Escape Into Art? the Brücke Painters in the Nazi Period

Escape into Art? The Brücke Painters in the Nazi Period

14 April –11 August 2019

In 1937, the Nazis confiscated thousands Works from the Brücke-Museum collection materials. However, until the summer of of artworks from German museums, in- form the backbone of Escape into Art?, 1937 they were still exhibiting their works cluding key works by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, supplemented by selected loans from the at galleries and art associations, and in Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max estates of the various artists and from pri- fact Pechstein continued to do so until Pechstein and Emil Nolde. In the propa- vate collectors. The exhibition also marks 1939. Their respective personal situation ganda exhibition entitled Degenerate Art, the first time the museum is opening out and stance during the Nazi era can thus public scorn was then poured on them. in spatial terms: While the period up to not be seen as some unchanging status, These aggressive attacks on their art have 1945 will be portrayed at Brücke-Museum, but must rather be construed as a dynamic tended to overshadow to this day how the the neighbouring Kunsthaus Dahlem will process. Brücke painters themselves experienced house the second part of the show and the Nazi regime. This focus on the events shed light on the immediate post-war era. It bears mentioning here that there were in the years 1937/38 has led to the artists Both galleries are united in their interest many artists who were victims of physical primarily being considered victims of the in a critical inquiry into the history of their persecution: Charlotte Salomon, Otto Nazi policy on art. respective venues and institutions, as well Freundlich, Moissey Kogan and Felix as the wish to fulfil their role as enlight- Nussbaum, for example, were murdered The exhibition Escape into Art? The Brücke ened, transparent and socially relevant in concentration camps; countless collec- Painters in the Nazi Period is the first to establishments. The artworks on display tors and patrons of Brücke were forced be devoted to the oeuvres and every- thus challenge viewers to critically explore into exile after being classified as Jewish day realities of the artists and the room the customary narratives, such as that according to the Nuremberg Race Laws. to manoeuvre they actually had under surrounding terms like ‘inner emigration’ Any discussion of the outlawing of expres- National Socialist rule and in the immedi- or ‘Zero Hour’. sionism and the living conditions of the art- ate post-war period. The show focusses ists needs to be carefully contextualized, on Erich Heckel, Max Pechstein and Karl Indeed, all the artists remained active particularly against the backdrop of this Schmidt-Rottluff. Emil Nolde, a staunch professionally throughout the years in racist and politically driven persecution. Nazi, constitutes a special case amongst question, the only exception being the final the Brücke artists. Simultaneously, a major months of the war. The destruction of their exhibition on him is taking place in the Berlin studios and their forced relocation Neue Galerie at Hamburger Bahnhof – to rural areas made artistic work as good Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin. as impossible, not least owing to a lack of

Please note that you can find the translation of all longer texts in this booklet, some captions are not translated. We included a list of techniques for your convenience.

XIX VIII

X XI VII

XII VI IV III

XIII XIV V

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XV

I

XVI

Brücke Museum Kunsthaus Dahlem

I The Dispute over Expressionism (p.5) IX ‘Exploitation’ ( p .1 7 ) XVII The Politization of Art and II The Art Public until 1937 ( p .11 ) X The Fates of the Jewish Culture after 1945 ( p.2 5) III Figural Depictions of the 1930s ( p .1 2 ) Collectors and Patrons ( p .1 8 ) XVIII Art Exhibitions 1945–1949 ( p.2 6) IV Images of Germany ( p .1 2 ) XI Rosa Schapire ( p .1 8 ) XIX Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Exhibition V Early Condemnation ( p .1 3 ) XII Pechstein’s Situation ( p .1 9 ) in Chemnitz in 1946 ( p.2 7) VI Max Pechstein at Auto Union AG, XIII Retreat into Private Life ( p.2 0) XX Losses and Recreations ( p.2 8) Chemnitz, June 1937 ( p .1 4 ) XIV Schmidt-Rottluff’s XXI Links to the Period before 1933 ( p.2 8) VII The Degenerate Art Exhibition, 1937 ( p .1 4 ) Situation in the 1940s ( p.2 2) XXII Museum Concepts VIII Attack on Modernism: The Nazi XV War Years 1939–1945 ( p.2 3) of Reconstruction ( p.2 8) Campaign ‘Degenerate Art’ ( p .1 5 ) XVI After the War ( p.2 3) Artistic Techniques

Ahorn maple wood Aquarell watercolour Aquarell über Bleistift watercolour on pencil Aquarell und Deckfarben watercolour and opaque paints Aquarell und Farbkreide watercolour and coloured chalk Aquarell und Tusche watercolour and ink Bleistift pencil Bronze bronze Erlenholz alder wood Federzeichnung ink drawing Fichtenholz spruce wood Holz wood Holzschnitt woodcut Holzstock Fichte spruce woodblock Leimfarbe auf Rupfen distemper on hessian Lithografie lithograph Tempera auf Leinwand tempera on canvas Tempera auf Pressplatte tempera on hardboard Öl auf Leinwand oil on canvas Pappelholz poplar wood Tusche und Farbkreide ink and coloured chalk

4 1 Paul Fechter, Der Expressionismus at Galerie Ferdinand Möller in The Dispute over (Expressionism), Munich 1914, cover Berlin. Works by Brücke artists The 1914 book Der Expressionismus were contrasted with works by Expressionism (Expressionism) by the art writ- young unknown artists with a view er Paul Fechter played a role in to demonstrating lines of devel- demarcating expressionism as a opment towards a potential Nazi From a nationalist, conservative point of German movement from other Euro- modernism. The exhibition was view, expressionism came about as a pean trends in art. After 1933, initially banned on the orders of counter-model to French-inspired impres- Fechter championed expressionism Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick. sionism: its proponents emphasized the as an official art form in the Around two weeks later, with the links with German gothic and romanticist country. As an example, he quoted help of the artist and Goebbels’ art. This is why the Brücke members initial- fascist Italy, where the futur- aide Hans Weidemann in the Propa- ly hoped that their works would meet with ists enjoyed official recognition. ganda Ministry, it reopened, on the approval of the Nazi regime. Heckel, the condition, however, that the Nolde, Pechstein and Schmidt-Rottluff also 2 Ludwig Thormaehlen, Bildnis Erich NS Student Union was no longer assumed that through their membership Heckel (Portrait of Erich Heckel), 1924, mentioned as the official organ- of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts, which bronce, Brücke-Museum, 1966 donated izer. the Propaganda Ministry had established by Erich Heckel in autumn 1933, they were still accepted In 1932 Ludwig Thormaehlen, cu- 4 Ludwig Hohlwein, Der Deutsche as artists. rator at the Nationalgalerie and Student kämpft für Führer und Volk himself a sculptor who for dec- (The German Student Fights for Führer As early as the summer of 1933, there was ades had been acquainted with and the People), poster, ca. 1933, bpk / a heated debate in the art world about the Heckel, organized the major ex- Kunstbibliothek, SMB role of expressionism, which reflected hibition Neuere Deutsche Kunst The National Socialist Student the dispute within the Nazi Party about (Recent German Art). In Oslo, Union was a sub-organization of the direction to be taken: it was about the Copenhagen, and Bergen, among the NSDAP, the Nazi Party. Found- position of Brücke artists such as Nolde, others, it showcased contemporary ed in 1926, it was intended to Heckel, and Schmidt-Rottluff in the new German art and triggered spirit- spread Nazi ideology among stu- state. The dispute revolved around the ed debates in Berlin. His inten- dents. question of whether ‘Nordic’ expression- tion with the show was to provide ism could represent Nazi ideology better a representative insight into 5 Alfred Rosenberg, ‘Revolution in der than the reactionary-völkisch art ideal, current art in Germany, though bildenden Kunst’ (‘Revolution in the Fine with its academic, naturalist influence. ultimately what was displayed Arts’), Völkischer Beobachter (Norddeut- Responding to National Socialist support- was a selection which, for exam- sche Ausgabe), 188, 7 July 1933, p. 7, ers of a moderate modernism, opponents ple, deliberately ignored works bpk / Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – SPK, were frequently especially vociferous. In by the German impressionist Max Zeitungsabteilung particular Alfred Rosenberg, the founder Liebermann. For Thormaehlen with As early as 1928 Alfred Rosen- of the Militant League for German Culture his nationalist, conservative berg, one of the leading Nazi and head ideologist in the Nazi Party, rant- mindset, Liebermann was part of ideologists, founded the anti-Se- ed against anybody in his own ranks who an influential art scene which he mitic Militant League for German promoted modernism. perceived to be dominated by Jews Culture, whose stated objective and which he could not reconcile was to influence German cultural In 1933, the outcome of this dispute over with his idea of national contem- life in keeping with national- expressionism, which continued until 1937, porary art. Protests by numerous ist ideas – especially within the was still unclear. Even during the Degen- artists followed quickly, and the Nazi Party. As a declared enemy erate Art exhibition it had not resulted in liberal press was also incensed of modernism, in July 1933 Rosen- a clear official stance on individual artists by the touring exhibition. The berg described the controversy and works. show marked the beginning of the surrounding expressionism as a dispute about the direction of ‘spirited discussion’ within the German art, which continued in party’s own ranks.As Reichsleit- summer 1933. er during the Second World War, Rosenberg was part of one of the 3 Otto Andreas Schreiber, ‘Preface’, in: major stolen art organizations in 30 deutsche Künstler (30 German Artists), the occupied territories in the exh. cat. Galerie Ferdinand Möller, Berlin, West and East. There he had the July 1933, bpk / Zentralarchiv, SMB cultural assets of, in particu- The exhibition 30 Deutsche Kün- lar, Jewish citizens confiscated stler (30 German Artists) was and ‘used’ for the benefit of the staged in July 1933 by the Na- Reich. tional Socialist Student Union

5 6 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner to the president the Second World War, among other Brücke as the founder of the Prussian Academy of Arts, Max von things as the first director of Schillings, 17 May 1933, Akademie der the Neue Nationalgalerie, was a of a ‘new German art’? Künste, Berlin, Historisches Archiv, PrAdK, driving force behind the canoni- no. 1102, sheets 66–67 zation of Brücke art. On the back In May 1933, the Prussian Academy of political pressure from Rosen- The Brücke group of artists was founded of Arts urged the artists berg, publication of the magazine in 1905 in Dresden and disbanded in 1913 Kirchner, Schmidt-Rottluff and ceased in February 1935. in Berlin. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Erich Nolde, who had been admitted Heckel, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Fritz two years earlier, to resign. 9 „Aufruf der Kulturschaffenden“ Bleyl were its first members. Whereas the Schmidt-Rottluff complied with (‘Call of the Cultural Workers’), in: latter left the group as early as 1907, the the request, while Nolde and Völkischer Beobachter (Berliner Ausgabe), others formed its constant core and for as Kirchner successfully refused. 18 August 1934, p. 10, bpk / Staatsbiblio- long as it existed continued to acquire new In a detailed reply, Kirchner ex- thek zu Berlin – SPK, Zeitungsabteilung members, who were linked to Brücke for plained his position as a pioneer In mid-August, Heckel and Nolde different lengths of time and with differ- ‘of a new, strong and genuine agreed to sign the ‘Call of the ing degrees of closeness. Over the course German art’. Like Pechstein, he Cultural Workers’ formulated by of time, Emil Nolde and Max Pechstein, was not expelled until the summer one of Goebbels’ staff members, among others, joined. The group’s radical of 1937. Nolde managed to prevent which confirmed Hitler as the head style had a far-reaching impact. After 1914 his expulsion through a convinc- of state. On 18 August 1934 this the term expressionism increasingly became ing statement, in which among avowal of loyalty appeared in perceived as a ‘German counter-model’ other things he made reference the party newspaper Völkischer to impressionism. In the 1920s the artists to his party membership. Beobachter, among other daily themselves became established protagonists papers. of the contemporary art scene and many of 7 Organigrams, Reich Chamber of their artworks were represented in numer- Culture and Reich Chamber of Fine Arts, 10 Max Pechstein, Das Symbol der Arbeit ous museum collections. in: Handbuch der Reichskulturkammer, (Kraft durch Freude) (The Symbol of Work ed. Hans Hinkel, Berlin 1937. [Strength through Joy]), 1934, competition The headquarters of the Reich entry for the Propaganda Ministry, location Chamber of Culture were in Ber- unknown, bpk / Kunstbibliothek, SMB Biographies: lin and were organized as seven This design for a mural was individual chambers each with Pechstein’s entry in a compe- Erich Heckel (1883–1970) their own departments. As of Sep- tition staged by the Nazi or- was known at the end of the First World tember 1933, membership of the ganization Kraft durch Freude. War for his use of motifs from German Reich Chamber of Fine Arts was a Had it been realized, the figures gothic art and romanticism. Even in July prerequisite for being able to would have been life-sized – the 1933 the proponents of his art were still exhibit publicly. Not being ad- original dimensions were 2.5 x2 celebrating him as one of ‘the purest mitted to or being expelled from metres. The motto Kraft durch proclaimers of the German perception of it was tantamount to being banned Freude (Strength through Joy) – art’ and proposed his art as a contempo- from working. The Reich Chamber with the swastika resplendent be- rary alternative to the traditional academic of Fine Arts was initially head- neath – and the design’s sub-ti- style. Despite successful solo exhibitions ed by the architect Eugen Hönig; tle Das Symbol der Arbeit (The in 1934 and 1935, his desire for official as of late 1936 until the end of Symbol of Work) can be explained recognition was not fulfilled. Following 1943 it was run by the painter by the brief. The image con- the confiscation of his artworks from Adolf Ziegler. forms to the Nazi art ideal; at German museums and the defamation of the same time the way the figures his oeuvre as ‘degenerate’, Heckel avoided 8 Kunst der Nation, 1 November 1933, are portrayed is highly reminis- the public domain. After his Berlin flat was title page cent of Pechstein’s stained-glass destroyed in a bombing raid on 30 January The founding of the pro-modern window designs of the late 1920s. 1944, the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts in magazine Kunst der Nation in When the winning entries were Berlin helped him by writing a letter of November 1933 was an attempt to published in Kunst der Nation, recommendation for his search for new embed ‘Nordic’ expressionism Pechstein was disappointed not accommodation in southern Germany. The ideologically and historical- to be one of the prize winners. artist moved to Hemmenhofen on Lake ly in the new state. In numerous Constance. Although in the post-war years articles the predominantly young he received an offer of a teaching post at the authors explained why expression- Hochschule für bildende Künste in Berlin, ism was a paragon for aspiring Heckel never returned to the capital. From National Socialist artists. The 1949 until 1955 he taught at the Hochschule authors included the art histo- für Bildende Künste in Karlsruhe. rian Werner Haftmann, who after

6 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff (1884–1976) post at the Hochschule für bildende der the Nazi regime reaches its The debates surrounding Karl Schmidt- Künste there, and in 1949 was made first climax. It takes place in Rottluff illustrate the contradictions and a professor. daily newspapers, lectures and ambivalence of the Nazis’ art policy. exhibitions. Heckel, Nolde and As of the late Weimar Republic, portraits Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880–1938) Schmidt-Rottluff, amongst others, by Schmidt-Rottluff in particular were the left Germany during the First World War are cited as representatives of target of reactionary, nationalist polemic. and settled in Switzerland. In numerous a ‘new German art’ by its ad- At the same time, given his representations letters after 1933 he repeatedly complained vocates, including many of the of farm life and his origins in the country, about the remote life in the Swiss moun- younger Nazis, officials of the the conservative proponents of his art saw tains. He soon abandoned the hopes he had Nazi Student Union and employ- in the artist a suitable representative of Nazi initially put in the Nazi regime’s art policy. ees of the Propaganda and Culture cultural ideology. From Schmidt-Rottluff’s Kirchner reacted sensitively to his former Ministries. correspondence, it becomes clear that with Brücke colleagues who attempted to adapt regard to questions of art he was initially to the regime, be it in their landscapes or, Summer Schmidt-Rottluff spends cautiously hopeful about the Nazi regime, worse still, as in the case of Nolde through a working holiday near Leba in but soon disassociated himself from it. his autobiography. Although in letters, Pomerania, as he will do almost His almost annual summer holidays in in particular to his brother Ulrich, he too every year until 1943. Pechstein Pomerania provided him with an oppor- initially made anti-Semitic statements that and Heckel also mostly spend the tunity to put a little distance between conformed with Nazism, from the outset summer outside Berlin. himself and everyday political events. In he viewed the developments in Germany April 1941 the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts and especially their impact on art and October Pechstein is compelled banned him from working. Henceforth culture critically. He always followed the to defend himself publicly he was no longer entitled to any painting way he was portrayed in public very closely against Nolde’s accusations that materials, which in any case were only and was deeply offended by the defamation he is a Jew. The Prussian Acade- available with ration coupons; he was now of his works in the Degenerate Art exhibi- my of Arts mediates between them reliant on friends more than ever. After tion. To what extent this played a role in his and confirms Pechstein’s “Aryan their Berlin flat was destroyed in a bombing suicide in June 1938, as his partner descent”. raid in the summer of 1943, Karl and Emy Erna Schilling suggested, is unclear. Schmidt-Rottluff moved to his family home 1 November The first issue of in Rottluff in Saxony. They did not return Chronology the magazine Kunst der Nation to Berlin until late 1946, after Schmidt- is published. Its goal is to Rottluff had been offered a teaching posi- 1933 demonstrate the suitability tion at the Hochschule für bildende Künste of expressionism as a genuine in the city in 1945. 30 January The Nazis seize pow- ‘German’ art within the Nazi er, Reich President Paul von Hin- state. Max Pechstein (1881–1955) denburg appoints Adolf Hitler as was to a large extent excluded from the na- Reich Chancellor. 15 November Inauguration of tionalist, conservative circles which cham- the Reich Chamber of Culture pioned Heckel and Nolde. Born in the min- 22 March The first concentration in Berlin; some of the Brücke ing town of Zwickau, the painter came from camp is established in Dachau. artists are present. a Social Democratic background. During Initially it is primarily used the Weimar Republic he had supported as- to intern political opponents of sociations with if anything left-wing lean- the Nazi regime. 1934 ings, e.g., the November Group, Workers’ Council for Art, and Association of Friends 10 May The Nazi Student Union April Pechstein participates of the New Russia. Private letters reveal his organizes book burnings across in a mural competition initiat- rejection of Nazi race ideology. Pechstein the country, primarily of works ed by the Nazi leisure organi- was repeatedly labelled Jewish by Emil by oppositional and Jewish au- zation Kraft durch Freude, hav- Nolde and several other figures – at the time thors. ing learned of it from Kunst der a serious objection that required him to Nation. prove his “Aryan descent” earlier than oth- 15 May The Prussian Academy ers. In the 1930s, Pechstein was financially of Arts formally requests the 8–30 April Pechstein exhibition worse off than Heckel or Schmidt-Rottluff, resignation of Nolde, Schmidt- at Galerie von der Heyde, Berlin. for example. At the same time, in May 1939 Rottluff, and Kirchner. Nolde he was the only one to appear in public and Kirchner refuse, but 22 April–8 June Heckel exhibi- with a gallery exhibition. After his apart- Schmidt-Rottluff tenders his tion at Galerie Ferdinand Möller, ment in Berlin was destroyed, he moved resignation. Berlin. in the spring of 1944 to Pomerania before returning to the city in September 1945. July The dispute concerning Summer Pechstein retreats to a Shortly afterwards he took up a teaching the role of expressionism un- fishing village on Lake Kosy in

7 Pomerania for a working holiday. early on the instructions of Ado- 19 July Opening of the propa- He also spends the summers of lf Ziegler, vice president of the ganda exhibition Degenerate Art 1937, 1938 and 1940–1942 there. Reich Chamber of Fine Arts. in Munich with approximately 650 works from public collections, 18 August The ‘Call of the Cul- 1–16 August Summer Olympic Games including numerous works by the tural Workers’ is published in in Berlin. Brücke artists. the Nazi Party daily Völkischer Beobachter. The appeal aims to Late October The modern strengthen loyalty to Adolf Hit- art department at Kronprinzenpal- 1938 ler in the cultural scene, too. ais in Berlin is closed to Heckel and Nolde are among the the public. 26 February The travelling ex- signatories. They had received a hibition Degenerate Art opens in request that they should sign, Berlin and then proceeds to fur- which raised their hopes of rec- 1937 ther destinations in Germany and ognition by the regime. Austria. 12–13 February Conference of re- gional heads of the Reich Chamber 31 May The Nazi ‘Law on the con- 1935 of Fine Arts, Schloss Schönhaus- fiscation of products of degener- en, Pankow district, Berlin. Its ate art’ creates the legal pre- 15 March–15 May The opening day president Adolf Ziegler, appoint- conditions for the sale of works of the exhibition Ausstellung ed on 1 December 1936, announces confiscated as ‘degenerate’. Berliner Kunst (Exhibition of stronger measures regarding ‘sys- Berlin Art) at Neue Pinakothek tematic cultural cultivation’. 15 June Kirchner commits in Munich ends in conflict. Twen- suicide in Frauenkirch near ty-two works are removed and 16 February–10 March Davos, Switzerland. sent to Goebbels for assessment, Schmidt-Rottluff exhibition of including works by the Brücke watercolours at Karl Buchholz, August–end of The art dealers artists. Berlin. Bernhard A. Böhmer, Karl Buchholz, Hildebrand Gurlitt and 30 March–27 April Schmidt- June Factory exhibition with Ferdinand Möller are authorized Rottluff exhibition at Karl some 20 works by Pechstein at to sell the artworks seized in Buchholz’s gallery in Berlin. Auto Union AG, Chemnitz. the context of the ‘Degenerate Art’ campaign. The intention is 15 September Hitler enacts the July First confiscations of mod- that they should be sold abroad so-called Nuremberg Laws, there- ern art in some 30 public col- for foreign currency, but many by establishing a legal basis lections by a commission special- of the works remain in their pos- for the anti-Semitic ideology ly appointed by the Propaganda session. and enabling even more systemat- Ministry. A selection is sent ic discrimination and persecution to Munich to the Degenerate Art 9–10 November ‘Novemberpogrome’ of Jewish citizens – now a legal exhibition. From August 1938 the in Germany. Violent attacks take requirement. works considered by the Prop- place on Jewish citizens, or- aganda Ministry to be ‘able to ganized and directed by the 3 October–3 November be sold internationally’ are put Nazi regime. Synagogues, Jewish Heckel exhibition at Kestner- into interim storage at Schloss shops, graveyards and flats are Gesellschaft, Hannover. Schönhausen near Berlin. destroyed. Around 400 Jews are murdered during the night of the 8 July The Prussian Academy of pogrom. 1936 Arts expels Kirchner, Nolde and Pechstein. Nolde successfully 29 March–22 April Pechstein protests and remains a member. 1939 exhibition at Galerie von der Heyde, Berlin. 18 July Hitler opens the House 20 March The ‘unsaleable re- of German Art. The Große Deutsche mains’, as judged by the Propa- 31 July The exhibition Malerei Kunstausstellung (Great German ganda Ministry, of the artworks und Plastik in Deutschland 1936 Art Exhibition), which is to confiscated as ‘degenerate’, (Painting and Sculpture in Ger- take place annually here until supposedly some 5,000 works, are many in 1936) at Hamburg’s Kun- 1944, is intended to show a burned in the courtyard of the stverein, which opened on 21 panorama of the officially desired central fire station in Berlin. July and also presented works by artistic production in the new former Brücke members, is closed state.

8 14 May–10 June Pechstein exhi- 1942 6 June D-Day; the Allied troops bition at Galerie von der Heyde, land in Normandy in France. Berlin. The Brücke artists begin to evac- uate their works, mostly to plac- August Pechstein and his wife 30 June Auction of 125 artworks es outside Berlin. are conscripted to work on the by Galerie Theodor Fischer ‘Pomeranian Wall’, a line of for- at the Grand Hotel National September Schmidt-Rottluff tifications designed to stop the in Lucerne, Switzerland. The spends two weeks working at Gut advance of the Red Army. works were removed from public Kreisau with Helmuth James and collections as ‘degenerate’ Freya von Moltke. The artist in 1937. subsequently sells some of the 1945 watercolours produced during this July/August Pechstein sojourns period to them, despite the em- 8–9 May Capitulation of the for the first time in almost 20 ployment ban. German armed forces and end of years in Nida on the Curonian the Second World War. Schmidt- Spit. The trip becomes possible Winter The Sixth Army of the Rottluff is able to return to following the reintegration into German forces is annihilated in his parents’ house from a neigh- the German Reich of the Memel re- the Battle of Stalingrad; the bouring cellar. He reports that gion in March of that year, which turning point of the Second plundering has taken place. had been annexed by Lithuania. World War. 15 May First issue of Tägliche August Rosa Schapire, the Ham- Rundschau, the first German-lan- burg-based art historian, friend 1943 guage newspaper to appear after and patron of Schmidt-Rottluff, the end of the war. flees to London. Summer Pechstein stores 3,500 artworks at Schloss Moritzburg 5 June With the Berlin 1 September Outbreak of the Sec- near Dresden, which subsequently Declaration ‘regarding the defeat ond World War. Pechstein experi- disappear without trace. of Germany’, the four victorious ences the start of the war on the powers assume ‘supreme author- sea voyage from Nida, where he 23–24 August Schmidt-Rottluff’s ity’. They divide Germany into was holidaying, back to Stettin flat and studio at Bamberger four zones of occupation, Berlin (present-day Szczecin, Poland). Straße 19 in Berlin are completely into four sectors. destroyed during an air raid. He thereafter moves into his parents’ Summer An intensive written ex- 1940 house in Rottluff near Chemnitz. change begins between the Brücke artists and their collectors and Spring Schmidt-Rottluff stays 22–23 November Berlin suffers fellow artists about the fate of with the collector and art deal- a particularly heavy bombing mutual friends and the wherea- er Hanna Bekker vom Rath in the raid. Pechstein’s studio at bouts of their works. Taunus hills, as he will also do Kurfürstenstraße 126 is badly in 1941. damaged. 6 June–November The Chamber of Artists set up by the Soviet City Commandant in Berlin directs and 1941 1944 controls the reestablishment of the art and cultural scene. 3 April Schmidt-Rottluff is 30 January Heckel’s studio and banned from working by the Reich flat in Emser Straße in Berlin 3 July The Cultural Associa- Chamber of Fine Arts; Pechstein burn down and numerous works are tion for the Democratic Renewal and Heckel retain their member- destroyed. of Germany is founded in Berlin ship. Nolde is expelled in August as an inter-zone organization. 1941. February Bomb damage to Pech- Pechstein becomes a member of the stein’s flat. He subsequently central working committee for 22 June The German armed forces moves to Pomerania in March. Berlin, while Schmidt-Rottluff attack the Soviet Union. assumes chairmanship of the local May Heckel moves to Lake group in Chemnitz. 20 October The mass murder of Constance. The Reich Chamber of Jews commences in the gas Fine Arts assists the artist 11 July The Allied Control chambers of the concentration by providing a certificate sup- Council is appointed to regulate and extermination camp Auschwitz- porting his search for accommoda- public life in the four sectors Birkenau. tion. of the city of Berlin.

9 21 July–August 1. Ausstellung as a continuation of his previous March Over the following months der Kammer der Kunstschaffenden focus on the development of the Kurt Reutti from the Berlin mu- (First Exhibition of the Chamber national style. nicipal authorities secures ap- of Artists). Works by the Brücke proximately 1,300 works from the artists are presented in one room 25 August–31 October Allge- ‘Degenerate Art’ campaign from as belonging together. meine Deutsche Kunstausstellung the estate of Bernhard A. Böh- (General German Art Exhibition), mer in Güstrow and from Ferdinand Early August In Nuremberg the Stadthalle Nordplatz, Dresden, Möller in Zermützel. Allies set up an International with a cross-zone overview of Military Tribunal for the sen- contemporary artistic creativity. 5 June US Secretary of State tencing of war crimes, crimes George C. Marshall presents the against humanity and against 6 September–13 October The exhi- European Recovery Program. The peace. bition Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. 50 so-called Marshall Plan aims to Aquarelle aus den Jahren 1943– prevent the spread of Communism 2 August–9 September 1946 (Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. 50 and create a uniform economic Ausstellung junger Kunst Watercolours from 1943–1946) is order in Europe. Under pressure (Exhibition of Recent Art), held at Städtische Kunstsammlung from the Soviet Union, the East Galerie Gerd Rosen, Berlin. zu Chemnitz, Schlossberg-Museum. European countries do not partic- Together with other expression- ipate. ists, the Brücke artists are Autumn The start of the ques- stylized in a sweeping manner tionnaire campaign by art his- as victims of the Nazi regime. torians Christian Töwe and Hans 1948 Wentzel regarding the development 1 October Karl Hofer, the new and activities of the Brücke art- 21 June The Deutsche Mark is in- director of the Hochschule für ist group between 1905 and 1913. troduced in West Germany. bildende Künste in Berlin, offers Pechstein a teaching post. 8 October The Soviet Military Autumn Schmidt-Rottluff vis- Administration in Germany is its his student Erika Bausch von November Schmidt-Rottluff is authorized to investigate and Hornstein in Neu Kaliß, where 60 made an honorary citizen of Chem- return artworks confiscated as a of his watercolours were stored. nitz and is re-admitted to the result of the Nazi ‘Degenerate While there he paints numerous Academy of Arts. Art’ campaign within the Soviet new watercolours showing motifs occupation zone. from the demolished factory and 20 November The first Nuremberg the surroundings. Trials begin at the International 20 November Schmidt-Rottluff re- Military Tribunal. turns to Berlin. 1949 December Schmidt-Rottluff ac- 21 December 1946–January 1947 cepts Hofer’s offer of a teaching The exhibition Wiedersehen mit 24 June 1948–12 May 1949 The post at the Hochschule für bil- Museumsgut (Reencountering Museum Berlin Blockade. Just a few days dende Künste in Berlin. Holdings) is held at Schlossmu- after the currency reform in the seum Berlin. Works by the previ- Western occupation zone, Soviet ously defamed Brücke artists are troops block all access routes to 1946 shown with the aim of bringing West Berlin. They also restrict about their rehabilitation. gas and electricity supplies. 10 January The first meeting of the General Assembly of the Unit- 8 May The Federal Republic of ed Nations (UN) opens in London. 1947 Germany is founded and the Basic Law adopted. February–April Pechstein exhibi- 10 February The peace treaties tion in Berlin; the first location between the victorious powers 7 October The German Democratic is Admiralspalast in Friedrich- and Germany’s European war allies Republic is founded in the area straße, the second the District Bulgaria, Finland, Italy, Romania of the Soviet occupation zone. Offices in Wedding. and Hungary are signed in Paris.

3–17 August Together with the 1947 Start of acquisitions for a Neuruppin Public Education Of- Gallery of the Twentieth Centu- fice, the gallerist Ferdinand ry in Berlin by Ludwig Justi and Möller shows the exhibition Freie Adolf Jannasch. Deutsche Kunst (Free German Art)

10 youthful Brücke and has come close to the gallery in April 1934 as Heide The Art Public right wing, where the academics are seated.’ am Watt (Heath on the Mudflats) This exhibition was followed in 1935 by until 1937 solo shows in Krefeld and Hanover, which 7 Erich Heckel, Brücke in Limburg presented Heckel as ‘a painter of German (Bridge in Limburg), 1933, watercolour landscapes’. on pencil, Brücke-Museum, 1970 donated Although exhibitions of modern art still by the artist took place after 1933, their number could Possibly exhibited at Möller’s hardly be compared with those held during gallery in April 1934 as Limburg the Weimar Republic, which had a highly a. d. Lahn (Limburg on the Lahn) active contemporary art scene. The Berlin 1 Max Pechstein, Kutter zur Reparatur galleries of Ferdinand Möller, Karl Buch- (Cutters in Repair), 1933, oil on canvas, holz, Karl and Josef Nierendorf as well private collection as Otto von der Heyde were of especial The painting was exhibited in importance for the former Brücke artists. April 1934 as part of a presenta- Karl Schmidt-Rottluff However, many other art dealers who had tion of 41 works by Pechstein at supported modernism prior to 1933 were Galerie von der Heyde, Berlin. In at Karl Buchholz, obliged to retreat from public life; a large April 1936 Heyde held a further Berlin, 1935 number emigrated abroad. solo show by the artist with 40 watercolours and several drawings. After 1933, galleries and art associations In March and April 1935, Karl Buchholz primarily showed landscapes and still 2 Erich Heckel, Schneeschmelze im presented 35 watercolours by Schmidt- lifes by the Brücke artists. Most of these Erzgebirge (Snow Melting in the Ore Rottluff in his exhibition space. The show more recent works, which tended to be Mountains), 1931, oil on canvas, Brücke- received several positive reviews, for exam- closely oriented on nature, could hardly Museum, 1966 donated by the artist ple, Berliner Tageblatt praised it as ‘re- be termed expressionist. In summer 1933 Exhibited both at Galerie freshing’ and referred to earlier reviews on Kirchner commented: ‘Over there [i. e., in Ferdinand Möller in spring 1934 the travelling exhibition Neuere Deutsche Germany], exhibitions of modern painting and in the exhibition Das Bild Kunst (Recent German Art) of 1932. Even are often held to convert the Hitlerians, but der Landschaft (The Landscape then, ‘the strong personality, rock-hard without success, even though the tamest Image) at Hamburger Kunsthalle form, expressive colour’ had been positively works are selected, for example only small, in autumn 1934. highlighted – ascriptions that after 1933 incidental landscapes I painted. Such a were designed to make his art appear suita- pity.’ Admittedly, many of the presentations 3 Erich Heckel, Annweiler, 1933, ble for the National Socialist cause. received positive press coverage, but tempera on canvas, Brücke-Museum, 1966 simultaneously Nazi papers such as Das donated by Karl Schmidt-Rottluff 8 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Angler auf Schwarze Korps or Völkischer Beobachter Exhibited in April and June 1934 der Brücke (Fisherman on the Bridge), continued to polemicize against modern in Heckel’s solo show at Galerie 1934, watercolour and ink, Brücke- art and its network. Ferdinand Möller Museum, 1975 donated by the artist Exhibited in spring 1935 in the 4 Erich Heckel, Pfalz-Landschaft exhibition space of Karl Buchholz (Palatinate Landscape), 1933, watercolour, Brücke-Museum, 1970 donated 9 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Seerosen II Erich Heckel by Siddi Heckel (Waterlilies II), 1934, watercolour and ink, Possibly exhibited at Möller’s Brücke-Museum, 1973 donated at Galerie Ferdinand gallery in April 1934 as Pfälzer by the artist Möller, Berlin, 1934 Landschaft (Palatine Landscape) Exhibited in spring 1935 in the exhibition space of Karl Buchholz 5 Erich Heckel, Frauen am Wasser Between 28 April and 8 June 1934, Galerie (Women at the Water), 1933, watercolour Ferdinand Möller held a Heckel exhibition and opaque paints, Brücke-Museum, 1966 featuring works from the previous three donated by the artist years; a total of 21 oil paintings, 23 wa- Possibly exhibited at Möller’s tercolours and 8 prints were shown. The gallery in April 1934 as Badende artist commented with satisfaction: ‘The (Bathers) exhibition at Möller opened on Saturday, and many calls reveal a positive response.’ 6 Erich Heckel, Dünen am Watt Press comments were also very positive. (Dunes on the Mudflats), 1933, waterco- In one review the writer praised: ‘Heck- lour, Brücke-Museum, 1966 donated el has gradually distanced himself ever by the artist further form the more or less revolutionary Possibly exhibited at Möller’s

11 expressionist style, the three- Figural Depictions part work poses precisely this Images of of the 1930s question. Germany Like Pechstein’s design for the mural Das Symbol der Arbeit In particular the figural pictures and por- (The Symbol of Work), Heckel’s As of 1937, Heckel and Schmidt-Rottluff traits by the expressionists were strongly triptych also revealed thematic created landscape paintings and images criticized by the National Socialists. and stylistic associations with of places that could be deemed to meet The formally reduced Brücke art, partly works from the Weimar period. For the romanticized image of Germany inspired by objects from ethnological example, in 1928 Heckel created propagated by the Nazis. Schmidt-Rottluff museums, had no interest in naturalistic a mural design for the Fountain portrayed deserted cityscapes featur- depictions or idealization. In order to avoid Room of Museum Folkwang in Essen. ing romanticist or gothic buildings like giving grounds for criticism as far as possi- Its subject – ‘Die jungmännli- Limburg Cathedral or a chapel in medieval ble, from 1933 onwards museum directors che Bewegung (Spiel und Sport)’ Dinkelsbühl. It would have been possible replaced large numbers of figural pictures (Young Masculinity in Action: to link them thematically to officially ac- from their collection presentations with Play and Sport) – was supplied ceptable landscape ideals, but after sum- landscape paintings and still lifes by the by the then director Ernst Gose- mer 1937 Schmidt-Rottluff was no longer same artists. It was hoped that a ‘moder- bruch. Heckel returned to the mo- able to exhibit his works in public. ate’ expressionism would increase public tif in 1934. Both the subject and acceptance. And the Brücke artists them- the form of the representation While the artist’s depiction of a motorway selves also evidently responded to the made a work along these lines bridge is rather unusual, it does show an altered expectations: their figural paintings seem suitable as contemporary achievement of the time. In his letters from the 1930s appear increasingly nat- ‘German’ art for the new state. Schmidt-Rottluff comments enthusiasti- uralistic – a move away from the radically However, unlike Pechstein, Heckel cally on his trips through Germany by car. simplified style of the Brücke years. This avoided an explicit visualization In other words, it was not only historical development had already begun in the ear- of Nazi symbolism. In 1936 Es- buildings that inspired him. The new mo- ly years of the Weimar Republic and after sen-based industrialist and art torway bridges were planned before 1933, 1933 presumably became stronger partly collector Ernst Henke hung the but were now celebrated as an achieve- as a result of the controversy surrounding triptych – together with numer- ment of the National Socialist regime. expressionism. Not least of all, artists ous paintings by Nolde and other Even in the later years of the Weimar Re- needed to be able to exhibit their works in representatives of expression- public, nationalist-reactionary activists crit- public and find buyers for them. ism – in his villa. Given that, icized Brücke art, especially the portrayals according to Gosebruch, Henke was of people. One of them was the architect ‘very close to the Nazi Party’, and race ideologist Paul Schultze-Naum- several artists (including Nolde) burg, who debased expressionism by loaned him works for safekeeping using terms such as ‘unnaturalness’ and 1 Max Pechstein, Junge mit to prevent them from being confis- ‘degeneration’. As early as 1928 in his book Schneebällen und drei Nelken cated. Kunst und Rasse (Art and Race) he juxta- (Boy with Snowballs and Three posed portraits by Schmidt-Rottluff with Carnations), 1937, oil on canvas, 3 Erich Heckel, Zwei Brüder (Two Bro- photos of people with disabilities. private collection. thers), 1937, tempera on canvas, Nachlass Pechstein’s large-format portrait Erich Heckel, Hemmenhofen shows the artist’s 11-year-old Heckel’s self-portrait Zwei son wearing shorts and a short Brüder (Two Brothers) addresses haircut reflecting the fashion both his art and his family situ- of the time. Compared with his ation: the piece shows the artist earlier portraits, it seems with an earlier work on his left very naturalistic and recalls and his brother Manfred, who had the style of New Objectivity. died the previous November, on his deathbed on his right side. 2 Erich Heckel, Jungen am Strand Subsequently, the artist created (Boys on the Beach), 1934, triptych, several works in his memory. tempera on canvas, Nachlass Erich Heckel, Hemmenhofen How compatible was modernism with the art favoured by the National Socialists? Even though Heckel had long since moved away from his early

12 objects in ethnological museums, 6 Paul Schultze-Naumburg, Kampf Early such as Badende mit Tuch (Bather um die Kunst, (Nationalsozialistische with Towel), became a target Bibliothek, no. 36) Munich 1932, p. 10. Condemnation for the argumentation levelled Kampf um die Kunst (The Strug- at modernism by the national- gle over Art) was the title of ist-reactionary camp both on a lecture given in 1931 by Paul The attacks from the reactionary camp account of their non-naturalistic Schultze-Naumburg on behalf of were also directed at the acquisition form and because they were the Militant League for German policy of art museums. At the time, the so- deemed to be immoral. Seen from Culture in various German cit- called ‘purging’ of collections was called today’s perspective, art-theoret- ies. His comments aimed to defame for, which essentially meant censoring ical interpretations based modern art by comparing it with and removing modern works of art from on race ideology appear absurd. canonical artworks of the late museums. The organization of regional, At the time, they were widely gothic or the German renaissance. so-called ‘shame exhibitions’ lent weight to circulated. Once again, as in Kunst und Rasse this call. Such exhibitions were to present (Art and Race) he used the por- disparaged works of modern art as exam- 3 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Grünroter Kopf traits of Schmidt-Rottluff to ples of cultural decline. As a result, the (Green-red Head), 1917, alder wood, illustrate his point. This page tone in the public art debate intensified. painted in red and green, Brücke-Museum, shows the painting Emy, a por- The defamations in the early years of the 1971 donated by the artist trait of the artist’s wife. Nazi era paved the way for the Degenerate While he was stationed in Lithu- Art exhibition in 1937. ania, Schmidt-Rottluff created a 7 Paul Schultze-Naumburg, Kunst large number of sculptures, such und Rasse (Munich, 1928), p. 98–99. as Grünroter Kopf. He collect- In the book, which was pub- ed the wood for them locally. lished as early as 1928 and re- 1 Paul Schultze-Naumburg, Kampf The nationalist-reactionary camp printed in large numbers after um die Kunst, (Nationalsozialistische derided such sculptures as ‘ne- 1933, the inhuman dimension of Bibliothek,no. 36) Munich 1932, p.40–41. groid’; in part because appropri- Schultze-Naumburg’s art ideology Kampf um die Kunst was published ating formal language deemed to becomes evident: amongst other in 1931 as the 36th issue of the be foreign did not correspond to things, he juxtaposes paintings Nationalsozialistische Bibliothek its self-understanding of a genu- by Nolde (top), Picasso (bottom series by the Nazi Party publish- inely ‘German’ art. left) and Schmidt-Rottluff (bot- ing house based in Munich, and tom right) with photographs of was sold for the very affordable 4 Paul Schultze-Naumburg, people with disabilities. His aim price of 1 Mark. What we see here Kunst und Rasse, 1935 (1 Edition Munich, was to discredit the artists and is the accusation of imitation 1928), p. 106–107. consequently also the subjects as combined with a rejection (for The connection made between ‘unnatural’ and ‘un-German’. reasons of racial ideology) of art and race ideology is also objects from non-European cul- evident on this page: portraits 8 Wolfgang Willrich, ‘Beispiele von drei tures, which were disparaged as by Schmidt-Rottluff and Modigli- Entarteten’ (sheet with examples of three not being of equal quality. ani are juxtaposed with photos degenerates): Heckel / Schmidt-Rottluff / of people with physical deformi- Nolde’, 1933, bpk / Zentralarchiv, SMB Brücke-Museum is aware of the ties. The image at the top In this sheet from 1933, the racist content of this publica- left shows the woodcut Selbstbi- painter and reactionary art tion and wishes to expressly dis- ldnis (Self-Portrait) from activist Wolfgang Willrich de- tance itself from it. With this the year 1919. nounces the recognition of the presentation, we aim to portray three painters Heckel, Nolde and the inhuman argumentation used 5 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Bildnis Schmidt-Rottluff, which partly by the Nazis. Emy (Portrait of Emy), 1919, woodcut, took place under the Nazi regime. Brücke-Museum, bequest of Rosa The grouping already reveals the 2 Erich Heckel, Badende mit Tuch Schapire to the Galerie des main outlines of the kind of (Bather with Towel), 1913, Maple, Brücke- 20. Jahrhunderts, 1967 transferred collage that he later published Museum, 1986 acquired from Charlotte to the Brücke-Museum in his 1937 book Säuberung des Specht, née Sauerlandt using funds from In his pamphlet Kampf um die Kunsttempels (Purging of the Art the estate Martha Lemke Kunst, Schultze-Naumburg sought Temple). Schultze-Naumburg instrumen- amongst other things to discred- talized not only works by it the painting Emy. The wood- Schmidt-Rottluff, but also re- cut Bildnis Emy (Portrait of peatedly depictions of Heckel’s Emy) from 1919 shows a similar wooden sculptures. Figural depic- view of the painter’s wife, Emy tions inspired by non-European Schmidt-Rottluff.

13 1 Wolfgang Willrich, Säuberung des Max Pechstein The Degenerate Kunsttempels. Eine kunstpolitische Kampfschrift zur Gesundung deutscher at Auto Union AG, Art Exhibition, Kunst im Geiste nordischer Art, Munich 1937, p. 22, collage with works by vari- Chemnitz, 1937 ous artists, including the former Brücke painters Max Pechstein, Emil Nolde, Ernst June 1937 Ludwig Kirchner, and Otto Mueller The Degenerate Art exhibition opened in The book Säuberung des Kunsttem- Munich on 19 July 1937. Selected modern- pels (Purging of the Art Temple) In light of the unclear official stance ist paintings and sculptures were chaoti- by Wolfgang Willrich, published towards modern art, it is remarkable that cally presented and mocked with polemic in early 1937, formed a pseu- both Schmidt-Rottluff and Pechstein had commentary – strategies designed to do-scientific basis for the ‘De- the opportunity for solo exhibitions during manipulate visitors (for many of whom generate Art’ campaign. In his the first half of 1937: Schmidt-Rottluff this was their first encounter with modern ‘art-political polemic for the exhibited early in the year at Galerie Karl art). The day before, Hitler had opened recovery of German art in the Buchholz in Berlin, while Pechstein also an exhibition at Haus der Deutschen Kunst spirit of the Nordic style’, showed two paintings and 17 watercolours in Munich, a museum built under his aegis. Willrich expanded a campaign in June 1937 – shortly before the opening The Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung against new German art that had of the Degenerate Art exhibition – in one (Great German Art Exhibition) was com- been ongoing since the 1920s: of the so-called factory exhibitions at posed solely of works to his taste. Staging In multiple collages he presented Chemnitz-based Auto Union AG. Factory both exhibitions at the same time served works he labelled ‘degenerate’, exhibitions had been organized in large to cement the simple categories denouncing the purchasing numbers from 1934 onwards by the Nazi of ‘characteristic’ and ‘degenerate’ art. policies of German museums as Party’s leisure organization Kraft durch Hitler was able to secure broad approval he did so. Freude. Their exhibition programme, which for his measures; since the seizure of included works by Brücke artists, was power, local politicians in various places 2 Julien Bryan, Tour through the exhibiti- testament to efforts to present the ideals were only too keen to pillory modern works on Entartete Kunst in München, 1937, film, of the Nazis’ ‘renewal movement’ through in their museums by organizing so-called b/w, without audio, 2:26 min © Framepool a tempered kind of modernism. ‘Schreckenskammern’ or chambers of hor- RS GmbH rors. However, the rejection of expression- In the summer of 1937, the Amer- ism did not begin as late as January 1933, ican documentary filmmaker Julien but accompanied the movement from the Bryan spent seven weeks trav- very start. elling through Nazi Germany in 1 Max Pechstein, Am Mühlengraben order to gather footage of the (At the Mühlengraben), 1935, watercolour, Moreover, the expression ‘degenerate’ situation on the ground on behalf private collection. had a longer history. As early as the late of the American weekly show March Probably exhibited at Auto Union 19th century the co-founder of the Zionist of Time. Although the Propaganda AG in Chemnitz in June 1937 World Organization, Max Nordau, used Ministry had placed strict limi- the term (originally from biology) in his tations on him, he was still able 2 Max Pechstein, Häuser am Wasser publication Entartung (Degeneration) to to create a multifaceted portrait (Houses on the Water), 1935, watercolour disparage what was then the modern art of the National Socialist state. Probably exhibited at Auto Union of the fin de siècle. In the Weimar Republic He filmed not only everyday life, AG in Chemnitz in June 1937 era, when primarily expressionist artists but also propaganda events such received government support and collec- as the Nuremberg Rally, and he tions of modern art were established in drew attention to the anti-Semi- many public institutions, the attacks from tism within Germany. Furthermore, reactionary circles such as the Militant he was able to produce snippets League for German Culture intensified. of footage from the propagan- Alfred Rosenberg, the latter’s founder, da exhibition Degenerate Art in was an early follower and disseminator of Munich. The film shows a longer, National Socialist convictions and later be- unpublished excerpt from Bryan’s came known as Hitler’s ‘chief ideologist’. raw material on the propaganda exhibition.

3 Exhibition guide Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art), 1937 The cover features an illus- tration of Otto Freundlich’s sculpture Großer Kopf (Der neue

14 Mensch) (Large Head [The New opening in Munich, the travelling exhibi- Human]) from 1912. The Jewish Attack tion was showcased in an adapted form sculptor from Pomerania was over the course of 1938 in Berlin, Leipzig, probably murdered on 9 or 10 on Modernism: Düsseldorf, Salzburg and later on in other March 1943 at the concentration cities. camp Lublin-Majdanek or in The Nazi Sobibor. A number of paintings found their way into Campaign Brücke-Museum’s expanding collection, 4 Opening of the exhibition Degenerate works that had before 1937 been in public Art with Adolf Ziegler on 19 July 1937 ‘Degenerate Art’ art collections and as part of the state-or- in Munich. Presse-Illustrationen Heinrich dained ‘Degenerate Art’ campaign had Hoffmann, published in: Das 12 Uhr Blatt. been confiscated and sold. Some of the Neue Berliner Zeitung (20 July 1937), Confiscations paintings, such as Heckel’s Drei Frauen Archiv Pechstein vor roter Uferwand (Three Women Against The photograph shows the pres- Summer 1937 marked the start of an a Red Cliff), had already been present- ident of the Reich Chamber of unparalleled act of iconoclasm: Following ed in early so-called vilifying shows. Fine Arts, Adolf Ziegler giving Hitler’s decree, Propaganda Minister Schmidt-Rottluff’s Römisches Stilleben his opening speech at the Degen- Goebbels ordered the removal and (Roman Still Life), Nolde’s Verspottung (De- erate Art exhibition in Munich confiscation of modern art from German rision), Mueller’s Drei Akte in Landschaft in 1937. Hanging on the parti- museums, something that was done in (Three Nudes in the Landscape) and Kirch- tion wall in the background are two phases. Four years after the National ner’s paintings Sich kämmender Akt (Nude Pechstein’s painting Ehepaar Socialists had seized power at the end of Combing her Hair) and Im Cafégarten (In (Married Couple), 1917, (re- January 1933, the process of ‘bringing into the Café Garden) were presented from July moved from Kunstmuseum Breslau line’ they initiated on a political, economic 1937 as part of the Degenerate Art show [present-day Wrocław, Poland]) and social level was almost complete and and some were showcased at the sub- and Schmidt-Rottluff’s Akt Frau Hitler’s popularity had peaked. It was this sequent travelling exhibition of the same mit Armbändern (Nude, Woman with position of security that made it possible name. Almost all the paintings were stored Bracelets), 1912 (removed from to have modern art removed from public temporarily at Schloss Schönhausen in Hamburger Kunsthalle). collections. A commission composed the north of Berlin and were then handed by the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts and over to dealers to sell abroad. Kirchner’s headed by its president, painter Adolf Im Cafégarten (In the Café Garden) and Ziegler, travelled to over 100 museums and Mueller’s Drei Akte (Three Nudes) were on behalf of the German Reich confiscated sold in summer 1939 at the Galerie Fischer some 21,000 artworks as so-called ‘Degen- auction in Lucerne. erate Art’. Subsequently, modernist works vanished almost completely from public institutions until the end of the Second World War. Many collections have still not recovered from the iconoclasm. 5 Erich Heckel, Drei Frauen vor roter Uferwand (Three Women Against a Red Cliff), 1921, oil on canvas, The Brücke Artists and the campaign Brücke-Museum against ‘Degenerate Art’ The painting was exhibited as early as spring 1933 in one of Although the former Brücke artists were the first so-called vilifying not unfamiliar with the repeated criticisms shows, the exhibition Kultur- of modern art, the opening of the Degen- bolschewistische Bilder (Cul- erate Art exhibition on 19 July 1937 came tural Bolshevik Paintings) at as a surprise to them. The extent and Städtische Kunsthalle Mannheim. public defamation of their works in Munich In August 1937 it was confiscated was on a different scale than the previous and stored at Schloss Schönhaus- regional ‘shame exhibitions’. It seems the en prior to being sold. In 1941 artists knew nothing beforehand about this it was acquired by art dealer hastily organized show. Yet many of their Ferdinand Möller as part of a works were on display in Munich: eight barter agreement from the Reich paintings by Heckel, 24 by Kirchner, 15 Propaganda Ministry. The paint- by Mueller, 33 by Nolde, six by Pechstein ing survived the Second World and 20 by Schmidt-Rottluff. In addition, War in Möller’s summer house in numerous prints by each artist and several Zermützel near Neuruppin north of sculptures were also presented. After Berlin.

15 1922–1937 Städtische Kunsthalle 7 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Römisches Still- 1948–1951 Karl Buchholz, Mannheim eben (Roman Sill Life), 1930, oil on canvas, Bogotá/Columbia 1937–1941 German Reich/Reich Propa- Brücke-Museum 1951–1961 Theodor Heuberger, ganda Ministry, Berlin The painting was created in 1930 São Paulo/Brazil 1941–1956 Ferdinand Möller, Berlin/ during a scholarship in Rome, was 1961 Stuttgarter Kunstkabinett Zermützel/Cologne removed from the Berlin National- Roman Norbert Ketterer, 1956–1977 Rosemarie Baumgart- galerie collection in 1937, and auction Möller, Bergneustadt from August 1937 until October 1961–1981 Frankfurter Kunstkabinett 1938 was shown in the travel- Hanna Bekker vom Rath 1977 donated by Rosemarie Baumgart- ling exhibition Degenerate Art. Möller to the Brücke-Museum It was stored at Schloss Schön- 1981 Acquired from Frankfurter hausen before being purchased by Kunstkabinett Hanna Bekker vom Berlin-based book and art dealer Rath by the Karl and Emy Schmidt- 6 Otto Mueller, Drei Akte in Landschaft Karl Buchholz, who sold it that Rottluff-Stiftung (Three Nudes in the Landscape), ca. 1919, same year to a buyer in Finland. distemper on hessian, Brücke-Museum The painting was confiscated in 1932–1937 Nationalgalerie Berlin 9 Emil Nolde, Jägers Haus auf Alsen, 1937 from Kaiser Wilhelm Museum (Kronprinzenpalais) (Jäger‘s House on Alsen), 1909, oil on in Krefeld and subsequently shown 1937–1939 German Reich/Reich Propa- canvas, Brücke-Museum in the exhibition Degenerate Art ganda Ministry, Berlin The painting was confiscated in in Munich, Berlin, Leipzig, Düs- 1939 Buch- und Kunsthandlung 1937 from Hamburger Kunsthalle seldorf and Salzburg. After stor- Karl Buchholz, Berlin and stored at Schloss Schönhausen age at Schloss Schönhausen it was 1939–1973 Otto Ehrich, Helsinki/ from 1938 until 1940. selected by Swiss gallery owner Finland, Vitemölla/Sweden Theodor Fischer for the auction (and other places) 1919–1937 Hamburger Kunsthalle of 125 confiscated artworks on 30 1973 Galerie Günther Franke, 1937–1940 German Reich/Reich Propa- June 1939 in Lucerne. Munich ganda Ministry, Berlin 1940 Hildebrand Gurlitt, 1927 Galerie Dr. Goldschmidt - 1973 Acquired from Galerie Hamburg Dr. Wallerstein, Berlin Günther Franke by the State of 1940 Bernhard A. Böhmer, 1928–1937 Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, Berlin Güstrow Krefeld ca.1946–1979: Edgar and Greta 1937–1939 German Reich/Reich Propa- Horstmann, Hamburg/Munich ganda Ministry, Berlin 8 Emil Nolde, Verspottung (Derision), 1939 Theodor Fischer, Lucerne: 1909, oil on canvas, Brücke-Museum, 1979 Acquired by art dealer Rain- auction Paintings and Karl und Emy Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung er Horstmann, Hamburg, from Greta Sculpture by Modernist The painting was confiscated in Horstmann using funds from the Masters from German 1937 from the Museum der bil- Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin Museums denden Künste in Leipzig. From 1939–1953 Joseph Pulitzer Junior, May to October 1938 it was pre- Saint Louis/USA (bought sented as part of the Degener- 10 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Artistin (Artiste), at auction via the Pierre ate Art exhibition in Leipzig, 1910, oil on canvas, Brücke-Museum Matisse Gallery, New Düsseldorf and Salzburg. Subse- The painting was confiscated in York) quently it was stored at Schloss 1937 from the holdings of Jenaer 1953–1987 Saint Louis Art Museum Schönhausen until the end of Kunstverein and from summer 1938 (gifted by Joseph 1940. stored at Schloss Schönhausen. Pulitzer Jr. and Louise Ferdinand Möller acquired the Vauclain Pulitzer) 1921–1937 Museum der bildenden piece from the Reich Propagan- 1987 Christie’s London Künste, Leipzig da Ministry as part of a barter 1987–1989 Private ownership 1937–1940 German Reich/Reich agreement in March 1940. Until Propaganda Ministry, 1997 it remained the property of 1989 Acquired from a private Berlin the gallery owner and his heirs. seller through the agency of 1940–1943 Buch- und Kunsthandlung Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Karl Buchholz, Berlin 1917–1937 Kunstverein Jena using funds from the Deutsche 1943–1945 Karl-Heinz Brandt, (bequeathed by Botho Klassenlotterie Berlin Gramzow and 1945: Ros- Graef, Jena) gartenmuseum, Konstanz 1937–1940 German Reich/Reich Propa- (stored for Buchholz) ganda Ministry, Berlin 1945–1948 Marie-Louise Buchholz, 1940–1956 Ferdinand Möller, Berlin/ Überlingen Zermützel/Cologne

16 1956–1997 Angelika Fessler-Möller, 1937–1939 German Reich/Reich Propa- 1937–1940 German Reich/Reich Propa- Maienfeld/Switzerland ganda Ministry, Berlin ganda Ministry, Berlin 1939 Theodor Fischer, Lucerne: 1940–1956 Ferdinand Möller, Berlin/ 1997 Acquired from Angelika Fess- auction Paintings and Zermützel/Cologne ler-Möller using funds from the Sculpture by Modernist 1956–1970 Maria Möller-Garny, Co- Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin Masters from German Muse- logne ums 1970 Auction by Kornfeld und 1939–1965/66 Ernst Schlager, Basel Klipstein, Bern (pur- 11 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Selbstbildnis (purchased in Lucerne) chased by Kunsthandlung (Self-Portrait), 1914, oil on canvas, 1965/66 Galerie Änne Abels, Kornfeld itself) Brücke-Museum Cologne 1971 Acquired from Kornfeld und The painting was removed from Klipstein using funds from the Hamburger Kunsthalle on 4 July 1966 Purchased from Galerie Änne Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin. 1937. After being stored at Abels by Deutsche Gesellschaft Schloss Schönhausen it was ini- für bildende Kunst e.V. (Kunstv- tially intended to be sold inter- erein Berlin) using funds from nationally. Gallerist Ferdinand the Deutsche Klassenlotterie Möller acquired the work through Berlin a barter agreement from the Reich ‘Exploitation’ Propaganda Ministry. Like Heck- The paintings Im Cafégarten (In el’s Drei Frauen vor roter Ufer- the Café Garden) and Sich käm- wand (Three Women Against a Red mender Akt (Nude Combing her At the start of 1938, Hermann Göring Cliff) Möller also transferred Hair) were sold to Halle in 1924 considered selling some of the confiscated this painting to Zermützel near along with 22 other works from artworks. Goebbels wrote in his diary: ‘We Neuruppin, where it survived the the Frankfurt collection of want to try to earn some money with this Second World War. Ludwig and Rosy Fischer. Rosy rubbish.’ Aside from an auction in Lucerne Fischer died in 1926. It was in neutral Switzerland on 30 June 1939, 1921–1937 Hamburger Kunsthalle stipulated in the purchase con- four art dealers were authorized to sell the 1937–1940 German Reich/Reich Propa- tract that she would receive a confiscated works, namely the book and ganda Ministry, Berlin pension and after her death this art dealer Karl Buchholz, Berlin; gallerist 1940–1950 Ferdinand Möller, Berlin/ would also be paid to her sons Ferdinand Möller, Berlin; sculptor Bern- Zermützel/Cologne until 1944, yet owing to Nazi hard Alois Böhmer, Güstrow/Berlin; and art 1950–1983 Ferdinand and Ilse persecution the commitments of dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt, Hamburg. Sales Ziersch, Wuppertal the contract were not met until were to be completed in foreign currency the agreed time. The family re- to persons living abroad. The aim was to 1983: Purchased from Ilse Ziersch ceived compensation after the war. put an end in Germany to the artworks’ using funds from the Deutsche alleged regime-critical stance. All four art Klassenlotterie Berlin dealers ignored this order and sold works 13 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Sich kämmen- to private German collectors such as Josef der Akt (Nude Combing her Hair), 1913, oil Haubrich, a lawyer in Cologne, or Bernhard 12 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Im Cafégarten on canvas, Brücke-Museum Sprengel, a chocolate factory owner in (In the Café Garden), 1914, oil on canvas, From 1935 to July 1937 the paint- Hanover. Brücke-Museum ing was presented at Städtisches This work was presented in the Museum für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe specially installed ‘chamber of in Halle in a separate room known horrors’ at Städtisches Muse- as a ‘chamber of horrors’. Short- um für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe in ly afterwards it was shown in Halle between the end of 1935 and the Degenerate Art exhibition in July 1937. Subsequently, it was Munich, and until the end of 1938 transported to Munich for the as part of the travelling exhi- exhibition Degenerate Art. After bition in Berlin, Leipzig, Düs- storage at Schloss Schönhausen it seldorf and Salzburg. After being was sold at auction on 30 June stored at Schloss Schönhausen, 1939 by Swiss gallery owner The- Ferdinand Möller acquired it from odor Fischer in the Grand Hotel the Reich Propaganda Ministry as National in Lucerne. part of a barter agreement.

1924–1937 Städtisches Museum für 1924–1937 Städtisches Museum für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe, Kunst und Kunstgewerbe, Halle/Saale Halle/Saale

17 Hugo Simon (1880–1950), Berlin/Seelow, during the course of their friendship he The Fates banker, politician and collector of works by painted a series of portraits of her and Max Pechstein, among others, emigrated in produced jewellery and furniture for her. of the Jewish 1933, first to Paris, then later to Brazil. In 1924 Schapire compiled a catalogue of Schmidt-Rottluff’s printed graphic works. Collectors Herbert Tannenbaum (1892–1958), Mann- When the Nazi regime began to remove heim, art dealer and collector, emigrated in modern art from museums, Schapire and Patrons 1937, first to Amsterdam and then to New openly criticized the move in 1935. In 1937 York in 1947. her portrait in Schmidt-Rottluff’s woodcut formed part of the Degenerate Art exhibi- The situation of the Brücke artists must Victor Wallerstein (1878–1944), Berlin, art tion in Munich. also be considered against the background historian, art dealer and collector of works of the Nazis’ persecution of Jewish col- by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, among others, As a Jew, she inevitably feared for her lectors of their work and Jewish patrons. emigrated to Italy in 1936, where he died, life in the National Socialist state, and in Here, we wish to acknowledge them and probably of natural causes, in Florence. 1939 she fled to London. She left a large their commitment to Brücke art. Important proportion of her property in storage at figures who died prior to 1933, such as the Paul Westheim, (1886–1963), Berlin, jour- the port of Hamburg. The Nazi authorities Frankfurt gallerist Ludwig Schames, are nalist, art critic and collector of works by ordered its seizure and the contents were not included. Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Erich Heckel, auctioned off, including parts of Schapire’s among others, emigrated in 1933, first to first-rate art collection. In Britain too, she Alfred Flechtheim (1878–1937), Berlin/ Paris, then later to Mexico. continued to promote German expression- Düsseldorf, art dealer and collector, includ- ism, which was no easy undertaking in the ing of Brücke art, 1933/34 emigrated via post-war period. In 1953 she organized the Paris to London. first Schmidt-Rottluff exhibition in Britain at Leicester Museum. Robert Graetz (1878–1942?), Berlin, entrepreneur and collector of works by Rosa Schapire Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Max Pechstein, ‘I arrived in London on 18 August 1939, and deported in 1942, murdered in the Warsaw exactly two weeks later the war began… Ghetto. Even before the Nuremberg Race Laws The Nazis had stolen everything from me, so were passed in September 1935, many I came here with precisely ten marks – we were Gottfried Heinersdorff (1881–1941), Ber- Jewish patrons of the Brücke artists had entirely unable to get anything else out of lin, Head of the Art Institute for Stained been forced to flee Germany. The reprisals Germany. The only thing I was able to salvage Glass, Lead Glazing and Mosaics, oversaw inflicted meant that they would soon no from my entire estate was my great Schmidt- production of Max Pechstein’s glass images, longer be able to live freely within Germa- Rottluff collection.’ emigrated to France in 1937, died of natural ny. Whilst the public defamations of mod- causes there. ern art were directed first and foremost at Rosa Schapire, 1948 the artworks themselves, it was generally Thekla Hess (1884–1968), Erfurt, collector only indirectly through friends and ac- of expressionist artworks, most significant- quaintances that the Brücke artists experi- 1 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Bildnis Rosa ly Brücke artists (initially with her husband enced just what it meant to be persecuted Schapire (Portrait of Rosa Schapire), 1911, Alfred, who died in late 1931), emigrated to anti-Semitically in the Nazi regime. oil on canvas, Brücke-Museum, 1964 London in 1939. donated by the artist Art historian and collector Rosa Schapire – The portrait from 1911 shows Ella (1891–1965) and Hans (1885–1949) already a ‘passive’ member of the group by Schmidt-Rottluff’s friend Rosa Heymann, Berlin, collected works by 1907 – was one of the of the Brücke artists’ Schapire. Having been stored in Max Pechstein, emigrated to New York in most committed patrons. She brokered the basement of the artist’s Ber- 1936/37. sales of Brücke works to collections, lin home, it survived the war, galleries and museums. Schapire was one although the house was destroyed. Ismar Littmann (1878–1934), Breslau of the first women to promote and fight for Schmidt-Rottluff found it there (present-day Wrocław, Poland), lawyer and women’s rights in Germany: As early as when he returned to the ruined collector of works by Max Pechstein, Erich 1897 she published the essay ‘Ein Wort zur city in November 1946. The artist Heckel and Otto Mueller, among others, Frauenemanzipation’ (‘A Word on Wom- never sold the piece; in 1964 he banned from his profession in 1933, suicide. en’s Emancipation’) in the socialist journal gifted it to Brücke-Museum. Sozialistische Monatshefte. Rosa Schapire (1874–1954), Hamburg, 2 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff to Rosa Schapire, art historian, patron and friend of Karl A bundle of artist postcards testifies to 16 August 1939, Brücke-Museum, Karl und Schmidt-Rottluff, emigrated to London in the regular exchange she kept up with Emy Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung 1939. the Brücke artists. To Schmidt-Rottluff Brücke-Museum has a number in particular, she was a close friend, and of letters written by Karl

18 Schmidt-Rottluff to Rosa ‘Dear Ro, Schapire. While the two kept … I don’t have much to report at the moment, Pechstein’s up lively correspondence after summer remains just as confusing as the 1945, just five letters written whole year began—the best thing to do is not Situation by Schmidt-Rottluff have survived to undertake anything, not to make any plans. from the first few years after We might be here until mid-September, maybe Schapire fled to London, i.e. from not, we don’t really have a steady footing yet.’ Pechstein articulated his rejection of Nazi 1939 until the end of the war. race ideology in numerous letters, for ex- The striking thing about them Karl Schmidt-Rottluff to Rosa Schapire, ample in his correspondence with George is how reservedly and general- letter dated 16 August 1939 Grosz, who emigrated to the United States ly the artist expresses himself, as early as 1932. Admittedly, Pechstein possibly because he was worried also had acquaintances who felt positively their correspondence might be 3 Rosa Schapire, Karl Schmidt-Rottluffs about National Socialism, for example, art monitored. Graphisches Werk , Berlin 1924. historian Eduard Plietzsch and his wife Schapire compiled the first Mica, the godmother of his son Mäki. But catalogue raisonné of Pechstein himself was critical of the Nazi Schmidt-Rottluff’s prints in regime from the beginning. As early as 1924. It remains an important 1933 he lamented the departure of two Anti-Semitic Statements reference work on Schmidt- Jewish collector friends of his. And in Rottluff’s art to this day. spring 1933 he too had to defend himself by Schmidt-Rottluff, against the claim that he was a Jew. Emil made in the Early Stages Nolde, among others, denounced him to an official at the Propaganda Ministry and of the First World War Pechstein was obliged to prove his ‘Aryan descent’ earlier than would normally have After 1933, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff’s letters been the case. give no reason to assume that he viewed the Nazi regime positively or that he held anti-Semitic sentiments. However, there are several statements he made during the 1 The president of the Reich Chamber of period of the First World War that echo the Fine Arts to Max Pechstein, 6 March 1941, anti-Semitic war propaganda of right-wing Landesarchiv Berlin, A Rep. 243-04, no. groups. His anti-British sentiments and his 6563, file on Max Pechstein, sheet 532 conviction that the war was led by some for Pechstein’s correspondence with purely financial interests were closely tied the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts to anti-Semitic ideas. In an undated letter demonstrates that as the Second to art historian Willhelm Niemeyer in late World War progressed, everyday 1914, he describes Jews as a financial power life became increasingly difficult and Social Democrats as agitators who for artists, even those who like both posed a ‘new threat in the country’. Pechstein were themselves members And in a further letter, presumably from of the Chamber. early 1915, he writes: ‘My fear of Jewry was only all too justified: here in B[erlin] it has 2 Christmas celebrations at Eduard (Ede) already become tangible. These Jews here and Mica Plietzsch’s, with Max Pechstein, publicly demonstrate their great conviction his wife Marta and son Mäki, ca. 1940, that they will wield political power after Archiv Pechstein the war, too. But I think the German god From around 1939 Plietzsch, an will spare us that fate and bring their cause expert on Dutch painting, amongst to nothing.’There are no such statements in other things, was involved in as- his letters of later years, at least not known sembling plundered and confiscated up to this point. artworks for the planned ‘Führ- ermuseum’ in Linz and for Her- Both letters stem from the estate of mann Göring’s private collection. Schmidt-Rottluff scholar Gerhard Wietek He and Pechstein also remained (1923-2012) and are today housed at good friends during the Nazi era. Landesmuseum Oldenburg. After returning to a destroyed Berlin in late September 1945, the artist lived with Plietzsch and his wife in Meinekestraße for several weeks.

19 3 Max Pechstein, congratulatory letter ny from a distance. Kirchner’s feelings for Mica Plietzsch, 19 February 1937, for the country of his birth and his new Retreat into Stiftung Historische Museen Hamburg, home country of Switzerland were always Altonaer Museum für Kunst und Kulturge- ambivalent. On the one hand, he felt very Private Life schichte, photo: Archiv Pechstein much at home in Switzerland and until the The wife of art historian and mid-1920s ruled out ever returning to Ger- art dealer Eduard Plietzsch, the many. On the other hand, as a German he At the end of November 1936, godmother of Pechstein’s son, remained somewhat of an outsider and was Schmidt-Rottluff wrote to the gallerist was a staunch Nazi. This double also occasionally subject to animosity, as Möller: ‘You yourself are familiar with the portrait is addressed to her as a he related in January 1938: ‘They accuse me momentary situation, where we unwanted congratulatory gesture. Pechstein of being too German. Laughable. Is being painters have almost been pushed entirely himself features, wearing his German something to be ashamed of? I was to the private sphere.’ With a view to the painter’s smock; his ten-year-old born in Germany, became well-known, sold biographies of the artists during the Nazi son is depicted in a Hitler Youth [my art]. I thank my country by remaining regime, this retreat was retrospectively uniform. German.’ The defamation of his works in sometimes described as an ‘inner emigra- the Degenerate Art exhibition hit him espe- tion’ and illustrated by means of the Brücke cially hard, if we are to believe the letter his painters’ landscapes from the years after ‘Last Saturday my friend Prof. Freundlich […] wife Erna wrote following his suicide on 1933. Were the extended stays of the left; he has a position in Istanbul. My friend 15 June 1938: ‘K. suffered intolerably from painters really the result of a politically Finckelstein is already in England and will be his defamation in Germany. On top of that, motivated stance? And could the watercol- moving there permanently next year. My spirits he felt himself in a vacuum here in Switzer- ours produced in these periods automati- are sinking, quite apart from the attacks that I land.’ Collectors and artists, among them cally be termed ‘resistant’ works? have to suffer personally.’ the Brücke painters, were shocked when they learned of Kirchner’s suicide. Initially, As early as the 1920s, those Brücke artists Max Pechstein to the collector the majority of Kirchner’s works from his still living in Berlin, namely Heckel, Nolde, Robert Langstadt, who later himself Swiss years remained in Switzerland after Pechstein and Schmidt-Rottluff, were in also emigrated, 2 November 1933 his death. artistic terms more interested in nature and less in the city and modern life. Since the start of their careers, extended stays ‘Well, wonderful, they’ve now admitted that I’m away from the cities were of central im- not a Jew. If I were, it wouldn’t matter to me. 1 Erich Heckel, Erinnerung an E.L.K. portance to them. But letters show that it For me the person is what counts, and I won’t let (Remembering E.L.K.), 1944, watercolour, was particularly beneficial for the artists to them deny me my Jewish friends, whom I have Brücke-Museum, 1971 donated by Siddi escape the situation in Berlin with all the found to be reliable and good; in contrast to the Heckel conflicts it involved after 1933. The stays purely Aryan art dealer [referring to Wolfgang In 1944, roughly six years after in the countryside were a possibility to Gurlitt], who unscrupulously cheated me out of Kirchner’s death, Heckel pro- take a step back spatially and intellectually the profits from the work of my hands.’ duced this portrayal of his for- and to focus on their work. In his Memoirs mer Brücke colleague in front of (written in 1945-46), Pechstein describes Max Pechstein to the Swiss collector Walter mountain scenery with the cottage how he had crawled ‘like a wounded beast Minnich, 13 November 1934 known as ‘Im Wildboden’. to a small hut on the wonderful, large Lake Kose’ during the Nazi years, ‘where I could 2 Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Schafherde summon up my strength far from all else’. (Herd of Sheep), 1938, oil on canvas, Brücke-Museum, 1970 donated by Karl Ernst Ludwig Kirchner Schmidt-Rottluff This work was Kirchner’s last in Switzerland painting; it is reported to have Max Pechstein still been on his easel at the ‘My wife was in Frankfurt and Berlin time of his death. The back- on the Baltic coast before Christmas. She saw a lot of good ground of the painting shows the things about the new regime. It will artist’s home in his Wildboden In Pechstein’s memoirs (written in ultimately succeed. We are very isolated house. 1945–46), he describes extended stays in a and lonely here at the moment. Almost simple hut on Lake Kose as an inner retreat all our acquaintances have left. We often from political affairs, but he did not try to long to return to the Reich, but I am not connote his artistic work from this period yet healthy enough for that.’ This is how as politically motivated or ‘resistant’ in Kirchner described the situation on 2 Feb- any way. In contrast to Schmidt-Rottluff’s ruary 1935. He had already left Germany landscape works, whose later interpretation for Switzerland during the First World War was closely linked to the knowledge of the and after 1933 observed events in Germa- political oppression at the time, art histo-

20 rians did not interpret Pechstein’s paint- remained in Hemmenhofen until his death the following interpretation was ings as ‘metaphors of resistance’. Yet there in 1970. He had previously been introduced proposed: ‘With the motif of Lake are numerous parallels in the selection of to the area on the occasion of a visit of his Leba, he seems to want to express their artistic motifs. Independently of one friend, the art historian Walter Kaesbach, defiance against the dictated art another, the two artists spent almost every in 1935. From September 1936 he spent two taste of the period.’ summer at the lakes close to the Baltic months in Wangen on the Lower Lake. coastal resort of Leba in Pomerania. They The works presented here date from those 5 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Brücke mit had, however, no contact to one another, two years: they provide an impression of Eisbrechern (Bridge with Cutwaters), 1934, and if they happened to meet they went out his aesthetic at the time, based on close ob- oil on canvas, Brücke-Museum, 1964 of each other’s way. servation of nature and reticent in the use of donated by the artist colour. He also created landscapes during The bastion against the elements The painting Aufgezogene Keitelkähne his annual stays on Flensburg Firth (until shown here was interpreted as (Fishing Boats on Land) is not associated 1943) and in Austria (1940–1943). an ‘expression of active resist- with Pechstein’s time in Pomerania, but ance’, according to the found- rather with his final stay in Nida on the ing director of Brücke-Museum, Curonian Spit. The trip had been made pos- Leopold Reidemeister. Similarly, sible in summer 1939 – the first after almost Karl Schmidt-Rottluff’s the Schmidt-Rottluff expert and twenty years – following the reintegration friend of the artist Gunther Thi- of the Memel region (previously annexed by Stays in Pomerania em described the painting as Lithuania) into the German Reich in March a ‘metaphor of resistance’ 1939. After 1933, Schmidt-Rottluff’s works were repeatedly associated with his inner dis- tance to the regime, the defamation of his works and being banned from exercising his 1 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Heiliger See profession as of April 1941. Yet the readings (Sacred Lake), 1936, watercolour presented in captions from 1980s and 1990s and ink, Brücke-Museum, Karl und Emy exhibition catalogues differ starkly from Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung the interpretations that circulated between On a work with a similar motif, 1933 and 1937. The retrospective art- Lebasee mit Revekol (Lake Leba historical narrative interprets the works with Revekol) at Museum Folkwang as resistant and political, while the in Essen, Gunther Thiem wrote in pro-modern reviewers in the first years of 1989: ‘It is a mirror of the in- National Socialism emphasize what they ner condition of the artist: calm consider to be the ‘German’ qualities of the before the storm of provocations works. The question of how these contra- of the ‘zeitgeist that broke out dictory readings can be harmonized with in all their fury in 1937.’ one another leads to a critical reflection on context-dependent readings of art. 2 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Mondlicht (Moonlight), 1938, watercolour and ink, Brücke-Museum, 1975 donated by the artist 3 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Entwurzelte In 1989 Gunther Thiem stated: Bäume (Uprooted Trees), 1934, oil on ‘The watercolour thus presents canvas, Brücke-Museum, 1985 acquired an image of nocturnal peace, from the Karl und Emy Schmidt-Rottluff while the painting lets us sense Stiftung the threatening nature of the In 1984, Leopold Reidemeister night. An attitude to life is ex- posed the following rhetori- pressed in this motif from 1938.’ cal question with regard to the painting: ‘Are the “uprooted trees” from 1934 symbolically intended? Is it the artist him- Erich Heckel on self who feels uprooted?’

Lake Constance 4 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Fischerbucht (Fishing Bay), 1937, oil on canvas, Heckel moved to Lake Constance in 1943, Brücke-Museum, Karl und Emy after his studio had been bombed out. Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung Unlike Schmidt-Rottluff and Pechstein, he On the occasion of a Schmidt-Rot- did not return to Berlin after the war, but tluff retrospective in 1992–93,

21 positive: He continued to be a member of Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Schmidt-Rottluff’s the chamber, even though this barely had a positive influence on his poor financial in Kreisau Situation in the situation. In September 1942, Schmidt Rottluff 1940s was invited by jurist Helmuth James von Moltke and his wife Freya von Moltke to ‘The viewing of the recent original works their estate in Kreisau, Silesia (present-day After the outbreak of the Second World submitted shows that you are still far from the Krzyżowa, Poland). For two weeks he War, the conditions for artistic production cultural ideas of the National Socialist state.’ painted watercolours of the local landscape, changed fundamentally. Materials were in some of them for his hosts. The works were short supply and finally only allocated on The president of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts to serve the couple as a means of remember- the basis of ration coupons. The war had a to Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, 3 April 1941 ing the area, as Helmuth James von Moltke dramatic impact on artists’ everyday lives was already convinced at this stage that in Berlin. After 1943, there was the added Germany would lose the war and subse- fear of night-time bombing raids, the de- quently the eastern provinces and that they struction of homes and studios. A profes- 1 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Zwiebeln would have to leave Kreisau. sional ban was imposed on Schmidt-Rot- (Onions), ca. 1940, ink and coloured From 1942, the Moltke family estate was tluff in April 1941 that strongly affected his chalks, Brücke-Museum, Karl und Emy the centre of the Kreisau Circle meetings, work as an artist. With no official permis- Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung one of the resistance movements against the sion to sell his works, his meagre income Nazi dictatorship. Schmidt-Rottluff was shrank even further. He was no longer able Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Paprikaschoten unaware of this. Freya von Moltke later to obtain art materials, as these required (Peppers), ca. 1940, ink and coloured recalled: ‘Naturally, he was aware of our ration coupons, for which, with no cham- chalks, Brücke-Museum, Karl und Emy oppositional attitude towards the Nazi dic- ber membership, he was no longer eligible. Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung tatorship and shared it. But he knew noth- ‘As far as the material goes, things are ing of my husband’s political activities.’ getting more and more complicated, so In the early 1940s, painting After his stay, Schmidt-Rottluff decided to that I don’t really dare waste it by getting to with dry colours assumed central store two crates of his early works on the work’, the artist wrote in July 1942. He was importance for Schmidt-Rottluff. Kreisau estate. Silesia had not been bombed prohibited from exhibiting, publishing and Given the shortage of materials prior to 1944 and so the artist hoped his selling works. However, several sources during the war and ultimately paintings would survive the war there. suggest that he did not fully comply with due to his professional ban from As such, he was all the more disappoint- the professional ban. Little is known about spring 1941 onwards, he does ed when he later heard of their destruc- how thoroughly the Reich Chamber of Fine not seem to have produced any tion. According to Freya von Moltke, the Arts checked that artists really did not new oil paintings until 1945. paintings were destroyed during the Soviet exhibit, sell or publish their works. Instead, Schmidt-Rottluff real- occupation of the estate after the end of the ized his motifs in soft pastels. war. Helmuth James von Moltke was arrest- This technique proved to ed by the Gestapo on 19 January 1944 and be ideal for artwork in this executed on 23 January 1945 at Plötzensee Professional bans time of crisis, as it required Prison in Berlin. fewer materials and, being small 1941 marked a turning point for in format, also saved space. Schmidt-Rottluff: The Reich Chamber of The works in coloured chalk on Fine Arts subjected its members to re- paper that previously sold at ‘… my entire life, beginning back in school, I newed scrutiny. The reviewing of mem- lower prices than paintings ap- have fought with rigorous consistency against a bers’ professional and political suitability preciated in value during the spirit of restriction and violence, of superiority resulted from legislation passed by the period in which Schmidt-Rot- and a lack of respect for others, of intolerance Reich Chamber of Culture on 1 November tluff’s work was defamed. Art and the absolute, which exists in the Germans 1933. In a letter to the Reich Main Security historian Gunther Thiem later and which found its expression in the National Office dated 7 March 1941, the president of coined the term ‘unpainted pic- Socialist state.’ the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts set out the tures’ for the pastels, inspired consequences of a negative review as fol- by the myth of Nolde’s ‘Ungemalte Helmuth James von Moltke, farewell letter to his lows: ‘In such a case, the individual named Bilder’ (‘Unpainted Pictures’), sons Caspar and Konrad, 11 October 1944 above would no longer have the right to be which were said to have been active in the realms for which my chamber produced in secret: the term is responsible.’ After an examination of unpainted also applied in the selected current works Schmidt-Rottluff sense that Schmidt-Rottluff later (and incidentally also Emil Nolde) had to produced many of his pastel surrender his membership book in April motifs in oil. 1941. By contrast, Pechstein’s review was

22 1 Max Pechstein, list of deposited works, War Years August 1943, journal, private collection After the War As of 1943, Pechstein tried to 1939–1945 get his works to safety. He moved boxes of oil paintings and works In Europe, the Second World War ended on paper from his home; some in early May 1945 with the unconditional With the onset of bombing raids and survived the war, others were surrender of the German army. The post- the destruction of their apartments and destroyed. Shortly after the end war years were determined by an alliance studios in 1943, the former Brücke artists of the war the Red Army almost of the victorious powers, the Soviet Union, moved to the country for good: Heckel completely destroyed a set of the USA, Great Britain, and France, which relocated to Lake Constance, Schmidt-Rot- 3,400 drawings and watercolours, through military governments were the tluff to his home village of Rottluff in Sax- as well as 59 paintings which in highest authority in the state. Accordingly, ony, and Pechstein to Leba in Pomerania. June 1943 he had sent to Prince Germany was divided up into four occu- Kirchner had emigrated to Switzerland as Ernst Heinrich von Sachsen at pation zones and Berlin into four sectors. early as 1918. Schloss Moritzburg near Dresden. The war and the rigid Nazi art policy had During the night of 22-23 changed the earlier life of the Brücke November 1943, Pechstein’s studio artists immensely. The traces they had left ‘We now have been presented with a new catas- was also badly damaged by bombs – in the Weimar Republic were blurred, their trophe: our Berlin flat has been entirely destroy- after his home was destroyed the works removed from public institutions, ed. Everything burned. The cellar is supposed to artist moved to Pomerania their homes, together with their studios still be intact. But we know nothing else.’ in March 1944. and paintings, bombed. Half of all buildings had been destroyed during the Allied air Karl Schmidt-Rottluff to the museum director 2 Regional head of the Reich Chamber raids on Germany. In Berlin in fact only Friedrich Schreiber-Weigand, from Leba, Pomer- of Fine Arts, certification for Erich Heckel, one quarter of the apartments were left ania to Chemnitz, 27 August 1943 6.6.1944/31.7.1944, Landesarchiv Berlin, A undamaged. When Pechstein returned to Rep. 243-04, Nr. 3154, file on Erich Heckel the city in September 1945, all he found ‘For the past four weeks, we have been living With his move to Lake Constance, was ruins. His studio and apartment on without light, gas, or water … in a building the artist bade farewell to Ger- Kurfürstenstraße had been destroyed. in ruins in the middle of a field of rubble that many’s political centre for good. Karl and Emy Schmidt-Rottluff returned to was left by attacks on the 22nd and 23rd. Early Heckel’s ‘inner emigration’, Berlin in November 1946. It was not until Christmas presents, but now we don’t need any which is often mentioned in lit- March 1947 that they gained access to the others. We had it all, fire storms, bombs bursting erature, was primarily a conse- basement of their old home on Bamberger into fragments, raining ashes and sparks with quence of the destruction of his Straße, where unexpectedly they came oxygen deficiency. I drove the women from the Berlin workplace. He did after across numerous undamaged works, cellar through the flames before they utterly all get help with his move from among them sculptures that can now be collapsed. For thirteen hours … I was underway the regional headquarters of the found at Brücke-Museum, for example putting out fire bombs; I was taken to an eye Reich Chamber of Fine Arts. In Blauroter Kopf (Blue-Red Head). Unlike doctor the next morning at 9:30 am because I June 1944 it issued certification Schmidt-Rottluff and his wife and Pech- could no longer see. I was able to prevent our that he had been bombed out of stein, who returned to Berlin, Erich and studio building from burning, but not stop the his home, together with a request Siddi Heckel remained at Lake Constance, demolition bombs. But we are still alive, and that for him to be given assistance in where they had gone to escape the bomb- alone is a miracle!’ his search for accommodation. ing in May 1944.

Max Pechstein to his childhood friend, the paint- er Alexander Gerbig, 22 December 1943

‘Apartment and studio were burned out on 30 1 Max Pechstein, Zerstörtes Berlin (The January. When we finally could go up after the Ruins of Berlin) II, III, IV, VI, VII, 1945, priva- heavy attack, there was nothing left to save. We te collection were able, with the greatest effort, to keep the Pechstein captured the extent building and the cellar as well up to the third of the destruction in several floor standing until seven o’clock the next morn- drawings. ing when the firemen arrived. … Since exploding bombs and air mines were dropped very nearby on the 30th, we can consider ourselves very lucky to still be alive.’

Erich Heckel to the collector Klaus Gebhard, 4 February 1944

23 ‘The basements were still smouldering every- 3 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Blauroter Kopf Exhibition continues where, and the stench of decaying bodies hung (Panischer Schrecken) (Blue-Red Head over the ruins in the streets. Water was still drip- [Panic Horror]), spruce wood, coloured in Kunsthaus Dahlem ping here and there from the pipes. At the top of blue and red, Brücke-Museum, 1971 the road on the corner of Nettelbeckstraße there donated by the artist. was a big crater from where a lake extended from Nollendorfplatz to far beyond Lützow Platz Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Trauernder (Grieving (Herkules-Ufer). Impassable and deadly, as the Man), 1920, poplar wood, coloured green, cables in it were still live. Things looked just the Brücke-Museum, 1971 donated by the same in front of the zoo at Elefantenportal. The artist. apocalyptic knights had charged as far as Moabit, across the entire Tiergarten district – and this In April 1947, Schmidt-Rottluff was 1943.’ was unexpectedly able to recov- er his sculptures Blauroter Kopf Pechstein in a letter to artist Robert Langstadt, (Blue-Red Head) and Trauernder who had emigrated to Toronto, Canada, (Grieving Man) together with oth- 1 November 1946 er wooden figures – they had sur- vived intact in the cellar of his burned-out apartment building in Berlin at Bamberger Straße 19. 2 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Straße im Mor- genlicht (Street in the Morning Light), 1945 (1948), watercolour and ink, Brücke-Mu- „Karl already told you that we are currently go- seum, 1964 donated by the artist ing through and clearing the basement of Bam- berger Straße. It was strange to see the pictures Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Zerstörung which we thought were lost again, especially (Destruction), 1947, watercolour and the ones from the walls of our living room and ink, Brücke-Museum, Karl und Emy Karl’s sculptures. The carpets were still in their Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung wrappers and part of the boxes were still locked. We still hope to make some discoveries. In 1948 Schmidt-Rottluff was able to visit his student Emy Schmidt-Rottluff to Rosa Schapire, 30 Erika Bausch von Hornstein in March 1947 Neu Kaliss. She had hidden 60 of her teacher’s watercolours in the machine foundations of her 4 Erich Heckel, Stilleben mit Ikat (Still Life husband Viktor Bausch’s paper with Ikat), 1949, tempera on press plate, factory. She managed to save the Brücke-Museum, permanent loan from the works shortly before the Red Army estate Erich Heckel disassembled the factory in 1946 In January 1944, Heckel’s stu- for it to be transported to the dio in Emserstraße in Berlin Soviet Union. During his visit, was destroyed by a fire bomb. In Schmidt-Rottluff produced numer- the painting Stilleben mit Ikat ous watercolours of the crumbling (Still Life with Ikat) the artist façades of the factory buildings. features those personal objects The seas of ruins represented that survived the war. a new genre, both in the work of Schmidt-Rottluff and in that of his former Brücke colleague Pechstein.

24 public institutions. As the new director, Kunsthaus The Politicization Hofer offered Pechstein, Schmidt-Rottluff, and Heckel teaching posts for painting. Dahlem of Art and Culture Pechstein and Schmidt-Rottluff accepted, while Heckel on the other hand was scepti- Continuation / Part 2 after 1945 cal about the direction the new West Berlin (Part 1 in Brücke-Museum) university was going in, closely associated as it was with political interests of the day; in 1949, he took on a teaching post at the Given its history, Kunsthaus Dahlem is After the end of the Second World War, university in Karlsruhe. particularly suitable as the venue of the artists faced enormous structural chal- second part of the Escape into Art? exhi- lenges: Germany was divided up into four bition. The building was constructed from occupation zones and, under the control ‘In January Prof. Ehmsen, Hofer’s deputy, was 1939 to 1942 by architect Hans Freese of the Allies, busy with the reconstruction here. He tried to get me to take on an official under the supervision of Nazi architect of the country and the denazification of the position in Berlin. But even if my studio here is and Reich Minister of Armaments and population. Great Britain, France, the USA not ideal and has now been unusable for many Munitions Albert Speer. It was intended and the Soviet Union placed great impor- weeks, nonetheless I find my personal freedom as a studio for sculptor Arno Breker in the tance on culture in the creation of a dem- too valuable to give up.’ context of an overall plan for government ocratic state. Accordingly, the art scene studios. Soviet troops used it for a short came to life again throughout the country. Erich Heckel to the collector Klaus Gebhardt, while in 1945, after which it was the seat of The first exhibitions, frequently with works 24 February 1947 the US military administration. A year later by the former Brücke artists, were being the building was handed over to the State held again only a few weeks after the sur- of Berlin. In 1949, the sculptor Bernhard render. The aim behind the re-education 1 Max Pechstein and the art historian Heiliger moved into the east wing of the by the Allies was to overcome the Hitler Adolf Jannasch, 1 January 1947, photo: building; he lived and worked there until regime by rehabilitating the artists the Charlotte Willot © ullstein bild his death in 1995. From the early 1970s Nazis had banished from public life. Even As of 1945, Adolf Jannasch not onwards, the German Academic Exchange before Erich Heckel, Max Pechstein, and only penned numerous articles Service used the building to house art Karl Schmidt-Rottluff were able to position in art magazines; in his role scholarship holders. themselves, they were being celebrated as as head of the Fine Arts Depart- heroes of the resistance against the Nazis, ment in the Berlin Senate he Focussing on post-war modernism and as was the Party member Emil Nolde. The also played a pivotal role in the sculpture, Kunsthaus Dahlem opened in artists were now over 60 years old; none institutionalization of expres- June 2015. of them was thinking of a radical new be- sionism. In 1955 he was appoint- ginning. They fell in with the role of victim ed head of the Galerie des 20. they had been assigned and witnessed Jahrhunderts in West Berlin. the canonization of their life work as a contribution to international modernism. On the other hand, there was no critical reflection from their part on their percep- tion of themselves as specifically ‘German’ expressionists, nor did they make any attempt to disassociate themselves from earlier endeavours for official recognition under the Nazi regime. As protagonists of the policy of remembrance, the manner in which Brücke art was perceived became closely associated with the narrative of defamation.

In July 1945, the Soviet military adminis- tration appointed Karl Hofer director of the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Berlin, which was to be re-established. The painter had clearly voiced his opposition to the Nazi Party prior to 1933, but certainly came close to Nazi art ideals with its na- tionalist leanings and the call for an essen- tially ‘German’ style. Nonetheless, in 1937 several of his works were confiscated from

25 March Befreite Kunst (Liberated [group exhibition including Heck- Art Exhibitions Art), Schlösschen, Celle, [group el, Kirchner, Mueller, Pechstein, exhibition including Heckel, Nol- Schmidt-Rottluff] 1945–1949 de, Pechstein, Schmidt-Rottluff] December Wiedersehen mit Muse- A Selection April–May Wilmersdorfer Kun- umsgut, Erste Schau seit 1940 aus stausstellung: Auf befreiten Beständen der Berliner Kunstmu- 1945 Schwingen… Malerei, Graphik, seen (Reencountering Museum Hold- Plastik (Wilmersdorf Art Ex- ings. The First Show Since 1940 July–August 1. Ausstellung der hibition: On Liberated Wings… Featuring Works from the Berlin Kammer der Kunstschaffenden Painting, Prints, Sculpture), Art Museums), Schlossmuseum, Ber- (First Exhibition of the Chamber Department of Fine Art, Cultural lin [group exhibition including of Artists) Berlin [group exhibi- Association for the Democratic Kirchner, Heckel, Mueller, Pech- tion including Heckel, Kirchner, Renewal of Germany, Berlin [group stein] Mueller, Pechstein, Schmidt-Rot- exhibition including Pechstein] tluff] Late 1946/early 1947 Sammlung April–June Befreite Kunst (Lib- Haubrich (The Haubrich Collec- August–September Ausstellung erated Art), Kunstverein Braun- tion), museums of the City of junger Kunst (Exhibition of schweig [group exhibition includ- Cologne in the old university, Recent Art), Galerie Gerd Rosen, ing Heckel] Cologne [group exhibition includ- Berlin [group exhibition ing Heckel, Pechstein] including Heckel, Kirchner, May–June I. Deutsche Kun- Mueller, Nolde, Schmidt-Rottluff] stausstellung der Deutschen Zentralverwaltung für Volksbil- 1947 October–November Deutsche Kunst dung in der Sowjetischen Be- unserer Zeit (German Art of satzungszone (First German Art May Moderne deutsche Kunst (Mod- Our Time), Städtisches Museum, Exhibition of the German Central ern German Art), Kunstgebäude, Überlingen [group exhibition Administration for Public Edu- Tübingen [group exhibition in- including Heckel, Kirchner, cation in the Soviet Occupation cluding Heckel, Pechstein] Mueller, Nolde, Schmidt-Rottluff] Zone), Zeughaus, Berlin [group exhibition including Pechstein] May–June Expressionistische December 1945 – January 1946 Malerei (Expressionist Paint- Ausstellung bildender Künstler August Freie Deutsche Kunst ing), Städtisches Museum, Wupper- (Exhibition of Fine Artists), (Free German Art), Karl-Marx- tal [group exhibition including organized by the Cultural Haus, Neuruppin, Department of Hecke] Association for the Democratic Public Education and Galerie Renewal of Germany with the Ferdinand Möller [group exhibi- July–August Max Pechstein, Städ- support of the Chamber of Art- tion including Schmidt-Rottluff, tisches Museum Zwickau, Zwickau ists, Berlin [group exhibition Kirchner, Heckel, Mueller, Pech- including Pechstein] stein] November Erich Heckel. Werke aus 4 Jahrzehnten (Erich Heckel. December 1945–January 1946 August–October Allgemeine Works from Four Decades), Galerie Ausstellung Berliner Künstler Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Gen- der Jugend, Hamburg (Exhibition of Berlin Artists), eral German Art Exhibition), Staatsoper/Admiralspalast, Ber- Stadthalle, Dresden [group exhi- lin, organized by the Berlin bition including Heckel, Kirch- 1948 municipal administration, Depart- ner, Schmidt-Rottluff, Mueller, ment of Public Education [group Pechstein] February Erich Heckel. Werke exhibition including Pechstein] aus 4 Jahrzehnten (Erich Heckel. September Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. Works from Four Decades), Kunstv- 50 Aquarelle aus den Jahren erein Köln 1946 1943–1946 (Karl Schmidt-Rotluff. 50 Watercolours from 1943-1946), April Erich Heckel, Kaiser Wil- February–March Max Pechstein, Städtische Kunstsammlung zu Chem- helm Museum, Krefeld Staatsoper/Admiralspalast, Ber- nitz, Schlossberg-Museum, Chem- lin, organized by the Berlin nitz May–June Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. municipal administration, Depart- Aquarelle (Karl Schmidt-Rottluff. ment of Public Education (March– October–November Meister des Ex- Watercolours), Haus am Waldsee, April 1946 Wedding district pressionismus (Masters of Expres- Berlin office) sionism), Galerie Bremer, Berlin

26 September–November Sammlung Its main duty hardly differed town. In autumn 1946, he was granted an Hagemann (The Hagemann Collec- from that of the Nazi organi- extensive exhibition at Schlossberg-Mu- tion), Städelsches Kunstinsti- zation: It too was intended to seum featuring 50 watercolours from the tut, Frankfurt [group exhibition steer and control the development previous three years. Schmidt-Rottluff was including Heckel] of art with regard to its intel- able to realize the show with Friedrich lectual and political direction. Schreiber-Weigand, the director of the Winter Erich Heckel, Emil No- As early as the summer of 1945 Städtische Kunstsammlung, who in 1933 lde, Christian Rohlfs und Karl it organized the first exhibi- had been dismissed but who had now Schmidt-Rottluff (Erich Heckel, tion, featuring works by Heckel, been reinstated. Through his representa- Emil Nolde, Christian Rohlfs and Kirchner, Mueller, Pechstein and tions of the countryside in the region, the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff), Museum Schmidt-Rottluff, among others. artist deliberately attempted to appeal to Folkwang, Essen [group exhibi- Even if their works were now of- all sections of the population in the spirit of tion including Heckel, Nolde, ficially recognized and seen in the socialist idea. Schmidt-Rottluff] a positive light, the political instrumentalization of their art continued. 1949 4 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Augustmorgen- 3 Erich Heckel, Blick von der Wasserkup- sonne (Morning Sun in August), 1944, wa- May–July Deutsche Malerei und pe (View from Wasserkuppe), 1934, water- tercolour and ink, Brücke-Museum, 1975 Plastik der Gegenwart (Contempo- colour and coloured chalks, Brücke-Mu- donated by the artist rary German Painting and Sculp- seum, 1970 donated by Siddi Heckel ture), Staatenhaus, Cologne The watercolour Blick von der Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Mühle im Striegistal [group exhibition including Heck- Wasserkuppe (View from Was- (Mill in Striegistal), ca. 1944, watercolour el, Pechstein] serkuppe) was displayed from 3 to and ink, Brücke-Museum, Karl und Emy 17 August 1946 in the exhibition Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung June–July Berliner Neue Gruppe. Freie Deutsche Kunst (Free German Both watercolours were show- Erste Ausstellung (Neue Gruppe Art) at Karl-Marx-Haus in Neurup- cased in the exhibition Karl Berlin. First Exhibition), Ze- pin. The Neuruppin Department of Schmidt-Rottluff. Aquarelle hlendorf Art Department, Haus am Public Education and the galler- aus den Jahren 1943–1946 (Karl Waldsee, Berlin [group exhibition ist Ferdinand Möller organized Schmidt-Rottluff. Watercolours including Pechstein, Schmidt-Rot- the exhibition. from 1943–1946) at Städtische tluff] Kunstsammlung zu Chemnitz im Schlossbergmuseum. July–September Moderne Abtei- lung (Sammlung Haubrich) (Modern Department [The Haubrich Collec- Karl Schmidt- tion]), art collections of the ‘This sun seems to be the epitome of all suns City of Düsseldorf and Wallraf Rottluff that ever shined on this earth. It stands above a Richartz Museum in Cologne [group landscape that could have looked just like this exhibition including Pechstein] exhibition millions of years ago. It is not reminiscent of a Sunday stroll, but forces us to allow the feeling in Chemnitz of the landscape to rise within us.’

2 ‘Die erste Kunstausstellung der in 1946 Otto Jäger, painter and collector from Chemnitz, Kammer’ (‘The First Art Exhibition of the in the 1946 exhibition catalogue Chamber of Artists’ ), in: Berliner Zeitung, 28 July 1945, bpk / Staatsbibliothek zu One of the first defamatory exhibitions with Berlin – SPK, Zeitungsabteilung © DuMont works by Brücke artists was staged in 1933 ‘Art is like agriculture; the farmer plants his field Mediengruppe GmbH & Co. KG in Chemnitz. The new cultural authority each year with the same care, but how the har- In Berlin the Red Army had forced established there after 1945 hastened to vest turns out is not entirely up to him. Art has the Germans to surrender on 2 May redeem the city’s Nazi past. Cultural edu- to be worked on honestly and respectfully.’ 1945. Subsequently, the Soviet cation work aimed at denazification with a occupying power took over re-es- socialist maxim played a major role in the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, ‘Wege und Aufgaben der tablishing administrative author- Soviet occupation zone. Schmidt-Rottluff, deutschen Kunst’ (‘Ways and Tasks of German ity. On 6 June 1945, it set up who had attended school with Heckel in Art’), 1946 the Chamber of Artists. This was Chemnitz, was adulated as a dissident. the successor body to the Nazi He was appointed president of the local Reich Chamber of Culture and was branch of the Cultural Association for to be the future professional the Democratic Renewal of Germany association of active artists. and was made an honorary citizen of the

27 flowers as the bearers of hope for West Germany suddenly boasted the best Losses and a new beginning, whilst the cut of German modern art collections. Shortly flowers echo the vanitas motif in before, art historian Leopold Reidemeister Recreations their rapid perishability. had been appointed acting head of Co- logne’s Städtische Museen. He integrated the donation into Wallraf-Richartz-Museum The works by Brücke artists we are familiar as a symbol of ‘redress’ towards the artists with nowadays only make up part of their defamed under the Nazi regime. actual oeuvre. When their Berlin dwellings Links to the period and studios burned down in 1943-44, Heckel, Pechstein and Schmidt-Rottluff before 1933 lost numerous works, letters, catalogues 6 Max Pechstein, completed question- and photos of their output. For this reason, naire, part of a letter to Christian Töwe, searching for their works was one of Heckel likewise repainted numerous of 10 February 1947, formerly Krüger archive, the first activities they engaged in, and his earlier and destroyed works, including Berlin it continued for years. They frequently landscapes and circus scenes, motifs In 1947, in the context of a came to realize that major works had been favoured by Kirchner and Heckel during Cologne research project on the destroyed. Adopting and painting earlier the Brücke period. Yet whereas the early Brücke artist group, art histo- motifs and representations anew was an depictions reflected the rapid motion of rian Christian Töwe sent ques- attempt to process the losses artistically. the artists and the sensational moments tionnaires to the artists still of the performances, in the 1920s Heckel living, their relatives, friends, transformed his scenes into static groups collectors and gallerists. The with a tragic and uncanny aspect to them. aim was to replace the documenta- ‘Oh my friend, you cannot imagine how many It was these portrayals that Heckel re- ry material lost in the war. The of my own works I have lost. Now that I am in turned to after 1945. intensive exchange of information the process of studying the few works which about the period between 1905 and were saved for an exhibition in February, I am 1913 led to a revival of the old becoming aware of just what is missing. Entire networks and the spotlight was years have disappeared. And so have the most ‘A strange new form of work [repainting de- placed on Brücke art in the past. important paintings …. Apart from 59 paintings, stroyed pieces], which shows with increasing Heckel enthusiastically partic- and 76 watercolours I had stored my entire life’s clarity as it progresses just how final a formu- ipated in the surveys and conse- work of drawings at Schloss Moritzburg. 3,400 lation was found, that changes attempted at the quently returned to an artistic sheets, of which 120 were saved!!! Few, fewest, beginning correct themselves again.’ examination of his former Brücke even fewer.’ colleagues. Tellingly, in a se- Erich Heckel to the artist Lyonel Feininger, ries of four large-scale litho- Max Pechstein to the writer Herbert Eulenberg, 17 July 1946 graphs, he portrayed only those 20 January 1946 members whom Kirchner had select- ed in 1925 for his painting Eine Künstlergemeinschaft (Die Maler der Brücke) (A Community of Art- 5 Max Pechstein, Gelbe Tulpen (Yellow Museum ists [The Brücke Painters]). Tulips), 1909, oil on canvas, whereabouts unknown, photo: Pechstein archive Concepts of 7 Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Blockadestill- The 1909 painting Gelbe Tulpen eben (Blockade Still Life), 1948, oil on (Yellow Tulips) had belonged to Reconstruction canvas, Brücke-Museum, Karl und Emy the Berlin insurance agent Hans Schmidt-Rottluff Stiftung Heymann, whose collection was 24 June 1948 until 12 May 1949, confiscated by the Nazis in 1941. Even though the Allies were able to West-Berlin faced the so-called In 1948, Pechstein painted a se- quickly realize temporary exhibitions, the Berlin Blockade (of West Berlin) ries of nine vases with sunflowers reconstruction of modern art collections by the Soviet Union. In its iso- which closely resemble this early in museums required considerably more lated position, the city lost di- picture in terms of composition. time and effort. In the Soviet occupation rect and continuous contact with By returning to what was for him zone official orders were issued to restore the latest art developments in an important source of inspi- the art museums. Consequently, early West Germany and Western Europe. ration during his early Brücke examples were primarily to be found in the Schmidt-Rottluff complained bit- days, Pechstein seemed to want to eastern zone of Germany. That changed terly that he was ‘simmering in reaffirm himself. These paintings when in 1946 the lawyer Josef Haubrich his own juices’, and captured the doubtless attest to the influence gifted his collection of expressionist art, situation in his Blockadestille- of Vincent van Gogh. They evoke including numerous pieces by the Brücke ben (Blockade Still Life). the double meaning of the sun- painters, to the City of Cologne. Indeed,

28 Monitoring Centre on Racism and Deportation, deport Glossary Xenophobia (EUMC) with additions by the Verein für Demokratische Kultur in Deportation means that people are taken Berlin e.V., 2004/2014 away from their place of residence against This glossary contains terms and topics their will and forced to live elsewhere. which we as the exhibition team consider The Nazis deported political opponents important and wish to explain: foreign Professional ban (painting ban) and people whom they did not consider words as well as specialist terms used to be ‘Aryan’ – they were taken to concen- in the historical context plus vocabulary Only members of the Reich Chamber tration and extermination camps – women, that the Nazis created and employed to of Fine Arts were permitted to work as men and children. Prisoners in concentra- support their ideology. Moreover, we artists, meaning allowed to publish, exhibit tion camps had to do forced labour present topics that illustrate how we in the and sell works. Key membership criteria and often died of exhaustion and hunger. museum work today and the stance we were ‘racial descent’ and artistic suitabil- In extermination camps they were mur- have taken. They are explained by people ity in line with Nazi ideology. In 1941, for dered shortly after their arrival. The UN from different backgrounds who helped example, following an official review of Convention on the Rights of the Child prepare the exhibition content or who selected works Karl Schmidt-Rottluff’s and prohibits violence against children in arti- advised us from a critical standpoint; the Emil Nolde’s artistic ‘reliability’ for the Nazi cle 19. Article 6 states that every child names and roles of the authors are noted state was revoked and they were request- has a right to life and survival. in each case. Quoted German material has ed to return their membership books. They — Veronika Nahm, Head of Exhibitions been translated. were prohibited from exhibiting and selling and Education, Anne Frank Zentrum works without express permission, which Berlin, 2009 As a museum, we aim to shed light on equated to a professional ban. Sweeping complex contexts and issues. To this end ‘painting bans’ were not issued, however; it is in part necessary in this exhibition to mentions of painting bans became more ‘Degenerate Art’ repeat terms invented or used to spread frequent in the post-war period, but did not Nazi ideology in the NS-period. We wish correspond to the historical realities. It was in the late 19th century that modern to distance ourselves from this inhuman — Meike Hoffmann, Freie Universität art and cultural movements were first attitude and illustrate this by the conscious Berlin, and Aya Soika, Bard College derided as pathological ‘degeneration’. use of quotation marks in the wall texts. Berlin, 2019 In the 1920s, this defamatory trend was Brücke-Museum is an open institution for increasingly to be witnessed among reac- a diverse public and condemns all forms of tionary circles parallel to the flourishing discrimination. Confiscation, confiscate of the avant-garde art scene. In the Third Reich the term was part of the fixed vocab- As a rule, this refers to the seizure of an ulary of the propaganda machine and with Anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic object against the will of its owner. The art- the defamatory exhibition Degenerate works removed from public collections as Art was systematically employed in the Anti-Semitism refers to socially estab- of July 1937 on behalf of the German Reich fight against modern art. The reduction lished perceptions of an externally con- are generally associated with this term. to the word ‘degenerate’ had the effect structed Jewish collective. The potency Yet contemporary researchers increasing- of decoupling the evaluation criteria from of these fictions is evident in the dissem- ly tend to replace it with the word deacces- art-historical terminology and linking it ination of anti-Semitic attitudes, public sion (Latin: de = away from, accedere = with völkisch (nationalist/racialist) catego- debates, and may be expressed as hatred to enter, to access). Because given the fact ries by means of a term from evolutionary toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical man- that most of these were works that were biology. ifestations of anti-Semitism are directed already publicly owned by local authori- — Meike Hoffmann, Freie Universität toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals ties, towns, or the government, the term Berlin, and Aya Soika, Bard College and/or their property, toward Jewish com- confiscation is not quite accurate. Neither Berlin, 2019 munity institutions and religious facilities. is it always clearly discernible that their In addition, the state of Israel, which is removal took place against the will of understood in this context as a Jewish col- the museums. Many of the museum direc- History lective, may be the target of such attacks. tors had assumed their posts only as of Anti-Semitic statements frequently contain 1933 – following the dismissal of their That which we experience, document, the accusation that Jews are operating predecessors who had built up the collec- hand down – photos, films, letter or inter- a conspiracy against humanity and are tions of modern art. views: the present quickly becomes the responsible for ‘things not running right’. — Meike Hoffmann, Freie Universität past. Historians and also museums evalu- Anti-Semitism takes verbal, written and Berlin, and Aya Soika, Bard College ate sources in order to reconstruct history pictorial form as well as other types of ac- Berlin, 2019 from them. It is by no means identical with tivity; it makes use of negative stereotypes the past. History is always a construction and implies negative characteristics. by the people providing the memories — Excerpt from the working definition or conducting the research. As such, of anti-Semitism of the European recounting and researching history is a

29 creative activity at the interface between related to the relevant developments to their religion is prohibited. See on this past and present. History and art history in art policy, history and personal circum- article 2 of the UN Convention on the are therefore certainly not purely preserva- stances. Rights of the Child. tive disciplines in the museum domain, but — Meike Hoffmann, Freie Universität — Veronika Nahm, Head of Exhibitions ones that engage in explaining, updating Berlin, and Aya Soika, Bard College and Education, Anne Frank Zentrum Berlin, and interpreting. (Hi)stories are written. Berlin, 2019 2009 — Daniela Bystron, Curator of Outreach, Brücke-Museum, 2019 ‘Inner emigration’ ‘Nordic expressionism’

Gleichschaltung [bringing into line], The retreat of the Brücke painters into It was under the term ‘Nordic expression- gleichgeschaltet [brought into line] their own private sphere in the years of ism’ that some of the Nazi Party members the Nazi regime has in biographical ac- sought as of 1933 to defend this style of a) Political Gleichschaltung: annulment counts of their lives repeatedly been art from a nationalistic perspective. Emil of political and organizational pluralism linked to the term ‘inner emigration’. Nolde and Ernst Barlach, as well as by means of adapting the organizational This vague description of the everyday Erich Heckel and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, structures of existing bodies and institu- realities of artists who remained in Germa- for example, were considered down to tions to the Nazi Führer principle; ny is frequently associated with a kind of earth and genuinely ‘German’ owing b) inner Gleichschaltung: adapting intellectual distancing, if not even a certain to their rural origins or their references to thoughts and actions to the Nazi world- resistance. In the case of Heckel, Pech- German gothic art. At the same time, the view; c) outer Gleichschaltung: political stein and Schmidt-Rottluff, their retreat to term clearly marks a distinction to Rhenish Gleichschaltung without simultaneous the country, a consequence of the destruc- and South-German expressionism, whose adjustment of thoughts and actions tion of their homes and studios in Berlin, abstract-leaning art had barely any sup- to the Nazi worldview. was likewise termed an ‘inner emigration’. porters in the Nazi regime. Opponents of Whether and to what extent their periods modernism attacked the labelling of The expression Gleichschaltung was pro- of residence outside the political centre the artists as ‘Nordic’, claiming it was posed by Hans Frank and transferred from of Berlin were also politically motivated is a cover-up tactic. the specialist terminology of electrical most likely to be gleaned from their private — Meike Hoffmann, Freie Universität engineering into the political realm in 1933 correspondence. Berlin, and Aya Soika, Bard College and made part of law by Reich Minister of — Meike Hoffmann, Freie Universität Berlin, 2019 Justice Gürtner with the formulation of the Berlin, and Aya Soika, Bard College laws for the ‘Gleichschaltung of the States Berlin, 2019 with the Reich’. It quickly became a very ‘Racial science’ frequently used buzzword: ‘Even the small- est newspapers wrote the word at least Jews, Jewish In the Third Reich, the subject ‘racial 20 times a day on each of their meaning- science’ was taught at schools. The Nazis less pages and brought everything, abso- When we talk about Jews during the did not assume all people are equal and lutely everything into line from the largest Third Reich, one thing must be clear: instead subdivided people into races. party to the ridiculous allotment garden It was irrelevant for the Nazis whether To this end they defined certain rules club.’ Its use was primarily restricted or not a person themselves claimed to according to which they classified people. to the years 1933 and 1934, but it saw be Jewish. They didn’t ask people which And they also specified that there are something of a revival after the annexation religion they observed. For the Nazis, Jews superior and inferior races. They named of Austria. were all the people whom they defined one of the races the ‘Aryan’ race, and — Cornelia Schmitz-Berning, in: Vokabular as such. Secondly, it is important to under- called the people they assigned to this des Nationalsozialismus, 2007 stand that for the Nazis Judaism was not race ‘Aryans’. The Nazis considered this a religion, but a race. The Nazis did not to be the most superior race. Jews, for assume that all people are equal, but example, were among the ‘non-Aryans’. Room to manoeuvre subdivided people into races. They decid- Today we know that all people are equal ed that there were superior and inferior and that human races do not exist. See In times of dictatorship, personal and races. For them, Judaism was the lowest on this article 2 of the UN Convention professional freedoms are often greatly race. They claimed it was responsible on the Rights of the Child. Unfortunately, restricted. It is all the more interesting for for everything that was evil in the world that does not mean that today all people us to ask which options the Brücke artists and that it wanted to destroy the ‘Aryan’ enjoy the same rights. This unequal still had during the Third Reich and how race. This image constructed by the Nazis treatment is called ‘racism’. they managed within the newly creat- had nothing to do with reality. When we — Veronika Nahm, Head of Exhibitions ed structures and with the restrictions read Nazi texts or view Nazi images we and Education, Anne Frank Zentrum imposed upon them. The individual artists must be very careful not to consider them Berlin, 2009 actually found themselves in very different reality. Today we know that all people are positions – as such we cannot offer static equal and that human races do not exist. depictions of them, but they are closely Discrimination against other people owing

30 Racism, racist art activists increasingly called for modern Condemnation artworks, which had generally only been Racism is often defined in a very narrow acquired since 1919, to be removed from Outlawing, exclusion, banning, prohibition, sense in Germany (e.g. limited to Nazism public collections again. The calls became proscription, condemnation, denunciation or open violence). Yet beyond that, racism more vehement in the course of 1936: On 2 — Duden, 2018 is a global balance of power, which was April 1936, the SS magazine Das Schwarze consolidated over the past 500 years as Korps ran the article: ‘Kronprinzenpalais the dominant structure and manifests in Need of a Purge!’; in the autumn some ‘Exploitation’ itself on a personal, structural, institutional newspapers even called for confiscations and social level. Racism affects non-white of privately owned modern art. In the context of the Nazi ‘Degenerate Art’ members of society, i.e. Muslim or Jewish — Meike Hoffmann, Freie Universität propaganda campaign the term ‘exploita- people, People of Colour, Black people and Berlin, and Aya Soika, Bard College tion’ meant using the confiscated art prof- people with migratory backgrounds. They Berlin, 2019 itably. Hermann Göring suggested selling are exploited, excluded, disadvantaged some of the works that Joseph Goebbels and discriminated against. White people, had had removed as ‘degenerate’ from in contrast, benefit structurally from Language public institutions in 1937 on the back of racism. Racism is generally linked to other two decrees by Hitler. They would be sold power structures, e.g. class, nationality Language is not neutral. It always reflects abroad in exchange for foreign currency. or gender. When several of these power an attitude and a perspective. Language, Subsequently, a ‘Commission for the ex- structures converge, the discrimination words and notions change over time, ploitation of products of “degenerate” art’ and/or exploitation increases. In contrast, meaning they are dependent on socio-po- was set up and a law enacted in May 1938 white privileges are perpetuated by white litical contexts. Terms for the same issues governing the sale of works that were able structures and networks. Although it has are used differently depending on the to be ‘exploited’, or sold, internationally. been scientifically proven that human rac- user’s stance or how s/he views the world Selected auctioneers and art dealers were es do not exist, white discourses shapes or people. New governments or systems, authorized to sell these artworks. our knowledge, our behaviour and the way such as National Socialism, also invented — Meike Hoffmann, Freie Universität we view our world. new concepts to support their structures Berlin, and Aya Soika, Bard College — glokal e. V., 2019 and their power base. In this exhibition Berlin, 2019 Nazi terms are used to draw our attention to historical issues, but are set apart Reich Chamber of Fine Arts by ‘quotation marks’. Brücke-Museum Knowledge wishes to expressly distance itself The Reich Chamber of Fine Arts was one from their in part racist and inhuman There is no such thing as objective of a total of seven departments of the content. knowledge, or absolute truth. Knowledge Reich Chamber of Culture, which Joseph — Daniela Bystron, Curator of Outreach, is always a selection of information that Goebbels founded in September 1933 to Brücke-Museum, 2019 follows a certain narrative, a certain goal. enable state control of the cultural scene. Constructivist theories doubt that knowl- As a prerequisite for the exercise of artistic edge and reality correspond, but rather activities, initially all those involved with ‘Zero Hour’ assume that people construct reality sub- art (from artists to art dealers to postcard jectively themselves depending on their sellers) were granted membership of the In May 1945, the former Brücke artists – experiences and (prior) knowledge. The Reich Chamber of Fine Arts. Representa- detached from the knowledge about all information we as authors have compiled tives of undesired art genres were to be re- those things that had previously deter- for you in this exhibition is thus a selection. trained with a view to a new German state mined their lives as artists – found them- It is one form of the story. In this exhibition art. Members with Jewish backgrounds selves in a kind of connectionless time you will find various formats and media were systematically barred from the Cham- bubble, a situation that was also termed with differing intensities and methodolo- ber as of 1935 with the enactment of the ‘zero hour’, from which German post- gies: in the space itself you can view the Nuremberg Race Laws. war society began to re-establish itself interplay of works and texts as a narrative, — Meike Hoffmann, Freie Universität supposedly ab ovo. Although historians the catalogue offers a discerning art-his- Berlin, and Aya Soika, Bard College quickly debunked such a fundamental torical perspective, and in the accompany- Berlin, 2019 caesura as a platitude, the question ing programme we invite you to participate remains as to how Heckel, Pechstein in discussions and an exchange of views. and Schmidt-Rottluff came to terms with — Daniela Bystron, Curator of Outreach, ‘Purging of the museums’ the situation, especially as the metaphor Brücke-Museum, 2019 of ‘zero hour’ was certainly recognized The call for the ‘purging of the museums’ as a phenomenon felt by the population likewise reflects the biologistically influ- at the time, whose present was shaped enced vocabulary of the Nazis and is close- above all by chaos. ly related to ideas of the ‘cleansing of the — Meike Hoffmann, Freie Universität body of the people’. After 1933, reactionary Berlin, 2019

31 A Brücke-Museum exhibition in cooperation with Kunsthaus Dahlem, curated by Dr. Meike Hoffmann (Freie Universität Berlin, Forschungsstelle ‘Entartete Kunst’), Lisa Marei Schmidt (Brücke-Museum) and Prof. Dr. Aya Soika (Bard College, Berlin)

Project manager: Isabel Fischer Curator for Outreach: Daniela Bystron Research assistants: Nora-Saîda Hogrefe (lab.Bode/Outreach), Katrina Schulz Provenance research: Nadine Bauer Administrative manager: Barbara Jerusalem Administrative assistant: Ute Kirschbaum Internship: Congle Fu Exhibition and booklet design: Studio Santiago da Silva (Simon Steinberger, Santiago da Silva) Art handling: Lutz Bertram Ausstellungstechnik und Objektbetreuung Exhibition signage: Annette Herwegh

The exhibition is being kindly supported by the Hauptstadtkulturfonds. The publication is being kindly supported by the Ernst von Siemens Kunststiftung.