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The Bier Garten-1934

The Bier Garten – 1934

By Keith Magee

Background:

“The Little Corporal”…. “The Paper Hanger”… “The Devil”. 

The late 30’s knew Adolph Hitler by all three monikers.  But before that… in the early to mid 30’s Hitler was a feisty man preaching rebellion, nationalism, and distrust from his homeland in German Bavaria.  An area famous for mountains, clean air, and heady beer— many of Hitler’s formative political days were spent rousing the populace over a pint.  A people embittered by the defeat of WWI and the resulting Treaty of Versailles, the Germans of the area took to his fervor perhaps under the influence of too much “Umpha” music and hops.  Here we see the cocky and bemused politician in his mid-rise to power, wearing his trademark “brown shirt” garb, strolling from an afternoon of local bravado.  He has a smile on his lips, and madness in his heart.