German painting of the 20th century - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 2004 - 55 Euro Cent

The painter Felix Nussbaum was born on December 11, 1904 in Osnabrück. In the late 1920s, he celebrated his first successes as a painter. From 1932 he worked as a scholarship holder of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Rome. As a Jew, he could no longer return from there to Nazi-ruled Germany. He initially stayed in Italy, later went to France and finally to Belgium. The painting "The Mystery" (1939) was created against the background of a decree by the Belgian authorities, which increased the surveillance of foreigners and aroused great fear among the exiles of expulsion. In 1940, shortly after the German troops invaded Belgium, Nussbaum was arrested. He managed to escape. Together with his wife, the painter Felka Platek, he hid in the apartment of a friend in Brussels. During this time, Nussbaum created images that reflected the perplexity, despair and fears of a victim in the face of constant existential threats. In June 1944 Felix Nussbaum was again arrested, deported to Auschwitz and murdered there.