In January 1945, Adolf Hitler issued orders to begin evacuation of artwork kept in Königsberg, Prussia, in anticipation of the eventual arrival of the Red Army. During the reign of the Nazis, millions of pieces of art were stolen from across Europe. Many were destroyed intentionally when the defeat of Nazi Germany was imminent, others fell victim to Allied bombing, and still others disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again.
Including the subject of this book, an artistic wonder so valuable, it is heartbreaking to contemplate what might have happened to it. Some say it was destroyed, though the sheer scale of this masterpiece suggests that were it destroyed where it was last known to have been kept, surely some evidence of it would have remained.
Leaving only one possibility.
It was moved before it was too late.