Nazi artist Josef Thorak created two “Striding Horses” (known in German as “Schreitende Pferde”) for Adolf Hitler’s New Reich Chancellery in Berlin.
Today the sculptures will be shown again for the first time at Spandau Citadel. One of the horses has been on display there for a long time, and the second has now been opened and is being examined by restorers.
On the Day of the Open Monument on September 10, 2023, it will be permanently presented again for the first time, according to the museum, along with other problematic works of art.
Commissioned by Hitler at the height of his power, the colossal twin “Striding Horses” stood in the garden of Hitler’s government seat from 1939 to 1943. They were among thousands of bronze works created for the Nazi regime in his desire to transform Berlin into the imperial global capital of “Germania.”
Who is Josef Thorak?
Josef Thorak was born in Vienna on February 7, 1889 and attended the Vienna Art Academy, eventually moving to the Berlin Art Academy in 1915. After his studies he established himself as a sculptor of monumental works such as 4 -meter-high ( 13-foot) gable figure for the Reichsbank building in the western German city of Buer.
His style earned him many government commissions, and he became internationally known when he worked on, among others, the Security Monument in Ankara, Turkey, in 1934.
From 1937 onwards, Thorak became one of the Nazis’ preferred sculptors, commissioned to create countless propaganda sculptures promoting the regime’s perceived strength and glory.
As Hitler and his regime persecuted Jews and modern artists who they claimed were making “degenerate art” and looted the collections of Jewish art collectors, Thorak flourished. He divorced his Jewish wife and accepted a prestigious position at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. After World War II, he continued to produce unchallenged until his death in 1952.
Why display Nazi sculptures?
“Striding Horses” was only rediscovered in 2015 after a spectacular raid on an underground art trading ring operating in Germany. Police secured the horse statues, as well as sculptures by Fritz Klimsch and Arno Breker, two of Hitler’s favorite artists.
The works were probably intended to be sold on the black market, as Nazi art remains taboo on the official market, as art historian Christian Fuhrmeister told DW in 2015. “There are some private collectors of Germany, the US or Russia, there are people who are passionate about it,” he said.
According to the official website of the Spandau Citadel, a former Renaissance fortress turned exhibition space, the purpose of displaying the sculptures is to illuminate how “the individual state powers wanted to shape the Berlin cityscape ” by the monuments they commissioned. The collection contains monuments created from 1849 to 1986, covering the German Reich, Weimar Republic, Nazi Germany and East Germany.
Nazi sculptures in German public spaces
Stating on its website that the sculptures are “testimonies to German history,” the museum considers the monuments “important symbols” of German history. The adjective “important” may raise some eyebrows, but the museum explains that it aims to transform itself into a center for the study of “toxic” monuments. The federal government also supported the acquisition of “Striding Horses.”
In the past, displays of Nazi art have led to fierce protests. Last year, the Pinakothek in Munich was criticized in an open letter for exhibiting a painting by Adolf Ziegler, another Nazi artist. Georg Baselitz, one of the world’s most influential living artists, called for it to be removed.
“It is shocking that Nazi propaganda is possible in this evil way in the Munich museum,” Baselitz wrote in October. He added that it was “intolerable” that the works of artists persecuted by the Nazis were hung next to the work of an artist responsible for their persecution.
In fact, many Nazi propaganda sculptures remain in public spaces, such as the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, which was commissioned by the Nazi regime for the 1936 Olympics. Before the World Cup in 2006, where the stadium was one of the venues, some activists called for the removal of its statues. However, the city refused on the grounds that the removal was a denial of German history.
Edited by: Brenda Haas
