Hitler—Artist, Thief and Destroyer

Like me you have undoubtedly heard again and again that Adolph Hitler was a second-rate artist. Since I had little or not interest in Hitler's abilities as an artist, I let the whole matter rest at that—until now.

A few days ago I began to listen to another audio book from Audible.com, as I am accustomed to do during my almost daily 45 minute walk. The one I'm listening to is The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History by Robert Edsel and Bret Witter.

WW II was the most destructive war in history. This war and the Nazis also caused the destruction and dislocation of hundreds of thousands of paintings, sculptures and other art treasures. The burden of trying to save and preserve what they could fell to a few hundred men and women from thirteen nations, led by a small operation of the Allied armed forces called the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section (MFAA). The military operation was made up of a tiny group of eleven men. The book is an entirely fascinating account of the work of these unsung heroes.

Hitler and his henchmen believed that everything that was created by an Aryan or even looked like it was, belonged to the Third Reich. So they made it legal and gave themselves the right to pillage in all directions. The results are nearly impossible to comprehend. We can only thank God for the work of those who hunted these treasures down during and after the war in order to preserve them for future generations. 

Cathedral in Vienna by Adolph Hitler

Getting back to Hitler as an artist, if you do a Google search you will come up with quite a list. Most of the paintings are unknown. But as Randall L. Bytwerk says, "He probably sold several thousand paintings and postcards during his stay in Vienna."

Frederic Spotts' Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics writes, Hitler "had a modicum of talent—at least in sketching buildings—but what technique he learned he picked up on his own. Like most amateurs, he began by painting simple landscapes. . . He had to paint the sort of thing that an unknown and untalented amateur might be able to sell . . ."

This unknown and untalented amateur led in the damaging, desecration and destruction of thousands of items of priceless art and architecture. 

Esotericism and My Third Novel

I learned a new word yesterday. Oh, I sort of knew what it was, but it helped to look it up on my dictionary: Esotericism - intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest: esoteric philosophical debates.


Let me explain how I got there. We're trying to figure out who might be interested in reading my third novel, Freya's Child, as we proceed toward publication. Since the bad girl in the book is a 'witch' or Wiccan priestess and a Nazi, I am searching for other books about Nazis. I discover a book and a series of documentaries made from it.

The Occult History of the Third Reich: This powerful and disturbing series uses rare original footage to tell a story that is as bizarre as it is horrific, and which casts new light on a national movement that came to see evil as a sacred task.

The author of the book the series is based on is Professor Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke. Dr. Clarke is Director of the Centre for the Study of Esotericism. He is a professor of Western Esotericism at University of Exeter and author of several other books on esoteric traditions, including also Hitler's Priestess: Savitri Devi, the Hindu-Aryan Myth and Neo-Nazism. Savitri Devi was a true believer who took Nazism beyond politics. She believed that Hitler was an avatar or god come to earth. This Aryan Hindu prophetess became a guiding spirit of the international neo-Nazi movement.

There you have it, a new word and another insight into the Nazi movement, a movement that did not die with Adolph Hitler. By the way, did Hitler really commit suicide in his bunker? His body was never found.