There Where THE WORD Begun

 

In the Beginning was the Word

One of the most famous paintings of the Third Reich era  is undeniably Am Anfang war das Wort (In the beginning was the Word) from 1937, painted by Hermann Otto Hoyer, a German artist who, very unfortunately for him, had to go through the tribulations of both wars, losing an arm in the process and experiencing the ignominious life of a prisoner in enemy territory. However, the loss of his right arm during WWI did not deter Hoyer from continuing with his artistic career, and in fact we can see photos of Hoyer painting sketches of the aforementioned work with just one operative arm.

In spite of having gone through both conflicts as a combatant Hoyer managed to stay alive up to the age of 75, though after WWII, he had to go through the humiliation of being imprisoned once again by the Al-lies in his own homeland for another couple of years.

He became an early member of the NSDAP Party. With the famous painting SA Man with a Swastika Flag and Wounded Comrade on the Shoulder (1933) (actually known as Bild der Kampfzeit) he put his art at the service of the NSDAP. In the House of Art in Munich in 1937 Hoyer introduced the famous painting Am Anfang war das Wort (In the Beginning was the Word) representing Adolf Hitler speaking to the citizens of Oberstdorf in the initial Kampfzeit of the National Socialist movement. Hitler bought the painting for the planned art gallery in Linz. This painting was reproduced in thousands of postcards and art magazines.

But… what happened to the celebrated painting “In the beginning was the Word”?

On the orders of the Allied Control Commission, the painting was seized and taken to a military depot of the United States on 13 May 1946. Up until  today the painting is still unavailable to public view, due to the painting being considered “blatantly propagandistic”. The painting is currently in the custody of the U.S. Army at the United States Army Center of Military History in the basement of a skyscraper in Washington DC.

Source: third-reich-posters.co.uk