The Art of the Lost Generation
persecuted...
Our Virtual Museum commemorates artists whose lives were irrevocably altered by the collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of National Socialism. Their works were condemned as “degenerate,” and many were destroyed — especially those created by Jewish artists. Numerous individuals were murdered in concentration camps or psychiatric institutions. Others fled Germany or lived in internal exile. Confronted with persecution or deportation, some saw no escape and took their own lives.
As the Wehrmacht invaded neighboring countries, Jewish artists there also became victims of Nazi ideology.
Georg Schrimpf – Porto Ronco 1925
...and forgotten
Heinrich Heidner - Spree steamer 1926
After the war, many survivors returned to Germany, while others severed ties permanently, even abandoning their German names. Many were unable to regain their pre-war recognition and faded into obscurity. This was partly due to the continued influence of former Nazi officials in post-war cultural and academic institutions.
The term “Lost Generation” was coined by art historian Rainer Zimmermann in 1980. It refers not only to visual artists but also to musicians and writers whose careers were disrupted or erased.
rediscovered...
Beginning in the 1990s, the works of these artists started to be rediscovered. Our initiative, “Lost Generation Art,” lays the groundwork for a future non-profit foundation and a dedicated museum. The collection currently includes over 100 works and continues to grow.
Our focus is not only on the artworks themselves but also on the often-overlooked lives and biographies of those persecuted by the Nazi regime. In recent years, these artists have begun to receive the recognition they deserve within the field of art history.
Paula Wimmer - Winter Joys 1915
...and shown again
Julius Rosenbaum – Gasometer in Schöneberg 1932
Since 2017, the “Art of the Lost Generation” Museum in Salzburg has been the only institution exclusively dedicated to these artists. It is a private initiative. Many of these artists still lack entries into the German Wikipedia. We actively research and reconstruct their biographies, upload them to Wikipedia, and, in the case of Jewish artists, share this information with the Central Database of Holocaust Victims at Yad Vashem.
Through this work, we aim to restore the identities of those marginalized by history and ensure they receive posthumously the recognition denied to them during their lifetimes.
A New Museum – Goals and Motivation
The idea of establishing a museum in Karlsruhe dedicated exclusively to the artists of the Lost Generation would fill an important gap in the German museum landscape. Such an institution would send a strong signal of recognition to those artists who were defamed, persecuted, and ultimately pushed out of cultural memory during the Nazi era. It would contribute to a culture of remembrance, make the mechanisms of exclusion visible, and provide a dedicated platform for provenance research as well as scholarly work on the biographies and artworks of these artists.
What gives Karlsruhe a particular authenticity and relevance as the site for such a museum is the fact that, even before 1933, the city was a place where modern art came under intense pressure. Völkisch and far-right cultural circles exerted considerable influence on museums and universities. In this climate, in 1932—before the Nazis assumed power—the painter Hans Adolf Bühler, a committed anti-Semite, National Socialist, and opponent of modernism, was appointed director of the Karlsruhe Art Academy.
Karlsruhe holds a particular historical authenticity for such a museum. Even in the years before 1933, the city had become a place where modern art increasingly came under pressure. Völkisch and far-right cultural circles exercised considerable influence over museums and universities. In this climate, in the autumn of 1932—before the National Socialists took power—the painter Hans Adolf Bühler, an avowed antisemite, NSDAP member, and outspoken opponent of modernism, was appointed director of the Academy of Fine Arts.
On April 8, 1933, Bühler organized an exhibition at the Badische Kunsthalle Karlsruhe titled “Government Art 1918–1933.” Together with the Mannheim exhibition “Cultural Bolshevist Pictures,” which had opened four days earlier, it was among the earliest public defamations of modern art anywhere in Germany. The Karlsruher Zeitung referred to the Karlsruhe exhibition as the “Chamber of Horrors of Art.”
Thus the term was born, which, alongside the label “shame exhibition,” soon spread throughout Germany. It was coined by Curt Amend, the editor-in-chief of the Karlsruher Zeitung.
The deliberately chaotic arrangement and the derogatory commentary later served as a blueprint for the large 1937 Munich exhibition “Degenerate Art”, which was shown across Germany and Austria. The deliberately chaotic hanging of the works and the disparaging commentary later served as a blueprint for the major Munich exhibition “Degenerate Art” in 1937, which went on to be shown throughout Germany and Austria.
Although Salzburg has hosted the Museum of the Lost Generation since 2017, a comparable institution in Germany—the country in which the persecution originated—would carry special symbolic weight.
For this reason, our goal is to realize this project with determination and to finance it entirely wThus the term was born, which, alongside the label “shame exhibition,” soon spread throughout Germany. It was coined by Curt Amend, the editor-in-chief of the Karlsruher Zeitung.
The deliberately chaotic arrangement and the derogatory commentary later served as a blueprint for the large 1937 Munich exhibition “Degenerate Art”, which was shown across Germany and Austria.ith private funds within the framework of a nonprofit foundation. To do so, we need additional works by artists of the Lost Generation and welcome any piece offered to us for purchase or donation.
The planned opening date is April 8, 2033—exactly one hundred years after the “Chamber of Horrors of Art” first opened its doors in Karlsruhe. Beginning on that Friday, the works of the Lost Generation will once again be visible in the very city where, one century earlier, they were branded as “degenerate.”
The Topography of Hope
Ardi Goldman, whose father survived the Warsaw Ghetto and Buchenwald concentration camp, has realized a project on the site of the former Union Brewery in Frankfurt am Main that commemorates the people who, at great risk to themselves and their families, protected their Jewish fellow citizens in Germany and the countries occupied by the Wehrmacht from the Gestapo and SS. The Resistance Trail, featuring 100 individuals and 18 resistance groups, is intended to show that it was possible to do something to prevent the transports to the gas chambers. This fact should give hope for the future, when it becomes necessary once again to protect an ethnic group from extermination by the henchmen of a totalitarian ideology.
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Ardi Goldman – Stefan Schmitt