Last Hours of 2021

 

“But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. 

Ezekiel 18:21-22

Erich Ohser: The Burden of Art

This is the sad story of a pioneer, light years ahead of the contemporary trend.

Erich Ohser (aka E.O. Plauen) was born in 1903 in Adorf,  small outlaying in Vogtland.  During a short professional career, he worked for magazines such as Vorwärts (=Forward), illustrating satirical representations of Joseph Goebbels and Adolf Hitler. Obviously, these endeavors earned him the enmity of the Nazis, and he was prohibited from practicing his trade under an order of professional disqualification (=Berufsverbot). He continued to work under pseudonyms, and from 1940, began again to produce cartoons on political themes. He was arrested on charges of expressing anti-Nazi opinions (reichsfeindliche Äußerungen). Sadly, Ohser committed suicide in jail 24 hours before his trial.

I accidentally discovered some of his comic strips dating back to the 1930s. His art has been an intriguing subject for me. Elements of his political orientation were interwoven into his modern aesthetic flavor. His satirical caricatures or cartoons, frequently accompanied by Erich Knauf's articles, expressed his political stance against National Socialism. The interesting aspect is how an artist channels ideas under a rigid censorship regime. The notorious Father and Son series is probably the most popular work by Ohser that captivated readers between 1934 to 1937. The adventures of the funnily depicted duo gave the artist a veiled platform to express his views.

Pedram, 12/16/2021

An Excerpt from Behave

in World War II only 15 to 20 percent of riflemen ever fired their guns. The rest? Running messages, helping people load ammunition, tending to buddies—but not aiming a rifle at someone nearby and pulling a trigger. Psychologists of warfare emphasize how, in the heat of battle, people don’t shoot another human out of hatred or obedience, or even from knowing that this enemy is trying to kill them. Instead it’s the pseudokinship of bands of brothers—to protect your buddies, to not let the guys next to you down. But outside those motivations, humans show a strong natural aversion to killing at close range.

Sapolsky, Robert M.. Behave (p. 645). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Phipps Conservatory

11/21/2021