Posters Artwork Documents

Hitler as hero/saint (words fail me ...)

Hubert Lanzinger (estate)/US Army/US Holocaust Memorial Museum

"Der Bannertrager" ("The Standard-Bearer), oils on wood, by Austrian-born artist Hubert Lanzinger, 1935. Images glorifying Hitler sometimes cross the border into the ridiculous, especially when they try to convey saintly or messianic qualities. This painting suggests an identification of Hitler with Lohengrin - "the Knight of the Swan", hero of the Wagner music-drama "Lohengrin". "Lohengrin" was the first Wagner work of which Hitler attended a performance, at the age of 12 - "I was captivated at once. My youthful enthusiasm for the master of Bayreuth knew no bounds. Again and again I was drawn to his works, and it seems to me especially fortunate that a modest provincial performance left me open to an intensified experience later on." (from "Mein Kampf", chapter 1). This may explain why the Fuhrer seems to have liked the painting; it was exhibited at the Great German Art Exhibition at Munich in 1937, and widely distributed as a postcard image created by Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler's "court photographer". After the war, the painting was captured by the US Army, and is now preserved in the US Army Art Collection, German War Art Collection. By the way - the damage to the Fuhrer's face in the painting was, apparently, caused by a G.I. making his feelings about the Fuhrer known with the aid of his bayonet. Much as I deplore all art vandalism, I have a lot of sympathy for that G.I. ... Best regards, JR.