Nazi Artwork
Hermann Otto Hoyer, In the Beginning Was the Word, 1937. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of US Army Center of Military History.
In the Beginning Was the Word
Hermann Otto Hoyer’s painting, In the Beginning Was the Word (Am Anfang War das Wort), was one of the most widely reproduced paintings during the Third Reich. Hitler’s personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, and other art jurors selected it for inclusion in the first Great German Art Exhibition, which was held in July 1937. The painting appeared on postcards, school charts, and other printed matter.
About the Artist
Hoyer (1893–1968) served in the German army during World War I and was captured by French troops. While escaping from a prisoner of war camp, he was badly injured and lost his right arm. After the war, he learned to paint with his left arm and continued his art studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. One of Germany’s finest art schools, the academy trained well-known modern artists, including Edvard Munch, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky, and Josef Albers. Unlike them, Hoyer remained wedded to a more traditional, representational form of art.
In the 1920s, Hoyer joined the Nazi Party. From that period onward, his artwork reflected his political leanings. Hoyer painted heroic Nazi figures and German families.
Inspiration for the Painting
In In the Beginning Was the Word, Hoyer portrays Hitler speaking to an assembly of Germans in the early 1920s. To create the painting, he drew on two texts. One was the New Testament, a work sacred to Christians. The other was Hitler’s autobiography, Mein Kampf, which the Nazis considered to be holy. The painting’s title comes from the opening words of the Gospel of John, which reads:
Instead of Jesus, Hoyer depicts Hitler as the messianic figure who brings the “true Light” unto the world. The artist shows light emanating off Hitler’s face and onto the assembled crowd. Hitler is illuminating and enlightening the audience with the Word.
As a devoted Nazi, Hoyer also knew of the importance that Hitler placed on the spoken word. In Mein Kampf, Hitler wrote:
Hitler and the Spoken Word
As a beer-hall orator, Hitler understood the power of speech and its ability to sway crowds. He practiced his gestures, and he even stood on a table or platform so he could be visible to those inside the hall. In comparison to other German political figures, Hitler was dynamic, and his speeches were filled with emotion. Some people in his audiences felt as if he was speaking directly to them.
In this propaganda photograph, Hitler speaks to a crowd of enthralled Nazi stormtroopers and other followers at the Nazi Party's headquarters in Munich. Munich, Germany, ca. 1930–33. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of William O. McWorkman
In his artwork, Hoyer tried to convey the point that Hitler spoke directly to all Germans and that all Germans found something appealing in Hitler. The artist depicted Hitler’s audience as a microcosm of German society: people of different classes, ages, and genders. This depiction reflected the Nazi position that the Nazi Party was a movement that spoke for all Germans.
Nazi propagandists emphasized the importance of speech. They established schools to train Nazi officials in public speaking. They collected responses from audiences after the talks and graded Nazi speakers on whether they could be assigned to speak to local, regional, or national meetings and on which topics. Nazi propagandists gave precise instructions about how halls were to be set up and decorated in order to ensure the greatest success.
A Nazi meeting on the topic of “blood and soil.” The venue was outfitted with Nazi banners and symbols. Hanover, Germany, ca. 1933–1936. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Wendie Theus
After the War
After the Great German Art Exhibition, Hitler acquired In the Beginning Was the Word and added it to his expanding art collection. When Nazi Germany was defeated in May 1945, Allied officials made a concerted effort to purge the country of Nazi propaganda. The US Army seized several of Hoyer’s paintings, including this one. Those paintings were among the 8,000 to 10,000 German artworks confiscated by American troops and brought to Washington, DC. Almost all of the pieces were returned to Germany, with the exception of 400 to 450 works that still remain in the US Army's custody. In the Beginning Was the Word is one of those exceptions.