Ehrhard BAHR

CULTURAL L I F E UNDER NAZI SM:

AN EXTENSI ON OF NAZI RAC U L I DEOLOGY
Ehrhard Bahr is professor of German at the University of California. He has been much influenced by
historians such as Michael Burleigh and Wolfgang Wippermann who interpret Nazi Germany as
being, first and foremost, a "racial state'%For his part, Bahr seeks to highlight 'the racist basis of Nazi
cultural politic^'; his central thesis is that **the same principles operative in Nazi racial politics also
determined their cultural politics." As evidence for this he explains '*Nazi anti-Semitic legislation was
perhaps nowhere as consistently enforced between 1933 and 1939 as in the area of culture". He agrees
with the *functionalistV*structuralist' school of interpretation, that, as with many other areas of Nazi
rule, culture became the scene of rivalry between competing Nazi personalities and agencies s^kii^ to
assert their dominance. Nevertheless Bahr aligns himself vrith the 'intentionalist' school of
interpretation which attributes to HiOer, personally, the dedsive role in Nazi Germany, for example in
determining cultural policy. Bahr writes, '^Although Nazi cultural politics provide evidence that *Hhe
Nazi regiune was anything but monoUthic," and was even chaotic at times, the direction of Hitler's real
intentions emerges very deariy. The functionalist or structuralist interpretation finds its most
legitimate usage in the initial phases of implementation of cultural policy. But the problem of
interpretation cannot be solved by a synthesis between the intentionalist and functionalist approach.
The evidence shows that the functionalist interpretation fails in its application to long-term
devdopments".
ORIGINS OF NAZI CULTURAL NOTIONS I N AN EVOLVING RACI AL IDEOLOGY
Ifitler's early statements onanti-Semitismare crucial, because he nevo- changed his mind onthis subject A letter by
Hitler of September 1919 documents his special Inrand of anti-Semitism. The ultimate goal, he said at that time, must be
"the elimination(Entfemung) of the Jews altogether".
The 2S-point [Nazi] Party programof 1920 was writtenby Hitler andAntonDrexler... Among other things, pomt
23 demanded <<Iegal actionagahist atendenqr Inart and Uterature which undermines our national life, and the
closingof cultural events violating the preceding demands." This point contains the programof Nazi cultural
politics hi a nutshelL A certaintendency inart and literature was identified as '^indermining the [German] national
life," and cultural events that were perceived as violating the Nazis' demands were targeted for suppression. Only the
criteriafor such undermining influence were not yet listed and the means of suppressionwoe not yet spelled out".
"These demands were accoiiq>anied by adeclarationof war against **deliberate mendadty and its disseminationin the
press." To facilitate a press syn^iathetic to national concerns, the Nazi Party of 1920 demanded that "all editors of, and
contributors to, newspapers appearing inthe German language must be members of the Volk (Volksgenossen)."
Additional demands were made with regard to non-Gomannewspapos and non-Germanownership, with the term
"non-German" being used as aeuphemismfc' Jewish. "Non-Germannewspapers [shall] require the express permission
of the State for their publication. They are not allowed to be printedin the Germanlanguage.... [N]on-Germans shall be
prohibited by Awbom any financial involvement or influence onGermannew^pers...." These demands for new
press legislationcanbe shownto containablueprint for the anti-Jewish le^slatiOnof 193S, the so-called Nuremberg
Laws, which distinguished betweentwo categ<mes: Reich Citizenfor members of the Germannationand State Subject
for GomanJews. The same distinctionwas made inpoints 4 and S of the Party programof 1920. These points
demanded that all civil rights for the Jews be abolished (point 4) and that they be placed under the Jurisdictional l yi ng
to all aliens (point 5)".
Mein Kanqff. "Writteninprison... this book provides asummary of Hitler's ideas about race and culture as well as
biomedical arguments onwhich they were based. Inthe central chapters of the first volunw, Hido- identifies the causes
of the collapse of the GermanEmpire in1918. This collapse was not attributed to the military defeat but to "alarge
number of symptoms of disease and their causes." Hitler perceived the collapse interms of "diseases of the national
body" ... Among the diagnosed symptoms of decay. Hitler listed industrialization, urbanization, the aimlessness of
Germanpolicy, parliamentary half measures, and psychological errors of the monarchy. But more important than these
symptoms undermining the health of the national body were, according to Hitlo', two other causes: syphilis and
degenerate culture, or as he put it, the poisoning of the soul by "bigcity 'civilization'." While the fight against
prostitutionis reconunended as aremedy against syphilis, the <*deansingof our culture" is demanded as anantidote
to urbandvillzation. This cleansing of culture is projected to extend to nearly all fields: "Theatre, art, literature,
cinema, press ... must be cleansed of all manifesUtions of our rotting worid and placed inthe service of amoral,
political, and cultural idea". The equationof syphilis and culture is the best indicationof the biomedical argument of
Hitler's cultural politics. That the term"degeneration" is part of this vocabulary becomes evident inthe further
development of the argumem. Hitler believed he had found anelement intruding into Germanart that up to the turnof
2
Ae CBODvy would have been regarded as foreign. This foreign element was for himindicative of "aspiritual
i mi nrtl nn that had reached the point of destroying the spirit". Concluding Aat the political collapse of 1918 was
ariMnOy amicipated in this "degeneration," Hitler delivered a harangue against nrademist art as "art Bolshevism."
Sbatf years ago, he commented, such acultural collapse, as it manifested itself in futurist, cubist, and dadaistic works,
^oi i d have seemed simply impossible and its organizers would have ended up in amadhouse". As Hitler said, he saw
ftoe diseases *Hn nearly every field of art and culture" in Germany between 1900 and 192S. The "Bolshevist
pRScaf* was for him"embodied in acubist monstrosity," and he questioned whether it was "permissible to dish up
haBodnations of lunatics or criminals to the healthy world". What makes this tedious harangue so important for
*e ioieationalist interpretation is the fact that it provides the complement of terms later used to designate modernist art
as a apedal idnd of cultural degeneration".
Tfitkr attributed the ultimate reason for the decline of Imperial Germany... to its failure to recognize the racial
pwMcui in Germany. For hinu history was determined by "the survival of the fittest." apopularized version of Social
Darwinism. In Hider's terminology, this reads as "the self-preservation and propagation of the species and the race ...
sobject to the laws of Nature". Consequently, Hider also sought to provide aracial justification of his cultural politics in
Mein Xampf. For him, the "Aryan" was the founder and custodian of culture, whereas the Jewish people were
declared to he apeople 'Svithout any true culture, especially without aculture of its own". Hitler maintained that
"there has never been aJewish art and accordingly there is none today eiUier". This pohidous demagoguery
reveals the racist basis of Hitler's concept of cultural degeneration and the claimfor a mandate to exercise this
"diseaseof degeneration" fromthe German national body".
"The Nads' definition of what was German was based on abiomedical worldview that posited a fictitious
Goman normand resulted hi the argument that anything deviating fromthis normwas to be "removed" like a
cancer fromthe fictitious body of aGerman people, or Votk. Nineteenth-century pseudo-sdence provided the
Nazis with atermfor this normand the deviation therefrom: the German words ArT, or "genus," and Entartung,
or "degeneration." While the Nazi usage of both the terms "rac^and "Aryan" was totaify unscientific and
derived frompseudosdentific publications of the nineteenth century, the terms liad the aura of sdentific
respectability not only among the masses but also among the educated middle dass. The link between
degeneration and the Jew was one of the standard associations of Nazi propaganda. Although Jews Imd settled hi
Germany for over 1,000 years, they were now considered as not fitting the fictitious German norm, and they
were designated as degenerate - deviating fromand harmful to the norm. Therefore, according to Nad ideology,
they had to be removed fromthe body of the German people, and this body had to be protected fromor
immunized against the influence of "degeneration"."
IMPLEMEKTATION OF NAZI CULTURAL POLICIES
In 1930, three years before Hitler became Chancellor, there occurred "the first instance of implementation of Nazi
cultural polides": as aresult of state elections in Thuringiain January 1930, the Nad dqnity WilhelmRick entered the
state government as minister of the interior with responsibility for state police and education. "One of Prick's first
political actions was to introduce aregulation called "Ordinance against Negit) Culture," which was to rid Thuringiaof
all "immoral and foreign racial elements in the arts." This ordinance resulted in the blacklisting of books, the censorship
of theatre, cinema, and concert stage as well as apurge of modernist aft firomthe Wdmar Ducd Museum... The eariy
actions made Thuringia the rehearsal stage of Nazi cultural policies. Even though I ^ck had to resignin April of 1931,
his actions were praised throughout the Party press. They were aprelude to the cultural policies tobe implemented after
1933". -
"After Hitler had been appointed chancellor in January 1933, the various stages of his cultural p<dicies were
implemented in rapid succession. In February 1933, two members of the Prussian Academy of Arts who were critical of
the Nazi Party were forced to resign ... Thirteen other members resigned inprotest..."
"In May 1933, the burning of books at public ceremonies was organiZied in most univmity cities in Germany. In
Berlin, Joseph Gocbbels presided over the ceremony in front of the university. He opened his speech on the Oponplaz
by proclaiming the end of "the age of overblown Jewish intellectualism" and specifically targeted the works of Jewish
Asphaltliteraten (decadent, metropolitan men of letters). During the same month, the first blacklists for lending
libraries and bookstores were issued, including more than 150 "unacceptable" authors. In July, the Bauhaus school
of architecture was closed inBerlin. In September 1933, the establishment of the Reich Chamber of Culture
{Reichskulturekammer) was proclaimed. In October 1933, Hider went to Munich to lay the cornerstone of the House of
GermanArt... Fmally. in November 1933, the Reich Chamber of Culture was instituted as abranch of the Ministry of
Propagandaunder Goebbels' presidency. Divided into seven chambers - this new institution began to exercise firm
control over the cultural and intellectual activities of its members. Al l artists, actors, composers. Journalists,
musicians, and writers who wished to practice their profesdons had to become members of the appropriate
section of the chamber. Although the original Chamber of Culture l^islation did not include an "Aryan Paragraph,"
the chamber could determine a person's "suitability," and both racid and politicd criteriawoe cited routinely as
grounds for the rejection or expulsionof "unsuitable" artists. According to its mandate, the chamber also supervised and
directed creative productions by the members of the various subchambers. The goal was to achieve auniformnational
culture under the leadership and control of the Nad Party aad govenunent'.
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POLYCRACY, RADI CALI SATI ON OF CULTURAL POLICY AND HI TLER'S LEADERSHIP
"Nazi rule was a polycratic systemand its cultural policies were no exception... [T]he interagency rivalry was
perhaps more evident here than in any other area. Goebbels' ministry and the Reich Chamber of Culture under
his presidency bad a rival in the Combat Leagueof German Culture{Kamp/bund fSr deutsch KuUur) under the
leadership of Alfred Rosenberg... Founded in 1929, this organization gadiered not only Nazi writers, artists, and
scholars, but also other nationalists, ultraconservatives. and pan-German racists of various colors. In January 1934,
Hider created a new department for die supervision of the ideological training of the Party, known as the Office for the
Supervision of Ideological Training and Education of the Nazi Party, with Rosenberg as its head. This move
mstitutionalized the rivalry between the two top Nazi officials hi the areaof cultural politics. The interoffice
infightiiig didnot neutralize the negative effects of Nazi cultural politics but radicalized them. I n many uistances,
Rosenberg forced Goebbels' hand in cultural policies". "Infighting was typical for the evolvement of many
institutions and policies, and the cultural policies were no exception. A process of "cumulative radicalization"... also
can be obsoved in the realmof cultural politics. This radicalization occurred whenever the various competing Nazi
agencies fought for positions of power withu) the system. But the "cumulative radicalizatioi^of the cultural politics
was mainly due to Hitier's hitervention and not the result of the faiteractionof various agendes. The bdance of
powo- b^ween Goebbels and Rosenberg was controlled by Hitler's firm leadership in matters of cultural politics
between 1933 and 1939".
"At the beginningof his r^jjme, Hitier was relatively ambiguous inhis pronouncements on art His first public
statement on art in 1933 seemed to ^pease both the Goebbels and Rosenberg factions. He condemned modermst art,
but asserted that "today's tasks require new methods." This statement was considoed a rejection of the position of the
Combat League for Culture, while the condemnation of mod^dsmwas taken as a repudiation of [Goebbels'] Berlin
faction. Goebbels* appomtment as president of the Reich Chand}er of Colbire was seenas a step in the right direction
toward restraining &e dogmatismof Rosenberg and his Combat League for German Culture. By September 1934,
however, Hitier defined andset the courseof the cultural polides for the yearsto come. At the annud Nad Party
rally in Nuremberg, he identified two cdturd dangers threatemng Nationd Sodalism. Rrst, the modermsts, whomIw
describedas "ttie cubists, futurists, and Dadaists." were targeted as "the conrupters of art" Therewas no placein
Germany for modernist art, he claimed, that such "charlatans are mistaken that the creators of theThird Rdch are
foolish or cowardly enough to 1^themsdves be ... intimidated by their cfaatto-." He wodd not tolerate any "cdturd
assistance to poUticd destruction," and he demanded that art be integrated as part of the Nazi politicd program. The
otho' cdturd dang' he pCTceived was the traditionalists. In this case, IMex attacked the Mstoricist followers of
Rosenberg and the Combat League for German CdUne. He ridiculed the representatives of a revlvd of Teutonic art
and ordered such redvalist actidties to cease. These polides, outlinedhi Hitier's speechof 1934, became the
otBdd programof Nad culturd politics, and "there was to be no significant deviation fromthe direction pobited
by Hitler.'' Roseabo^and the Combat League for German Cdture woe prevented from gaimng farther control in
cdturd affiuTL By 1935. the Cooibat k a ^ was itMrporated into the Nad Labor Front and had lost its sigmficance
within the NadVj^sHefSi, wiule Rosedxrg shified his actidties to other areas. Goebbels. on the other hand, was forced to
retrench his mote progresdve programaid to withdraw to a more reactionary approach to cdture".
"By August 1907, the defhiltive Nad culturd politics werein place and enforced inall areas... Nothing was
donewitliont Hitier's i^provaL The ap{opruite legislation was issued in the nameof the FQhrer and chancellor of the
Reich... I n omtrast to documents relating to the Holocaust Hider's signature can be found on the major documents
relating to die cdturd poUdes". *
Hitler "dalmed a qpedd relationship between German and dassicd Greek art, establishing a new typeof
dasddsm. Ndtiier medlevd art nor expressionismcodd serve as modds, but only classed Greek art as an
expressionof an "Aryai ^race, of a "hedthier and stronger" human type. Hitler considered it his task to protect
the German raceand its art from destruction or, as he put it, "degeiKracy"... (Dhe cdturd politics of theThird
Rdch... constitutedan faitegrd part of [HBfler's] radd polides".
SOURCE: Ehiiiard Bahr, '^azi Cultural Politics: Intentionalism vs. Functionalism', in Glenn R.
Cuomo, (cd-). National Socialist Cultural Policy, London, Macmillan, 1995, pp.5-22.
DJM
EhrhaidBAHR