Otto Engelhardt-Kyffhäuser, Auf dem Treck

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‘Auf dem Treck’ (‘On the Trek’)
Otto Engelhardt-Kyffhäuser

‘Fremdartig ihre Kleidung und Pelze – ihre Herzen aber Deutsch’
(‘Strangely dressed, but their hearts are German)’

Depicted are Bauer Gottlieb Ludwig and his wife and child. This farmer, who was a resettler from Volhinya, was the subject of several paintings by Engelhardt-Kyffhäuser. At least two works in the GDK depicted him. Another depiction of farmer Gottlieb Ludwig was printed on postcards.
A historical scene depicting the resettlement of Germans from the Baltic and Volhynia /Galicia (East Poland, occupied by the Russians in 1939) into Reichshgau Warthegau (West-Central Poland). In 1940 the SS had expelled 325,000 Poles and Jews from the Wartheland and the Polish Corridor and confiscated their belongings. By 1945 nearly half a million ‘Volksdeutsche’ Germans had been resettled in Warthegau.

Biggest ethnic cleansing operation in the history of mankind
After the end of World War II almost 14 million German civilians in Eastern and Central Europe were forcibly expelled and deported to (West) Germany. This biggest ethnic cleansing operation in the history of mankind, did not make any distinction between colonists (Rechsdeutsche) and ethnic Germans (Volksdeutsche), some of whom had lived there since the 14th century. Estimates are that around two million Germans, civilians as well as prisoners of war, were killed in the first two years after the war.

‘Fremdartig ihre Kleidung und Pelze – ihre Herzen aber Deutsch’
(‘Strangely dressed, but their hearts are German)’ 
Left: Otto Engelhardt-Kyffhäuser, ‘Bauer Gottlieb Ludwig’. Depicted in the book ‘Vom grossen Treck’, page 25%: ‘Fremdartig ihre Kleidung und Pelze – ihre Herzen aber Deutsch’ (‘Strangely dressed, but their hearts are German)’.
Right: Otto Engelhardt-Kyffhäuser, ‘Heim ins Reich‘ (‘Back in Reich‘), GDK 1942, room 27. Bought by Himmler for 12.000 RM. Depicted is Bauer Gottlieb Ludwig. Published in ‘Feuer und Farbe, -155 Bilder vom Kriege’, 1943.
  

Left: Otto Engelhardt-Kyffhäuser, ‘Bauer Gottlieb Ludwig’. GDK 1942, room 30. Bought by the City of Aschaffenburg.
Right: Otto Engelhardt-Kyffhäuser, ‘Bauer Gottlieb Ludwig’ printed on a postcard.
  

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