Bekannter 800 m-Läufer als erfolgriecher Jagdflieger

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Few portraits link an athlete and a fighter pilot as directly as this one, whose German title presents Emil Lang as a well-known 800-meter runner who had become a successful Jagdflieger. Lang, who lived from 1909 to 1944, belongs to a generation of German athletes whose reputations the Nazi state often publicized, and wartime portraits like this one used such sporting fame to make military service look heroic. Dated 1944, the year of Lang's death, the print is best read with its title and staged style in mind, as wartime publicity rather than a neutral record of the man.

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