Gottbegnadeten list

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Friedrich Kayssler, one of the "irreplaceable actors" on the list Friedrich Kayssler.jpg
Friedrich Kayßler, one of the "irreplaceable actors" on the list

The Gottbegnadeten-Liste ("God-gifted list" or "Important Artist Exempt List") was a 36-page list of artists considered crucial to National Socialist culture. The list was assembled in September 1944 by Joseph Goebbels, the head of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, and Germany's supreme leader Adolf Hitler.

Contents

History

The list exempted the designated artists from military mobilisation during the final stages of World War II. Each listed artist received a letter from the German Propaganda Ministry which certified his or her status. A total of 1,041 names of artists, architects, music conductors, singers, writers and filmmakers appeared on the list. Of that number, 24 were named as especially indispensable; they thus became the equivalent of National Socialism's "national treasures".

Goebbels included about 640 motion picture actors, writers and directors on an extended version of the list. They were to be protected as part of his propaganda film efforts, which persisted through the end of the war (and culminating in the expensive final UFA production Kolberg , released in January 1945).

Many of the cultural figures appearing on the list are no longer widely remembered but there are exceptions, including a number of renowned classical musicians such as the composers Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner, and Carl Orff, the orchestral conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan, and the Wagnerian baritone Rudolf Bockelmann. The only foreigner (Ausländer) on the list was Dutch actor Johannes Heesters. [1]

Special listed artists

Architects

Visual artists

Sculptor Arno Breker Arno Breker werkend.jpg
Sculptor Arno Breker

Authors

Musicians

Actor Heinrich Schroth Heinrich Schroth by Alexander Binder.jpg
Actor Heinrich Schroth

Actors

Singers

Further listed artists on the "Führerliste"

There was also an extended list, the so-called "Führerliste" that included "God-gifted artists" who were not to be drafted but worked as "Künstler im Kriegseinsatz" (artists in the war effort).

Authors

Writer Hans Grimm Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S61180, Hans Grimm.jpg
Writer Hans Grimm

Composers

Conductor and composer Ottmar Gerster Bundesarchiv Bild 183-13756-0005, Berlin, Arbeiterkonferenz der Schriftsteller und Komponisten cropped to single out Ottmar Gerster.jpg
Conductor and composer Ottmar Gerster
Composer Carl Orff Carl Orff by Hans Holdt, 1940.jpg
Composer Carl Orff

Conductors

Conductor Herbert von Karajan Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R92264, Herbert von Karajan.jpg
Conductor Herbert von Karajan

Instrumentalists

Composer and pianist Walter Gieseking Walter-Gieseking.jpg
Composer and pianist Walter Gieseking

Theater and opera

Actor Heinrich George Heinrich George by Hugo Erfurth, c. 1930.jpg
Actor Heinrich George

Fine Arts

Painter Ludwig Dettmann Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2008-0208-501, Ludwig Dettmann.jpg
Painter Ludwig Dettmann

Special film-list initiated by Goebbels

Actor Wolf Albach-Retty Wolf Albach-Retty by Willinger, Vienna.jpg
Actor Wolf Albach-Retty

See also

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References

  1. Klee, Ernst (2007). Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945 (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer. p. 227. ISBN   978-3-10-039326-5.
  2. 1 2 Rathkolb 1991, p. 176.
  3. Roncigli, Audrey (2009). Le cas Furtwängler. Paris: Imago. p. 171.
  4. Rathkolb, Oliver (2021). Carl Orff und der Nationalsozialismus. Publikationen des Orff-Zentrums München, Band II/2. Mainz: Schott Music GmbH & Co. pp. 121–24. ISBN   978-3-79-572755-0.