Tanzi Fluke on Nazi bathroom cupboard?

Posted on 17 Feb 2012 by Bradford Tatum

This photograph of a cupboard door from a men’s room utility closet was found in the files of the Schutzstaffel after the allied liberation of Berlin. Apparently it was originally painted for the men’s lavatory of a Biergarten frequented by the SA until the end of the war. It is painted in the style of the Viennese Secession and the female figure has been confirmed by Miss Ulm to be based on a likeness of her mother, Tanzi Fluke. “ I’m sure it’s her,” Miss Ulm said. “It’s typical to see her lingering in a men’s bathroom, even in effigy-- ‘though I don’t think this painting was done by any known artist.” Why a photograph of a bathroom closet was in the files of the SS speaks less to the painting’s artistic merits than to Miss Fluke’s ability to fascinate those in positions of power. “The cupboard was in clear view of the commodes so its hardly a leap to conceive of her likeness being ‘rhythmically admired’ by any number of Nazi officers and only later met, or commanded to be met, in the flesh.”