Anti-Nazi drawing published in the PM newspaper Totentanz
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 20.000 inches (50.8 cm) | Width: 14.020 inches (35.611 cm)
Creator(s)
- William Sharp (Artist)
Biographical History
Leon Schleifer was born in 1900 in Germany. He served in the German army at the end of World War I (1914-1918). He became a political cartoonist and his work was published in the anti-Nazi press. He also specialized in courtroom trial sketches. After the appointment of Hitler as Chancellor in 1933, Schliefer emigrated to the United States. He changed his name to William Sharp and continued his career as an editorial cartoonist and illustrator. His work was published in the New York Times, Life Magazine, and other publications. He died in 1961, age sixty-one years.
Archival History
The drawing was aquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1991.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection
Scope and Content
Once when Adolf Hitler was standing by the tomb of Richard Wagner, whose music he adores, he referred to himself as "the young drummer of the German people." He has been a drummer all right [sic], thumping the tom-toms of hate and "race" to a chorus of hysterical "Heils" while the German people march blindly to their destruction. This drawing I completed in Germany. Imagine what would have happened if the Gestapo had seen it.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Image of Hitler, shown in three quarter profile, wearing a drum, which he is banging; in background, number of figures can be seen, marching blindfolded, some bearing flags with swastikas, some dressed in civilian clothing, at least one dressed as a Nazi soldier; they all walk in the same direction as a mass towards a bridge that abruptly ends, leaving those figures on their way to falling onto the cliffs below the bridge.
People
- Sharp, William, 1900-1961.
Subjects
- Newspapers--New York (State)--New York--Political cartoons.
- Anti-Nazi movement--United States--Political cartoons.
Genre
- Object
- Art