23 December 2020
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As featured in the latest issue of Iron Cross, Issue 7
During WW2, a famous German artist, Hans Liska, was drafted into the German Army and became a war artist for the Third Reich. His stunning artwork had a wide reach, and covered land, sea and air.
In Calais during 1940, he could find no water to paint with so used a bottle of champagne found in a ruined building.
With almost a roving commission to paint and photograph on every battlefront, his work was widely used by the Nazi propaganda machine. However, he was careful not to show the Nazi swastika symbol if he could avoid it and also went to pains not to complete any recruitment art for the SS, although they tracked him down on a battlefront and sent an SS soldier with materials to stand over him until the work was completed – being threatened with punishment if he did not comply. By the time the SS soldier arrived, Liska had moved out and he again thwarted their efforts.
After the war, he became a well-known automobile artist for Mercedes-Benz and many leading German brands. He died in 1983.