Albrecht Gaiswinkler

Background

Gaiswinkler was born in Bad Aussee, Austria.

Career

In 1934, he was a political prisoner for some months. In 1944, while serving with the German Wehrmacht in France, he deserted and joined the Maquis, bringing with him four trucks of arms and ammunition and 500,000 francs. When the United States. Third Army liberated Alsace in September 1944, he gave himself up to them (along with 17 German prisoners).

The Germans had pillaged a huge number of European art treasures during the Nazi period, and many had been stored in the Altaussee salt mine near Gaiswinkler"s home town of Bad Aussee.

After being dropped into the local area, Gaiswinkler raised a force of around 300 men and armed them with captured German weapons. He spent the last weeks and months of the war harassing local German forces.

When the Americans arrived, his information helped them capture several eminent Nazis. Other artworks rescued included the Ghent Altarpiece.

The administrators of the Louvre have stated that the Mona Lisa was kept in France during the Second World War, but that it is possible that a 15thor 16th-century copy of the Mona Lisa was held in Austria.

He died in Bad Aussee in 1979.

Membership

After the war, Gaiswinkler was a Sozialistische Partei Österreichs (Socialist Party of Austria) member of the Austrian Parliament from 1945 to 1949.

Connections

colleague:

Mona Lisa