Artist As Soldier

Bernhard Epple, Barbara Schmitter Heisler

"This book is about a collection of one hundred letters written by German artist Bernhard Epple to his wife Gudrun between 1940 and 1945. Unlike many war letters, Epple's letters tell us little about the war, about battles won or lost. Although they are deeply personal, they provide insights into how a particular young man dealt with the war. They reveal Epple's struggles as an involuntary conscripted soldier and his attempts to remain a civilian in uniform. As an artist and art teacher, he tried to distance himself mentally from the war, finding some refuge in art, purchasing art books and visiting local museums and churches whenever possible and most important, in drawing the sketches that decorate the letters to his wife, herself an artist"--Introduction.