Pre-Owned Treasure Hunt: A New York Times Reporter Tracks the Quedlinburg Hoard (Hardcover) 0880641746 9780880641746

Nearly half a century after the end of World War II, the famous and priceless Quedlinburg treasures were still missing. The Nazis had commandeered this magnificent hoard of medieval artworks and had hidden it in a cave on the outskirts of Quedlinburg - a quaint, cobblestone-paved village in central Germany. But soon after victorious American troops occupied Germany in April 1945, twelve of the treasures - worth more than $200 million in today's market - were found to have suddenly disappeared. For years after, the Quedlinburg case was known as the greatest and longest unsolved art theft of the century. Then, in 1989, William H. Honan, a senior reporter at The New York Times hungry for a high profile case, and Willi Korte, a colorful, wise-cracking German researcher, set out to track down the thief. It began to look like a hopeless task. After so many years, the trail had grown cold, and it seemed as if, should they be lucky enough to discover him, the thief might be ready to kill in order to protect his priceless booty. As the investigators scrutinized the art world and delved into old U.S. Army records, they gathered clues and suspects - some of them more than a little frightening. Then, after a series of hair-raising adventures, Honan made headlines around the world by identifying the thief and leading law enforcement authorities to a desolate, tumble-down farm town in northeastern Texas where the treasures had been hidden. Subsequently, Honan was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in investigative journalism.