Cultural Expression in Nazi Germany Learning Intention: 1.To be able to define the term ‘cultural...

Cultural Expression in Nazi Germany

Learning Intention:1. To be able to define the term ‘cultural expression’2. To understand how art was influenced by historical events in post-war

and Nazi Germany3. To understand how Hitler used and abused art to fit the needs of his

Nazi propaganda

What is Cultural Expression?

LI: To be able to define the term ‘cultural expression’

Task:

Look at the images on the following slides and decide whether or not these are examples of cultural expression.

What is Cultural Expression?


Cultural Expression teaches us….


Brainstorm Activity:

What can we learn from these various examples of cultural expression.

Cultural Expression is…LI: To be able to define the term ‘cultural expression’

Cultural expressions are those expressions that result from the creativity of individuals, groups and societies, and that have a cultural content. These expressions reflect different morals, values and historical stories of a particular society.

Culture & PropagandaLI: To understand how Hitler used and abused art to fit the needs of his Nazi propaganda

The Nazis were determined, through the Reich Chamber of Culture to exercise control of all aspects of culture, to utilise it to reinforce their power and inculcate (instil) their values. After 1933 the arts were compelled to serve as vehicles for the transmission of Nazi ideology, and to help forge the people’s collective mind. Other totalitarian regimes also used art in this way, but, partly due to Hitler’s own artistic background, it was in Nazi Germany that art was most used.“The arts are for the National Socialist State a public exercise; they are not only aesthetic but also moral in nature and the public interest demands not only police supervision buy also guidance”

Announcement by the Propaganda Ministry of a new

theatre law in 1934

“The Führer wants the German artist to leave his solitude and speak to the people. This must start with the choice of the subject. It has to be popular and comprehensible. It has to be heroic in line with the ideals of National Socialism. It has to declare its faith in the ideal of beauty of the Nordic and racially pure human being.”

Dr Kiener, Art in the Third Reich (1937)

Hitler: The ArtistLI: To understand how Hitler used and abused art to fit the needs of his Nazi propaganda

Some have speculated that Hitler’s rejection from art college helped shaped his character in later years. He believed that it was a Jewish professor who had rejected his application to study at the academy. This failure led him to take a great interest in the arts in particular painting.

“Of course it is possible that Hitler’s rejection from the Vienna Academy of Art was something that helped shape his character and turn him into the monster he became.”

Richard Westbrook-Brookes

PaintingsLI: To understand how Hitler used and abused art to fit the needs of his Nazi propaganda


• In 1936 Hitler’s view on art was imposed

• Modern, reflective, abstract art was replaced by clear visual images that could inspire Germans

• Nazi art had to be clear, direct and heroic

• New Nazi art – people were drawn not as real individuals but as heroic idealisations

• Hitler portrayed as the wise, imperious leader

• Landscapes, revealing the source of the Volk (the people), and a curiously mechanised rural life, followed by nude women, displaying racial purity.


• Hitler considered true art to be art of the masses

• This art would reflect popular taste in order to reach the mass audiences and make the role of propaganda effective

• All artists became members of the Reich Culture Chamber

• The state could withdraw licences to members

• Many paintings were reproduced either at full scale or as postcards or stamps

• It is had to judge how widespread the ideas through culture were but it is argued that people were being continuously exposed to forms of officially sponsored art activity

SculptureLI: To understand how Hitler used and abused art to fit the needs of his Nazi propaganda

• Sculpture was more immediately accessible to the people

• Through the vast statues that adorned many of the new buildings within Germany

• In 1934, there was a decree that all new public buildings had to be embellished by sculptures conveying the Nazi message

• Expressive individualist works now gave way to those portraying stereotyped Nazi virtues (perfect but lifeless body shapes)

• Reflected the biologically pure vigorous Aryan race

• Numerous reproductions made works more accessible

SculptureLI: To understand how Hitler used and abused art to fit the needs of his Nazi propaganda

LiteratureLI: To understand how Hitler used and abused art to fit the needs of his Nazi propaganda

• In 1933 there were book burnings at the universities of Berlin and Nuremburg, with 20,000 books (fiction and non-fiction) were burnt, in order to cleanse the new Germany

• There were raids on both public and private libraries

• Goebbels wanted to eradicate ‘overstated Jewish intellectualism:

• Therefore they types of books burned were Jewish, socialist or pacifist by nature

LiteratureLI: To understand how Hitler used and abused art to fit the needs of his Nazi propaganda

• 2,500 writers left Germany between 1933-45, including Thomas Mann and Bertolt Brecht

• Writers who sympathised with the regime or accepted its philosophy flourished

• Novelists were expected to promote Nazi ideas or be neutral

• The regime favoured books about the comradeship of the trenches and ‘blood and soil’ novels, stressing traditional peasant rural values

• The best selling book was Hitler’s Mein Kampf which sold more than 6 million copies

TheatreLI: To understand how Hitler used and abused art to fit the needs of his Nazi propaganda

• The Weimar experimentation in drama was abruptly ended in the Third Reich

• Many playwrights and producers emigrated, while others were banned

• Officially approved drama concentrated on historical drama, light entertainment and ‘blood and soil’ stories

• A new form of drama called Thingspielen (assembly), was developed.

• It involved a combination of pageant and circus, it glorified the pagan past and was performed in specially constructed outdoor amphitheatres

MusicLI: To understand how Hitler used and abused art to fit the needs of his Nazi propaganda

• In the Nazi imagination, music had a unique significance and power to seduce and sway the masses

• The party made widespread use of music in its publicity, and music featured prominently at rallies and other public events

• The Horst Wessellied was popular and widely sung

• Many propaganda songs were aimed at the youth, and the Hitler Youth developed an elaborate music program

Cultural Expression in Nazi Germany Learning Intention: 1.To be able to define the term ‘cultural...

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