils of war do not belong to the victors, culture belongs to everybody, and we can all be proud that back then the United States understood this.” - Harry Ettlinger

NJIT's own monument man, Harry Ettlinger is an alum of the Newark College of Engineering who majored in Mechanical Engineering, after serving in World War II in the US Army where he was assigned to their Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program. The accomplishments of this unit which was instrimental in saving the great works of art looted from all across Europe by the Nazis is the basis of the film The Monuments Men.

“The movie is about a part of our history that we should be very proud of,” says Ettlinger. “We did the right thing in returning the stolen works of art to their rightful owners.”

Harry Ettlinger holding a recovered violin

"That's what made our war different, it established the policy that to the victor do not go the spoils. The whole idea of returning property to its rightful owners in wartime was unprecedented. That was our job. We didn't have much time to think about it. We just went to work." Sergeant Ettlinger went to work hundreds of feet under the ground each day to find and identify priceless artwork including over 73 cases containing individual pieces of stained glass from Strasbourg cathedral in France now in the darkness of the salt mines of Heilbronn and Kochendorf. Other than the stained glass and a few famous masterpieces the majority of the items were not looted but belonged legally to German museums and were returned by the Americans who found them.

American soldiers recover art stolen by the Nazis in World War II

Upon his discharge in 1946, Ettlinger returned to his home city and enrolled at Newark College of Engineering to study mechanical engineering on the GI Bill. Graduating in 1950, Ettlinger had a series of positions, beginning with a job in a bronze foundry and later at firms specializing in radar and sonar equipment. He retired from the Guidance and Navigation division of Kearfott Corporation in Wayne, New Jersey, where he was a deputy program director responsible for the company’s contracts with the Navy for missile guidance-systems.

A young Harry Ettlinger enrolls in the Newark College of Engineering
In 2007, Harry's legacy was honored in a special way when President George W. Bush presented the Monuments Foundation for the Preservation of Art, dedicated to the legacy of the men and women who served in the MFA&A section with the National Humanities Medal at a ceremony attended by Ettlinger and three other surviving “Monuments Men.” Ettlinger was one of 350 members of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, a team made up of men and women from 13 nations, including 225 members of the U.S. Armed Forces, whose mission in World War II and its aftermath was to recover and return the plundered cultural treasures of Europe.
NCE Alumni Harry Ettlinger receives the Medal of Freedom