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The woman who saved stolen Jewish art — and the writer who is finally telling her story

JL;DR SUMMARY Michelle Young's narrative non-fiction book, "The Art Spy," delves into the life of Rose Valland, an unsung WWII resistance hero who risked everything to save Jewish-owned art from Nazi looters. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

IdentityNazisBiographyCultural HeritageJewish ArtWwii ResistanceArt RestitutionUntold StoriesRose VallandMichelle Young

Places mentioned

New York, United States
"I first met Michelle Young a dozen years ago inside the Woolworth Building not just inside it, but deep inside it, past marble lobbies and hidden doorways most people never notice."
Los Angeles, California, United States
"Recently, Michelle and I found ourselves in Los Angeles for AWP the massive annual gathering of writers, publishers and literary dreamers from around the country."
Paris, France
"Rose Valland was hiding in plain sight, working in a museum teeming with Nazis."
France
"One of the earliest was an unpublished chapter of Roses memoir, detailing her escape from Paris the day the Nazis invaded."

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Cairo Item ID 51543
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2025-05-14 05:31:08 UTC
Curated 2025-05-14 08:31:56 UTC