CULTURAL EXPRESSION IN NAZI GERMANY

Area of Study Three

German Culture...before and during the Nazi regime.

•Before the Nazis came to power, Germany’s reputation in the Arts had been growing.•During the 1920’s German museums were full of works completed by the German modernists.•New operas were written and cinematographers used advanced techniques to make films such as the classic ‘Metropolis’.•The Bauhaus School of Design was started in Weimar in 1919. This art movement included artists such as Paul Klee. By 1930 the group had gained popularity and had moved to Berlin.•However, by 1933 the School has been closed down by the Nazis.

•WHY?Go to the internet and ask Mr Google more about the Bauhaus Movement. If you could describe the movement in one word, what would it be? Post your word on to our Facebook Page when you get home.

Cultural Expression in Nazi Germany: Overview

Read the information on the following slide

In 1933, Nazi Minister for Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels began the synchronization of culture, by which the arts were brought in line with Nazi goals. The government purged cultural organizations of Jews and others alleged to be politically or artistically suspect. The works of leading German writers such as Bertolt Brecht, Lion Feuchtwanger, and Alfred Kerr were consigned to flames in a book burning ceremony in Berlin.

Beginning in September 1933, a Reich Culture Chamber (composed of the Reich Film Chamber, Reich Music Chamber, Reich Theater Chamber, Reich Press Chamber, Reich Writing Chamber, Reich Chamber for Fine Arts, and the Reich Radio Chamber) supervised and regulated all facets of German culture. Nazi aesthetics emphasized the propagandistic value of art and glorified the peasantry, the "Aryan," and the heroism of war. This ideology stood in stark contrast to modern, innovative art, such as abstract painting, denounced as "Degenerate Art," as well as "art bolshevism" and "culture bolshevism.“

In architecture, the Nazis constructed monumental edifices in a sterile classical form meant to convey the "greatness" of their political movement. In literature, they 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. Aside from peasant literature and historical novels centering on the Volk (people), German cultural authorities promoted war novels in order to prepare the population for conflict.

German "art cultivation" (a term for all measures aimed at promoting artists and the arts) also extended to film. Heavily subsidized by the state, the motion picture industry was an important propaganda tool. Films such as Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" and "Der Hitlerjunge Quex" glorified the Nazi party and the Hitler Youth. Other films, such as "Ich klage an," justified the Euthanasia Program, while "Jud Suess" and the "Der ewige Jude" (The Eternal Jew) perpetuated anti-Semitic stereotypes.

In music, the Nazis promoted the works of German composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven, Anton Bruckner, and Richard Wagner, while banning performances of pieces by "non-Aryans" such as Felix Mendelssohn and Gustav Mahler. Adolf Hitler regularly attended the operas at the Bayreuth Festivals held in honour of the composer Richard Wagner. The Nazis disseminated nationalist songs and marches to encourage ideological indoctrination.Theater companies produced plays by great German writers such as Goethe and Schiller, as well as National Socialist dramas. To create a greater sense of the Volk or national community (Volksgemeinschaft), the Nazis ordered the construction of large outdoor amphitheatres.The promotion of "Aryan" culture and the suppression of other forms of artistic production was yet another Nazi effort to "purify" Germany.

Source: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005207

Cultural Expression in Nazi Germany

Focus on Architecture

Architecture in the Third Reich

• Hitler had always been interested in architecture and wanted to use it to show the power of the Third Reich.

• He planned to rebuild much of Berlin by 1950. Once completed, Hitler wished for the capital to be renamed Germania

Germania was

to look a little

like this

Hitler’s Architect.

•The man Hitler chose to rebuild his Germany was, Albert Speer.•Speer was trained in architecture and became a Nazi after hearing Hitler speak in Berlin.•Speer was responsible for the designing of most of the monuments in Germany, as well as the parade grounds for the Nuremburg rallies.•Hitler appointed Speer Inspector General of the Reich. •Hitler selected Speer, his "architect of genius," to construct the Reich Chancellery in Berlin.

Speer at work

Cathedral of Light

Today’s Task• Read over the handout Albert Speer

and ‘The buildings of Adolf Hitler’.• Answer questions 1-6 in your books

or digital choice.• For assistance with question five go

to this website to read about Fascist architecturehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_architecture