Treasures of War

Leningrad, 1941.

Germany’s Operation Barbarossa is tightening its noose around the city. The Neva River and Lake Ladoga freeze. Few supplies reach the city. Thousands suffer from cold and starvation.

Katuska and Nina Koslov, young daughters of a dedicated museum employee, shelter in the basement of the great Hermitage Museum—once the palace of Tsars. As insulation to meagre coats, their mother sews ‘found’ canvases into the linings.

Upon the death of their parents, the girls begin a new chapter in their lives with the hidden paintings cherished as mementos of parental love.

We accompany Katuska and Nina on an obstacle-filled journey through war and its challenging aftermath. We accompany the ‘found’ paintings, also known to some as ‘stolen art’, on journeys through Europe, England, the US and the Soviet Union.

Diana Reed Morris was an established clinical social worker when she discovered her interest in travel and museum tourism. Hurricane Ike accelerated her retirement from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Divested of her professional responsibilities and material encumbrances, she embraced a life of European discovery. At home now adjacent to the turquoise Mediterranean, married to a lovely man, she enjoys writing and indulging her interests in history, art, and travel.