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 Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the '' Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to ...

, the head of the

Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda The Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (; RMVP), also known simply as the Ministry of Propaganda (), controlled the content of the press, literature, visual arts, film, theater, music and radio in Nazi Germany. The ministry ...

, and Germany's supreme leader

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and the ...

History

The list exempted the designated artists from military mobilisation during the final stages of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. 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 Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Naz ...

'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 A propaganda film is a film that involves some form of propaganda. Propaganda films spread and promote certain ideas that are usually religious, political, or cultural in nature. A propaganda film is made with the intent that the viewer will ad ...

efforts, which persisted through the end of the war (and culminating in the expensive final

UFA Ufa ( ba, Өфө , Öfö; russian: Уфа́, r=Ufá, p=ʊˈfa) is the largest city and capital city, capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya River (Kama), Belaya and Ufa River, Ufa rivers, in the centre-n ...

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 Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...

Hans Pfitzner Hans Erich Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was a German composer, conductor and polemicist who was a self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera ''Palestrina'' (1917), loosely based on the life of the ...

, and

Carl Orff Carl Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, best known for his cantata '' Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Schulwerk were influential for children's music education. Life Early life Carl ...

, the orchestral conductors

Wilhelm Furtwängler Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major ...

and

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...

, and the

Wagnerian Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the ...

Rudolf Bockelmann. The only foreigner ''(Ausländer)'' on the list was Dutch actor

Johannes Heesters Johan Marius Nicolaas Heesters (5 December 1903 – 24 December 2011), known professionally as Johannes Heesters, was a Dutch actor of stage, television and film, as well as a vocalist of numerous recordings and performer on the concert stag ...

Special listed artists

Architects

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

Hermann Giesler Hermann Giesler (2 April 1898, Siegen – 20 January 1987, Düsseldorf) was a German architect during the Nazi era, one of the two architects most favoured and rewarded by Adolf Hitler (the other being Albert Speer). Early life and World Wa ...

(1898–1987), "Reichskultursenator" * architect

Wilhelm Kreis Wilhelm Kreis (17 March 1873 – 13 August 1955) was a prominent German architect and professor of architecture, active through four political systems in German history: the Wilhelmine era, the Weimar Republic, the Third Reich, and the found ...

(1873–1955) * architect and critic Paul Schultze-Naumburg (1869–1949)

Visual artists

* sculptor

Arno Breker Arno Breker (19 July 1900 – 13 February 1991) was a German architect and sculptor who is best known for his public works in Nazi Germany, where they were endorsed by the authorities as the antithesis of degenerate art. He was made offici ...

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

Fritz Klimsch Fritz Klimsch (10 February 1870 – 30 March 1960) was a German sculptor, and the younger brother of the painter Paul Klimsch. He was one of the famous artists in the era of Weimar republic. Early life Klimsch was born on 10 February 1870 in ...

(1870–1960) * sculptor Georg Kolbe (1877–1947) * sculptor

Josef Thorak Josef Thorak (7 February 1889 in Vienna, Austria – 26 February 1952 in Bad Endorf, Bavaria) was an Austrian-German sculptor. He became known for oversize monumental sculptures, particularly of male figures, and was one of the most promin ...

(1889–1952) * history painter Arthur Kampf (1864–1950) * painter Werner Peiner (1897–1984)

Authors

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He rece ...

(1862–1946) *

Hans Carossa Hans Carossa (15 December 1878 in Bad Tölz, Kingdom of Bavaria – 12 September 1956 in Rittsteig near Passau) was a German novelist and poet, known mostly for his autobiographical novels, and his "innere Emigration" ( inner emigration) during ...

(1878–1956) *

Hanns Johst Hanns Johst (8 July 1890 – 23 November 1978) was a German poet and playwright, directly aligned with Nazi philosophy, as a member of the officially approved writers’ organisations in the Third Reich. The statement “When I hear the word cul ...

(1890–1979), "Reichskultursenator" * Erwin Guido Kolbenheyer (1878–1962) *

Agnes Miegel Agnes Miegel (9 March 1879 – 26 October 1964) was a German author, journalist and poet. She is best known for her poems and short stories about East Prussia, but also for the support she gave to the Nazi Party. Biography Agnes Miegel was born ...

(1879–1964) *

Ina Seidel Ina Seidel (15 September 1885 – 3 October 1974) was a German lyric poet and novelist. Favourite themes included motherhood and the mysteries of race and heredity. Biography Family provenance Johanna Mathilde "Ina" Seidel was born in Halle, to ...

(1885–1974)

Musicians

(1864–1949) *

(1869–1949) *

(1886–1954) (removed on December 7, 1944 because of his relationships with German resistance.)

Actors

Otto Falckenberg Otto Falckenberg (5 October 1873 in Koblenz25 December 1947 in Munich) was a German theatre director, manager and writer. In April 1901, he co-founded '' Die Elf Scharfrichter'', the first political ''kabarett'' (a form of cabaret Cabaret is a ...

(1873–1947) * Gustaf Gründgens (1899–1963) *

(1903–2011) *

Friedrich Kayßler Friedrich Martin Adalbert Kayssler, also spelled Kayßler (7 April 1874 – 30 April 1945), was a German theatre and film actor. He appeared in 56 films between 1913 and 1945. Biography Kayssler was born in Neurode in the Silesia Province ...

(1874–1945) *

Eugen Klöpfer Eugen Gottlob Klöpfer (10 March 1886 in Talheim, Heilbronn – 3 March 1950 in Wiesbaden) was a German actor. Early life Born to Karl Klöpfer and his wife Karoline, née Hörsch, Eugen attended the Realschule ("secondary school") in Heilbr ...

(1886–1950) *

Hermine Körner Hermine Körner (30 May 1878 in Berlin - 14 December 1960) was a German actress, director and theater manager. Early life Körner was the fifth child of teacher and zoologist William Stader and Emilie Luyken. The father departed in 1880 on a lect ...

(1878–1960) *

Heinz Rühmann Heinrich Wilhelm "Heinz" Rühmann (; 7 March 1902 – 3 October 1994) was a German film actor who appeared in over 100 films between 1926 and 1993. He is one of the most famous and popular German actors of the 20th century, and is considered a Ge ...

(1902–1994) *

Heinrich Schroth Heinrich August Franz Schroth (23 March 1871 – 14 January 1945) was a German stage and film actor. Career Schroth was born in Pirmasens, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. He made his acting debut at the Sigmaringen Royal Theatre in 1890. In 1894 h ...

(1871–1945)

Singers

* Rudolf Bockelmann (1892–1958) *

Josef Greindl Josef Greindl (23 December 1912 - 16 April 1993) was a German operatic bass, remembered mainly for his performances of Wagnerian roles at Bayreuth beginning in 1943. Josef Greindl was born in Munich and studied at the Munich Music Academy with ...

(1912–1993) *

Heinrich Schlusnus Heinrich Schlusnus (6 August 1888 – 18 June 1952) was Germany's foremost lyric baritone of the period between World War I and World War II. He sang opera and lieder with equal distinction. Career A native of Braubach, Schlusnus studied with ...

(1888–1952) *

Wilhelm Strienz Wilhelm Strienz (2 September 1900, in Stuttgart – 10 May 1987, in Frankfurt am Main) was a German bass operatic singer. Strienz made his debut in 1922 at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as the hermit in Weber's ''Der Freischütz''. In subsequent years ...

(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).

Authors

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-S61180, Hans Grimm

* Hans Friedrich Blunck (1888–1961) * Friedrich Griese (1890–1975) * Josef Weinheber (1892–1945) * Gustav Frenssen (1863–1945) *

Hans Grimm Hans Grimm (22 March 1875 – 29 September 1959) was a German writer. The title of his 1926 novel '' Volk ohne Raum'' became a political slogan of the expansionist Nazi ''Lebensraum'' concept. Early life Hans Grimm was born in Wiesbaden, in the P ...

(1875–1959) *

Max Halbe Max Halbe (4 October 1865 – 30 November 1944) was a German dramatist and main exponent of Naturalism. Biography Halbe was born at the manor of Güttland (Koźliny) near Danzig (Gdańsk), where he grew up. He was a member of an old family of p ...

(1865–1944) * Heinrich Lilienfein (1879–1952) * Börries Freiherr von Münchhausen (1874–1945) *

Wilhelm Schäfer Wilhelm Schäfer (20 January 1868 – 19 January 1952) was a German writer. Life Born in Ottrau ( Hesse), until 1896 Schäfer was a school teacher. He gained a scholarship to study in Switzerland and France through the Cotta-Verlag publishin ...

(1868–1952) * Helene Voigt-Diederichs (1875–1961)

Composers

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-13756-0005, Berlin, Arbeiterkonferenz der Schriftsteller und Komponisten cropped to single out Ottmar Gerster

* Johann Nepomuk David (1895–1977) * Werner Egk (1901–1983) * (1906–1984) * Harald Genzmer (1909–2007) *

Ottmar Gerster Ottmar Gerster (29 June 1897 in Braunfels, Germany – 31 August 1969 in Borsdorf) was a German viola player, conductor and composer who in 1948 became rector of the Liszt Music Academy in Weimar. Life Ottmar Gerster was born some 50 ...

(1897–1969) *

Kurt Hessenberg Kurt Hessenberg (17 August 1908 – 17 June 1994) was a German composer and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt. Life Kurt Hessenberg was born on 17 August 1908 in Frankfurt, as the fourth and last child of ...

(1908–1994) *

Paul Höffer Paul Höffer (21 December 1895 – 31 August 1949) was a German composer. He was born in Barmen Barmen is a former industrial metropolis of the region of Bergisches Land, Germany, which merged with four other towns in 1929 to form ...

(1895–1949) * Karl Höller (1907–1987) *

Mark Lothar Mark Lothar ó:tar(born Lothar Hundertmark; 23 May 1902, in Berlin – 6 April 1985, in Munich) was a German composer. In May 1938 his opera '' Tailor Wibbel'', inspired by a play by Hans Müller-Schlösser, was performed at the Berlin State ...

(1902–1985) *

Joseph Marx Joseph Rupert Rudolf Marx (11 May 1882 – 3 September 1964) was an Austrian composer, teacher and critic. Life and career Marx was born in Graz and pursued studies in philosophy, art history, German studies, and music at Graz University, earnin ...

(1882–1964) * (1914–1993) *

(1895–1982) *

Ernst Pepping Ernst Pepping (12 September 1901 – 1 February 1981) was a German composer of classical music and academic teacher. He is regarded as an important composer of Protestant sacred music in the 20th century. Pepping taught at the and the . His mus ...

(1901–1981) *

Max Trapp Hermann Emil Alfred Max Trapp (November 1, 1887 – May 31, 1971) was a German composer and teacher. A prestigious figure in the Berlin cultural scene during the 1930s, Trapp, amongst others in the Nazi influenced scene, was regularly invited t ...

(1887–1971) * Fried Walter (1907–1996) *

Hermann Zilcher Hermann Zilcher (18 August 1881 – 1 January 1948) was a German composer, pianist, conductor, and music teacher. His compositional oeuvre includes orchestral and choral works, two operas, chamber music and songs, études, piano works, and nume ...

(1881–1948)

Conductors

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R92264, Herbert von Karajan

Hermann Abendroth Hermann Paul Maximilian Abendroth (19 January 1883 – 29 May 1956) was a German conductor. Early life Abendroth was born on 19 January 1883, at Frankfurt, the son of a bookseller. Several other members of the family were artists in diverse dis ...

(1883–1956) * Karl Elmendorff (1891–1962) *

Robert Heger Robert Heger (19 August 1886 – 14 January 1978) was a German conductor and composer from Strasbourg, Alsace-Lorraine. Life and career He studied at the Conservatory of Strasbourg under Franz Stockhausen, then in Zurich under Lothar ...

(1886–1978) *

Oswald Kabasta Oswald Kabasta (December 29, 1896 – February 6, 1946) was an Austrian conductor. Life and career Kabasta was born in Mistelbach, Austria and later studied with composer Franz Schmidt. In 1931 he became head of conducting at the Vienna ...

(1896–1946) *

(1908–1989) *

Johannes Schüler Johannes Schüler (21 June 18943 October 1966) was a German conductor who held leading positions at opera houses such as the Berlin State Opera and the Staatsoper Hannover. He promoted contemporary music, leading the world premieres of Alban Ber ...

(1894–1966) * Karl Böhm (1894–1981) *

Eugen Jochum Eugen Jochum (; 1 November 1902 – 26 March 1987) was a German conductor, best known for his interpretations of the music of Anton Bruckner, Carl Orff, and Johannes Brahms, among others. Biography Jochum was born to a Roman Catholic family in ...

(1902–1987) *

Hans Knappertsbusch Hans Knappertsbusch (12 March 1888 – 25 October 1965) was a German conductor, best known for his performances of the music of Wagner, Bruckner and Richard Strauss. Knappertsbusch followed the traditional route for an aspiring conductor in Ger ...

(1888–1965) * Joseph Keilberth (1908–1968) *

Rudolf Krasselt Rudolf Krasselt (1 January 1879 – 12 April 1954) was a German violoncellist, conductor and director of the Staatsoper Hannover during the Weimar Republic and the period of National Socialism. Life Born in Baden-Baden, Krasselt grew up as son ...

(1879–1954) *

Clemens Krauss Clemens Heinrich Krauss (31 March 189316 May 1954) was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss and Richard Wagner. Krauss was born in Vienna to Clementine Krauss, ...

(1893–1954) * Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (1900–1973) *

Carl Schuricht Carl Adolph Schuricht (; 3 July 18807 January 1967) was a German conductor. Life and career Schuricht was born in Danzig (Gdańsk), German Empire; his father's family had been respected organ-builders. His mother, Amanda Wusinowska, a widow soo ...

(1880–1967)

Instrumentalists

* Ludwig Hoelscher (1907–1996), cellist * Elly Ney (1882–1968), pianist * Walter Morse Rummel (1887–1953), pianist *

Günther Ramin Günther Werner Hans Ramin (15 October 1898 – 27 February 1956) was an influential German organist, conductor, composer and pedagogue in the first half of the 20th century. Ramin, the son of a pastor, was born in Karlsruhe, Germany. At the a ...

(1898–1956), organist and choirmaster *

Walter Gieseking Walter Wilhelm Gieseking (5 November 1895 – 26 October 1956) was a French-born German pianist and composer. Gieseking was renowned for his subtle touch, pedaling, and dynamic control—particularly in the music of Debussy and Ravel; he made int ...

(1895–1956), pianist * Wilhelm Stross (1907–1966), violinist * Gerhard Taschner (1922–1976), violinist

Theater and opera

Raoul Aslan Raoul Aslan ( hy, Ռաուլ Ասլան, born Tigran Aslanyan, Armenian: Տիգրան Ասլանյան; 16 October 1886 – 17 June 1958) was an Austrian theater actor of Greek-Armenian ancestry. Life Born in Saloniki, Ottoman Empire (now in ...

(1886–1958), director and actor *

Heinrich George Georg August Friedrich Hermann Schulz (9 October 1893 – 25 September 1946), better known as Heinrich George (), was a German stage and film actor. Career Weimar Republic George is noted for having spooked the young Bertolt Brecht in his first ...

(1893–1946), actor * Werner Krauß (1884–1959), actor *

Karl-Heinz Stroux Karl Heinz Stroux (25 February 1908 – 2 August 1985) was a German actor, film and theatre director, and theatre manager. As the director of the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus from 1955 to 1972 he opened the new building in 1970.(12 August 1985Gest ...

(1908–1985), actor and director *

(1888–1952), singer *

(1899–1987), singer *

Paula Wessely Paula Anna Maria Wessely (20 January 1907 – 11 May 2000) was an Austrian theatre and film actress. ''Die Wessely'' (literally "The Wessely"), as she was affectionately called by her admirers and fans, was Austria's foremost popular postwar act ...

(1907–2000), actress

Fine Arts

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-2008-0208-501, Ludwig Dettmann

Claus Bergen Claus Friedrich Bergen (April 18, 1885 – October 4, 1964) was a German illustrator and painter, best known for his depictions of naval warfare in World War I. Early life and career Bergen was born April 18, 1885, in Stuttgart, Germany, the ...

(1885–1964), marine painter * Ludwig Dettmann (1865–1944), war painter (member of the Berlin Secession) *

Fritz Mackensen Fritz Mackensen (born 8 April 1866 in Greene, near Kreiensen, Duchy of Brunswick – 12 May 1953 in Bremen) was a German painter of the Düsseldorf school of painting and Art Nouveau. He was a friend of Otto Modersohn and Hans am Ende, an ...

(1866–1953), painter *

Franz Stassen Franz Stassen (12 February 1869, Hanau – 18 April 1949, Berlin) was a German painter and illustrator. Life Educated at the Berlin University of the Arts, Stassen worked within the German Jugendstil tradition, inspired by artist such as ...

(1869–1949), painter * Clemens Klotz (1886–1969), architect * Alfred Mahlau (1894–1967), painter * Ernst Neufert (1900–1986), architect * Bruno Paul (1874–1968), architect *

Richard Scheibe Richard Scheibe (19 April 1879, Chemnitz – 6 October 1964, Berlin) was a German artist primarily remembered as a sculptor. He trained as a painter, and taught himself to sculpt beginning in 1906. From 1925-1933 he taught at the Städelsches ...

(1879–1964), sculptor * Joseph Wackerle (1880–1959), sculptor

Special film-list initiated by Goebbels

* Wolf Albach-Retty (1908–1967) *

Willy Fritsch Willy Fritsch (27 January 1901 – 13 July 1973) was a German theater and film actor, a popular leading man and character actor from the silent-film era to the early 1960s. Biography Early life He was born Wilhelm Egon Fritz Fritsch, the only s ...

(1901–1973) *

Attila Hörbiger Attila Hörbiger (21 April 1896 – 27 April 1987) was an Austrian stage and movie actor. Life Hörbiger was born in the Hungarian capital Budapest, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of engineer Hanns Hörbiger and the younge ...

(1896–1987) * Viktor de Kowa (1904–1973) *

Harry Piel Heinrich Piel (12 July 1892 – 27 March 1963), known professionally as Harry Piel, was a prolific German actor, film director, screenwriter, and film producer who was involved in over 150 films. Piel became a director in 1912, turning out such ...

(1892–1963) *

Hans Albers Hans Philipp August Albers (22 September 1891 – 24 July 1960) was a German actor and singer. He was the biggest male movie star in Germany between 1930 and 1960 and one of the most popular German actors of the twentieth century. Early life ...

(1891–1960) *

Karl Dannemann Karl Dannemann (22 March 1896 – 4 May 1945) was a German actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1934 and 1945. Partial filmography * ''Volldampf voraus!'' (1934) - Kramer, Obermaat * ''Trouble with Jolanthe'' (1934) - Rupf, der ...

(1896–1945) * O. W. Fischer (1915–2004) * Hans Holt (1909–2001) * Paul Hörbiger (1894–1981) *

Ferdinand Marian Ferdinand Heinrich Johann Haschkowetz (14 August 1902 – 7 August 1946), known by the stage name Ferdinand Marian, was an Austrian actor. Though a prolific stage actor in Berlin and a popular matinée idol throughout the 1930s and early '40s, h ...

(1902–1946) *

Armin Schweizer Armin Schweizer (28 April 1892 – 8 October 1968) was a Swiss actor. Schweizer was born in Zurich, Switzerland and died there at age 76 Selected filmography * ''The Pied Piper of Hamelin'' (1918) * '' The Galley Slave'' (1919) * ''The Mayor of Z ...

(1892–1968) *

Hermann Thimig Hermann Thimig (3 October 1890 – 7 July 1982) was an Austrian stage and film actor. He appeared in 102 films between 1916 and 1967. Biography Thimig came from a famous family of actors. His father, Hugo Thimig, was an actor, director and ...

(1890–1982)

References

*Maximilian Haas: ''Die Gottbegnadeten-Liste (BArch R 55/20252a)'' in: Juri Giannini, Maximilian Haas und Erwin Strouhal (Hrsg.): ''Eine Institution zwischen Repräsentation und Macht. Die Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien im Kulturleben des Nationalsozialismus''. Mille Tre Verlag, Vienna 2014, pp. 239–276. . * {{cite book , last=Rathkolb , first=Oliver , title=Führertreu und gottbegnadet: Künstlereliten im Dritten Reich , date=1991 , publisher=ÖBV , location=Vienna 1944 documents Nazi culture

History

Special listed artists

Architects

Visual artists

Authors

Musicians

Actors

Singers

Further listed artists on the "Führerliste"

Authors

Composers

Conductors

Instrumentalists

Theater and opera

Fine Arts

Special film-list initiated by Goebbels

See also

References