Rockaway Township—It has been one heck of a ride for Harry Ettlinger, who fled Germany with his parents to the U.S. in 1938, was drafted into the U.S. Armed Forces, and is one of five Monuments Men still living. Yes, Harry, a long-term, active member of the Jewish War Veterans is a Monument Man— a real one, more authentic than any Monument Man in the movie starring George Clooney that opened on Sunday in theatres everywhere!
Harry is being honored in his hometown at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 18, with a screening of the new film at the AMC Rockaway 16 Theater, located at the Rockaway Mall on Mount Hope Avenue. The event is sponsored by the Rockaway Township Department of Community Services (DCS) and the American Legion Post 344.
Anyone who loves history knows that World War II was not only the bloodiest and most destructive war in human history, it also featured the biggest theft and rescue of European art culture.
And Ettlinger, a WWII veteran, knows it firsthand. He served on the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program; a.k.a the Monuments Men, or MFAA. They were a special team, eventually consisting of 345 individuals from 13 different countries, whose mission during the war was to search, rescue, and preserve historical European artworks that were stolen by the Nazi organization, Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR).
The Monuments Men is the latest film by actor/writer/director George Clooney, and chronicles the trials of the program’s servicemen with an ensemble cast including Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, John Goodman, Bill Murray, and Jean Dujardin.
Ettlinger, one of only five surviving soldiers who participated in the MFAA, said the event is a perfect dedication to the legacy of the Monuments Men and their heroic efforts to the art world during the Second World War. It was the first time in human history that efforts were made to stop the war crimes of looting and plunder, and to return the stolen property to its rightful owners, thus preserving some of most treasured arts of Europe.
“I am very pleased that they provide the publicity about the film and thereby provide the public with a favorable part of American history,” said Ettlinger who will also be giving an introduction speech before the screening. “I’m proud to have been a member of the Monuments Men. This is obviously one of the things I’ve done that I feel good about.”
When Ettlinger first heard of that a movie based on the group he was a part of was being made, he was excited and said it’s great that George Clooney is attached to the picture. “I have yet to meet a woman who doesn’t smile when I mention George Clooney’s name,” said Ettlinger. “He brings out the publicity that is needed to promote what the Monuments Men did.”
Harry was born in 1926 in Karlsruhe, Germany, into a Jewish family who ran a business in elegant women’s fashions. Life was normal until Hitler came to power and declared the Jewish population an enemy of the new Nazi regime. Under the Nuremburg Laws, the Ettlinger family’s business was boycotted and had to be sold to non-Jewish colleagues under the rules of Aryanization.
In 1938, shortly after Ettlinger’s Bar Mitzvah, the family fled to America to escape the growing dangers. “When the business went under, the message was clear,” said Ettlinger. “When you can’t get a job, you have to move. We didn’t want to leave, but we had to survive.”
Older relatives of the Ettlinger family, including Harry’s grandmother Jennie, stayed in Germany and were murdered in the concentration camps.
Upon arrival in the States, the Ettlingers lived in Upper Manhattan before finally settling in Newark. Harry’s parents eventually found work in New York, while their three sons, Harry, Klaus, and Ralph, attended to school, and adjusted to their new American lives.
In 1944, at the age of 18, he was drafted into the Army and sent back to Europe to train as an infantryman. Meanwhile, he became a U.S. citizen during his service. Ettlinger was to join the 99th Infantry Division at the Battle of the Bulge. Then, at the last moment, he was pulled out and ordered to Munich. Though he didn’t know it at the time, Ettlinger, who was fluent in German, was going to serve as an interpreter.
While awaiting new assignments, he came into contact with Capt. James Rorimer, an officer of the Monuments Men. In the movie, Rorimer is portrayed by actor Matt Damon.
From 1933 to the end of the war, the Nazis stole precious paintings, sculptures, furniture, etc., to profit from their conquest, and destroyed others they deemed worthless or undesirable.
For the next 15 months, from May 1945 to July 1946, Harry volunteered his services to search for the great, stolen cultural arts of Europe. His most famous assignments brought him all the way to the salt mines of Heilbronn and Kochendrof, Germany. There they found more than 40,000 boxes of precious works and books, including a Rembrandt self-portrait and sections of stained glass windows of the Strasbourg Cathedral from France.
Ettlinger’s job was to supervise the transport of these items to the surface, with most going back to German institutions, while others went to their countries of origin. The Monuments Men eventually disbanded in 1951, having saved and returned thousands of works of art that today are worth billions of dollars. Other works of art are still unaccounted for, and international searches are still being conducted today.
“I’m not surprised that it’s still happening,” said Ettlinger. “The opinion of the Monuments Men was that this thing would go on for many generations.”
Ettlinger returned to the States and attended the Newark College of Engineering (now the NJ Institute of Technology) and the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn (now the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering), earning bachelor and master degrees in mechanical engineering.
Ettlinger became a program engineer for aircraft flight instruments. Later on, he became a deputy program director for Singer Corporation, which produced missile guidance systems. He also served as chief financial officer for the same company.
Ettlinger married his wife, Mimi, with whom he had three children: Robert, Paul, and Amy. The couple has four grandchildren: Allison, Lauren, Andrew, and Lindsay. Mimi passed away in 2004 after 53 years of marriage.
Today, Ettlinger has been retired for 22 years and currently resides at the Fox Hills condominium development and still participates in Holocaust Education and Jewish Veterans activities around New Jersey. He is a co-chair for the Wallenberg Foundation of New Jersey; a nonprofit, interfaith organization dedicated to spreading the ideals of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish Protestant who rescued more than 100,000 Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust.
Looking at his life today, Ettlinger said he is satisfied. “I feel pretty good about my abilities to lead a relatively good life,” said Harry.
“The fact that [Ettlinger’s] a township resident is a blessing to us and we the township are thrilled to honor him with his event,” said Peter Tabbot, health officer of the Department of Community Services, who, along with Director Joseph Fiorilla, is the event’s co-coordinator.
“And we are grateful to the American Legion Post 344 for their incredibly generous support. The mayor, township officials, and the planning committee are particularly pleased that we may offer complementary admissions to veterans and active service men and women.”
Tickets are $10 for the general public and may be purchased through the Department of Community Services, located at the Municipal Building on 65 Mount Hope Road, until Jan. 27. For more information, and to inquire about tickets, call the Department of Community Services at 973-983-2848 or 973-983-2841.
By Anthony Lusardi (Reprinted with permission from New Jersey Hills Media Group/The Citizen/ www.newjerseyhills.com)
