The aims and impact of

Nazi policy on culture

 Before Hitler’s rise to power

 1920s Germany experienced a cultural rebirth

 Germany  one of the major hubs of modern art in Europe

 Under Weimar government  further renaissance affected cultural scenery in all aspects

 New approach to design flourished  Bauhaus, jazz bands, cabaret became popular

 Expressionism extension painting, sculptures, architecture, literature, theatre, dance, cinema

 E.G.: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari by Robert Wiene (1920)

 Nosferatu by Murnau (1922)

 Berlin became one of the most exciting capitals in the world

 CULTURAL GOLDEN AGE: extraordinary innovation and experimentation in arts and society… however it did not last

long

 Socio-economic instability from Great Depression in USA  paved way for Nazi party to nurture + meet growing consensus
 Adolf Hitler appointed Chancellor, Jan 1933  drastic change in all aspects of German society
 Nazi government considered Weimar society, mostly influenced by USA  obscene, antithetical to traditional German values
 Weimar Culture + avant-gardism art threat to (formal + intellectual) expression
 September 1933  Joseph Goebbels (Nazi Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda*) began the synchronization
of culture
 *all members ‘racially pure’ Party supporters  only ones “allowed to be productive in our cultural life”
 ASSAULT ON MODERNISM: the arts were brought in line with Nazi goals.
 Artists + musicians discharged from teaching positions
 Museum directors displaying modern art dismissed
 Books burnt
 Music, films, plays censored
 Thousands of artworks confiscated from public collections  majority destroyed, others considered ‘marketable’ sold abroad to raise
funds for regime.

 Degenerate Art

 Term used to label all art forms that in Nazi view stoo in opposition/obstacle to purification of German culture
 Associated with liberal democracy
 Modernism perceived as sign of cultural decline + deliberate attack against German people
 Entartete  works that “insult German feeling, or destroy or confuse natural form or simply reveal an abscene of adequate
manual and artistic skill”
 Not simply matter of style  what didn’t comply with stereotypical representation of beauty did not convey values of militarism,
racial purity
 Heroism forbidden  RESULTS: banning of subjective, unconventional, non-figurative art
 Everything irrational/remotely interpretable
 What was degenerate/not  indispensable propaganda tool
 Well-rooted in German sociology--> Entartung 1892, German physician Maz Nordau
 Modern art  product of perverse osuls living in corrupt society

 Nazis came to power

 1933 when Nazis came to power  letal and violent counter attack against modernist
cultural trends ‘Jewish- Bolshevik filth’

 May 1934  a law where all theatrical licensing were under the direct control of the
propaganda minister (attack on freedom of expression)

 March 1935  ‘’ The Triumph of the Will’’ film  Hitler portrayed as the man who
has restored faith to a nation that had been crippled with self-doubt .
 Aims of Nazis
Nazis emphasized the propagandistic value of art and glorified the peasantry, the "Aryan," and the heroism of war and
they promoted war novels in order to prepare the population for conflict  effort to "purify" Germany.

 Only masculinity and courage suggested through war art

 Museums purging  Degenerate Art Exhibition, ‘shame exhibition’… cunning propaganda strategy

 Suggested weakness of character, mental disease, racial impurity… Adolf Ziegler

 Jewish and Communists artists exhibited… “Nature as seen by sick minds”, “madness becomes method”, “revelation of the
Jewish racial soul”

 In architecture  monumental edifices in a classical form to convey the "greatness" of their political movement.

 In literature  promoted the works of writers such as Adolf Bartels and Hitler Youth poet Hans Baumann, and
established a "black list" to facilitate the removal of "unacceptable" books from public libraries
 Aims of Nazis
 In Music  promoted the playing of ‘pure’ classical, folk and military style music. Performances of music
from German composers
 Any work by Jewish musicians were banned and it was considered ‘black’ music’

 Language  words like ‘brutal’ , ‘ruthless’ ,

‘uncompromising’ became words of praise
 ‘Tolerance’ was discredited

 Cinema  glorified the Nazi party and the Hitler Youth (‘’Triumph of the Will’’)
 perpetuated antisemitic stereotypes (Jud Suess)
 Impact of Nazis

 On 10 May 1933

 Any book that was contrary to Nazi ideology was burned

 Every aspect of cultural life was now monitored by the Reich’s Ministry of Culture

 The Nazis tried to ban Heine’s writings  “Any society that burns books will one day burn people”

 Modern art was discouraged  Hitler thought that it perverted and unpatriotic.
 As Michaud put it: “Hitler presented himself
not only as a ‘man of the people’ and a soldier
with frontline experience (Fronterlebnis), but
also and above all, as a man whose artistic
experience constituted the best guarantee of his
ability to mediate the collective spirit of the
people and turn it into the ‘perfect Third Reich.’