Art preservation is often ignored during wartime, but for some soldiers, during World War II, it was their primary objective.
The Monuments Men, depicted in the 2014 film "The Monuments Men," made their biggest find thanks to an Auburn alumnus.
An article featured on Auburn University's website by Paul Harris, associate professor and associate director of the University Honors College, details one of the biggest discoveries made by Auburn's Capt. Robert Posey.
"His story is sensational," said Ralph Draughon Jr., who serves on the Alabama Historical Commission. "He was the most important of the Monuments Men."
Posey was born in 1904.
He graduated from Auburn with a bachelor's degree in architectural engineering in 1926 and another bachelor's degree in architecture in 1927.
During World War II, Posey was assigned as a monuments officer to Gen. George Patton's Third Army.
Monuments officers were assigned to units during World War II and were responsible for protecting cultural treasures from destruction.
Harris, who is putting together an honors book club about the Monuments Men slated for the 2015 spring semester, relayed the story of how Posey made his biggest discovery during the war.
In 1945, Posey suffered from a toothache and tasked his assistant, Private First Class Lincoln Kirstein, to find a dentist.
The closest Army dentist was more than 100 miles away, so Kirstein found a local German dentist who treated Posey's toothache.
The German dentist introduced Posey to his son-in-law, a former SS officer and art historian, after discovering Posey's interest in art.
The son-in-law told Posey the Nazis had hidden a large amount of stolen art in a salt mine near the Austrian village Altaussee.
In the salt mine, Posey found over 6,500 pieces of art including Jan van Eyck's "Mystic Lamb," which is "arguably the single most influential painting ever made," according to Harris.
"All thanks to a toothache." Harris said.
In "The Monuments Men," Bill Murray's character is a combination of several real-life Monuments Men including Posey, according to The New York Times.
Auburn's connection to the story doesn't end with Posey.
Another Auburn University alumnus was tasked with guarding Posey's find in 1945. Former state Rep. Pete Turnham was a first lieutenant when he served as commander of a 200-man company charged with guarding the art collection, which had been moved from the salt mine and stored in Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany.
Turnham graduated from Auburn University in 1944.
"We were college kids who didn't know anything about art," Turnham, now 93, said.
Under Turnham's guard, Neuschwanstein Castle served as a holding facility for Europe's artwork and culture, but it is better known as Walt Disney's inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland.
Turnham said he was glad the war ended and his orders to Japan were cancelled.
Posey returned to the United States after the war and worked as a successful architect until his death in 1977.
He is buried in Birmingham.
Turnham returned to Auburn after the war and was elected to the Alabama State House of Representatives in 1958.
Turnham served in the state house until 1998.
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