Artistic Freedom Threatened In Germany

Foreword

I am writing these words in anger and anxiety.

I am amazed that after over 50 years it is possible to find in Germany people who have not learnt to tolerate those whose beliefs and views differ from the “mainstream” and who, because of their beliefs, are branded and become a target for professional and personal discrimination.

I was born in Germany and I am Jewish. I lost my sister, my parents and many members of my family because they were Jews. As a young artist in Germany, my works were appreciated by older and well established artists such as Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, who took me to visit Paula Moderson-Becker in Worpswede. I helped Max Pechstein with his stained glass windows, and many expressionists, much older than I, were my friends. Suddenly they were all branded as “non-artists” and their works became “Entartete Kunst“ — corrupted art.

Sixty years later — in Ahrensburg — a well known and established artist, whose works appear in books, on the covers of magazines, and in public institutions, was exhibiting his work. The public and the critics admired the exhibition. Suddenly the exhibition was prematurely closed. The sole reason given is that it was found he belonged to another thinking group — he is a Scientologist.

I am, and have been, an artist all my life. I can not ignore behavior so reminiscent of the totalitarian days of the Third Reich. It is my sincere hope that this will change.

The time has come for all to follow the old slogan of “Live and let live!”

– Perli Pelzig Perli Pelzig, a Holocaust survivor born in Germany, is an accomplished and award-winning artist and architect. His works can be found in the United States, Canada, Germany and Israel, including at the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem.

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