Eden Hotel, Berlin by Julius Stafford-Baker, graphite and watercolour on paper

During Germany’s Weimar Republic (1918-1933), Berlin’s elegant Eden Hotel was a hub for artists, writers and actors, but later became a meeting place for Nazi party officials. In November 1943 the hotel was destroyed in RAF Bomber Command’s devastating Battle of Berlin campaign.

Of all British artists, Stafford-Baker, an illustrator and painter, was the most prolific sketcher of bombed Germany in the Second World War. While serving as an RAF intelligence officer, he sold dozens of expressive drawings to the War Artists’ Advisory Committee – of Europe, North Africa and post bomb Hiroshima. His service commitments, however, prevented him from working as a salaried Official War Artist. From the Air Ministry allocation of works from the War Artists' Advisory Committee, 1947. Original accession number: LD5431. On loan from the RAF Air Historical Branch (MOD). Copyright: Crown (expired) / RAF Museum.