Culture in Nazi Germany

Culture in Nazi Germany by Michael H. Kater

Germany had been near the forefront of arts and cultures. Then the Nazis took over. They had chased away artists that were less desirable (such as Jews or sexual deviants.) They also encouraged art to adhere to traditions and to support Nazi ideology. The regime initially supported jazz, but then banned it due to what it stood for. Carmina Burana by Orff is one of the few musical works of significance composed during the era. Much art continued to be created, but has been judged as inferior today. Many of the elite artists were gone and those that remained were lacking in quality. (And in retrospective analysis have a high bar to clear due to the negative position of Nazis.)

Artists are stuck no matter what their position. Many left Germany due to being out of favor with the regime. They had trouble getting work in their new country. (Thomas Mann was a rare exception.) In the US they were treated as enemies until they had citizenship. After the war, many of those that had spent the war in Germany were often blacklisted. For actors, this could be seemingly arbitrary. Artists would try to declare their rejection of Nazism to gain work in the post war period. Some managed to thread the needle and work during and after the Nazi era, those these were rare. Totalitarianism and art do not go together well.