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64-644: Some of them are portrayed and honored in the 2014 film The Monuments Men . Many of the men and women of the MFAA, also known as " Monuments Men ", went on to have prolific careers. Largely art historians and museum personnel, many of the American members of the group had formative roles in the growth of the United States’ most prominent cultural institutions, including the National Gallery of Art ,

128-437: A kernel of history there, but The Monuments Men plays fast and loose with it in ways that are probably necessary to make the story work as a film, but the viewer ends up with a fairly confused notion of what the organisation Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA) was, and what it achieved. The real organisation was never a big one (a few dozen officers at most), but the film reduces it to just seven men to personalise

192-593: A personal letter to all Commanders...the good name of the Army depended in great measure on the respect which it showed to the art heritage of the modern world. As Allied Forces made their way through Europe, liberating Nazi-occupied territories , Monuments Men were present in very small numbers at the front lines. Lacking handbooks, resources, or supervision – even precedent for their work – this initial handful of officers relied on their museum training and overall resourcefulness to perform their tasks. They worked in

256-749: A rightful owner, when identified. Centralized collection depots began being established in the immediate aftermath of the war. In early May 1945, Lt. Col . Geoffrey Webb , British MFAA chief at Eisenhower’s headquarters, proposed that U.S. forces quickly prepare buildings in Germany so that they might receive large shipments of artworks and other cultural property found in the numerous repositories. Eisenhower directed his subordinates to immediately begin preparing such buildings, ordering that art objects were to be handled only by MFAA personnel. Suitable locations with little damage and adequate storage space were difficult to find. The first Central Collecting Point (CCP),

320-509: A satisfying plot. A TV series might have been a better vehicle for the "monuments men" stories than a feature film... The story is fascinating, but this film's good intentions are hampered by its lack of pace, direction, tone and properly fleshed-out characters." Nazi-occupied territories German-occupied Europe (or Nazi-occupied Europe ) refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet governments , by

384-621: A temporary roof to protect the structure from further damage. Restoration of the frescoes continues even today. Countless other monuments, churches, and works of art were saved or protected by personnel of the MFAA section, whose dedication to their work would frequently draw them ahead of battle lines. Entering liberated towns and cities ahead of ground troops, Monuments Men worked quickly to assess damage and make temporary repairs before moving on with Allied Armies as they conquered Nazi territory. Two monuments officers were killed in Europe, both near

448-678: Is based on Robert M. Edsel 's New York Times best-selling 2007 book Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History . Notes Bibliography Further reading The Monuments Men The Monuments Men is a 2014 war film directed by George Clooney and written and produced by Clooney and Grant Heslov . The film stars an ensemble cast including Clooney, Matt Damon , Bill Murray , John Goodman , Jean Dujardin , Bob Balaban , Hugh Bonneville and Cate Blanchett . The film

512-421: Is based on real events, but the names of all characters were changed, and a number of further adjustments were made to the historical facts in the interests of drama. According to Clooney, "80 percent of the story is still completely true and accurate, and almost all of the scenes happened". The accounts of some events were altered to serve the film's dramatic portrayal of the retrieval of these treasures. During

576-484: Is based on the 2007 non-fiction book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter. It follows an Allied group from the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program that is given the task of finding and saving pieces of art and other culturally important items before Nazis destroy or steal them during World War II . The Monuments Men

640-519: Is directed to assemble an Army unit nicknamed the "Monuments Men", comprising museum directors, curators, art historians, and an architect, to both guide Allied units and search for stolen art to return it to its rightful owners. In July 1944, Claire Simone, a curator in occupied France, is forced to assist Nazi officer Viktor Stahl in the theft of art , either for Adolf Hitler 's Führermuseum or as personal property of senior commanders such as Hermann Göring . All seems lost when she discovers that Stahl

704-480: Is hiding as a farmer, when they identify the paintings in his house as masterpieces, at least one stolen from the Rothschild Collection . In December 1944, Walter Garfield and Jean Claude Clermont get lost in the countryside and blunder into a firefight. Clermont is mortally wounded and dies when Garfield is unable to find medical help. Meanwhile, Simone reconsiders her refusal after Granger shows her

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768-520: Is taking her gallery's contents to Germany as the Allies approach Paris. She runs to the railyard to confront him, but can only watch as he departs aboard the train carrying the cargo. In the field, Stokes' unit finds its work frustrated by Allied officers who refuse to endanger their troops for the sake of his mission. The unit splits up to cover more ground, with varying degrees of success. James Granger meets Simone, but she refuses to cooperate, suspecting

832-494: The Chicago Sun-Times called the film an "...engaging, shamelessly corny and entertaining World War II adventure inspired by true events"; he gave it 3 out of 4. Richard Corliss from Time stated that "...[r]ather than juicing each element to blockbuster volume, Clooney has delivered it in the tone of a memorial lecture, warm and ambling, given by one of the distinguished academics he put in his movie." The film

896-791: The Axis powers that were subsequently occupied by German forces, such as Finland and Hungary. Germany operated thousands of concentration camps in German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany . Following the 1934 purge of the SA, the concentration camps were run exclusively by the SS via the Concentration Camps Inspectorate and later

960-530: The Marburg Central Collecting Point , opened in the wake of Germany's unconditional surrender. Shortly after U.S. forces established two other CCP within the U.S. Zone in Germany : Munich Central Collecting Point and Wiesbaden . Secondary collecting points were also established in various German towns, including: Bad Wildungen , Bamberg , Bremen , Goslar , Heilbronn , Nuremberg , Oberammergau , Vornbach, and Würzburg . One of

1024-763: The Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and the New York City Ballet . Members from other allied powers, such as the United Kingdom and France, also found post-war success in museums and other institutions across the world. Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art , a US non-profit founded by American author and philanthropist Robert M. Edsel was created with

1088-715: The National Endowment for the Humanities , and the National Endowment for the Arts , as well as respected artists, architects, musicians, and archivists . Several portraits of British Monuments Men and Women are in the permanent collection of National Portrait Gallery , London. The Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program is the subject of the 2014 Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox film The Monuments Men . The film, which stars George Clooney , Matt Damon , Jean Dujardin , Cate Blanchett , and John Goodman ,

1152-531: The Nero Decree , which orders the destruction of all German possessions if Hitler dies or Germany falls, and she sees him return a painting looted from a Jewish family to its rightful place in their empty home. She provides a comprehensive ledger she has compiled, with valuable information on the stolen art and the rightful owners. Even as the team learns that the artwork is being stored in various mines and castles, it also learns that it must now compete against

1216-586: The Nuremberg Castle . Others, such as unmarked paintings or library collections, were much more difficult to process. Among the facilities were: As the war neared its end in Japan in 1945, Monuments Men George Stout and Major Laurence Sickman recommended creating an MFAA division there. Consequently, the Arts and Monuments Division of the Civil Information and Education Section of GHQ of

1280-516: The Office of Strategic Services . These included the contents of the Uffizi and Pitti palaces and paintings by Titian and Botticelli. Some of the repositories discovered by Monuments Men in Germany, Austria, and Italy were: In addition to preserving and cataloguing stolen and displaced treasures, MFAA efforts established pathways for restitution ; initially, this took place in the form of return to

1344-677: The Schatzgraber Weather Station as far north as Alexandra Land in Francis Joseph Land . Manned German weather stations also operated in North America included three in Greenland , Holzauge , Bassgeiger , and Edelweiss. German Kriegsmarine ships also operated in all oceans of the world throughout World War II. Several German-occupied countries initially entered World War II as Allies of

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1408-612: The United Kingdom or the Soviet Union . Some were forced to surrender before the outbreak of the war such as Czechoslovakia; others like Poland (invaded on 1 September 1939) were conquered in battle and then occupied . In some cases, the legitimate governments went into exile , in other cases the governments-in-exile were formed by their citizens in other Allied countries . Some countries occupied by Nazi Germany were officially neutral. Others were former members of

1472-699: The military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 and 1945, during World War II , administered by the Nazi regime under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler . The German Wehrmacht occupied European territory: In 1941, around 280 million people in Europe, more than half the population, were governed by Germany or their allies and puppet states . It comprised an area of 3,300,000 km (1,300,000 sq mi). Outside of Europe, German forces controlled areas of North Africa , including Egypt , Libya , and Tunisia between 1940 and 1945. German military scientists established

1536-552: The "greatest treasure hunt in history". In Germany alone, U.S. forces found about 1,500 repositories of art and cultural objects looted from institutions and individuals across Europe, as well as German and Austrian museum collections that had been evacuated for safekeeping. Soviet forces also made discoveries, such as treasures from the extraordinary Dresden Transport Museum . Hundreds of the artifacts were surrendered by, or had their locations reported by, SS General Karl Wolff as part of Operation Sunrise , his secret negotiation with

1600-494: The Allies invaded Sicily in July 1943." Historian Alex von Tunzelmann , noted several historical faults and said of the plot: "If you're getting the sense that the film is episodic and poorly structured, unfortunately you'd be right", and "There are far too many characters, so the screenplay splits them up into little groups and sends them off on various errands. Some of these are more exciting than others – but they do not add up to

1664-598: The American Defense Harvard Group and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) were working to identify and protect European art and monuments in harm’s way or in danger of Nazi plundering. The groups sought a national organization affiliated with the military which would have the same goal. Francis Henry Taylor , director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art , took their concerns to Washington, D.C. Their efforts ultimately led to

1728-516: The Americans want to confiscate the stolen art for themselves. British officer Donald Jeffries sneaks into occupied Bruges at night to save Michelangelo 's Madonna of Bruges , but is killed in the attempt. Richard Campbell and Preston Savitz learn that Van Eyck 's Ghent Altarpiece was removed by the priests of Ghent Cathedral for safekeeping, but their truck was stopped and the panels taken. Eventually, they find and arrest Viktor Stahl, who

1792-751: The Florentine collections. As Allied forces advanced through Italy, the German army retreated north, stealing paintings and sculptures from these repositories as they fled. As German forces neared the Austrian border, they were forced to store most of their loot in various hiding places, such as a castle at Sand in Taufers and a jail cell in San Leonardo . Beginning in late March 1945, Allied forces began discovering these hidden repositories in what became

1856-485: The MFAA as much as possible. This was the first time in history an army attempted to fight a war and at the same time reduce damage to cultural monuments and property: Prior to this war, no army had thought of protecting the monuments of the country in which and with which it was at war, and there were no precedents to follow.... All this was changed by a general order issued by Supreme Commander-in-Chief [General Eisenhower] just before he left Algiers, an order accompanied by

1920-707: The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Commission drew up lists of and reports on European cultural treasures and provided them to military units, in hopes that these monuments would be protected whenever possible. The Commission helped establish the MFAA branch within the Civil Affairs and Military Government Sections of the Allied armies, led by Major L. Bancel LaFarge . After the war,

1984-563: The Nazi period, a huge number of European art treasures pillaged by the Germans had been stored in the Altaussee salt mine near the town of Bad Aussee . In the film, it is stated that 'local miners' had blown up the mine to prevent the contents being destroyed. In 1945 a British Special Operations Executive mission, codenamed Bonzos and led by Albrecht Gaiswinkler , was responsible for saving

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2048-663: The Roberts Commission helped the MFAA and Allied Forces return Nazi-confiscated artworks to rightful owners. It also promoted public awareness of looted cultural works. The group was dissolved in June 1946, when the State Department took over its duties and functions. General Dwight D. Eisenhower facilitated the work of the MFAA by forbidding looting, destruction, and billeting in structures of cultural significance. He also repeatedly ordered his forces to assist

2112-537: The SS Main Economic and Administrative Office. Initially, most prisoners were members of the Communist Party of Germany, but as time went on different groups were arrested, including "habitual criminals", " asocials ", and Jews. After the beginning of World War II , people from German-occupied Europe were imprisoned in the concentration camps. About 1.65 million people were registered prisoners in

2176-583: The Soviet Union, which is seizing artwork from its occupation zone of Germany as war reparations . Meanwhile, Colonel Wegner is systematically destroying whole art caches. Eventually, the team has some success, as it discovers at least one mine hiding over 16,000 art pieces. In addition, the team captures the entire gold reserves of the Nazi German national treasury. Finally, as the war ends in May 1945,

2240-820: The Supreme Command of the Allied Powers in Tokyo was established. Stout was the Chief of the Division from about August 1945 until the middle of 1946. Langdon Warner , archaeologist and curator of Oriental art at Harvard’s Fogg Museum, advised the MFAA Section in Japan from April to September 1946. Other members included Howard Hollis, Lt. Col. Harold Gould Henderson , Lt. Sherman Lee , and Lt. Patrick Lennox Tierney . The American museum establishment led

2304-918: The United States. MFAA personnel became founders, presidents, and members of cultural institutions such as the New York City Ballet , the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission , the American Association of Museums , the American Association of Museum Directors, the Archaeological Institute of America , the Society of Architectural Historians , the American Society of Landscape Architects ,

2368-747: The Wehrmacht were targeted and detained in concentration camps. In Western Europe, arrests focused on resistance fighters and saboteurs, but in Eastern Europe arrests included mass roundups aimed at the implementation of Nazi population policy and the forced recruitment of workers. This led to a predominance of Eastern Europeans, especially Poles, who made up the majority of the population of some camps. The ethnicities of captured people were various other groups from other different nationalities were transferred to Auschwitz or sent to local concentration camps. The countries occupied included all, or most, of

2432-521: The Wiesbaden collection point gathered to draw up what has become known as the Wiesbaden manifesto on 7 November 1945, declaring "We wish to state that, from our own knowledge, no historical grievance will rankle so long or be the cause of so much justified bitterness as the removal for any reason of a part of the heritage of any nation even if that heritage may be interpreted as a prize of war." Among

2496-463: The camps, of whom about a million died during their imprisonment. Most of the fatalities occurred during the second half of World War II, including at least 4.7 million Soviet prisoners who were registered as of January 1945. Following Allied military victories, the camps were gradually liberated in 1944 and 1945, although hundreds of thousands of prisoners died in the death marches. After the expansion of Nazi Germany, people from countries occupied by

2560-558: The co-signers was Lt. Charles Percy Parkhurst of the U.S. Navy. Once an object arrived at a collecting point, it was recorded, photographed, studied, and sometimes conserved so that it could be returned to its country of origin as soon as possible. Some objects were easily identifiable and could be quickly returned, such as the Veit Stoss Altar of Veit Stoss from St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków , which had been discovered in

2624-407: The decades preceding World War II. S. Lane Faison 's passion for art history was passed on to hundreds of students and future museum leaders at Williams College in the 1960s and 1970s, some of whom are currently directors at major United States museums. Upon returning home from service overseas, many former MFAA personnel led the creation or improvement of some of the leading cultural institutions in

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2688-558: The destruction of the artworks held there, and were able to hand over "a number of Nazi treasure hoards, including a good copy of the Mona Lisa (which is subject of debate) and the Austrian Imperial Crown Jewels ". Other artworks rescued included Hubert and Jan van Eyck 's Ghent Altarpiece . Nigel Pollard of Swansea University was critical of the lack of historical accuracy, and wrote: "There's

2752-895: The efforts to create the MFAA section. Its members included museum directors, curators, and art historians, as well as those who aspired to join their ranks. Many major museums employed one or more MFAA officers before or after the war, including the National Gallery of Art , the Metropolitan Museum of Art , the Museum of Modern Art , the Toledo Museum of Art , and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art . Many other Monuments Men were or became professors at esteemed universities such as Harvard , Yale , Princeton , New York University , Williams College , and Columbia University , among others. Paul J. Sachs ’ famous "Museum Course" at Harvard had educated dozens of future museum personnel in

2816-518: The elderly Stokes replies "Yeah", while he takes his grandson to see Michelangelo's Bruges Madonna . A co-production between Columbia Pictures (in association with 20th Century Fox ) and Germany's Studio Babelsberg , the film was funded by the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) with €8.5 million, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg as well as Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg . Casting

2880-773: The establishment by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the "American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas" on June 23, 1943. What began as a brain trust of the art world's finest during the war became a group of 345 men and women from 13 countries that comprised the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section unit. They spent 1945 seeking out more than 1,000 troves containing an estimated 5 million pieces of artwork and cultural items stolen from wealthy Jews, museums, universities, and religious institutions. For six years after

2944-514: The eventual restoration work that would follow. Monuments officer Deane Keller had a prominent role in saving the Campo Santo in Pisa after a mortar round started a fire that melted the lead roof, which then bled down the iconic 14th century fresco -covered walls. Keller led a team of Italian and American troops and restorers in recovering the remaining fragments of the frescoes and in building

3008-761: The field under the Operations Branch of SHAEF ( Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force , Europe, commanded by Eisenhower), and were actively involved in battle preparations. In preparing to take Florence , which was used by the Nazis as a supply distribution center due to its central location in Italy , Allied troops relied on aerial photographs provided by the MFAA which were marked with monuments of cultural importance so that pilots could avoid damaging such sites during bombings. When damage to monuments did occur, MFAA personnel worked to assess it and buy time for

3072-473: The film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F. Peter Travers in Rolling Stone gave it three out of four stars, noting that while some of the dialogue and emotions seemed inauthentic, the physical production and cinematography were "exquisite," with shooting done on locations in Germany and England. In comparing the film with contemporary ones, he considered it a "proudly untrendy, uncynical movie," where

3136-489: The film has a 31% approval rating, based on 257 reviews, with an average score of 5.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Its intentions are noble and its cast is impressive, but neither can compensate for The Monuments Men ' s stiffly nostalgic tone and curiously slack narrative." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on reviews from 43 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave

3200-1259: The following nations or territories: [REDACTED] Bailiwick of Jersey 1 July 1940 – 9 May 1945 (Jersey) [REDACTED] Second Czechoslovak Republic [REDACTED] Third Czechoslovak Republic [REDACTED] German Zone of Protection in Slovakia [REDACTED] Free France [REDACTED] Provisional Government of the French Republic [REDACTED]   French Tunisia [REDACTED] Military Administration in Belgium and Northern France [REDACTED] Military Administration in France [REDACTED] Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France [REDACTED] Civil Administration of Luxembourg [REDACTED] Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France [REDACTED] German-occupied territory of Montenegro [REDACTED] Independent State of Croatia [REDACTED] Independent State of Macedonia Provisional Government of Lithuania 23 June 1941 – 5 August 1941 [REDACTED] General Government administration [REDACTED] Reichskommissariat Ostland [REDACTED] Reichskommissariat Ukraine [REDACTED] Government of National Salvation [REDACTED] Military Administration in

3264-537: The front lines of the Allied advance into Germany. Captain Walter Huchthausen, an American scholar and architect attached to the U.S. 9th Army , fell to small arms fire in April 1945 somewhere north of Essen and east of Aachen, Germany. Major Ronald Edmond Balfour , a British scholar attached to the Canadian First Army , died from a shell-burst in March 1945 while operating beyond the Allied front line in Cleves, Germany. American and allied forces in Europe discovered hidden caches of priceless treasures. While many were

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3328-476: The hunt for the looted art: five Americans, one British officer, the first to be killed off (Hugh Bonneville), and a Free French officer, marginalising the British role in the establishment of the organisation. This is presented as set up at Clooney's [Stokes'] initiative after the bombing of Monte Cassino (so, after February 1944). In fact, its origins actually went back to British efforts in Libya in 1942, and it already existed (albeit with teething troubles) when

3392-423: The looted art stored in Austrian salt mines. These personnel had been parachuted into the Aussee area, where Gaiswinkler raised a force of around 300 men, armed them with captured German weapons, and spent the last weeks and months of the war harassing local German forces. When the Americans arrived, his information helped them capture several prominent Nazis. He and his colleagues had captured the salt mine, prevented

3456-485: The more critical of these secondary collecting points was the Offenbach Archival Depot , where officials processed millions of Nazi-looted books, archives, manuscripts, Jewish objects such as Torah scrolls , and property seized from Masonic lodges. In summer 1945, Capt. Walter Farmer became the Wiesbaden Collecting Point's first director. When his superiors ordered that he send to the U.S. 202 German-owned paintings in his custody, Farmer and 35 others who were in charge of

3520-434: The product of looting by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, others had been legitimately evacuated from museums, churches, public buildings, and elsewhere for safekeeping. Monuments Men oversaw the safeguarding, cataloguing, removal and packing of all works from all these repositories. In Italy, museum officials had sent their holdings to various countryside locations such as the Tuscan villa of Montegufoni , which housed some of

3584-467: The scenes, including flights and American war base footage, were filmed at Imperial War Museum Duxford , Cambridgeshire , UK. A farm in Ashford in Kent was also used. Filming was scheduled to last until the end of June 2013, wrapping up in Rye, East Sussex . The film was originally set to be released on December 18, 2013, and a trailer was released on August 8, 2013. The release was pushed back to February 2014, because issues balancing humor with

3648-552: The serious nature of the subject matter caused post-production to take longer than expected. The film was screened on February 7, 2014, at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival . It was also screened at UNESCO , on 27 March 2014, on the occasion of the panel discussion "Modern Day Monuments Men and Women" on the preservation of heritage in times of conflict and the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property . The Monuments Men received mixed reviews from film critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes ,

3712-471: The stated mission of preserving the legacy of those who served in the MFAA. The Foundation seeks to further the mission of the MFAA by recovering Nazi looted artworks, documents, and other cultural objects and returning them to their rightful owners. Monuments men and women have worked directly with the Foundation, including Harry L. Ettlinger and Motoko Fujishiro Huthwaite . Even before the U.S. entered World War II, art professionals and organizations such as

3776-430: The story involved people seeking something more valuable than money. He added, "Clooney [as director] feels there's much to be learned from these unsung art warriors... The Monuments Men is a movie about aspiration, about culture at risk, about things worth fighting for. I'd call that timely and well worth a salute." He also wrote that "a tone shift that may leave escapism junkies feeling betrayed." Richard Roeper from

3840-472: The surrender, a smaller group of about 60 Monuments Men continued scouring Europe as art detectives. Commonly referred to as the Roberts Commission after its chairman, Supreme Court Justice Owen J. Roberts , the group was charged with promoting the preservation of cultural properties in war areas, including the European, Mediterranean, and Far Eastern Theaters of Operations, providing that this mission did not interfere with military operations. Headquartered at

3904-441: The team finds a mine in Austria that appears to have been demolished, and the Soviets will be there in hours. Discovering that the entrances were actually blocked by the locals to prevent the Nazis from destroying the contents, the team evacuates as much artwork as possible, including sculptures, the Ghent Altarpiece , and the Madonna and Child , before the Soviets arrive. Afterwards, Stokes reports back to President Truman that

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3968-409: The team has recovered vast quantities of artwork and various other culturally significant items. As he requests to stay in Europe to oversee further searching and restoration, Truman asks Stokes if his efforts were worth the lives of the men he lost. He says they were. Truman then asks if, thirty years from then, anyone will remember that these men died for a piece of art. In the final scene, set in 1977,

4032-450: Was co-produced by Columbia Pictures (in association with 20th Century Fox ) and Babelsberg Studio . It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $ 156.4 million worldwide against a $ 70 million budget. In 1943, the Allies are making good progress driving back the Axis powers in Italy. Frank Stokes convinces President Roosevelt that victory will have little meaning if the artistic treasures of Western civilization are lost. Stokes

4096-508: Was held in February 2013 for thousands of extras for the military scenes. Principal photography began in early March 2013, at the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam , Germany, in the Berlin-Brandenburg region, and the Harz . The mines around Bad Grund , particularly the Wiemannsbucht and the Grube Hilfe Gottes, were used in the filming of outdoor scenes. Other outdoor locations were the towns of Lautenthal , Clausthal-Zellerfeld , Goslar , Halberstadt , Merseburg and Osterwieck . Some of

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