Culture Section B - TWE were the cultural developments of the Weimar years suppressed by the Nazi regime?

Question 1

Mediums of mass communication and popular culture - Supressed

Answer 1

Weimar Republic
- Weimar culture a part of an international mass culture.
- Jazz and cabaret.
- Popularity of Hollywood Movies (Gold Rush; Charlie Chaplin)

Nazi Germany
- The suppression of ‘degenerate’ forms of popular culture such as jazz, cabaret, and western, Hollywood movies.
- Replaced by traditional German composers, such as Bach and Beethoven.
- May 1933: Organised mass burning of approx. 25,000 books which were considered “unsound”. E.g. All Quiet on the Western Front was banned.
- 2500 of Germany’s writers had to leave Germany between 1933 and 1945.

Question 2

Mediums of mass communication and popular culture - Not suppressed

Answer 2

Weimar Republic
- German Radio company founded in 1923. radio emerged as a medium (method) for mass communication in Weimar Germany. One in four Germans owned a radio.
- Development of the film industry was encouraged by the Weimar government. (e.g. UFA was a government-organised film company).

Nazi Germany
- Under Nazi rule, there was a continued use and effective development of mass popular culture & mass communication methods to further Nazi ideology, e.g. the use of radio and film.
- The Nazi regime made a genuine cultural contribution in Germany in terms of film – Goebbels recognised the importance of film as entertainment (out of 1097 feature films, only 96 were at the request of the Propaganda Ministry).

Question 3

Aims / purpose of culture - Suppressed

Answer 3

Weimar Republic
- Aims: uphold Weimar Constitution, democracy and freedom of expression.
- Opposition against government / regime expressed through cultural mediums (e.g. demonstrating decadence in society; “New Objectivity movement”; Otto Dix and Georg Grosz; Cabaret to showcase social and political themes; Zeittheatre).
- Desire to show reality and objectivity (did so through art forms); understanding ordinary people in everyday life.

Nazi Germany
- Aims: Ministry for Propaganda responsible for: (1) To glorify the regime; (2) To spread Nazi ideology and values (and censor the unacceptable) and (3) To win over the people, unite/integrate the nation under a Volksgemeinschaft, and establish German nationalism
- The creation of an official Nazi culture through the Reich Chamber of Culture, as opposed to freedom of expression.
- Culture as a tool to facilitate support for Nazi regime.
- “Degenerate Art Exhibition”, Munich (1937) – modern styles of art resented by Nazism

Question 4

Aims / purpose of culture - Not suppressed

Answer 4

Suppression of cultural developments was not always necessary.
- E.g. In the Weimar years, there were some attempts to restrict cultural freedom (e.g. Paragraph 184 of the Criminal Code allowed the banning of ‘obscene’ films, publications, etc.).
- E.g. In some art works, there were elements of nationalism running through mediums of culture (e.g. some writers in the Weimar Republic glorified the sacrifices soldiers had made in World War One).

Question 5

Attitudes towards cultural change - Suppressed

Answer 5

Weimar Republic
- Liberal attitudes towards culture – desire to express themselves

Nazi Germany
- Desire to suppress culture of the WR and create Nazi cultural identity (never achieved).

Question 6

Attitudes towards cultural change - Not suppressed

Answer 6

• Conservative backlash against cultural developments of the Weimar years – Weimar society became polarised by traditional
• Attitudes in favour of cultural freedom were not completely suppressed in Nazi Germany. (E.g. the growth of subversive Swing youth groups by the late 1930s in reaction to Nazi cultural control).

Question 7

Conclusion

Answer 7

Cultural developments were suppressed by Nazi Germany if they posed a threat to the survival of the regime. Cultural developments which served the aims and purpose of the regime were continued under rule of the Nazis.