National Socialist Art and Architecture

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how, forming part of the propaganda machine, art and architecture were used largely for the glorification of the Nazi regime and the Aryan race and for the denunciation of Judaism, Bolshevism and what the Nazis thought of as "degeneracy." The paper looks at how, by enforcing changes in the art world and through the use of "new German" architecture, the Nazis sought to cleanse the fatherland of "degenerate art", which was seen as detrimental to the Volk, and to ensure the National Socialist movement's immortality through buildings that would survive to inspire future generations of the thousand year Reich.

From the Paper:

"Art held a place of high value in National Socialist ideology. Hitler who was an artist turned politician inspite of himself had said "art is the only truly enduring investment of human labour." Hitler linked artistic styles with race, claiming that the Weimar period's "degenerate art" was a result of "racial decline." The Fuhrer also linked art with politics saying "art has at all times been the expression of an ideological and religious experience and at the same time the expression of political will." According to Nazi ideology, only Aryans were the true bearers of culture, therefore only they could produce true art. The modern styles such as Cubism, Dadaism and Expressionism, which had flourished during the Weimar period were a result of "cultural Bolshevism" and influenced by the Jews. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Barron, Stephanie, Degenerate Art: The Fate of the Avante Garde in Nazi Germany, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1991.
• Barta, Tony, Nazi Germany: Understanding the Third Reich, Melbourne, La Trobe University, 2004.
• Burleigh, Michael, The Third Reich: A New History, London, Macmillan, 2000.
• Farthing, Stephen, 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die, London, Quintet Publishing Limited, 2006.
• Haertel, Christian, Berlin: A Short History, Berlin, Be Bra Verlag, 2003.

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