Why did Hitler want to bomb Paris and destroy cultural treasures when the war was lost?

[JAEGERR]

As the title says, why? And why did the nazis gather all these cultural treasures?

[Olham]

Can't answer the first question seriously (not enough historical knowledge there), but offhand I'd say: Because he was insane?

 

The second question is easier; you give the answer yourself by naming them "treasures".

Since the ancient Greeks and before them, the victors have plundered the treasures of the beaten.

Simply because they wanted them - and they could take them.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Olham

[Hauksbee]

"Götterdämmerung "...the Twilight of the Gods. The northern mythos held that the gods, while powerful, were not immortal and, in time, the forces of evil and chaos would break out in a final cataclysm. It's hard to say whether Hitler actually believed it, but in the last days his attitude was one of vengeful petulance: "If I can't have it, then nobody will!". All along the front as the Wehrmacht retreated, units were ordered to practice a 'scorched earth' policy against the civilian population. Museums and architecture suffered heavily, but anything that was beloved by the local population was fair game.

 

As to your second question, Hitler always considered himself an artist. In the early days he made frequent reference to a future date when he would be able to set aside the burden of politics and devote himself to art. He had Albert Speer design a monumental city center for Berlin. It was to house the world's greatest art museum. There was a similar project for his home town of Linz, in Austria. Again, there was to be a huge art museum. Long before the beginning of the war, there was a department in the Nazi government that surveyed European museums and listed the art treasures that would be seized when war came. There was nothing haphazard about the looting; it was an essential pre-programmed part of the conquest. If you get Netflix, check out "The Rape of Europa". It's a brilliant account of this, and, includes the work of "The Monuments Men" (The George Clooney film)

 

In addition, each year there was a grand National Art Exhibit in Berlin which Hitler felt he alone was fit to judge. Each year he bought a large number of the paintings for his private collection. ( He fancied chaste nudes, rural landscapes with happy peasants, family scenes, etc.) Since 'the boss' had an art collection, it became fashionable for anyone who wanted to be in the inner circle to gather their own collection. Hermann Göring (especially) plus Speer, Himmler, Goebles (and on down the line) competed to build their own collections, even filching items destined for state exhibit.

[Hauksbee]

Another outstanding film on the Holocaust, and the looting of art: "The Woman In Gold" It deals with the 'Portrait of Adele Bloch-Baur' by Gustav Klimt (1907) and the attempts by Adele's niece, Maria Altman, (played by Helen Mirren) to have it returned to her along with five other Klimt paintings. As one character in the film commented, "The portrait of Adele is Austria's Mona Lisa. There is no way they will ever allow it to leave the country". Talk about playing against a stacked deck! I highly recommend it.

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[Hauksbee]

Though I may be in danger of belaboring the point, here's another piece of your answer. The Nazi's loathed the whole of the modernist art movement, terming most of it "Degenerate Art". Hitler believed that people like Picasso and Braque (both Cubists) suffered from a birth defect and actually saw the world like their paintings. This  art was obviously a corrupting influence to society and had to be cauterized out. "The portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer" was lumped into this category at first, but was saved a Nazi lawyer who had some artistic sense. It was re-titled "Woman In Gold" to disguise her Jewishness.

 

Other Gustav Klimt works did not fare so well. Here's a Wiki paragraph on these three:

 

"In 1894, Klimt was commissioned to create three paintings to decorate the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna. Not completed until the turn of the century, his three paintings, Philosophy, Medicine, and Jurisprudence were criticized for their radical themes and material, and were called "pornographic". Klimt had transformed traditional allegory and symbolism into a new language that was more overtly sexual and hence more disturbing to some. The public outcry came from all quarters—political, aesthetic and religious. As a result, the paintings were not displayed on the ceiling of the Great Hall. This would be the last public commission accepted by the artist.

 

All three paintings were destroyed by retreating SS forces in May 1945."

 

It was destruction for destruction's sake.

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Edited October 29, 2015 by Hauksbee