(Berlin, Germany, 1891 - 1968, East Berlin, Germany)
1934
Photogravure
15 x 10 in. (38.1 x 25.4 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Museum Acquisition Fund
1979.23
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
The Weimar Republic’s caterpillar, Friedrich Ebert (1871-1925), was its first president (1919-1925). In the republic’s second stage of development, President Paul von Hindenburg (1847-1934) shifted power from the parliament to the presidency. He is the sleepy chrysalis, who hangs from the withered German oak like a puppet. First elected in 1925, the aged Hindenburg held office in name only after the passing of the Enabling Act in March 1933. When he died on August 2, 1934, Hitler declared himself Führer and grabbed all the reins of government. This issue of AIZ, published two weeks after von Hindenburg’s death, included an article assessing him; this montage was on the back cover.