BARLACHS SCHWEBENDER GOTTVATER

Intervention in the public



At the location where once 17000 pieces of art (named by the National Socialist Degenerate art) were stored, a billboard works as eyecatcher to give a hint to this occasion.

The background:
Since a few years the area along the river Spree between the districts Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain have become popular again. The river was until 1989 the border between East and West Berlin. Nowadays the city tries to get investors to close the fallow land. While the history of the devided city with the remaining pieces of the wall is still visible, another occasion seems to be disappeared. A building (Victoria Speicher Block 1), here at the Köpenicker Straße 24a was once used by the National Socialists as storage for 17000 pieces of art - known as the Degenerate art.
As a part of the propaganda of Adolf Hitler and the NS Regime they claimed to differ between good and evil art. As a result, thousands works of art were confiscated. Some were exhibit in the exhibition Degenerate art (Entartete Kunst), the majority destroyed. While the sculptors and paintings were stored here, they marked them with a letter depending on the further use. An X for destroy, V for sale, T for reciprocal exchange, K for return to the artist. So, art pieces which were high-priced on the art market were used to get foreign currencies. Ernst Barlachs 'Schwebender Gottvater' was one of them.

The Title:
Barlachs Schwebender Gottvater

Ernst Barlach was a german sculptor. More than 400 pieces of his work were declared by the National Socialist as 'Degenerate art'. From 1937 he was banned to exhibit his work. One of his sculptors has the title 'Schwebender Gottvater'. There is a photo where this piece is auctioned in Luzern (Switzerland), organized by the National Socialist. The Auctioneer was Theodor Fischer.

The Location:
Victoria Speicher Block 1, Köpenicker Str.24a, 10997 Berlin (Google Maps) An old warehouse which does not exist anymore. It was in the style like the one which is still present as neighbor building.

The Persons:
Theodor Fischer, Gallery owner and art dealer, Auctioneer for at least 125 high-priced paintings and sculptors which were declared as Degenerate art. Adolf Ziegler was the president of the Reichs Chamber of Visual Art (Reichskammer der Bildenden Künste). In this function he was responsible to ban E. Barlach for any exhibitions. Joseph Goebbels, Reichsminister of Propaganda. Initiator of the exhibition 'Degenerate art'. Hans Schweitzer, Official representative of the German Reich for art and design. He was substantially involved in the confiscation of a lot art pieces.