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Description
‘Nacked Soldier on Horse with Stahlhelm’ (‘Nackte Reitersoldat mit Stahlhelm’)
Created 1919.
The Nacked German Warrior
The symbol of the ‘Nacked German Warrior’ is related to the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest: writing in 98 A. D. the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus describes the Germans as a tall, red haired, blue-eyed ‘race unmixed by intermarriage with other races, a peculiar people and pure, like no one but themselves’.
In Tacitus we find the first German hero, Arminius (Hermann der Cherusker), the Roman-trained prince of the Cherusci tribe, who, returning to his Germanic roots, united his people and led a decisive battle against the Roman army in 9 A.D. in the Teutoburg Forest. Led by German guides into the impenetrable forest, the legions of Publius Quintilius Varus, comprising the entire Roman occupation army of more than 20,000 men, were ambushed and annihilated by naked German warriors hurling spears from behind the trees. The Romans would never regain the territory east of the Rhine. From the mid 18th-century, the story of Arminius, the ‘Liberator Germaniae’ has been an inspiration to German nationalists. The Stahlhelm, a similar German symbol, reinforces the total picture of heroism.
Psychological Warfare
Also from Celtic warriors is known that they fought naked: towards the end of the 3rd century B.C., a coalition of Celtic tribes attacked the Roman Republic. One of the decisive battles during this war was the Battle of Telamon (225 BC). The ancient writer Polybius writes about ‘a tribe of Celtic warriors who had the habit of fighting naked’. According to Polybius they fought naked for three reasons: first of all, this was meant to display their confidence, both to their allies, and to the enemy. Secondly, it seems that it was more efficient to fight this way, ‘thinking that thus they would be more efficient, as some of the ground was overgrown with brambles which would catch in their clothes and impede the use of their weapons.’ Thirdly, the sight of naked warriors was also intended to intimidate the enemy.
| – condition | : II |
| – size | : height 43 cm, length 42 cm |
| – signed | : at base ‘HERM-JOACH. PAGELS. 1919’ |
| – type | : bronze |
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BIOGRAPHY: HERMANN JOACHIM PAGELS
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Die Ausgewiesenen‘ (‘The Expellees‘). Memorial created in plaster in 1922. Height 190 cm. The model was displayed at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1922 (placed in the garden of the Landesausstellungsgebäude, Am Lehrter bahnhof).
Depicted twice, and described, in ‘Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte’, 1922. Pagels described his motivation for the memorial as follows: ‘At the beginning of the war I saw the misery of the refugees from East-Prussia, and after the revolution in Russia I witnessed the distress of the people from the Baltic States, who were driven to the West by the Bolshevists. Also at the railway stations in Kiev and Kharkiv I experienced the tragic misfortune of homeless people. These hard, tragic times were my motivation for this sculpture; the first designs I made in the beginning of 1919. Then I saw the same misery again: large streams of refugees from the Elzas and Oberschlesien. The sculpture-group shows an old forester with his daughter and her husband and their three children’.
Displayed again in the ‘Deutschlandhaus’ in Berlin at the 7th Berlin Biennale in 2012, an exhibition organised in cooperation with the foundation ‘Stiftung Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung’ (SFVV).
The sculpture-group was located in the Deutschlandhaus from 1961 to 2013. It is owned by the ‘Bundesamtes für öffentliche Dienste und offene Vermögensfragen’ (BADV), who gave it on loan to the SFVV. Curently it is located in a depot of the SFVV.
‘Die Ausgewiesenen’ (plaster), displayed at the 7th Berlin Biennale in 2012.
‘Die Ausgewiesenen’ depicted twice, and described, in ‘Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte’, 1922.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Bauernkopf aus der Gruppe Die Vertriebenen‘. Depicted in ‘Kunst und Volk‘, February 1936.
Discovery of 4 Third Reich-sculptures in Berlin, November 2016
In November 2016, German Art Gallery discovered 4 life size Third Reich-sculptures in the garden of the headquarters of the Ministery Finance, Wilhelmstrasse 97, Berlin. The bronzes were incorrectly described and/or described as ‘work by unidentified artist’ in the files of the German Bundesfinanzminsterium.
On initiative of German Art Gallery, Bild Newspaper published at 2 November 2016 the discovery of the sculptures, -by Joseph Wackerle, Richard Scheibe, Hermann Joachim Pagels and Heinrich Faltermeier. ‘Jüngling, Erde’ by Joseph Wackerle, comes from the Old Chancellery. The other three sculptures, including ‘Schwimmerin’ by Pagels, could come from the New Chancellery, but there is no hard evidence for that. They were definitely bought by Hitler at the GDK-1938, but they are not on the so-called ‘144-List’ of the 1938-New Chancellery purchases (the list, not exhaustive, is in our possession).
For more details, please check: Newsletter, November 2016
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Schwimmerin’ (‘Female Swimmer’). Height 195 cm. Standing on the garden terrace of the headquarters of the German Bundesfinanzministerium, November 2016. Publiced by Bild Newspaper.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ’Schwimmerin‘, bronze. Displayed at the GDK 1938 room 8. Bought by Hitler for 8.000 Reichsmark.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Der Saat’ (‘The Sower’), bronze. GDK 1939 room 27.
‘Der Saat’ by Pagels, nowadays located at the Botanische Garten (south entrance) in Berlin.
Below: ‘Der Saat’ displayed at the GDK 1939 room 27.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Condottiere’, postcard. Bronze. Displayed at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1907.
Condottieri were the leaders of the professional military free companies (or mercenaries) contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy from the late Middle Ages and throughout the Renaissance. In Renaissance Italian, condottiero meant ‘contractor’. In contemporary Italian, ‘condottiero’ acquired the broader meaning of ‘military leader’, not restricted to mercenaries. The word Condottiere in the English language has come to denote, in the modern sense, any hired soldier.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Die Ringer’ (‘Wrestlers’), plaster. Displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1908; Again displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1921.
Left: ‘Die Ringer’ depicted in the exhibition catalogue 1908.
Right: ‘Die Ringer’ depicted in ‘Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte’, 1921/22.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Ehrenmal der 2. Jäger in Kolberg’. Memorial to the fallen soldiers of the 2. Jäger Battalion, Kolberg. Depicted in ‘Deutscher Ehrenhain, für die Helden von 1914/18’, 1931.
During WWII around 80% of the city of Kolberg (now Poland) was destroyed. The memorial has dissapeared.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Florentia‘, bronze. Displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung‘, 1920. Depicted in the exhibition catalog.
Left: Herman Joachim Pagels, ‘Fräulein R.M.‘. Signed 1907, height 178 cm, greek marble. Displayed at the grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1909. Sold by a German auktion house in 2017.
Right: Herman Joachim Pagels, ‘Schlangentänzerin’ (‘Dancer with Snake‘). Signed 1903. Bronze, height 61 cm.
‘Führerbusts by Pagels’
A Führerbust by Pagels stood in the New Reichs Chancellery; it was bought in 1937 (Bundesarchiv, document BArch R 43-II/1646a).
Left: Hermann Joachim Pagels, Führerbüste. Created in marble. Displayed at the GDK 1942 room 21. Bought by Robert Ley for 8.000 Reichsmark.
Middle: Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Bust of Hitler’, displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1934. Depicted in the exhibition catalog (first picture).
Right: Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Bust of Hitler’, displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1940. Depicted in the exhibition catalog (first picture).
Left: Herman Joachim Pagels, ‘Führerbüste’, depicted in the catalogue of Lauchhammer Bildguss: ‘casts avaiblable in bronze or iron’.
Right: Hermann Joachim Pagels, a Führerbust sold in recent years. Bronze, height 38 cm.
A bust of Hitler by Pagels, on permanent display in the Fusilier Museum London, Tower of London.
Austrian Parliament Building
During renovation works in in September 2017, two Hitler busts by Hermann Joachim Pagels were discovered in the basement of the 134-year-old Austrian Parliament building. After the Anschluss in 1938, the building had been used as headquarters of the ‘Reichskommissars für die Wiedervereinigung Österreichs mit dem Deutschen Reich‘; after 1940 it became the headquaters of the ‘Wiener Gauleitung der NSDAP’. The bronze Hitler busts by Pagels were located in this building between 1938 to 1945.
In 2019 the two busts were handed over to the Vienna based museum ‘Haus der Geschichte Österreich‘.
Left: Hermann Joachim Pagels, bust of Otto von Bismarck. Displayed in the Grosse Berliner Kunstaustellung 1934. Depicted in ‘Westermanns Monatshefte’, 1934/34.
Right: a bronze Bismarck bust by Pagels, sold in recent years.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Hindenburg-Plakette’.
Left: the plaque depicted in ‘Westermanns Monatshefte’, October 1937.
Right: the same ‘Eisengussmedaille’, photo taken in 2018. Diameter 13 cm, 305 gr. Cast by Lauchhammer (also depicted in the Lauchhammer Bildguss-catalogue 1938, -Nachtrag) .
Busts and reliefs of Hindenburg, Göring and Hitler by Pagels, offered for sale in the catalog of ‘Lauchhammer Bildguss’, 1938 (‘Nachtrag zu unserem Hauptkatalog Gs 20’).
The busts are up to 78 cm height including base, the largest reliefs measure 52,5 x 40 cm.
Monastery of Hohenfurt (Vyssi Brod), Czech Republic
At the end of WWII, several stolen art collections -and 46 paintings and 30 statues from Hitler’s private contemporary art collection- were hidden by the National Socialists in the Monastery of Hohenfurt (Vyssi Brod), near Linz in the Czech Republic. After the war, valuable art, such as pieces from the Mannheimer- and Rothschild collections, were confiscated by the U.S. Army and taken to the Munich Central Collection Point in an effort to return them to their original owners. Art works then considered as having no value, like contemporary German Nazi-art works, were left behind after the 1945 liberation of Czechoslovakia and ended up scattered across the country. The busts by Hermann Joachim Pagels of Generalfeldmarschall Von Rundstedt and Generalfeldmarschall Keitel were two of the 30 sculptures in the Monastery of Hohenfurt. The works are lost.
In 2012 sixteen paintings by German artists -that Adolf Hitler personally purchased during WWII- were found in various Czech institutions. Seven were discovered in the Zákupy Chateau, the site where items from confiscated castles, chateaus and private houses were gathered after the war. Seven other canvases were found at the convent of Premonstratensian Sisters in Doksany, near Prague. Two paintings were found at the Military Institute in Prague and at the Faculty of Law of Charles University in Prague. All the sixteen paintings are now in the possession of the ‘Czech National Institute for the Protection and Conservation of Monuments and Sites’. They will remain in the Czech Republic.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, bronze busts of Generalfeldmarschall Von Rundstedt (left) and Generalfeldmarschall Keitel (right). Both displayed at the GDK 1941 room 15, and both bought by Adolf Hitler for 1.100 Reichsmark each.
Depicted in ‘Hitlerova Sbirka’, 2009, by Jiri Kuchar.
Left: the bust of Von Rundstedt by Pagels, depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich‘, 1941.
Middle: the bust of Keitel by Pagels, depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich‘, 1940.
Right: bust of Keitel by Pagels, depicted in ‘Nationalsozialistische Monatshefte’, 1941, Heft 137.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, Bust of Dr. Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. Marble, height 62 cm, created in 1941. GDK 1941 room 23. Bought by Hitler for 8.000 Reichsmark. In the possession of the Deutsches Historisches Museum; displayed in the permanent exhibition, August 2019.
The plaster cast was displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1940.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, Bust of Otto von Bismarck. Created 1937. Destinated for Hitler’s Linz Museum (Inventory Number 928). Bronze, height 90 cm. The bust is lost.
Inventory list of Hitler’s collection for the Linz Museum.
The Führermuseum
The Führermuseum, or ‘Linz art Gallery’, was an unrealized art museum planned by Adolf Hitler for his hometown, the Austrian city of Linz, near his birthplace of Braunau. Its purpose was to display a selection of the art bought, confiscated or stolen by the Nazis from throughout Europe during World War II. The overall plan was to turn Linz into one of the greatest art centers of Europe, overshadowing Vienna. Hitler personally favored German and Austrian paintings from the 19th century, but the collection also contained many early German, Dutch, French, and Italian paintings. The collection, when it was whole, included 4,731 pieces, not just paintings but also tapestries, sculpture, furniture and porcelain. Beginning in February 1944, the artworks were relocated to the 14th-century Steinberg salt mines above the village of Altausee, in which the holdings of various Viennese museums had earlier been transferred.
The bust of Bismarck by Hermann Joachim Pagels was part of the collection of the Führermuseum, which was quite extraordinary, as the collection hardly contained works of contemporary art.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, bust of Generaloberst Walther von Brauchitsch (1881 – 1948), German field marshal and the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army in the early years of World War II. Depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich’, 1941.
Right: Hermann Joachim Pagels, bust of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring. One and a half life sizes cast. Sold in 2013 by an American auction house. The plaster cast of Göring was displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung’, 1933.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, bust of ‘Der Stellvertreter des Führers Rudolf Hess‘ (‘The Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess‘. GDK 1940 room 15. Bronze, height 42 cm. Bought by the mayor of Würzburg, Theo Memmel.
Left: the bust depicted in ‘Die Kunst im Dritten Reich’, 1938.
Right: displayed at the GDK 1940 room 15.
Left: bust of Benito Mussolini by Pagels. Depicted in ‘Kunst in Deutschland, 1933-1945’, Mortimer G. Davidson.
Right: bust of Benito Mussolini. Bronze. GDK 1940 room 15. Bought by Luftgaukommando VII, München.
Left: Hermann Joachim Pagels, bust of Reichsminister Dr. Goebbels. Bronze. GDK 1940 room 15. Depicted in ‘Das Bild’, August 1940.
Right: the bust of Goebbels by Pagels depicted in ‘Völkische Beobachter, 28 July 1940.
‘Goebels’ by Pagels, depicted in the ‘Deutsche Zeitung in den Niederlanden’, 27 July 1940.
Left: Hermann Joachim Pagels, bust of Dr. R. Ley. Displayed at the exhibition ‘Kunstausstellung Hilfswerk für bildende Künst in der NS-Volkswohlfahrt’, Berlin, Nov/Dec. 1939.
Right: bust of Dr. Robert Ley by Pagels, sold by a German auction house in 2019. Bronze, height 52 cm inclusing base of 12 cm. Signed ‘H.J. PAGELS’.
Left: Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Korvetten-Kapitän Günther Prien’ (‘Corvette Captain Günther Prien’). Displayed at the ‘Herbst Ausstellung 1941’ organised by the Verein Berliner Künstler. Depicted in th exhibition catalogue.
Right: Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Grossadmiral Dr. H.C. Raeder’ (‘Admiral of the Fleet Dr. H.C. Raeder’). Displayed at the ‘Frühjahrs Ausstellung 1940’ organised by the Verein Berliner Künstler. Depicted in th exhibition catalogue.
Hermann Joachim Pagels with plaster busts of Hitler and Göring in his atelier, 15 May 1933. At the background the sculptures ‘Die Ringer’ and ‘Arbeiter-Mutter’.
Left: Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Arbeiter-Mutter’ (‘Labourer-mother’). Displayed at the grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1907, and again in 1913. Depicted in both exhibition catalogues.
Left: ‘Arbeiter-Mutter’, depicted in ‘Das Bild, 1936.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Otto von Bismarck‘ and ‘Friedrich der Grosse‘. Wooden reliefs, size each 53 x 47,5 cm. Date of creation unknown. Sold by a German auction house in 2007.
‘Hühnerdieb‘ (‘Chicken-thief‘)
Left: ‘Hühnerdieb‘ displayed at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1910. Created in wood (‘Polychron. Holz’), displayed under the name ‘Der Verratene Hühnerdieb’.
Middel and right: a bronze cast of ’Hühnerdieb’ was placed in 1913 at the Hühnermarkt in the city of Achen. The bronze was melted down in 1943, and re-used for amunition. In 1950, the original plastermodel by Pagels (who was at that time 72 year), was used to create a new cast, which was placed at the same location in 1953. A second cast -still existing- was placed in the Park des Schlosses Köpenick, in Berlin.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Bergmannswitwe’ (‘Widow of a Minor’). Displayed at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung, 1908. In the possession of Museum Folkwang in Essen.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Bären mit Kinder‘ (‘Bears with Children‘), revealed 1928, Muschelkalk. Located at the entrance of the Volkspark Jungferheide, Berlin.
One of the bear-sculptures was lost since 1945; in 2011 a part of it was retrieved. The sculpture was fully restored.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, Mausoleum for Emil Possehl, businessman in Lübeck. Created in 1921. Located at the Burgfriedhof in Lübeck.
Left: Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Kindergruppe’ (‘Group of Children’), marble. Displayed at the ‘IX Internationale Kunstausstellung‘, München, 1905, and at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstaustellung‘, 1905.
Right: Hermann Joachim Pagels, bronze memorial plaque to German writer Thomas Mann, 1957. Located in the Boodenbrookhaus, Lübeck.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Fehling Denkmal’. Memorial to the wholesale merchant/ project developer Hermann Wilhelm Fehling (1842-1907), revealed on 2 July 1908 in Travemünde. Located at the south Beach Promenade.
The Fehling Memorial nowadays, located at the ‘Brügmanngarten’, Travemünde.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, ‘Prinz Wilhelm von Preussen’. ‘Statuette des altesten Sohnes des Kronprinzenspaares’ (‘Statue of the oldest son of the Crown Prince’). Displayed at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1910’. Depicted in a German magazin.
Hermann Joachim Pagels, depicted in the ‘Vaterstädtische Blätter’, 1 December 1907.
Hermann Joachim Pagels
Hermann Joachim Pagels (1876 – 1959), born in Lübeck, was the son of the director of the well-known firm Heinr. Pagels in Lübeck, a company selling porcelain- and household articles. Pagels was a classmate of Thomas Mann at the Lyceum Katharineum zu Lübeck. He studied from 1894 to 1900 at the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst in Berlin under Otto Brausewetter, Peter Breuer and Ernst Herter; he continued to work in the ateliers of his professors from 1901 to 1904 (in 1905 he opened his own atelier in Berlin). In 1896 he won the First Price of the Akademie für Komposition for a drawing, and in 1900 for the design of a sculpture.
During his study time he was already represented at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung (he would participate in these Berlin exhibitions until 1942). Many other exhibitions followed; in 1904 he was represented with three sculptures at the ‘Internationalen Kunstausstellung’ in Düsseldorf. In the same year Pagels awarded a Bronze Medal at the World Exhibition in St. Louis, were he displayed ‘Pessimist und Schlange’ (‘Pessimist and Snake’). In 1905 he was awarded for his ‘Kindergruppe‘ (‘Group of Children’) an ‘Ehrende Erwähnung’ by the Gesellschaft für Berliner Kunst; in the same year he displayed this marble sculpture at the ‘IX Internationale Kunstausstellung‘ in München, and at the ‘Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung‘. In 1906 in Austria, he took part in the ‘XXXIII Jahres Ausstellung der Künstlerhause’.
From 1907 to 1909 he travelled through France and Italy. Together with Fritz Behn and Hans Schwegerle, Pagels formed an informal group of artist coming from Lübeck; more or less the same age, and inspired by the same style. All three of them would become successful sculptors; their Realistic Style was later particular liked by the Nazi’s.
One of the first public works by Pagels was ‘Hühnerdieb‘ (‘Chicken-thief‘); this life size sculpture was placed in 1913 at the Hühnermarkt in the city of Achen. The bronze was melted down in 1943, and re-used for ammunition. In 1950, the original plastermodel by Pagels (who was at that time 72 year), was used to create a new cast, which was placed at the same location in 1953; a second cast -still existing- was placed in the Park des Schlosses Köpenick, in Berlin.
Pagels served in WWI as Vizefeldwebel in the Garde-Schützen-Bataillon, and later as Leutnant in the Landwehr-Regiment 12 and in the 3. Jäger-Regiment zu Pferde. He was awarded the Eisernes Kreuz in 1914 and the Lübeckisches Hanseatenkreuz in 1915.
In 1921 Pagels ‘Die Ringer’ (‘Wrestlers’) was displayed at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung; the sculpture was depicted on postcards and published in several art magazin’s. A year later his sculpture-group ‘Die Ausgewiesenen‘ (‘The Expellees‘) was displayed at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung. It was depicted twice, and described, in ‘Velhagen & Klasings Monatshefte’, 1922. Pagels described in the art magazine his motivation for the memorial as follows: ‘At the beginning of the war I saw the misery of the refugees from East-Prussia, and after the revolution in Russia I witnessed the distress of the people from the Baltic States, who were driven to the West by the Bolshevists. Also at the railway stations in Kiev and Kharkiv I experienced the tragic misfortune of homeless people. These hard, tragic times were my motivation for this sculpture; the first designs I made in the beginning of 1919. Then I saw the same misery again: large streams of refugees from the Elzas and Oberschlesien. The sculpture-group shows an old forester with his daughter and her husband and their three children’.
In 1925 Pagels created two sculpture-groups: ‘Bären mit Kinder‘ (‘Bears with Children‘); they were placed at the entrance of the Volkspark Jungferheide in Berlin. Revealed in 1928. One of the bear-sculptures was lost since 1945; in 2011 a part of it was retrieved. The sculpture meanwhile is fully restored.
In 1936 Pagels was represented with three sculptures at the exhibition ‘Lob der Arbeit’ (‘In Praise of Work’), organisided by the NS-Kulturgemeinde, Berlin.
During the Third Reich Hermann Joachim Pagels created numerous busts of top leaders of the Nazi’s Party, of the highest military leaders and of important industrialist. He was represented at the Great German Art Exhibitions with 15 bronze and marble works: 11 of them were busts of figureheads of the Third Reich, including: Adolf Hitler, Rudolph Hess, Joseph Goebbels, Generalfeldmarschall Von Rundstedt, Generalfeldmarschall Keitel, industrialist Dr. Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Korvettenkapitän Günther Prien, Kapitänleutnant Schepke, Ministerialdirektor Freiherr von Grünau and Gouverneur Dr. Schnee.
The bronze busts of Generalfeldmarschall Von Rundstedt and Generalfeldmarschall Keitel, both displayed at the GDK 1941 room 15 and both bought by Adolf Hitler for 1.100 Reichsmark each, are depicted in ‘Hitlerova Sbirka’, 2009, by Jiri Kuchar. At the end of WWII, several stolen art collections -and 46 paintings and 30 statues from Hitler’s private contemporary art collection- were hidden by the National Socialists in the Monastery of Hohenfurt (Vyssi Brod), near Linz in the Czech Republic. After the war, valuable art, such as pieces from the Mannheimer- and Rothschild collections, were confiscated by the U.S. Army and taken to the Munich Central Collection Point in an effort to return them to their original owners. Art works then considered as having no value, like contemporary German Nazi-art works, were left behind after the 1945 liberation of Czechoslovakia and ended up scattered across the country. The busts by Hermann Joachim Pagels of Generalfeldmarschall Von Rundstedt and Generalfeldmarschall Keitel were two of the 30 sculptures in the Monastery of Hohenfurt. The works are lost.
Pagels created in 1937 a large bust of 90 cm high of Otto von Bismarck. Hitler destined this bust for the Linz Museum (Inventory Number 928), which was quite extraordinary, as the collection hardly contained works of contemporary art. The Bismarck bust is lost.
A Führerbust by Pagels stood in the New Reichs Chancellery; it was bought in 1937 (Bundesarchiv, document BArch R 43-II/1646a).
At the Great German Art Exhibitions, Pagels also showed two life size bronzes: ‘Schwimmerin’ (‘Female Swimmer’, GDK 1938 room 8) and ‘Die Saat’ (‘The Sower’). ‘Schwimmerin’ was bought by Hitler for 8.000 Reichsmark and showed up in 2016 (see below). ‘Die Saat’ is currently located in the Botanische Garten in Berlin.
The last work by Pagels was a bronze memorial plaque -1957- to German writer Thomas Mann, located in the Boodenbrookhaus in Lübeck.
Hermann Joachim Pagels died in 1959 in Berlin.
His sculpture-group ‘Die Ausgewiesenen’ from 1921 was displayed again at the 7th Berlin Biennale in 2012, an exhibition organised in cooperation with the foundation ‘Flucht, Vertreibung, Versöhnung’. Museum Folkwang in Essen is in the possession of the marble ‘Bergmannswitwe’ (‘Widow of a Minor’, displayed at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung 1908). Deutsches Historisches Museum owns the marble bust of Dr. Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach. The Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen owns the bust of Dr. Schnee (GDK 1944 room 18) and a bust by Pagels of Karl Leipold (GDK 1994 room 33, bought by Moritzburg Museum, Halle, for 3.000 Reichsmark). A bust of Hitler by Pagels is on permanent display in the Fusilier Museum London, Tower of London.
November, 2016: discovery of 4 Third Reich-sculptures in Berlin
In November 2016, German Art Gallery discovered 4 life size Third Reich-sculptures in the garden of the headquarters of the Ministery Finance, Wilhelmstrasse 97, Berlin. The bronzes were incorrectly described and/or described as ‘work by unidentified artist’ in the files of the German Bundesfinanzminsterium.
On initiative of German Art Gallery, Bild Newspaper published at 2 November 2016 the discovery of the sculptures, -by Joseph Wackerle, Richard Scheibe, Hermann Joachim Pagels and Heinrich Faltermeier. ‘Jüngling, Erde’ by Joseph Wackerle, comes from the Old Chancellery. The other three sculptures, including ‘Schwimmerin’ by Pagels, could come from the New Chancellery, but there is no hard evidence for that. They were definitely bought by Hitler at the GDK-1938, but they are not on the so-called ‘144-List’ of the 1938-New Chancellery purchases (the list, not exhaustive, is in our possession). For more details, please check: Newsletter, November 2016
September, 2017: discovery of 2 Hitler busts in the basement of the Austrian Parliament
During renovation works in in September 2017, two Hitler busts by Hermann Joachim Pagels were discovered in the basement of the 134-year-old Austrian Parliament building. After the Anschluss in 1938, the building had been used as headquarters of the ‘Reichskommissars für die Wiedervereinigung Österreichs mit dem Deutschen Reich‘; after 1940 it became the headquaters of the ‘Wiener Gauleitung der NSDAP’. The bronze Hitler busts by Pagels were located in this building between 1938 to 1945. In 2019 the two busts were handed over to the Vienna based museum ‘Haus der Geschichte Österreich‘.