Anger at new exhibition of 'Hitler's favourite sculptor'
By Ruth Elkins in Berlin
Published: 25 July 2006

Arno Breker, whose sculptures of muscular Aryan men adorned Hitler's
Berlin Chancellery, never quite managed to wash away his association
with the Third Reich. Now though, after years in obscurity, works by the
man known as "Hitler's favourite sculptor" are drawing large crowds.

The decision to show 70 of Breker's works in the city of Schwerin, in
north-eastern Germany, has caused uproar this summer. Many argue that
Breker, who was close friends with Albert Speer and Adolf Hitler and
profited from the Nazi regime, should be left on the sidelines of art
history. "It is wrong to recognise an artist who created the physical
images of Nazi ideology," said Klaus Staeck, president of the Berlin
Academy of Arts, who pulled out of an exhibition of his own work in
Schwerin as a protest. He added: "He was not only a protégé of Hitler,
but also a profiteer." A joint appeal for the show to be cancelled was
issued by about 30 local artists, gallery owners and art historians.

cont'd....
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article1195250.ece

(attached) Arno Breker (right) with Adolf Hitler (centre) and Albert
Speer in Paris (from BBC)