Herbert Smagon was born on 2 January 1927, in the
coal mining town of
Karviná in
Czechoslovakia. In 1937, due to the closure of German schools and an increasing atmosphere of
anti-German sentiment, Smagon's family fled Czechoslovakia and settled in
Berlin when he was 10 years old. Smagon's grandfather, a
lithographer, introduced him to creative illustration at an early age, and he began taking art lessons at the age of 12. In 1941, the Smagon family moved to
Vienna in
German-occupied Austria. In 1943, Smagon was called into
Luftwaffe service as a
Luftwaffenhelfer and was assigned to an
auxiliary anti-aircraft unit. In the same year, he began his study at the
Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, attending lectures by Prof. . Impressed by his artwork, Smagon was invited to an interview by
Baldur von Schirach, the
Gauleiter of the
Reichsgau Vienna. Smagon's historical works included, among other things, images of
Soviet troops
raping and murdering children in
Rössel, low-flying American
P-51 pilots (
tiefflieger)
strafing civilians,
child soldiers at the
Siege of Breslau, and German children
burned alive in
Wenceslas Square after the
Prague uprising. Some of his works have generated controversy for depicting
Allied war crimes during World War II. He described his historical artwork in the following way: ==Legacy==