Homeland. Propaganda. War: Photographs by Alwin Tölle

Alwin Tölle (1906–1998) is best known for his paintings of the Black Forest, which depict the region and its people in sensitive, evocative scenes. What is largely unknown, however, is that he served in various Navy war reporting units during World War II. As a propaganda soldier, Tölle was stationed in Brittany, the Mediterranean, and even traveled by submarine to the coast of the United States. The photographs and reports created there illustrate Nazi war propaganda and provide insights into the conditions under which it was produced and how it functioned. This previously unknown collection of images reveals both discontinuities and continuities in the work of this regional photographer and in how his work was received.