Culture and the arts played a central role in the ideology and propaganda of National Socialism from the early years of the movement until the last months of the Third Reich in 1945. Hitler and his followers believed that art and culture were expressions of race, and that "Aryans" alone were capable of creating true art and preserving true German culture. This volume's essays explore these and other aspects of the arts and cultural life under National Socialism, and are authored by some of the most respected authorities in the field: Alan Steinweis, Michael Kater, Eric Rentschler, Pamela Potter, Frank Trommler, and Jonathan Petropoulos. The result is a volume that offers students and interested readers a brief but focused introduction to this important aspect of the history of Nazi Germany.
Preface
Introduction: The Arts in Nazi Germany: Continuity, Conformity, Change
Jonathan Huener and Francis R. Nicosia
Chapter 1. Anti-Semitism and the Arts in Nazi Ideology and Policy
Alan E. Steinweis
Chapter 2. The Impact of American Popular Culture on German Youth
Michael H. Kater
Chapter 3. The Legacy of Nazi Cinema: Triumph of the Will and Jew Süss Revisited
Eric Rentschler
Chapter 4. Music in the Third Reich: The Complex Task of "Germanization"
Pamela M. Potter
Chapter 5. A Command Performance? The Many Faces of Literature under Nazism
Frank Trommler
Chapter 6. The Art World in Nazi Germany: Choices, Rationalization, and Justice
Jonathan Petropoulos
Appendixes
Appendix I: Letter from Wilhelm Furtwängler to Joseph Goebbels - 12 April 1933
Appendix II: Law for the Establishment of a Provisional Chamber of Film - 14 July 1933
Appendix III: The Reich Chamber of Culture Law - 22 September 1933
Appendix IV: First Decree for the Implementation of the Law for the Reich Chamber of Culture - 1 November 1933
Appendix V: Activities of the Cultural Association of German Jews (Jewish Cultural League) - April 1934
Appendix VI: The German Authorities and the Cultural Association of German Jews (Jewish Cultural League) - 19 June 1934
Appendix VII: Ten Principles for the Creation of German Music by Joseph Goebbels - 28 May 1938
Appendix IX: From Hitler's "Speech on Culture" (Kulturrede) at the Nuremberg Party Congress - September 1938
Appendix X: What Are People Reading? A Questionnaire in Berlin Book Stores - December 1940
Contributors
Selected Bibliography
Index
