Willy Exner

Willy Exner (born January 31, 1888 - † April 10, 1947 ) was a German painter.

The son of the upholsterer Max Exner grew up in Breslau and learned from 1902–1906 to paint and varnish. After wandering through northern Germany and Switzerland, he attended the Royal Academy for Arts and Crafts in Wroclaw from October 1910 .

From 1915 he served in the Landsturm and was appointed as a war painter by Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1917.

In 1922 he moved to Poppenhausen , where he married Elfriede Auguste Raspe six years later, with whom he moved to Grünsfeld in 1933 and to Wertheim in 1937 .

As a lodge member , he was expelled from the NSDAP in 1934 . From 1934 he was a member of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts and painted a portrait of Adolf Hitler (1936) in profile in party uniform and an open stand-up collar. Professor Exner gained some fame at the time through this painting “Der Führer” . Because of this, and also because of the picture of Hermann Göring , the Wertheim Chamber of Justice charged him after the war as the main culprit for supporting National Socialism . Before the end of the proceedings, as a result of which two thirds of his property were confiscated, he succumbed to cancer. However, with the help of lawyer Martin Horn, his widow was able to bring about an appeal in March 1949 .

supporting documents

1. ↑ https://www2.landesarchiv-bw.de/ofs21/olf/einfueh.php?Stock=16731
2. ↑ Tobias Ronge: The image of the ruler in painting and graphics of National Socialism ; P. 265