Karl Diebitsch
Encyclopedia
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
regalia, including the Chained SS Officer's dagger scabbard. Diebitsch worked with graphic designer Walter Heck to design the all-black SS uniform. Also with his business partner, industrialist Franz Nagy, Diebitsch began the production of art porcelain at the porcelain factory Porzellan Manufaktur Allach
Allach (porcelain)
Allach porcelain was produced in Germany between 1935 and 1945.-History:Master of ceramics Franz Nagy had owned the land since 1925 that the Munich-Allach facility was built on. With his business partner, the porcelain artist Prof. Karl Diebitsch, he began the production of porcelain art...
.
Early life
Diebitsch was born on January 3, 1899, in the city of Hannover, GermanyGermany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. In Hanover, he attended school for the arts. This was interrupted by his enlistment in the Imperial German Navy in 1915. He earned the Iron Cross
Iron Cross
The Iron Cross is a cross symbol typically in black with a white or silver outline that originated after 1219 when the Kingdom of Jerusalem granted the Teutonic Order the right to combine the Teutonic Black Cross placed above a silver Cross of Jerusalem....
, Second Class, while with an artillery battery during the war.
Diebitsch had completed an apprenticeship as a decorating painter when he was in school before the First World War. After a short time being employed as a merchant, he decided to resume his art education. Diebitsch enrolled in the Design School of the Academy of Plastic and Graphic Arts in Munich on October 29, 1919.
Joining the Nazi Party
On May 1, 1920, Diebitsch joined the "Nazi Party" or NSDAP. His membership number was 1,436. From 1920 to 1923 he was a member of the FreikorpsFreikorps
Freikorps are German volunteer military or paramilitary units. The term was originally applied to voluntary armies formed in German lands from the middle of the 18th century onwards. Between World War I and World War II the term was also used for the paramilitary organizations that arose during...
. He went on to complete his formal art training in 1925, followed by several years of living and working in Munich as a painter and graphic artist. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Diebitsch moved his family to Berlin and there joined the Reichsverband Bildenden Künstler Deutschlands (National Association of German Visual Artists). In November 1933, he joined the SS. Later in 1937, he rejoined the NSDAP itself with a membership number of 4,690,956.
Artworks for the Third Reich
Diebitsch served as the Director of SS Porzellan Manufaktur AllachAllach (porcelain)
Allach porcelain was produced in Germany between 1935 and 1945.-History:Master of ceramics Franz Nagy had owned the land since 1925 that the Munich-Allach facility was built on. With his business partner, the porcelain artist Prof. Karl Diebitsch, he began the production of porcelain art...
in 1936 until the SS enterprise had its porcelain production facility moved to Dachau
Dachau
Dachau is a town in Upper Bavaria, in the southern part of Germany. It is a major district town—a Große Kreisstadt—of the administrative region of Upper Bavaria, about 20 km north-west of Munich. It is now a popular residential area for people working in Munich with roughly 40,000 inhabitants...
. In the same year he also designed SS dagger and sword parts, along with many other SS items. In 1938 he received one of the top prizes at a House of German Art exhibition in Munich for his painting titled, “Mutter” (Mother). In 1939 Diebitsch designed the letterhead logo of the Ahnenerbe
Ahnenerbe
The Ahnenerbe was a Nazi German think tank that promoted itself as a "study society for Intellectual Ancient History." Founded on July 1, 1935, by Heinrich Himmler, Herman Wirth, and Richard Walther Darré, the Ahnenerbe's goal was to research the anthropological and cultural history of the Aryan...
and crests for SS Officers. In May 1939 he designed a window for an exterior wall of the “Konig-Heinrich” dome at the cathedral at Quedlinburg
Quedlinburg
Quedlinburg is a town located north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In 1994 the medieval court and the old town was set on the UNESCO world heritage list....
. Diebitsch designed many German postage stamps during the Third Reich.
He also designed a tapestry that was created by Elsie Seifert. "It was removed from Heinrich Himmler's residence in Berchtesgaden in 1945 by a member of the 506th Parachute Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division
101st Airborne Division
The 101st Airborne Division—the "Screaming Eagles"—is a U.S. Army modular light infantry division trained for air assault operations. During World War II, it was renowned for its role in Operation Overlord, the D-Day landings on 6 June 1944, in Normandy, France, Operation Market Garden, the...
. This piece originally hung in the Reichstag but was removed to Himmler's residence after a fire which destroyed a similar piece. The construction is of heavy gold bullion thread on a blood red velvet backing. Bullion tassels and chord. Size is approximately 7 x 9 feet."
War Years and later life
Besides being an artist, Diebitsch was also Reserve Officer in the Waffen-SSWaffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
during the course of the Second World War. He received staff assignments to the SS-Totenkopfstandarte (SS Death’s Head Regiment), SS-Regiment “Germania,” SS-Division “Wiking” and the Höhere SS und Polizei Führer (Higher SS and Police Leader) of Italy. Diebitsch was finally promoted to the rank of SS-Oberführer on April 20, 1944. He managed to survive the war and died decades later during the 1980s.
See also
- Allach (concentration camp)Allach (concentration camp)-History:Allach was opened on March 19th, 1943 as the largest subcamp of Dachau concentration camp because of the shortage of workforce in the armament and building industry...
- Art of the Third Reich