Name: Hitler's Horses
ISBN: 9781529106091

Arthur Brand

The Incredible True Story of the Detective who Infiltrated the Nazi Underworld

Hitler's Horses

Tim Pendry

Arthur Brand is a Dutch investigative journalist specialising in exposing the illicit trade in art and antiquities and in restitution. This is his account of his work, latterly alongside the German police [LKA], to find the lost horse sculptures created by Josef Thorak for Hitler's Reich Chancellery. I won't say too much about the story because almost anything substantive would be a spoiler although it is a fun and interesting read. Brand encounters some serious Neo-Nazis and the residue left by the dodgy involvement of the Stasi in the art market during the Cold War. Precisely what are the motivations of the various players in a complex game are never entirely clear. The nasty taste left in the mouth is that our nice middle class idea of art as some sacred romantic aesthetic thing may be just cover for yet another sordid commercial trade driven by greed. Art does have ideological and cultural significance (the 'wrong sort' in the case of the horses) and artists do create great works under any regime but between seller and buyer lies little more than a trade in assets. Specialists work for commission as might traders in bananas or cocaine. In the modern art world, some of these asset trades overlap with criminal activity. Criminal acquisition can result in a turn for someone with few questions asked ('fencing') or art works can act as collateral for cash loans or be used in money laundering transactions. In such a case as Hitler's horses (and other masterworks by undoubtedly great Nazi artists), works, technically still German State property, can develop a dual use as symbols of underground German nationalism and collateral for fund-raising between nationalists for whatever ultimate purpose. The book is journalism and not history. Some of the conversations are clearly redrafted to suit the story. Names have been changed and we are not told this until the end. Nevertheless, the story seems pretty honest. Brand has certainly stumbled on networks amongst whom it is wise to be cautious. The Russians have a walk-on part but only as passively holding on to the horses until just before the Berlin Wall fell. Brand's speculations about the KGB and obligatory references to house demon Vladimir Putin are unconvincing. Some of the spy stuff is just bigging up black market cynicism. If the art trade seems to have its Del Boy element, the Neo-Nazis seem more sad romantic remnants than evil plotters of a Fourth Reich but one can see why the authorities are nervous of what might be done with several million Euros from an illicit sale. These baddies may also be slightly bigged up. Brand ramps up the tension as if he had a film version at the back of his mind. The story was a national scandal in 2015 so it should be sellable. I was only surprised, given nationalist infiltration of the German State, that the denouement was even possible but that is just cynical old me. The horses are now back in the hands of the German State. Brand's Jewish restitution clients (seemingly his core business) were not unhappy at the result. The debate about whether to hide, show or destroy has been decently resolved as show but with appropriate context. Still, I am not sure this should be read as perfectly reliable - one suspects Brand slightly overplays his hand and underplays that of the German police - but it is a very good read. It will be educational for many people who know little about post-war Germany or the art trade. Definitely worth reading for entertainment reasons, the book is quite exciting traditional investigative journalism with a cast of characters (including the obligatory mysterious woman with a past) who are well drawn and who would grace any work of solid spy fiction.

Hitler's Horses The Incredible True Story of the Detective who Infiltrated the Nazi Underworld

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