In Switzerland, the links of the "king of clowns" with Hitler examined from all angles

Clown Grock made the world laugh and his success rivaled that of Charlie Chaplin. But it is his dark side and his troubled links with Hitler that a Swiss museum wants to explore. The New Museum of Biel came into possession in May of about a thousand objects and archives of the Swiss music hall artist Adrien Wettach, real name of Grock, including musical instruments, such as his famous concertina, but also his clown skullcap? his stage clothes.

Many sound archives, including recordings of shows, but also photos, letters and music scores complete this vast collection that his great-nephew, Raymond Naef, 74, donated to the museum in Biel, region of north- western Switzerland where his great-uncle was from. Instruments and stage clothes were donated by the famous circus family, the Knies.

But the institution does not wish to organize an exhibition without having studied the gray areas of the artist with a reputation as a shrewd businessman. “It is the responsibility of the museum. It is absolutely necessary, ”assures AFP Bernadette Walter, director of this museum of art and history.

Adrian Wettach published several autobiographies and his great-nephew wrote a book and organized an exhibition about him in 2002/2003, but no historian has studied the nature of his links with the Nazis. “Grock says in his autobiography that Hitler came to his dressing room, and Hitler saw his shows 13 times,” but what is it really? asks Ms. Walter. However, the museum did not think of refusing the donation, even if it means carrying out important research work, which the manager compares to that carried out by cultural institutions on works of art stolen by the Nazis. "A museum must also tell stories that are not always brilliant," explains Ms. Walter.

During an online sale organized on May 12 by the auction house Hermann Historica, the museum tried to acquire for research purposes a telegram of holiday greetings that Grock had sent to Hitler in 1942. "We know that he met Hitler and (Joseph) Goebbels", the head of Nazi propaganda, and that he played in front of German war wounded, details the director of the museum, but his true opinions policies remain to be deciphered.

He had already performed in Germany before the Nazis came to power, and the museum would also like to examine whether he has adapted his program. He always said he was "apolitical" and his autobiography talks about his shows in England, France, the United States, notes Ms. Walter. “He played when we paid him. We know that Grock was an opportunist, but that's no excuse for him,” she said.

According to journalist Laurent Diercksen, author of the book Grock, an extraordinary destiny (1999), Adrian Wettach, acrobat, juggler and multi-instrumentalist, "didn't give a damn about politics" and thought above all of "his successes". “We cannot judge him on a single letter, an isolated act or a revelation taken out of context,” he told AFP, finding it a pity that we only remember this music hall artist. for his "alleged Nazi sympathies".

Born in the Bernese Jura in 1880, Grock was considered by his peers to be the greatest musical clown of the 20th century. His sketches, punctuated with the legendary "no kidding!" or "whyyyy?" have traveled the world. He chose his pseudonym in the early 1900s, when he replaced a man named "Brock", from the famous duo of the time "Brick

But he wants his collection to remain accessible for historical research purposes and may one day be exhibited, believing that it was necessary to distinguish the artist from his ideas. Before concluding: "We do not destroy the houses built by the architect Le Corbusier simply because he was also a bit of a fascist".