Richard Barancik, the final surviving member of the Allied unit referred to as the Monuments Males and Ladies, which throughout and after World Battle II preserved an enormous quantity of European artworks and cultural treasures that had been looted and hidden by Nazi Germany, died on July 14 in Chicago. He was 98.
His demise, in a hospital, was confirmed by his daughter Jill Barancik.
Mr. Barancik (pronounced ba-RAN-sick) was one in every of 4 members of what was formally referred to as the Monuments, Wonderful Arts and Archives Part to obtain the Congressional Gold Medal in 2015 in Washington for his or her “heroic position within the preservation, safety, restitution of monuments, artworks and artifacts of cultural significance.”
On the day of the ceremony, Mr. Barancik advised The Los Angeles Occasions: “The People cared concerning the cultural traditions of Europe. We did every thing we might to salvage what the Nazis had achieved. It’s the most effective we might do.”
An Military personal first-class, Mr. Barancik served in England and France — the place he was not on the entrance traces, his daughter mentioned, and loved the marching, meals and construction of army life — till Germany surrendered. After being deployed to Salzburg, Austria, he volunteered for the Monuments Males serving for 3 months as a driver and guard.
The Monuments Males and Ladies have been composed of about 350 folks — amongst them museum administrators, curators, students, historians and artists — whose missions included steering Allied bombers away from cultural targets in Europe; overseeing repairs when damages occurred; and monitoring down thousands and thousands of objects plundered by the Nazis and returning them to the establishments, and the nations, they got here from.
Mr. Barancik, who later grew to become an architect, had an curiosity in artwork. He had drawn cartoons for his highschool newspaper and located it thrilling to see church buildings and different buildings in Europe. However as a Monuments Man, he in all probability didn’t see most of the work, sculptures and different artifacts he was guarding and transporting to an Allied assortment level; they have been in crates.
“Somebody may need mentioned, ‘There’s a Vermeer in there,’ and he knew the artwork was essential or useful,” mentioned Robert Edsel, the founder and chairman of the Monuments Males and Ladies Basis, who interviewed Mr. Barancik and 20 different survivors of the unit for his guide “The Monuments Males: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Biggest Treasure Hunt in Historical past” (2009, with Bret Witter). The guide was tailored into the 2014 movie “The Monuments Males,” which George Clooney directed and starred in.
Mr. Edsel mentioned that Mr. Barancik was cautious throughout their two interviews, stunned on the curiosity in a short-term Monuments Man who, not like his extra skilled colleagues, didn’t have a creative specialty.
“He appeared extra interested by me with the ability to put into perspective what he had achieved, as if he didn’t understand the place he match into the general image,” Mr. Edsel mentioned by telephone.
Ms. Barancik mentioned that her father “was very embarrassed on the consideration” he acquired for being given the Congressional Gold Medal.
“He didn’t really feel like a hero,” she mentioned by telephone. “He mentioned, ‘I used to be a child, I used to be there for 3 months. It’s flawed for me to take credit score.’ However I’d inform him, ‘You have been a witness, you are representing the individuals who aren’t with us anymore.’”
Mr. Edsel recalled that after the ceremony, Mr. Barancik advised him, “I’m so deeply appreciative of what you and the muse have achieved, and it’s an honor past my potential to precise it.”
Richard Morton Barancik was born on Oct. 19, 1924, in Chicago. His father, Henry, was a household doctor and served because the chief of workers at South Shore Hospital; his mom, Carrie (Graiwog) Barancik, was a homemaker and performed piano for ballet courses.
After his time as a Monuments Man, Mr. Barancik remained in Europe to review structure on the College of Cambridge, in England and the École des Beaux-Arts, in Paris. On returning to america, he entered the College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and graduated with a bachelor’s diploma in structure within the late Nineteen Forties.
In 1950 he opened an architectural agency, Barancik, Conte & Associates, with one in every of his design instructors on the College of Illinois. The corporate designed personal houses, workplace towers, suburban workplace complexes, bowling alleys, faculties and luxurious house buildings.
“I actually apply structure seven days every week, all my waking hours,” he advised The Chicago Tribune in 1986. “It’s an all-consuming career.” He retired in 1993.
Along with his daughter Jill, Mr. Barancik is survived by two different daughters, Cathy Graham and Ellie Barancik; two sons, Robert and Michael; 4 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. His marriage to Rema Stone led to divorce, and his marriages to Claire Holland and Suzanne Hammerman ended of their deaths.
One of many advantages of the eye that got here to Mr. Barancik as a Monuments Man was the correspondence he acquired.
“He’d get fan mail and, as soon as every week, an autograph request,” Ms. Barancik mentioned. “He’d get delicate letters from folks, numerous them from schoolchildren, which saved the dialog going.”