An SS Allach-Made Young Hare Figurine by Theodor Kärner & Franz Nagy
White porcelain, glazed, stamped in green with the stylized SS runes above "Allach" in Gothic script manufacturer's mark, impressed with the unusual artist mark "K.N." (the "K." for Theodor Kärner and the "N." for Franz Nagy) and numbered "44" on the bottom, the figurine illustrating a young hare lying down, the front legs tucked under its body, the rear legs moved frontwards and resting against the side of its body, the ears lowered and pointed towards the back, the tail raised upward, measuring 74.3 mm in width x 141 mm in length x 72.5 mm in height, near mint.
Footnote: Theodor Kärner was born on January 10, 1884 in Hohenberg an der Eger. He trained as a modeller with the Hutschenreuther company, from 1898 to 1903. He then attended the sculpture class of Professor Heinrich Wadere (1865-1950) and the class for decorative sculpture by Professor Anton Pruska (1846-1930) at the Bavarian Royal Art School in Munich. Between 1914 and 1921, he was enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich as a guest student, and later in evening classes, conducted by the animal painter Professor Heinrich von Reins (1850-1941). From 1905 to 1918, he worked as a sculptor, in a permanent position, with the Nymphenburg Porcelain Manufactory in Munich. Between 1918 and 1934, he worked as a freelancer at the Rosenthal in Selb. He was subsequently hired as Artistic Director at the porcelain manufactory at Allach, until 1945, acknowledged as one of Germany’s most prestigious artists in porcelain. The porcelain factory at Allach was by this time an operating branch of the SS aligned with Dachau. It was here that he was elevated to the honourary rank of SS-Hauptsturmführer. On April 20, 1938, he was appointment as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 1940, he took part in the Great German Art Exhibition in the "House of German Art" in Munich. On issue of German artists and the SS in 1944, he was a "Malachowsky-Hussar" issued. As part of the de-nazification of 1945-1947, he was interned in Moosbach camp. After his release from interment, Kärner was head of the art department of the Eduard porcelain factory from 1947 to 1953. He died on September 6, 1966 in Munich, at the age of 82. The story began in 1935 at Lindenstrasse 8 in Allach, a suburb to the north west of Munich, with three committed members of the SS: the painter Franz Nagy; a sculptor, Theodor Kärner; and an artist, Karl Diebitsch. They built a small factory attached to a suburban villa. The plan was to create porcelain worthy of the Nazi party. Franz Nagy had owned the land since 1925 that the Munich-Allach facility was built on. With his business partner, Karl Diebitsch, he began the production of porcelain art. Allach porcelain (AKA Porzellan Manufaktur Allach) was produced in Germany between 1935 and 1945. After its first year of operation, the enterprise was taken over by the SS in 1936, using forced labour, provided by the Dachau concentration camp. It was under the direct control of Heinrich Himmler and was one of the SS's first industrial enterprises. The emphasis was on decorative ceramics: objects d'art for the Nazi regime. The company logo included the stylized SS runes. Sometimes in place of the company name, the pottery markings mentioned the SS: "DES - WIRTSCHAFTS - VERWALTUNGSHAUPTAMTES". The majority of items produced at Allach as collectibles bolstered Nazi ideology, by presenting idealized representations of peasants, historical figures and rural themes.