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^[[Preliminary drafts of petition Dec 1942]]

PROTECTION OF MONUMENTS

A Proposal for Consideration during War and Rehabilitation.

As soldiers of the United Nations fight their way into lands once conquered and held by the enemy, the governments of the United Nations encounter manifold problems of reconstruction.  They have to establish order, provide shelter, feed the hungry, and work out, with the peoples of those lands, living relations designed to remove suffering and to bring about confidence and security.

In areas torn by bombardment and by fire, are monuments cherished by the people of those countrysides or towns: churches, shrines, statues, pictures, many kinds of works.  Some may be destroyed; some, damaged.  All risk further injury, looting or destruction.  In areas of operation also, monuments now unknown may be accidentally revealed.

To safeguard these things will not affect the course of battles, but it will affect the relations of invading armies with the peoples whose lands they occupy and it will affect the relations between those peoples and the governments of the United Nations.  To safeguard these things will show respect for the beliefs and customs of all men and will bear witness that these things belong not only to a particular people but also to the heritage of mankind.  To safeguard these things is part of the responsibility that lies on the governments of the United Nations.  These monuments are not merely pretty things, not merely valued sign of man's creative power.  They are expressions of faith and they stand for man's struggle to relate himself to his past and to his God.

With conviction that the safeguarding of monuments is an element in the right conduct of the war and in the hope for peace, we, the undersigned, wish to bring these facts to the attention of the government of the United States of America and to urge that means be sought for dealing with them.