(Berlin, Germany, 1891 - 1968, East Berlin, Germany)
1933
Photogravure
14 3/4 x 10 3/8 in. (37.6 x 26.4 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of Roger R. Smith
1991.21
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
This photomontage precedes an article on Nazi arrests throughout Germany. Immediately after Hitler became chancellor, camps were created to imprison political opponents and soon used to detain other minorities including Jews, homosexuals, Roma (Gypsies) and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Heartfield makes “Concentration camp Germany” in the shape of the country’s outline and adapts Kaiser Wilhelm’s remark at the outbreak of World War I, “I no longer know parties. I know only Germans.” To Hitler’s right is Paul Löbe (1875-1967), a former Reichstag president from the Social Democratic Party who was temporarily interned in 1933. To Hitler’s left is ex-Chancellor Heinrich Brünng (1885-1970) of the Catholic Center Party (abbreviated as Zentrum) who left Germany the following year.