Drawing
41
Kurt Poltiniak
Militarism in West Germany
Autumn 1950; colored pen-and-ink drawing
h 51, w 34.6.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/108
Under the sun of the US dollar, America, the
world power reclines as the new Caesar. Kneeling before her is her slave,
Adenauer, receiving alms with gratitude. Outside in the foreground wait
Kurt Schumacher (SPD), chained to a dog collar, and Ernst Reuter (SPD:
mayor of West Berlin), enthusiastically ringing the liberty bell in support
of Berlin. The internal German border is already strewn with crosses marking
graves. In the interior the Germans appear as shoe-cleaners to the Americans,
the members of the German forces as an extension of the German Wehrmacht;
parliamentarism is fit for little more than a self-service store. Fascism
dares to venture out of hiding. In a deep cellar Emperor Barbarossa gets
drunk an comics and Coca Cola. The good citizens tend the swastikas in
their gardens while the Nazi rats plan new attacks an the USSR.
42
Kurt Poltiniak
The Wall is stronger
June 1951; colored Indian ink drawing
h 38.3, w 29.9.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/123
The American eagle, attired in the "Stars
and Stripes", breaks his beak an the wall of "German-Soviet
friendship". "De Ap" (the ape) Adenauer, wearing a Wehrmacht
helmet and swastika, shows his disappointment at the weakness of his ally.
43
Kurt Poltiniak
WASHINGTONS RESOLUTIONS. It's your job, Mr
Adenauer, to convince the peasants behind us that it's all for their own
good!
October 1951; colored pen-and-ink drawing
h 17.5, w 33.8.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/96
44
Kurt Poltiniak
Mainstays
October 1951; colored pen-and-ink drawing
h 24.1, w 26.9.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/102
Adenauer helps the German Wehrmacht to join
NATO. The shabby uniform has been mended with US dollars.
45
Kurt Poltiniak/Peter Reimann
GENERAL TREATY
May 1952; colored pen-and-ink drawing
h. 37, w 51.8.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/114
The General Treaty prepares the ground for
a new war. Adenauer, backed by the western allies (USA, Great Britain
and France) and US capital, forges new plans to attack the USSR. Krupp
is already producing armaments again and the Nazi state is being restored.
Imperial eagles along with swastikas and pictures of Hitler can be shown
again; the GESTAPO advertizes for members while the Waffen SS prepares
for action.
46
Kurt Poltiniak
NATO/Now we're very close to peace
around 1952; pen-and-ink drawing
h 36.2, w 28.2.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/97
47
Kurt Poltiniak
The military man's hill - the money man's
hill
1952; colored pen-and-ink drawing
h 47.5, w 36.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/115
The American flag conceals the victims, images
and crimes of national socialism. Dollar imperialism rises from the remnants
of Nazi imperialism. The corruptible media and the SPD with Kurt Schumacher
have already taken their place an the dollar. The German Wehrmacht prepares
to spring up. Konrad Adenauer perches an the shoulders of the SPD, waving
the flag of the "general war treaty". With a fiendish expression
he points to the east.
48
Kurt Poltiniak
Human rights
June 1952; colored pen-and-ink drawing, collage
h 44, w 34.7.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/110
Behind the protective shield of the UN Declaration
of Human Rights lurks the deadly figure of US imperialism. Having already
destroyed his own (capitalist) states, he looks hungrily towards the peaceful
(socialist) industrial landscape.
49
Kurt Poltiniak
An American wedding
January 1953; colored pen-and-ink drawing
h 18, w 68.2.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/116
Bride and groom Adenauer (CDU) and Ollenhauer
(SPD) walk along the path together towards US capital to receive the blessing
of capitalism. Representatives of the Nazi state act as marriage witnesses.
The dowry, a sack full of US dollars, is provided by the Ku-Klux-Klan.
In the background the figures of Hitler and Goebbels, rigid in death,
together with the West German police force, founded in 1951, show their
pleasure at this union.
50
Kurt Poltiniak
ADENAUER OLLENHAUER
1953; colored pen-and-ink drawing
h 31.7, w 23.3.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/95
CDU politician Konrad Adenauer and SPD politician
Erich Ollenhauer are the front and back of the same playing card. Their
hearts are lost to the US dollar. Adorned with the iron cross and American
flag, the stars of which have metamorphosed into swastikas, they hold
in their hands the money and sword of the warmongerers, wrapped in the
"general war treaty".
51
Kurt Poltiniak
THERE ONCE WAS A LOYAL HUSSAR/forwardsback
to Hitler
around 1954; colored pen-and-ink drawing
h 50.7, w 36.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/122
To American military marching music Adenauer
marches in Prussian uniform under Hitler's emblem.
52
Kurt Poltiniak
I wanted to go to Moscow too and ended up
in Stalingrad
around 1954; etching
h 74.4, w 60.
Inv. no.: Gr 91/86
The spectre of Hitler reminds NATO of the
defeat of his army in the Soviet Union.
Catalog index/2
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