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Walter William Horn
| Walter William Horn | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Walter William Horn |
| Born | 18 January 1908 Waldangelloch, Germany |
| Died | 26 December 1995 Berkeley, California |
| Nativity | Germany |
| Religion | Protestant |
| Known for | Medievalist art historian; UC Berkeley; Plan of St. Gall |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army |
| ASN | 01326328 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Rank at Ritchie | Private |
| Camp Ritchie | Class 13 (30 October – 23 December 1943) |
| Section | 7A (13); E (13) |
| Specialty | Military intelligence; investigation of looted art |
{{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.
Walter W. Horn (18 January 1908 – 26 December 1995) was a German-born medieval art historian at UC Berkeley who trained at Camp Ritchie and, as a U.S. Army intelligence captain with Patton’s Third Army, investigated Nazi art looting.
Biography
Walter William Horn was born in Waldangelloch, Baden, on 18 January 1908, son of a Lutheran minister. He studied art history at Heidelberg, Berlin, and Hamburg, completing a 1937 Hamburg dissertation on the façade of Saint-Gilles under Erwin Panofsky, and worked at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. Opposed to National Socialism, he emigrated to the United States in 1938 and joined the University of California, Berkeley faculty (visiting lecturer 1939, then assistant professor).
Naturalized in 1943, he entered the Army, trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 13), and served with Third Army intelligence in Europe. Drawing on his art-historical background, he was assigned to investigate looted cultural treasures and interview those involved in Nazi thefts; he left the service as a captain in 1946. Returning to Berkeley, he became professor (1948), helped found the History of Art department with Darrell A. Amyx, and published landmark studies of medieval timber architecture and, with Ernst Born, the three-volume Plan of St. Gall (1979). He retired emeritus in 1974 and died in Berkeley on 26 December 1995.
Research notes
- Dictionary of Art Historians entry is the main secondary summary cited below (Monuments Men–related intelligence work).
Gallery
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Technical record
| Field | Imported value |
|---|---|
| Approx Age at Death | 87 |
| Class_ASN | 39136473 |
| Class_Name | HORN, Walter W.; Horn, Walter W. |
| match_method | pass2_unique_name |
| row_source | both |
Timeline
- 18 January 1908 — Born in Waldangelloch, Germany.
- 1937 — Ph.D., University of Hamburg (Saint-Gilles façade).
- 1938 — Emigrates to the United States; Berkeley appointment 1939–1940.
- 1943 — U.S. citizenship; Army service; Camp Ritchie Class 13.
- 1944–1946 — Third Army intelligence; looted-art investigations; discharged as captain 1946.
- 1948 — Professor, UC Berkeley; co-founds History of Art department.
- 1974 — Retires emeritus.
- 1979 — The Plan of St. Gall (with Ernst Born).
- 26 December 1995 — Died in Berkeley, California.
Sources
- Dictionary of Art Historians — Horn, Walter W.
- Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
- Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
- NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)