Joachim Ringelnatz was a German writer, cabaret artist and painter who is known in particular for humorous poems about the artistic figure Kuttel Daddeldu. He was known during the Weimar Republic and counted actors such as Asta Nielsen and Paul Wegener among his close friends and companions. His work, some of which is bizarre, expressionist, funny and witty, is still known today.
The life of the Jewish artist Felix Nussbaum was marked by persecution and flight. In 1933, Nussbaum and his partner Felka Platek were already abroad when he was awarded the prestigious Villa Massimo scholarship for a period of study in Rome. From there, they fled via France to Belgium. There, between 1939 and 1944, he secretly created a powerful late body of work.
Milly Steger was supported early on by art patron Karl Ernst Osthaus. Her exceptional talent secured her a position as a city sculptor in Hagen, where she has left her artistic mark on the cityscape to this day. While she showed commitment to the left-wing political spectrum in her early time in Berlin, she lacked such a political stance in 1933—45. The fact that Steger is often classified as a victim of the NS regime must therefore be viewed critically.
