Paul Ondrusch

Paul Ondrusch (born 4 June 1875, Leobschütz; died 29 September 1952, Untermühlhausen[1]) was a German sculptor who created religious works of art.

Ondrusch was an active artist in Silesian towns and villages at the time when they belonged to the German Empire and later when they were part of Weimar Republic and the Third Reich since 1919 and 1933 respectively.

[3] As an Academy graduate, he returned to his place of birth, Leobschütz, where he again started to work in Paul Ondrusch senior's workshop where he painted and carved in wood and stone.

[3] Grateful for the support from Hans Georg von Oppersdorff (born 1866), who financed Ondrusch's studies, Ondrusch became the creator of several notable works, including a lifesize statue of Jesus for the Oppersdorffs family tombstone; busts of the members of that family; and a statue of Saint Dorothea which was subsequently cast in bronze.

Nevertheless, Ondrusch's artistry can be evaluated and described on the basis of the two works of art which have remained in Oberglogau, 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of his family town, Leobschütz.

This work can be found on a defensive wall between a monastery and the building of a former city guard in Oberglogau (now Głogówek in Poland).

The other work is a wooden figure of Saint Mary with the Infant Jesus which can be currently seen in the Regional Museum in Głogówek, but it used to be placed in a local castle's chapel.

General von Woyrsch was portrayed as a knight wearing a coat and a chain mail, with his hands placed on a handle of a large sword resting against the ground.

In 1927, Paul Ondrusch met his future son-in-law, Anton Spilker (fiancé of his daughter Elsa), who came from his father's cabinetmaker's workshop in Steinheim, Westphalia, and profiled himself as a furniture designer.

It came to a cooperation when the workshop of Anton Spilker senior in Steinheim was commissioned to make an oak plaque for the classmates fallen in the World War by the association of former high school students.

Paul Ondrusch created in his unique style the middle cross-shaped sculpture with the risen Christ as Lord of life and death.

It is reported that works of Paul Ondrusch can be found in Oldenburg, Eschershausen (Leobschützer Heimatstube) and Wiesbaden as well as in private collections.

Three years after her death, he remarried and started a second family with Emma Werdecker with whom he had a daughter Ingeborg (1928) and a son, Gerhard (1932).