Adolf Wamper

[3] He received his first commission for monumental sculpture in 1935, for the two pairs of figures in relief flanking the entrance to the Dietrich-Eckart-Bühne open-air theatre, now the Waldbühne, on the grounds of the 1936 Summer Olympics.

[2][5][6][7][8] Also in 1935, he married Maria Elisabeth Haack, a dentist, and was also involved in the renovation of the Deutsche Oper building, which had become the property of the state and was redesigned to better suit Nazi tastes; he was responsible for the ceiling and for busts of Wagner and Beethoven for the foyer.

[9] Although he was not in the first rank of officially approved sculptors, such as Breker and Josef Thorak, Wamper continued to receive state commissions until the end of the Nazi period.

For example, he created two pairs of figures for the entrance to the Messe Berlin, Agriculture and Handwork and Industry and Commerce (removed in 1978) and reliefs for the Reichsgetreidestelle on Fehrbelliner Platz (destroyed).

His Genius of Victory was included in the Great German Art Exhibition of 1940;[2][10] depicting a nude young man with upraised sword, an eagle at his feet,[3] it has been cited as an example of the fascist use of the male body as a symbol of Social Darwinist truth.

He created numerous public works, including many for schools, a 1952 relief for the district administration building in Euskirchen, and the Angel of the Flames in front of the town hall in Düren, commemorating the bombing of 16 November 1944.

In Essen, his work includes reliefs at the opera house and the entrance to the memorial hall at the Southwest Cemetery;[1] the Market Fountain in the Rüttenscheid section and the monument to the 1963 German Gymnastics Festival are both city landmarks.

[2] On the occasion of his 65th birthday in 1966, the Folkwang Museum honoured him with an exhibition of sculptures and drawings; on his retirement, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia bestowed the title of professor on him.