Gottbegnadeten list

Updated on Oct 20, 2023

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The Gottbegnadeten-Liste ("God-gifted list" or "Important Artist Exempt List") was a 36-page list of artists considered crucial to Nazi culture. The list was assembled in September 1944 by Joseph Goebbels, the head of the Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, and Germany's chancellor Adolf Hitler.

History

The list exempted the designated artists from military mobilisation during the final stages of World War II. Each listed artist received a letter from the Nazi Propaganda Ministry which certified his or her status. A total of 1,041 names of artists, architects, music conductors, singers, writers and filmmakers appeared on the list. Of that number, 24 were named as especially indispensable; they thus became the equivalent of National Socialism's "national treasures."

Goebbels included about 640 motion picture actors, writers and directors on an extended version of the list. They were to be protected as part of his propaganda film efforts, which persisted through the end of the war (and culminating in the expensive final UFA production Kolberg, released in January 1945).

Many of the cultural figures appearing on the list are no longer widely remembered but there are exceptions, including a number of renowned classical musicians such as the composers Richard Strauss, Hans Pfitzner, Carl Orff and Norbert Schultze, the orchestral conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan, and the Wagnerian baritone Rudolf Bockelmann. The only foreigner (Ausländer) on the list was Dutch actor Johannes Heesters.

Architects

architect Leonhard Gall (1884–1952), "Reichskultursenator"

architect Hermann Giesler (1898–1987), "Reichskultursenator"

architect Wilhelm Kreis (1873–1955)

architect and critic Paul Schultze-Naumburg (1869–1949)

Visual artists

sculptor Arno Breker (1900–1991), named as "Reichskultursenator" (Reich Culture Senator)

sculptor Fritz Klimsch (1870–1960)

sculptor Georg Kolbe (1877–1947)

sculptor Josef Thorak (1889–1952)

painter and illustrator Hermann Gradl (1883–1964)

history painter Arthur Kampf (1864–1950)

painter Willy Kriegel (1901–1966)

painter Werner Peiner (1897–1984)

Authors

Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946)

Hans Carossa (1878–1956)

Hanns Johst (1890–1979), "Reichskultursenator"

Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer (1878–1962)

Agnes Miegel (1879–1964)

Ina Seidel (1885–1974)

Composers

Richard Strauss (1864–1949)

Hans Pfitzner (1869–1949)

Carl Orff (1895–1982)

Werner Egk (1901–1983)

Actors

Otto Falckenberg (1873–1947)

Gustaf Gründgens (1899–1963)

Johannes Heesters (1903–2011)

Friedrich Kayßler (1874–1945)

Eugen Klöpfer (1886–1950)

Hermine Körner (1878–1960)

Heinz Rühmann (1902–1994)

Heinrich Schroth (1871–1945)

Singers

Rudolf Bockelmann (1892–1958)

Josef Greindl (1912–1993)

Heinrich Schlusnus (1888–1952)

Wilhelm Strienz (1899–1987)

Further listed artists on the "Führerliste"

There was also an extended list, the so-called "Führerliste" that included "God-gifted artists" who were not to be drafted but worked as "Künstler im Kriegseinsatz" (artists in the war effort).