Oeuvre d'art

1938 · 40886 — NP: NP 1938. Original artwork. Loose_leaf. g to vg. Quarto 10 3/8 x 8". Loose cardstock leaf.<br /> <br /> Original pre-WWII ink and watercolor artwork caricaturing seven major Nazi organizations. Although the signature of the German artist couldn't be deciphered the style is strikingly similar to the one of Albert Hohenester.<br /> <br /> The artwork depicts an impressive and rather frightful SS officer framed by a member of each of the following Nazi organizations:<br /> <br /> On the left side from top to bottom features a member of the Jungvolk 1 of the BDM 2 and of the HJ 3.<br /> <br /> On the right side from bottom to top features a member of the SA 4 of the Frauenschaft 5 and of the PO 6.<br /> <br /> The six half portraits measure from 2 to 3". Each one has rosy cheeks and is looking towards the SS officer 7 who is dressed in his full black uniform. He is seen posing with a certain martial authority: his bare right hand holding his belt buckle while his white gloved left hand holds the other glove. On his left arm features a Swastika armband. The officer's facial expression is severe and this harshness is highlighted by the fact that his right eye is closed his left eye is hidden behind a monocle his complexion is grey and has thin sullen lips. <br /> <br /> The SS officer is depicted in full 9 x 3 1/4" and is featured at center.<br /> <br /> Each of the seven characters is hand-captioned in pencil. The artist's signature in pencil features at lower left margin.<br /> <br /> Moderate and sporadic creasing closed tears and age-toning to upper margin and right fore-edge. Folding mark at center. Captions in German. Leaf in overall good artwork in very good condition. 1 The Deutsches Jungvolk German Youth was a youth organization in Nazi Germany for boys aged 10 to 14 and was a section of the Hitler Youth movement. Through a programme of outdoor activities parades and sports it aimed to indoctrinate its young members in the tenets of Nazi ideology. Membership became fully compulsory for eligible boys in 1939. By the end of World War II some had become child soldiers. <br /> <br /> 2 The Bund Deutscher Mädel abbreviated BDM League of German Girls or Band of German Maidens was the girls' wing of the Nazi Party youth movement the Hitler Youth. It was the only female youth organization in Nazi Germany. <br /> <br /> 3 The Hitlerjugend often abbreviated as HJ Hitler Youth was the youth organization of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins dated back to 1922. From 1933 until 1945 it was the sole official youth organization in the Third Reich and was partially a paramilitary organization; it was constituted of the Hitlerjugend proper for male youth aged 14 to 18 the Deutsches Jungvolk German Youth for younger boys and the BDM League of German Girls. <br /> <br /> 4 The Sturmabteilung abbreviated as SA literally Storm Department functioned as the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party NSDAP. It played a significant role in Adolf Hitler's rise to power in the 1920s and 1930s. Their primary purposes were providing protection for Nazi rallies and assemblies disrupting the meetings of opposing parties fighting against the paramilitary units of the opposing parties especially the Communist Party of Germany KPD and intimidating Slavic and Romani citizens unionists and Jews – for instance during the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses. <br /> <br /> 5 The Nationalsozialistische Frauenschaft abbreviated NS-Frauenschaft National Socialist Women's League was the women's wing of the Nazi Party. It was founded in October 1931 as a fusion of several nationalist and National Socialist women's associations. The Frauenschaft was subordinated to the national party leadership Reichsleitung; girls and young women were the purview of the Bund Deutscher Mädel BDM. <br /> <br /> 6 A member of the Politische Organisation abbreviated as PO Political Organization an association concerned with administering the territorial cadres notably those of the deputy Fuehrer the party treasurer the Reich organizational leader and the intraparty judiciary system. <br /> <br /> 7 The Schutzstaffel SS; literally "Protection Squadron" was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers' Party NSDAP; Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. It began with a small guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz Hall-Protection made up of NSDAP volunteers to provide security for party meetings in Munich. In 1925 Heinrich Himmler joined the unit which had by then been reformed and given its final name. Under his direction 1929-45 it grew from a small paramilitary formation to one of the most powerful organizations in Nazi Germany. From 1929 until the regime's collapse in 1945 the SS was the foremost agency of surveillance and terror within Germany and German-occupied Europe. NP unknown