Die Liebe ist die grösste Kraft, die alles schafft

Die Liebe ist die grösste Kraft, die alles schafft; 1985/2007

For this motif, designed as a poster, Laibach drew on John Heartfield's photomontage "Göring, Executioner of the Third Reich", which appeared on the cover of the German illustrated magazine AIZ (Arbeiter-Illustrierte-Zeitung - translation: Workers Pictorial Newspaper) in September 1933. It shows Herman Göring standing in front of burning Reichstag in a bloodstained butcher's apron. The montage concerned the trial of the Dutch communist Marinus van der Lubbe who was accused of setting fire to the Reichstag, which had just begun. Heartfield designed the photomontage as a criticism of the persecution of political opponents of Nazism. In February 1933, the Nazi regime had accused the Communists of setting the fire as a part of a conspiracy.  The police and the SA - the original paramilitary wing of the Nazi party - used this as an excuse to persecute members of the KPD and SPD - the Communist and Social Democratic parties - and deport them to improvised concentration camps. Hermann Göring, as Acting Minister of the interior of Prussia, led the persecution, especially in Berlin. Many of the targeted opponents fled abroad, including John Heartfield himself.

In their interpretation, instead of Hermann Göring's head, Laibach mounted the head of Joseph Beuys, who as one of Germany's leading artists stirred up both the political and artistic communities with his unconventional political and social activism. In 1985, the band members met Joseph Beuys and arranged with him to join them on stage for some concerts in Germany. Unfortunately, due to Beuys' illness, the collaboration did not take place and Beuys died in 1986. With this artwork Laibach pays tribute to both Heartfield and Beuys.

Silkscreen print on paper: 100 x 70 cm, limited edition of 65 in the series, numbered, signed, and stamped with an original Laibach seal.

All posters are suitably protected and shipped in a cardboard tube, separately from the other ordered items.