walkürenritt

New York City 1942

One of the most important neutral countries that the Germans did not invade in World War II was Sweden. King Gustaf V was sympathetic to Germany in World War I and there were social cotacts before World War II. King Gustaf paid a state visit to Germany before the War (February 1939). We believe the Berlin children here are cheering the king. One historian claims that the King reportedly tried to convince Hitler during meetings to soften his persecution of the country's Jews. [Weibull, pp. 94-95.] Sweden was a central cog in the German war economy. Germany could not have waged the War without Swedish iron ore. Of course if Sweden had cut off deliveries, Hitler would have ordered an invasion.

Fritz Klimsch, a female nude

Graves of Wehrmacht soldiers on the river Havel, Germany '46

The searchlights were borrowed from the Luftwaffe, which caused problems with its commander Hermann Göring, because they represented most of Germany’s strategic reserve. Hitler overruled him, suggesting that it was a useful piece of disinformation. “If we use them in such large numbers for a thing like this, other countries will think we’re swimming in searchlights”.

The body expresses our very being. The striving for beauty is inborn among the Aryan. – Baldur von Schirach

Κικλήσκω Διόνυσον ἐρίβρομον, εὐαστῆρα, πρωτόγονον, διφυῆ, τρίγονον, Βακχεῖον ἄνακτα, ἄγριον, ἄρρητον, κρύφιον, δικέρωτα, δίμορφον, κισσόβρυον, ταυρωπόν, Ἀρήιον, εὔιον, ἁγνόν, ὠμάδιον, τριετῆ, βοτρυηφόρον, ἐρνεσίπεπλον. Εὐβουλεῦ, πολύβουλε, Διὸς καὶ Περσεφονείης ἀρρήτοις λέκτροισι τεκνωθείς, ἄμβροτε δαῖμον· κλῦθι, μάκαρ, φωνῆς, ἡδὺς δ᾽ ἐπίπνευσον ἀμεμφής εὐμενὲς ἦτορ ἔχων, σὺν ἐυζώνοισι τιθήναις. (ορφικός ύμνος Διόνυσου)

A German civilian looks at a large portrait of Stalin on the Unter den Linden in Berlin following the Battle of Berlin, the collapse of the Third Reich and the Allied occupation of Germany. The Third Reich had collapsed and Allies had occupied Germany. In the midst of it all, a German civilian looks at a huge portrait of Stalin on the Unter den Linden. The greater city lay nearly completely demolished and, in accordance with the London Protocols of 1944, was split into four sectors: the American sector, the Soviet sector, the British sector and the French sector. Although it was meant to be governed on rotation, the Eastern and Western relationship deteriorated, eventually leading to the Soviets withdrawing from the council. This meant the city’s various sectors were governed separately, with the Soviets remaining in control of East Berlin. The city would suffer and stay divided until the East-West separator, the Berlin Wall, came down in 1989. 

Jean-Léon Gérôme in his studio