Axter-Heudtlass

The hard-to-pronounce phrase "Axster-Heudtlaß" means little to anyone these days. However, during the Weimar Republic and especially the Third Reich, the Axster-Heudtlaß art studio made a significant contribution to the development of graphic design and visual advertising, and left its mark on both philocarty and philately, designing several series of postcards and stamps.

So, despite numerous errors and misconceptions, there is not one person behind the phrase Axter-Heudtlass , but a married couple - Werner Heudtlass and Maria von Axter. In the mid-1920s, they opened an art studio in Berlin that carried out orders for graphic and design work, and quickly gained popularity in the advertising market. They signed their works (most of them were still by Werner), with their last names, combining them together. You can see various options for signing the works made in their workshop: Ax-Heu, von Axster-Heudtlaß, vAH, etc.

It should be noted that information about this creative couple is very scarce...

 

Werner Heudtlaß or Heudtlass was born in Vienna in 1898. Together with his family, which had a strong artistic tradition, he ended up in Berlin. Straight from school, he volunteered for the front. After demobilization, he returned to Berlin and got a job as a designer in a printing house, where his innate talent as an artist came in handy. At the same time, Heudtlass attended advertising graphics courses. After completing the courses, he improved his skills under the guidance of famous German poster artists, until in 1925 he founded his own workshop together with his wife, Maria von Axter , who was born in Linz into a military family and after graduating from university moved to Berlin in search of a career as a women's fashion designer. Another employee of their workshop was Werner's younger brother, Willy (1901 - 1989). The Axter-Heudtlass workshop , among others, carried out orders for the production of graphic and advertising materials for Lufthansa and German Railways.

 

 

 

 

Werner Heudtlass, a follower of National Socialism, became an SA Sturmbannführer and collaborated as an illustrator with various SS and NSDAP publications.

 

 

 

The 1930s and early 1940s were a time of creative peak for Axter-Heudtlass – the studio created graphic works for numerous organizations associated with the Nazi movement (Hitler Youth, Winter Help, Strength through Joy, etc.), as well as for the Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe. For the Reichspost between the late 1930s and 1944, Axter-Heudtlass created sketches for several dozen postage stamps, including the Kameradschaftsblock der Deutschen Reichspost series. In 1943, Werner and Maria designed a series of 6 postage stamps for Azad Hind – the pro-Nazi provisional government of Free India, headed by Subhas Chandra Bose.

 

 

Werner Heudtlass died in Berlin in 1949. We were unable to find out what happened to Maria von Axter after the end of World War II.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some propaganda posters from the late 1930s give an idea of ​​how the USSR was viewed in Nazi Germany.

 

 

 

Axter-Heudtlass created a poster for the exhibition "Soviet Paradise", which was shown in many cities of the Third Reich.

 

 

Many of the Axter-Heudtlass posters were printed as postcards. In addition, entire series of propaganda postcards were created over the years. In particular, a series of charity postcards was issued in support of Winterhilswerk (an annual collection of funds for fuel for low-income Germans in Nazi Germany).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to postcards, Axter-Heudtlass created designs for many thematic postage stamps for the German Reichspost.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

* Anna is an Indian colonial coin worth 1/16 of a rupee. It was in circulation since the 18th century. It was used in India until 1957, and in Pakistan until 1961.