The early-twentieth-century sculptures were part of a traveling exhibition of degenerate art in 1937, shown to the public as examples of art that disgraced the national spirit. They were returned to the Nazi Propaganda Ministry in 1941, then disappeared without a trace -- believed to be destroyed, sold or stolen.
"Small Miracle"
Berlin's mayor, Klaus Wowereit, called their discovery a "small miracle." Recently, construction work for the U5 subway line opposite Berlin's City Hall had turned up objects from the city's medieval past, including remnants of the original city hall from 1290. This brought archaeologists to the site.
To their surprise, they made an even bigger discovery: eleven delicate sculptures in bronze and terracotta, still bearing traces of fire bombing and destruction, buried deep within the rubble of a bombed-out cellar on Königstrasse 50.
Photo: Reuters
How Did They Get There?
Nobody knows for sure, but we do know that Königstrasse was located in a bustling city center in pre-war Berlin, and one of the offices in Number 50 belonged to a public accountant, Erhard Oewerdieck, and his wife Charlotte, who offered protection to Jewish intellectual friends during the Nazi persecution. They helped several flee the country, storing for them their collections of books and correspondence. Were these sculptures also part of a persecuted friend's collection?
Photo: AFP
Quiet Beauty in Terracotta
The fragment of the expressionist figure "Schwangere"("Pregnant Woman," 1918) by Emy Roeder is one of the most moving artworks recovered from the rubble. The figure is heart-rendingly fragile, the full lips and elongated cheekbones still bearing the blackened marks of fire destruction. But at the same time, we see strength and endurance in her downward gaze and the way she seems to concentrate on her inner self.
For Berlin's "small miracle" there could be no better exhibition space than Berlin's Neues Museum, itself a building that combines the enduring quality of architectural beauty with the deep scars of war and destruction.
Ten of the eleven sculptures are on display at the Neues Museum, located on the Museum Island, Bodestraße 3, 10178 Berlin. Public transportation options include: S-Bahn to Hackescher Markt, tram M4, M5, M6 to Hackescher Markt, Bus 100, 200 to Lustgarten.
The museum is open from 10:00 am to 6 pm, Monday to Wednesday, and 10 am to 8 pm, Thursday to Sunday. Admission is 10 EUR. Avoid queues by purchasing a"time-slot ticket" in advance.
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