Approximately five million works of art and religious, cultural and historical relics have been recovered and returned to their rightful owners by a group of men and women from the Monuments Department, fine arts and archives (Les Monuments Men: Saving European art: overview 1). Toward the end of the war, Dwight D. Eisenhower witnessed the destruction and told all remaining troops to avoid the destruction of all historical and cultural artifacts, even in the heat of battle (The Monuments Men 2012- 10-23 Youtube). Throughout the remaining years, soldiers worked to recover and discover works of art stolen by the Nazis. The Nazis hid hideouts in churches, houses and abandoned mines. Countless paintings by famous artists like Rafael, Rembrandt and Van Dyke have been found and returned to their museums. In addition to art, the Nazis also collected countless quantities of menorahs, Torahs, and other religious scriptures and objects. Collecting, recovering and returning all these forms of art and objects was the task before the Monuments Men. Without the hard work and heroic actions of the Monument's Men throughout World War II, much of the world's priceless art would have been lost forever. In 1937, Hitler began his campaign to purge German museums of art that he found "degenerate" or "too modern." This included pieces by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marc Chagall. His clean-up campaign resulted in the confiscation of 16,000 works of art. “More than 4,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, watercolors and graphics described as “degenerate” were burned by the Nazis in March 1939” (The Monuments Men: Saving Europe's Art: Overview). Not only did the Nazis destroy works of art, but they also sold many works at auction in Switzerland. As presumed, all that...... middle of paper ......alys-treasures-180948005/>.Brey, Ilaria Dagnini. "The Venus Fixers: The Untold Story of the Allied Soldiers Who Saved Italian Art During World War II '" Lootedart. Np, April 2009. Web. February 27, 2014. Edsel, Robert M. “The Army of Art.” The Monuments Men: saving art from the Nazis. Harvard Magazine, January-February. 2010. Internet. February 27, 2014. “The Monuments Men 2012-10-23.” YouTube. YouTube, October 24, 2012. Web. February 27, 2014. “The men of monuments: saving European art: overview”. A world at war: understanding conflicts and society. ABC-CLIO, 2005. Web. February 27, 2014. Willett, Megan. “Artworks Saved by World War II “Monument Men.” Business internal. Business Insider, Inc, February 20, 2014. Web. March 9. 2014.