Alfred Partikel. A painter, born in East Prussia…  His name as well as his art is not really known in Germany. Needless to say that his name and art means nothing to people in Kaliningrad (former Königsberg) where he created and taught at the Königsberg academy of arts…

Alfred Partikel was born on October 7th, 1888 in Goldap, East Prussia. Today this small town belongs to Poland, located on the Russia-Poland border. Alfred’s school years were spent in Insterburg (today Tchernyakhovsk). Then studied at the academy of arts in Königsberg and after that he moved to Munich and then to Weimar to study at the Weimar school of arts.

During the World War I Partikel served in the German Army, and after the war he moved to Ahrenshoop, a small fishing village at the Baltic Sea.

Later in his life he became a Professor for landscape painting at the Königsberg academy of arts.

His art was classified as “Degenerate art”, a term adopted by the Nazi regime in Germany to describe basically all modern art.

Before the Russian Army took over Königsberg in April 1945 Alfred Partikel was visiting the city in February. He had to flee by bicycle from Königsberg to Ahrenshoop. Eight months later he went to pick mushrooms in the woods near Ahrenshoop… and disappeared. He was never seen or found after that day.