BTW, Hitler modeled his look, including that cape he wore at Nuremberg, after the character seen in this painting, which von Stuck painted (by coincidence) the year Hitler was born (1889).
The Wild Chase by Franz von Stuck (February 23, 1863 – August 30, 1928)
Richard Kiley is a former Nazi living in South America. At a museum in the same city, an Auschwitz survivor is looking at a painting of a crucifixion. He had a friend who died that way in one of the camps. He believes he recognizes Kiley as a guard from the camp. Kiley denies it to the old man — ironic because he had only ducked into the museum to evade Israeli agents. While there, he becomes entranced by a idyllic painting of a man in a rowboat. As he gazes at the painting, he imagines himself in that serene place. He is so captivated that at closing time, a guard must ask him to leave.
The next morning, even before the museum is open, he rushes back to see the painting. Again he gazes longingly at the painting. That night, through the thin walls of his apartment, he talks to neighbor Gretchen. He tells her of the painting and his imaging being the man in the boat.
He returns to the museum and sees the old man again. This time the old man accuses him of being a guard in the camp, and calls him by his true name. Kiley continues his denials, but after the old man leaves, he tries again to insert himself into the painting. For a few moments he actually succeeds, seeing himself in the picture, the surface rippling. The he is in the picture, feeling the water, able to look the other way, out of the picture and into the museum.
After the museum closes, he goes to a bar where there is singing going on. He drunkenly breaks into Deutshland uber Alles. Again, he crosses paths with the old man. He kills the old man then goes on the run.
The agents find him at a bus station and he takes off, running to the museum where he sneaks back inside.
He kneels before the painting and begs God to put him into picture. God grants his appeal, but, in the dark gallery, he does not see that the painting of the lake is gone, having been replaced by the painting of the crucifixion.
