The Reich Chamber of culture - key facts
The stated aims of the Chamber of Culture was to promote Traditional German Values [Volk/People] / Nationalism & Militarism / Anti-modernism / Cult of the Fuhrer / Supremacy of the Aryan Race / Anti-Semitism
Method: Seven sub-chambers existed: fine art, music, theatre, film, press, radio & literature.
Method: Seven sub-chambers existed: fine art, music, theatre, film, press, radio & literature.
The Press
- In 1933 the were 4,700 newspapers - the Nazis controlled only 3% - By 1944 there were less than 1,000, 82% directly controlled by the Nazis.
- 50% of all content was provide by the NAZIS
- ALL editors had to be 'accreditted' by Joseph Goebels
- Clause 14 of press regulation stated 'editors had to remove anything that weakened the strength of the Reich'.
RADIO
- Controlled by the Reich radio Company [RCC] in 1934 13% of employees sacked on political or racial grounds.
- Radio wardens appointed to report on people's reactions to broadcasts.
- Peoples Receiver [volkssemgfanger] could not pick up short wave radio - foreign broadcasts.
- ALL broadcasts vetted first.
- Radio seen as 'the spiritual weapon of the totalitarian state' J.Goebbels
- Made as cheap as 36 marks
FILM
- The Nazi government bought shares in 4 major film companies
- By 1944 ALL film companies were STATE controlled
- Nazis produced over 1,000 films with 'entertainment & escapism' in mind. Not overtly for propaganda.
- Newsreels always shown beforehand contained more overt propaganda.
- Watch the closing scene from Leni Reifenstal's 'Triumph of the Will'.
music
- Nazis wanted to build on Germany's rich classical tradition. However,
- Jewish composer such as Mendelsohhhn & Mahler were banned, newer composers like Stravinsky were frowned upon.
- New genres of music ie, jazz were deemed 'degenerate' & 'negroid'.
- Beethoven's music was popular in the Third Reich. This music gave some a powerful sense of German spirituality and was used to give soldiers "strength for battle." Listen to excerpt from Beethoven's 9th.
- Art was considered to be one of the most important elements to strengthening the Third Reich and purifying the nation.
- Political aims and artistic expression became one.
- The task of art in the Third Reich was to shape the population's attitudes by carrying political messages with stereotyped concepts and art forms.
- True art as defined by Hitler was linked with the country life, with health, and with the Aryan race. Modern art had no place in the Third Reich.
- The role of the artists was to either portray the German world as peaceful, or as drawn into a struggle for survival to defend itself.
literature
- Book burning was a ceremonial thing, aimed at destroying all un German literature. ie that which didn't comply with Nazi idedology. The Nazis referred to it as 'cleansing' or 'purging' in orer to purify German langauge and literature.
- Around 4,000 people 'in theatre' fled or were exiled.
- All plays had to be 'approved' by a censor
