Arno Breker - Aryan sculptor
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Expose Them All
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Cover up 'Nazi' statues, whines Jews
FOOTBALL fans trooping into the Olympic Stadium in Berlin will be confronted with some of the most powerful ghosts of the Nazi era: broad-shouldered statues sculpted at the behest of Adolf Hitler to celebrate the Aryan master race.
Now leading Jewish activists are calling for the bronze statues to be draped in canvas or removed entirely to shield fans from what they regard as Nazi propaganda.
Lea Rosh, who led the campaign to build a Holocaust memorial in the city centre, has made the ?cover-up? her new cause. ?At the very least, the figures of Arno Breker should be hidden from view, and an explanation given on the plinth,? Frau R
osh said yesterday.
Breker, who died in 1991, was one of Europe?s top sculptors even before the Nazis came to power, and his powerful figures caught the attention of Hitler. His sculptures were supposed to adorn the new Berlin that Hitler and Albert Speer, his chief architect, were planning to build after the war.
For the Olympic Stadium, constructed for the Games of 1936, Breker sculpted The Female Victor and The Decathlete. Frau Rosch wants both to be covered, as well as colossal statues of discus throwers and relay runners by Karl Albiker, The Resting Athlete, by Georg Kolbe, and many others scattered around the complex.
?Breker was a top Nazi,? Frau Rosch said. ?It?s unacceptable that the statues are still on public view.?
Ralph Giordano, the leading German Jewish novelist, is lobbying for the statues to be pulverised or melted down. ?The figures are ugly and deceitful,? he said. ?I demand that these statues be taken
out of the stadium, quickly dismantled and scrapped.?
Historians are sceptical that removing the statues would serve a purpose and argue that it would distort German history. ?Much of 20th-century art is bound up with dictatorship,? Christoph St?lzl, a historian, said. ?We should put up plaques explaining the statues. The connection between the celebration of the body and racism is complicated.?
FOOTBALL fans trooping into the Olympic Stadium in Berlin will be confronted with some of the most powerful ghosts of the Nazi era: broad-shouldered statues sculpted at the behest of Adolf Hitler to celebrate the Aryan master race.
Now leading Jewish activists are calling for the bronze statues to be draped in canvas or removed entirely to shield fans from what they regard as Nazi propaganda.
Lea Rosh, who led the campaign to build a Holocaust memorial in the city centre, has made the ?cover-up? her new cause. ?At the very least, the figures of Arno Breker should be hidden from view, and an explanation given on the plinth,? Frau R
osh said yesterday.
Breker, who died in 1991, was one of Europe?s top sculptors even before the Nazis came to power, and his powerful figures caught the attention of Hitler. His sculptures were supposed to adorn the new Berlin that Hitler and Albert Speer, his chief architect, were planning to build after the war.
For the Olympic Stadium, constructed for the Games of 1936, Breker sculpted The Female Victor and The Decathlete. Frau Rosch wants both to be covered, as well as colossal statues of discus throwers and relay runners by Karl Albiker, The Resting Athlete, by Georg Kolbe, and many others scattered around the complex.
?Breker was a top Nazi,? Frau Rosch said. ?It?s unacceptable that the statues are still on public view.?
Ralph Giordano, the leading German Jewish novelist, is lobbying for the statues to be pulverised or melted down. ?The figures are ugly and deceitful,? he said. ?I demand that these statues be taken
out of the stadium, quickly dismantled and scrapped.?
Historians are sceptical that removing the statues would serve a purpose and argue that it would distort German history. ?Much of 20th-century art is bound up with dictatorship,? Christoph St?lzl, a historian, said. ?We should put up plaques explaining the statues. The connection between the celebration of the body and racism is complicated.?
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Outrage over show by Hitler's sculptor Arno Breker
Outrage over show by Hitler's sculptor
(Filed: 19/07/2006)
An art gallery has provoked outrage in Germany by staging the country's first post-war exhibition of Hitler's favourite sculptor, Arno Breker.
Breker was to Nazi sculpture what Leni Riefenstahl was to film and made a fortune from Hitler's love of his work, which features enormous, naked Aryan models. Hitler's architect, Albert Speer, planned his grandest buildings to be decorated with Breker's distinctive pieces.
Breker, who died in 1991 aged 91, has never been fully rehabilitated in the eyes of the German public and the decision by cultural authorities in the northern city of Schwerin to host a major retrospective, which opens on Saturday, has caused upset.
While Gunter Grass, the author and
Nobel laureate, said the exhibition could answer questions for Germans still struggling with their troubled history, opponents within the arts establishment argue that any re-examination of Breker comes too close to rehabilitation of a figure whose work embodied the racist mentality of the Third Reich.
Klaus Staek, the president of the German Academy of Arts in Berlin, has cancelled his own show at Schwerin's Schleswig-Hostein Haus gallery in protest. "It is important to me to take a stance," he said. "It was Breker who gave a form to the human image held by the Nazis, their racism."
But the organisers of the exhibition, entitled Up for discussion; the sculptor Arno Breker, said they wanted to provoke a debate, not rehabilitate the artist.
Much of his work for the Third Reich was destroyed but surviving figures include those at the venue for the World Cup Final on July 9, the Olympic stadium in Berlin.
Outrage over show by Hitler's sculptor
(Filed: 19/07/2006)
An art gallery has provoked outrage in Germany by staging the country's first post-war exhibition of Hitler's favourite sculptor, Arno Breker.
Breker was to Nazi sculpture what Leni Riefenstahl was to film and made a fortune from Hitler's love of his work, which features enormous, naked Aryan models. Hitler's architect, Albert Speer, planned his grandest buildings to be decorated with Breker's distinctive pieces.
Breker, who died in 1991 aged 91, has never been fully rehabilitated in the eyes of the German public and the decision by cultural authorities in the northern city of Schwerin to host a major retrospective, which opens on Saturday, has caused upset.
While Gunter Grass, the author and
Nobel laureate, said the exhibition could answer questions for Germans still struggling with their troubled history, opponents within the arts establishment argue that any re-examination of Breker comes too close to rehabilitation of a figure whose work embodied the racist mentality of the Third Reich.
Klaus Staek, the president of the German Academy of Arts in Berlin, has cancelled his own show at Schwerin's Schleswig-Hostein Haus gallery in protest. "It is important to me to take a stance," he said. "It was Breker who gave a form to the human image held by the Nazis, their racism."
But the organisers of the exhibition, entitled Up for discussion; the sculptor Arno Breker, said they wanted to provoke a debate, not rehabilitate the artist.
Much of his work for the Third Reich was destroyed but surviving figures include those at the venue for the World Cup Final on July 9, the Olympic stadium in Berlin.
madkins
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Row over "Nazi sculptor" exhibition
Visitor looks at "Romanihel(1928).
CNN.com
Row over 'Nazi sculptor' exhibition(summary)
Saturday, July 22, 2006; (15:46 GMT)
SCHWERIN, Germany (AP) -- Works by sculptor Arno Breker, favored by the Nazis for his monumental, classically inspired figures, has gone on display amid controversy over Breker's links to Adolf Hitler and his flourishing career in the Third Reich.
Officials in the northeastern city of Schwerin say the exhibition presents a chance to re-examine the work of a talented artist whose career was clouded by his association with Hitler and the Nazi leader's favorite architect, Albert Speer.
Hermann Junghans, Schwerin's deputy mayor, said extensive documentation alongside the 70 works would prevent any whitewash.
"
The show is absolutely necessary to have a discussion about Breker, but we don't assume that we're going to be the ones to end the debate," Junghans told The Associated Press before the opening Friday.
"It was clear to us that this would be controversial, that's why the decision didn't come easily. Everyone will see that we are far too critical of Breker for this to be any kind of rehabilitation."
Breker, who died in 1991 at age 90, studied architecture and sculpture in Duesseldorf. An admirer of Auguste Rodin, he worked for several years in Paris before returning to Germany in the 1930s.
His work appealed strongly to the leaders of the Nazi regime, who gave him lucrative commissions to create works for buildings such as Hitler's chancellery and the still-standing Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Many of his works were destroyed after the war.
The exhibit has works from his pre-Nazi, Third Reich, and post-World War II periods.
Skara Brae,
madkins
Visitor looks at "Romanihel(1928).
CNN.com
Row over 'Nazi sculptor' exhibition(summary)
Saturday, July 22, 2006; (15:46 GMT)
SCHWERIN, Germany (AP) -- Works by sculptor Arno Breker, favored by the Nazis for his monumental, classically inspired figures, has gone on display amid controversy over Breker's links to Adolf Hitler and his flourishing career in the Third Reich.
Officials in the northeastern city of Schwerin say the exhibition presents a chance to re-examine the work of a talented artist whose career was clouded by his association with Hitler and the Nazi leader's favorite architect, Albert Speer.
Hermann Junghans, Schwerin's deputy mayor, said extensive documentation alongside the 70 works would prevent any whitewash.
"
The show is absolutely necessary to have a discussion about Breker, but we don't assume that we're going to be the ones to end the debate," Junghans told The Associated Press before the opening Friday.
"It was clear to us that this would be controversial, that's why the decision didn't come easily. Everyone will see that we are far too critical of Breker for this to be any kind of rehabilitation."
Breker, who died in 1991 at age 90, studied architecture and sculpture in Duesseldorf. An admirer of Auguste Rodin, he worked for several years in Paris before returning to Germany in the 1930s.
His work appealed strongly to the leaders of the Nazi regime, who gave him lucrative commissions to create works for buildings such as Hitler's chancellery and the still-standing Olympic Stadium in Berlin. Many of his works were destroyed after the war.
The exhibit has works from his pre-Nazi, Third Reich, and post-World War II periods.
Skara Brae,
madkins