George Grosz (1893-1959)

Ralph Jentsch has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

A simple-minded, portly bureaucrat smoking a cigar crosses the street, passing a woman huddling in her coat for warmth and a blind man, lost and off course, receding into the distance. In his briefcase, the officer carries documents which are vital and decisive about the future of the very people he struts past in oblivion. In this deeply cynical scene, Grosz leaves no question as to the officer’s loyalty. These are the very characters who allowed the Nazis to rule Germany, dutiful and loyal to the Third Reich from its earliest days. As Ralph Jentsch has noted about the present work, Nazi power “would not have been possible without millions of willing helpers from all classes, like this Verwaltungsoffizier, only carrying documents from one office to the other.” In this respect, the blind man in the background can be read as a symbol for the officer, himself blind to the consequences of his actions.