Paul Gruson was educated at the Berlin Museum of Decorative Arts and the Berlin Academy. He created the Wild Boar for the square of the same name in Berlin, which is always an important mark during the Berlin Marathon. The original sculpture was lost in World War II, now survived only by a replica. During the Third Reich Gruson was initially seen as a typical Nazi, but he had concealed his non-Aryan grandmother, consequently, he had to retire from the public very soon and was excluded from the Reich’s Association of fine artists. In 1930, he designed a monument to Horst Wessel, the alleged Nazi martyr, which was not realized for this reason. After the war Gruson lived in East Berlin and was assigned to make a bust of Wilhelm Pieck, first President of the German Democratic Republic. Since 1952 he was professor for sculpture for two years at the College of Fine Arts in Dresden. Shortly before the Wall was built, he went to West Berlin and created a bronze effigy of Walter Schreiber, Mayor of Berlin, for the Berlin House of Representatives.
Germany