As a child growing up in Karlsruhe, Germany, Harry Ettlinger never got a chance to go into the local museum and see the famous self-portrait of Rembrandt that hung inside.
“As a Jew, I was not allowed [inside] during Hitler’s days,” he says.
A few years later, however, Ettlinger would finally get a chance to see that Rembrandt painting up close. Real close.
Ettlinger’s family left Germany in 1938 and settled in Manhattan. They later moved to New Jersey, where Ettlinger still lives.
When the young immigrant turned 18, he was drafted and sent to the European front. Just before he was to enter the Battle of the Bulge, young Ettlinger was assigned to another unit that needed a German interpreter.
He’d become one of the Monuments Men, working to find and return art stolen by the Nazis during the war.
“I had some appreciation for art,” says Ettlinger, 88. “My grandfather was a collector of prints.”
The gig had one other major benefit.
“It was a lifesaver,” he says. “Of the eight buddies that I was going to go into the Battle of the Bulge with, three were killed and the others were wounded.”
Ettlinger mostly worked 700 feet underground in the Heilbronn salt mines, where the Germans had stashed some 40,000 cases of cultural objects.
Among the loot that passed through Ettlinger’s hands were a Matthias Grünewald altarpiece, the stained-glass windows from the Strasbourg Cathedral — and the Rembrandt self-portrait that Ettlinger hadn’t been allowed to view.
After the war, Ettlinger returned to Newark, working for a company that produced guidance systems for submarines. He was married for 53 years until his wife passed away a decade ago. He now lives in a Rockaway retirement community.
Ettlinger doesn’t appear in the movie by name, but there is a character named Sam Epstein, portrayed by Dimitri Leonidas, that resembles Ettlinger. He’s a young, German-born driver for George Clooney’s character.
On Feb. 6, Ettlinger will fly to Berlin for a screening of the film. There, he’ll meet some of the cast, including Clooney.
“There are a lot of women who will want to shake my hand after that,” he jokes. “I am flabbergasted that when I mention the name George Clooney, every woman stops and smiles. This man is the most popular man in the world.”