This book tells about the unknown heroes of the Second World War. About people who were part of a military unit that history had no analogues. His task was not to destroy, but to preserve: what the Nazis managed to loot - more than five million works of art and other cultural property from museums, churches, universities, libraries and private collections in Europe. They were called “monument guardians”—art historians, museum curators, architects, and archivists from thirteen countries who volunteered to don military uniforms. In the immediate vicinity of the front line, at the risk of running into a stray bullet or being blown up by a mine, the “guardians” stubbornly and selflessly did their job, saving Vermeer and Leonardo, Michelangelo and Van Eyck, Rubens and Rembrandt... The search for stolen treasures required from them not only courage, but also remarkable detective talents.