Degenerate art

Degenerate art (German: Entartete Kunst) was a term adopted by the Nazi
regimein Germany to describe virtually all modern art. Such art was banned on the grounds
that it was un-German, Jewish, or Communist in nature, and those identified as degenerate
artists were subjected to sanctions. These included being dismissed from teaching
positions, being forbidden to exhibit or to sell their art, and in some cases being forbidden
to produce art.
Degenerate Art also was the title of an exhibition, held by the Nazis in Munich in 1937,
consisting of modernist artworks chaotically hung and accompanied by text labels deriding
the art. Designed to inflame public opinion against modernism, the exhibition subsequently
traveled to several other cities in Germany and Austria.
While modern styles of art were prohibited, the Nazis
promoted paintings andsculptures that were traditional in manner and that exalted the
"blood and soil" values of racial purity, militarism, and obedience. Similar restrictions were
placed upon music, which was expected to be tonal and free of any jazz influences;
disapproved music was termed degenerate music. Films and plays were also censored

Reaction against modernism

Purge[edit]

Cover of the exhibition program:Degenerate music exhibition,Dsseldorf, 1938

Hitler's rise to power on January 31, 1933 was quickly followed by actions intended to
cleanse the culture of degeneracy: book burnings were organized, artists and musicians
were dismissed from teaching positions, and curators who had shown a partiality to modern
art were replaced by Party members.[15] In September 1933 the Reichskulturkammer (Reich

Culture Chamber) was established, with Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's Reichminister fr

Volksaufklrung und Propaganda(Reich Minister for Public Enlightenment
and Propaganda) in charge. Sub-chambers within the Culture Chamber, representing the
individual arts (music, film, literature, architecture, and the visual arts) were created; these
were membership groups consisting of "racially pure" artists supportive of the Party, or
willing to be compliant. Goebbels made it clear: "In future only those who are members of a
chamber are allowed to be productive in our cultural life. Membership is open only to those
who fulfill the entrance condition. In this way all unwanted and damaging elements have
been excluded."[16] By 1935 the Reich Culture Chamber had 100,000 members. [17]
Nonetheless there was, during the period 19331934, some confusion within the Party on
the question of Expressionism. Goebbels and some others believed that the forceful works
of such artists as Emil Nolde, Ernst Barlach and Erich Heckel exemplified the Nordic spirit;
as Goebbels explained, "We National Socialists are not unmodern; we are the carrier of a
new modernity, not only in politics and in social matters, but also in art and intellectual
matters."[18] However, a faction led by Alfred Rosenberg despised the Expressionists, and
the result was a bitter ideological dispute which was settled only in September 1934, when
Hitler declared that there would be no place for modernist experimentation in the Reich.
[19]
This edict left many artists initially uncertain as to their status. The work of the
Expressionist painter Emil Nolde, a committed member of the Nazi party, continued to be
debated even after he was ordered to cease artistic activity in 1936. [20] For many modernist
artists, such as Max Beckmann, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, and Oskar Schlemmer, it was not
until June 1937 that they surrendered any hope that their work would be tolerated by the
authorities.[21]

Jean Metzinger, 1913, En Canot (Im Boot), oil on canvas, 146 x 114 cm, confiscated by the
Nazis c.1936 and displayed at the Degenerate Art Exhibition in Munich. The painting has been
missing ever since.[22][23]
Albert Gleizes, 1912, Landschaft bei Paris, Paysage prs de Paris, Paysage de Courbevoie, missing
from Hannover since 1937[24][25]

Nazi Germany (19331945)

Although books by Franz Kafka could no longer be bought by 1939, works by ideologically
suspect authors such as Hermann Hesse and Hans Fallada were widely read.[26] Mass
culture was less stringently regulated than high culture, possibly because the authorities
feared the consequences of too heavy-handed interference in popular entertainment.
[27]
Thus, until the outbreak of the war, most Hollywood films could be screened, including It
Happened One Night,San Francisco, and Gone with the Wind. While performance
of atonal music was banned, the prohibition of jazz was less strictly enforced. Benny
Goodman and Django Reinhardt were popular, and leading British and American jazz
bands continued to perform in major cities until the war; thereafter, dance bands officially
played "swing" rather than the banned jazz.[28
Censorship in Nazi Germany was extreme and strictly enforced by the governing Nazi
Party. It was implemented by the Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.[citation needed] All
medialiterature, music, newspapers, and public eventswere censored. Attempts were
also made to censor private communications, such as mail and even private conversation,
with mixed results.
The aim of censorship under the Nazi regime was simple: to reinforce Nazi power and to
suppress opposing viewpoints and information. Punishments ranged from banning of
presentation and publishing of works to deportation, imprisonment, or even execution in
aconcentration camp. Hitler outlined his theory of propaganda and censorship in Mein
Kampf: "The chief function of propaganda is to convince the masses, whose slowness of
understanding needs to be given time so they may absorb information; and only constant
repetition will finally succeed in imprinting an idea on their mind."

The Nazi government promoted a true German art, continuing in the tradition of German nineteenthcentury realistic genre painting, that upheld respectable moral values and was easy to understand.
Hitlers inner circle also treasured certain Old Masters whom they regarded as expressing the true Aryan
spirit, in particular Rembrandt, Cranach, and Vermeer. Museum directors and curators who refused to
cooperate with the new anti-modernist collecting policies were dismissed.

The confiscated art was gathered in a huge exhibition in Munich to educate the German people about the
evils of modern art, and especially its alleged Jewish/Bolshevist influences.

Goebbels and propaganda

The purpose of propaganda was to condition and convince people, and get them to
believe in the values and ideas of the Nazis.

The Nazis' propaganda messages

The purity of the race (Aryan)

The greatness of Germany

The Fhrer cult

1933 The Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda was established under
Joseph Goebbels.
Misinformation

propaganda based on rumours

chain letters
rewriting textbooks to containt Nazi ideas

The use of rallies, the radio and the cinema

Rallies
Crowds would gather to watch Hitler speaking at the annual rally in Nuremberg. Hitler
would express his ideas in a simple way, repeating them over and over.
Between the rallies, local branches of the SA or Hitler Youth groups would campaign to
raise money for the party, eg single-dish Sunday. This meant cooking Sunday lunch in
one dish and giving the money they save by doing this to collectors, who would come
and collect the money in the afternoon.

The radio
Radio sets were being mass-produced, therefore they were cheap. As a result, around
70 per cent of German households had a radio set, namely the 'People's Receiver'.
1932 4.5 million radios
1938 Loudspeakers placed on posts in the streets in many cities
1942 16 million radios. There were radios in cafes and in factories so that people
could listen to important broadcasts wherever they were.

The cinema

In 1933, 250 million people went to the cinema.

100 films were produced each year.

News from the Nazis was broadcast before the films, which were also chosen
by the Nazis.

Censorship of newspapers and the arts

Newspapers were censored.
1935 - 1,600 newspapers were closed down
1938 - 10,000 publications disappear
Around 2,500 textbooks by unreliable authors were burnt in public.
Berlin students burned 20,000 books by Jews and Communists in 1933.

Music was controlled. Jazz was banned, as well as the jitterburg dance, as they had
been invented by black people.
Germany lost many talented authors and musicians, eg Thomas Mann and Bertolt
Brecht. On the other hand, Strauss and Wagner were very popular.
1934 The Malicious Gossip Law telling an Anti-Nazi joke was a crime, leading to
a fine or imprisonment.

Censorship & Propaganda

Censorship and Propaganda was another important factor to the success for
Hitler's dictatorship. Everything that was going to get in touch with the public,
including Radios, the Press, the lessons they teach at school, the art works people
paint, the movies they play at cinemas all had to be censored first beforeaudiences
could watch it. When Hitler became Chancellor in 1933, Joseph Goebbels was
assigned to be the Minister of people's Enlightenment and Propaganda, in other
words, the Head of Brainwashing of the German Public. He was very good at it, he
used the propaganda to not only campaign for Nazi Party, but also to control the
political, cultural and artistic life of Germany. Everything had to be based upon
how great the Nazis were, how they could change the life of the Germans to be so
much better and so on.
The Nazi government gave Goebbels access to all of their resources
to publicize Hitler and his great views. Some propaganda were old and cliched,
butsome were new. Old techniques would be like

posters

parades

show of strength of Nazi army, to show unity

The new techniques were

Advertising on Radio

Advertising in movies in cinemas

Advertising on newspapers

Express their central "correct" thesis in lectures of university lessons

The Art works of people to show how strong and how good the NSDAP
were

At the same time, Goebbels used this chance to censor what is going through the
media into people's minds about the NSDAP and Hitler overall. He usedresources to
control what was going through in the radio stations, he made sure nothing that
would down the NSDAP's impressions to people were going to be played in German
cinemas, he made sure no derogatory comments about the NSDAP and Hitler was
made in any articles, he made sure teachers and lecturers were teaching what he
had wanted them to teach the university students, otherwise they'd be dismissed.
From 1933-38, more than 3000 academics were dismissed. He had also controlled
the arts, he set up the Reich Chamber of Culture, where all writers of novels,
musicians, artists and actors HAD to be members, so he can control what they're
working on right now. Those who produced pieces the Nazis disapproved off would
be banned from working.

Nazis decided what books would be available for people to read and buy,
books with different views would be banned from ever getting the chance
for people to read in Germany. Loads of books were removed from
libraries and universities, all burnt in huge public bonfires

Music was also censored too, for instance, Jazz was banned because of
its "black" music and therefore below their level; music by Mendelssohn,
a famous classical musician, was also banned from performed, played,
practiced only because he was partly Jewish.

Art was surprisingly censored too, the ministry disapproved of any modern art, they
preferred art works of heroic German folk tales, or maybe portraits of Hitler and how
great the Nazis were.
One other interesting way of expressing their thoughts to the world was through the
1936 Berlin Olympic games. Hitler and Goebbels used this chance to show the world
that the Nazi party was the solution to any problems in Germany. They had built an
Olympic stadium seating 110,000 people to reflect on the strength and unity of
the Germany, the events were flawlessly carried on, showing how efficient the Nazis
can be and will be and always is, Germany won 33 gold medals, more than any
other country, with that, more medals in total than any other countries too,
therefore showing Aryan being the more superior race than the others. There was
one very famous and embarrassing moment however, when Jesse Owen, an
African American representing USA had won the 100m gold medal, and had won a
total of 4 gold medals of 4 events. Hitler was so angry he left the stadium
early because he couldn't stand a black winning his medals in front of his own eyes
in his nation.
To sum this section up, the Nazi propaganda was that Hitler was the head, he was
able, he could do anything, he WILL do anything to make Germany a better country
and unify the entire nation. He was shown as a strong, decisive leader, but

frequently shown of him with the youngsters which represents he was also a caring
father-figure for Germany, and that voting for the Nazis were the right choice.