By Corine Wegener
This article was published in Museum News March/April 2005.
Q: We are a military museum, and we have in our collections a few items that were taken by sailors/ marines from Japan and Japanese-held islands during World War II. The items are typical for the era—rifle, bayonet, flags—and at the time were brought back to the United States with permission from a governing authority. We also have a binnacle compass that was taken from Japan by a landing party. One of our commissioners has questioned whether our collections should include such war booty. I have found the ethical guidelines regarding objects appropriated during the Nazi era, but have found nothing regarding the objects outlined above. Any advice?
A: There is a difference between a war trophy and looted property under international law and U.S. military regulations. As long as you otherwise have clear title to those objects and they fit within your collections policy, it is appropriate for them to be in your collection.
During WWII, the Hague Conventions on the Laws and Customs of War on Land governed the conduct of the war by its signatories. The seizure of private property is clearly forbidden pursuant to Article 46 of the Hague Convention.1 Cultural property is covered under Article 56, which states, “The property of the communes, that of religious, charitable, and educational institutions, and those of arts and science, even when State property, shall be treated as private property. All seizure of, and destruction, or intentional damage done to such institutions, to historical monuments, works of art or science, is prohibited, and should be made the subject of proceedings.” Article 56 envisions a “proceeding,” or legal action, as a remedy for such seizure.
The Axis powers in Europe notoriously flouted the Hague Conventions, looting both personal and state-owned property in countries they occupied. During and after the war, U.S. Army Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) teams gathered and repatriated cultural property to the countries of origin, but many objects were never returned to their rightful owners.2 AAM’s Guidelines Concerning the Unlawful Appropriation of Objects were established to help the legal owners and their heirs find and recover their property, but they do not apply to war material legally captured under international law, also known as war trophies.
The word trophy comes from the Latin trophaeum, which means “monument to victory.” Capturing and displaying enemy arms and armor as symbols of victory and power is an ancient tradition. The ancient Greeks amassed the weapons and armor of their defeated enemies into monuments or placed them in temples, dedicating them to the gods as thanks for their victory. The Romans built trophies of arms out of the captured weapons, standards, and other military accoutrements of their enemies and carried them in triumphal processions through the gates of Rome. Trophies of arms are iconic throughout art history, on armor and in painting, sculpture, and architecture.
The Hague Convention states that “An army of occupation can only take possession of the cash, funds, and property liable to requisition belonging strictly to the State, depots of arms, means of transport, stores and supplies, and, generally, all movable property of the State which may be used for military operations.”3 This includes everything from large supply depots of weapons to items of individual military equipment issued to soldiers. In other words, opposing forces could keep any property belonging to the state that was meant for military use. (Regimental or other unit flags, war trophies from previous conflicts, mascots, etc., have always been considered military property.) They also could keep private property that could potentially be used for military purposes (e.g., the inventory of a private firearms manufacturer) but eventually had to return or pay for that property. Captured military personnel were allowed to retain personal property and military equipment necessary for their personal protection while still on the battlefield, such as helmets.4
U.S. Army regulations define war trophies as “those items of enemy public or private property utilized as war material (i.e., arms, military accoutrements) acquired in a combat area or zone within a prescribed period of time and authorized by the commander to be retained under the provisions of military regulations in force at the time.”5 Personnel must surrender any captured material to higher headquarters or risk punishment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
In the Pacific theater, battles were fought on islands and at sea rather than in urban areas. MFAA teams were not active in the Pacific as there were not as many obvious problems with looted cultural property in those areas. As in the European theater, military personnel could request approval to keep military objects found or captured on the battlefield. If approved, they completed a Certificate of Private Ownership on which the unit commander certified that the object was a legitimate souvenir and not of any intelligence value. Once this was done, the sailor or marine could take the object home as a war trophy.
Similar rules apply even today. Signatories of the Hague Conventions, which are still in effect, develop national laws that mirror the laws of land warfare. The United States recognizes that battlefield souvenirs are an important tradition and a valued memento of national service, but also strictly regulates the practice, placing it under the regulation of the Secretary of Defense.6 Just as in WWII, military personnel must turn over any enemy property they capture or find to their higher headquarters, but may submit a request to keep items in certain circumstances. The keeping of privately owned and cultural property is strictly forbidden.7 An officer in each unit is designated to review such requests to determine whether 1) the object may be appropriately retained by an individual as a war souvenir, 2) would more appropriately be displayed in a unit’s military museum back home, or 3) should not leave the country of origin.
The question of whether your Japanese military objects are appropriate for your collection seems clear when viewed through the lens of international law and military regulations in place during WWII. As long as these items were brought back to the United States with permission from a governing authority, your institution has clear title from the donors, and the objects fit into your collections policy, these objects should remain in your museum.
References
1. The Hague Conventions on the Laws and Customs of War on Land, 29 July 1899 (Hague II) and 18 October 1907 (Hague IV).
2. See Lynn H. Nicholas, The Rape of Europa: the Fate of Europe’s Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War, 1st ed. (New York: Knopf, 1994).
3. The Hague Conventions, Article 53.
4. Ibid., Article 4.
5. Army Regulation 608-4, Aug. 27, 1975, p. 1 (while this regulation dates to 1975, its wording is similar to the policies in place during WWII).
6. U.S. Code, Title 10, chapter 153.
7. Army Regulation 608-4, Section 1, Paragraph 5, pp. 2-3.
Corine Wegener is assistant curator, Architecture, Design, Decorative Arts, Craft, and Sculpture at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts and is also a major (retired) in the U.S. Army Reserve. Stationed in Baghdad from May 2003 to March 2004, she worked as the Arts, Monuments and Archives Officer for the 352nd Civil Affairs Command, served as the military liaison to the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, and assisted the staff of the Iraq National Museum in their recovery efforts.
