In one and a half days, employees of the Hartheim memorial, residents of the Hartheim Institute and the Sacré Coeur Vienna High School made a special toy a few weeks ago: “Klump” figures, which were produced in the 1930s by the Styrian artists and later resistance fighters Herbert Eichholzer, Walter Ritter and Anna Neumann. “We painted and decorated 200 pieces in this short time, it was a very exciting project,” says Simone Loistl from the memorial location that organized the campaign. The atmosphere was very informal: “Everyone discovered where their talents are, where they can help someone and can be helped conversely.”
For childish creativity
The colorful figures have an impressive background: Eichholzer, Ritter and Neumann were part of a group of artists and intellectuals. In the 1930s, this met regularly in the Styrian Prenning in the “Paper and Pappet Lid Factory Feuerhöscher”, which belonged to Neumann’s family. Among other things, they joined children’s toys, which promotes creativity. Eichholzer and Ritter designed the “Klump” figures: animal figures with abstract shapes and clear colors. From 1935 they produced the toys together with Neumann in small batches.
After the connection, the three were part of the communist resistance to the Nazi regime and were revealed in 1941. Eichholzer addressed the Nazis in 1943, Neumann was freed from a prison in Bavaria in 1945. Ritter was captured.
“}”>
Source: Nachrichten
