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I. THE IMPORTANCE OF SAFEGUARDING CULTURAL MATERIAL

The authorities in military occupation of any country have duties which go far beyond the immediate ones of establishing order and of providing for the material needs (food, shelter, clothing, health, transportation, etc.) of the population.  They must also create with the peoples of such countries relations of sympathy and understanding designed to inspire confidence and a sense of security; restore the foundations for their cultural life; and develop an atmosphere favorable to the adoption of peace treaties and to the application of their provisions.

In all such countries are monuments and sites cherished by their peoples: churches, shrines, civic buildings, burial grounds, statues, paintings, together with libraries, historical archives, scientific collections and other material indispensable to learning and culture.  Buildings and their contents may have been destroyed or damaged; collections may have been dispersed, confiscated or looted.  Every kind of cultural material risks further injury or destruction.  At the same time, military operations such as trench digging or even bomb explosions may have revealed hitherto unknown monuments of the past.

Safeguarding cultural monuments will not feed hungry people, nor give them physical security; but it will affect the relations of armies with the peoples