The images and the entire text used on this and all other USMBOOKS web pages are the copyrighted property of USM Inc.  Those images and the text may be used by others ONLY AFTER completion of a formal international licensing agreement and payment of a licensing fee! It is therefore, illegal for anyone to take any of the material found on USMBOOKS.com and use it for their own purposes without our written permission, irrespective of any excuse they may feel they have for doing so.

DEUTSCHE KUNSTBETRACHTUNG

(GERMAN ART EXAMINATION)

A FINE NAZI PHOTO BOOK ON THE ORIGINS OF GERMANIC ART AND ARCHITECTURE THROUGH THE AGES, BUT FOCUSSED ON THE THIRD REICH

This is a very interesting, nicely produced hardcover art book called Deutsche Kunstbetrachtung by Georg Schorer. The German word Betrachtung means observation or examination and this view on art and architecture starts with prehistoric times, followed by Greek and Roman art. Germanic art and architecture are next, in Germany and the Low Countries (Holland and Belgium). Churches and religious art is shown as well as paintings by Rembrandt and Rubens, porcelain figurines, and sculpture.

The chapter on the 19th century starts with well-known architecture examples such as the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and Feldherrnhalle in Munich (shown below). Famous painters in this chapter include Hitler’s favorite Kaspar David Friedrich and Adolf von Menzel. The chapter titled “After the World War” has photos of the Tannenberg Memorial and the giant new brick Siemens building in Berlin-Siemensstadt.

“Art in the New Reich” begins with the famous Heinrich Knirr portrait of “The Creator of the Greater German Reich and Renovator of German Art”, Adolf Hitler (shown above). This chapter focusses on new Nazi Party architectural feats such as the Reichschancellery in Berlin, Paul Ludwig Troost’s Honor Temples, Führerbau and House of German Art in Munich as well as the Nazi Ordensburg Vogelsang, Sonthofen and Krössinsee. The Olympic Stadium and Reichssportfeld in Berlin are pictured as well as completed and planned buildings at the Nazi Party Day Grounds in Nuremberg.

Building the Reichsautobahn, die Straßen Adolf Hitlers, is called the largest construction undertaking of the New Reich, under the leadership of Generalinspektor Dr. Fritz Todt. Architect Ernst Sagebiel’s Nazi Air Ministry in Berlin is shown as well as his designs for Tempelhof airport.

This fine Nazi book contains photos of sculptures by Arno Breker, Josef Thorak, Fritz Klimsch and Georg Kolbe, an Elk Eber painting owned by Hitler, a famous gobelin Werner Peiner created for the Haus der Flieger in Berlin, as well as a painting called Deutsche Erde (German Soil) in possession of the Führer.

The 85+ year old Nazi book is complete and in very good used condition, with a tight spine and no offensive odor.

There is also an interesting chapter called “The Road to a New National German Culture” which explains that the Nazi Party strives to make culture available to all German citizens, not just the wealthy segment of society. In the back are time tables, charts and maps that highlight the material covered in this book, as well as short biographies of famous artists and architects, from Rembrandt to Professor Werner March, Professor Paul Ludwig Troost, Professor Albert Speer, Elk Eber, Arno Breker to SS-Obersturmbannführer Karl Diebitsch, who was Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler’s personal Kulturreferent (cultural consultant) since 1934.

Published by Deutscher Volksverlag of Munich in 1939, this is a 7-3/8 x 10-1/4 inch, 208 page First Edition of Deutsche Kunstbetrachtung with over 200 black & white photos on heavy art paper. The book has red linen hard covers with gold embossed blocking on the front cover and spine, and has a highly detailed index in the back.