Thanks to the artist

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Foundation founder Joseph Goebbels (photo by Heinrich Hoffmann )

The German foundation Künstlerdank , long version Dr. Goebbels-Stiftung Künstlerdank was a foundation of the National Socialist dictatorship established in 1936 and completely controlled by the Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda , which was dedicated to the task of providing financial support to needy artists from all professions should they get into financial emergency. This should ensure that deserving artists, especially in old age, do not become a case of social hardship and that (mostly small) gratuities enable them to alleviate health or economic problems. An “Aryan” origin of the applicant was compulsory in order to claim the donation.

The foundation of the Künstlerdank Foundation, which was endowed with a capital of two million Reichsmarks , was decreed by the Reich Minister, Propaganda Minister, responsible for almost all cultural matters. Joseph Goebbels on October 29, 1936 on the occasion of his 39th birthday. On that day the host read out the following document in his ministry:

  • “Caring for the well-being of all fellow citizens is one of the foremost tasks of the National Socialist state. The National Socialist government also paid special attention to the social situation of the creative artists. It has restored value and recognition to the cultural achievement. (...) Until the reorganization of social welfare for the German artists that I have prepared, in particular the planned general pension scheme, has been carried out, I am making a donation of two million RM available today to 'artist thanks'. "

Goebbels appointed the Vice- President of the Reich Theater Chamber Eugen Klöpfer for the stage workers , the Presidential Council of the Reich Film Chamber Carl Froelich for the filmmakers, the President of the Reich Music Chamber Peter Raabe for the musicians and the President of the Reich Music Chamber for the visual artists (sculptors, painters, architects, etc.) the Vice-President of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts Adolf Ziegler . Karl Ott became the honorary managing director .

In the cinema area, the head of the National Socialist Film Student Council, Fritz Alberti , was charged with examining requests for financial support from the foundation. The beneficiaries of thanks to the artists included Hermann Böttger , Mia Cordes , Georg Furkel , Georg Graf , Karl Morvilius and Ernst Pittschau .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cit. n. German Stage Yearbook 1938, hrgg. from the Cooperative of German Stage Members. P. 91.
  2. ↑ cf. Kay Less : The large personal dictionary of films , Volume 1, p. 52. Berlin 2001
  3. ↑ see entries in the biographies of the respective film artists in Das Großes Personenlexikon des Films

literature

  • Thanks to artists in: Literary Politics in the “Third Reich” by Jan-Pieter Barbian. P. 214, Frankfurt am Main 1993.