Danube school time. Among its members were: Lucas Cranach the Elder was a major influence on, and is occasionally considered a member of, the Danube school. Danube school The Danube School or Donau School (German: "Donauschule" or "Donaustil") was a circle of painters of the first third of the 16th century in Bavaria and Austria (mainly along the Danube valley). Many also were innovative printmakers, usually in etching. They were among the first painters to regularly use pure landscape painting, and their figures, influenced by Matthias Grünewald, are often highly expressive, if not expressionist. They show little Italian influence, and also represent
Nazi rule over the Danube River transforming Germany into an economic autarky. The Danube was considered to be the main route along which this stream of raw materials was to be transported to Germany proper. Hitler referred to the Danube as the "river of the future". At other times he was more explicit about its role in the German-dominated Europe: In view of these intentions, various proposals to establish permanent German possession of the entire Danubian waterway were formulated by the Nazis. One of these proposed the settlement of all the ethnic Germans in Southeastern Europe along a broad strip of territory on both sides of