Hitler's Obsession with Art and His Great Heist During World War II

From an early age, Aldolf Hitler had an obsession with art. He wrote in Mein Kampf that he knew as a schoolboy what he wanted to be, a painter. Hitler's boyhood friend August Kubizek reports that Adolf in their talks continually emphasized the importance of his father's status, and that when Adolf was seeking admission to the Academy of Art, he thought his chances were good because the professors there were government officials like his father. His application, made in the autumn of 1907 to the General Painting School of the Academy of Art of Vienna, was turned down, although he passed the preliminary examination in which he and the other applicants were required to submit drawings on such biblical subjects as "Return of the Prodigal Son," "Expulsion from Paradise," and "Episode from the Flood" and such standard academic themes as "Morning," "Construction Laborers,'' "Music," "Prayer," and "Night." Of the 112 applicants, 33 failed this part of the examination, but when Hitler submitted his work for the second part, he was refused entrance to the school on the grounds that he had too few heads among his drawings. This time he failed along with 51 other candidates.