# Otto Von Kursell

Otto Konstantin Gottlieb von Kursell (born November 16 [Julian] / November 28, 1884 [Gregorian] in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire; died August 30, 1967, in Munich) was a Baltic German painter and graphic artist, ministerial official, member of the Reichstag, director of the State Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin-Charlottenburg, and senator of the Prussian Academy of Arts.
Having gained recognition as a master student of Franz von Stuck, Kursell quickly earned a reputation as a portrait painter. After World War I, he lent his talent to antisemitic and anti-communist movements. He published numerous political caricatures targeting Jews, Russians, and communists. He gave inflammatory speeches and actively participated in guard duties against Spartacists, as well as in field exercises and patrols. Through Alfred Rosenberg, he met Dietrich Eckart, who not only published his work but also recruited him to contribute to the magazine Auf gut deutsch. Kursell also provided antisemitic caricatures for Völkischer Beobachter, Phosphor, and Völkischer Kurier. In 1924, he published illustrations of the defendants in the Hitler trial. As one of the highly paid National Socialist artists, Kursell actively promoted Nazi propaganda in his works and teaching until the end of World War II.

## Family

Otto von Kursell came from the Baltic German noble family Kursell. He was the son of excise officer Woldemar von Kursell (1849–1915) and Luise Stolzenburg (1857–1944).
On August 12, 1908, in Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia), Kursell married Julia Wencelides (born July 1, 1887, in Saint Petersburg, Russia; died July 31, 1961, in Munich). She was the daughter of engineer and factory director Franz Wencelides and Luba Reuther.

## Life

Kursell attended the Realschule in Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia) and studied structural engineering at the Riga Polytechnic Institute from 1903 to 1905. During this time, he became a member of the politically active student fraternity Corps Rubonia.
In 1905, he moved to Dresden, where he studied architecture at the Technical University of Dresden from 1905 to 1907. From 1907 to 1911, he attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, quickly advancing from being a student of Hugo von Habermann to a master student of Franz von Stuck. He soon gained his first successes as a portrait painter.
In 1916 and 1917, Kursell fought as a lieutenant in the Russian infantry during World War I. In 1918, he worked in the press office of the Armeeoberkommando (Army High Command) VIII for the German occupiers in Riga, under Erwin von Scheubner-Richter. His colleagues in the press office included Arno Schickedanz and Max Hildebert Boehm.
At the end of 1918 or early 1919, Kursell traveled to Munich, which at the time had become a hub for many emigrated Baltic Germans. The future Nazi Party ideologue Alfred Rosenberg also arrived in Munich around this time, and Kursell, along with Ernst Friedrich Tode, became one of Rosenberg’s first contacts in the city.
In 1919, Kursell co-founded and led the secret Baltic German association Der Verband der Ordensgründer along with Baron Friedrich von der Ropp, Roderich von Bistram, and Harald von Rautenfeld. This organization formally constituted itself on October 10, 1920, in Erkner, near Berlin, and operated under the codename "X." In 1929, it evolved into the Baltische Brüderschaft (Baltic Brotherhood), which later became the Brüderlicher Kreis (Brotherly Circle) after World War II.