Focus on this artwork and explain the The monument during World War II.
In 1938 the Monument was prepared to officially become state property, but this was precluded by the events following the Munich Conference. Thus the Monument remained property of the Union and the artwork decorations were not fully completed.
When World War II began, the lower buildings of the museum, now the Institute of Military History, were seized by the Germans. The Monument's building escaped the Wehrmacht's attention until November 1942. The administration of the Monument took advantage of this period to secretly remove everything valuable, such as metals for casting sculptures, and works of art. From November 1942 the Monument was occupied by the German administration and until the end of the war the Wehrmacht used it for storage.
Wehrmacht World War II World War I sculpture Munich Conference