A friend of mine sent me the following article:
“Adolf Hitler, the most notorious champion of Richard Wagner and “racially pure” German music, banished Jewish and Russian musicians from the concert halls of the Third Reich — but apparently listened secretly to their work.”
Read the entire article here.
I’m reminded of the fact that Hitler also banished music critics, or rather, forbid them to work. Here is an official announcement by Goebbels, quoted in Classical Music Criticsm by Robert Schick:
“As the year 1936 has passed without any satisfactory improvement in art criticism, I herewith forbid the practice of art criticism as it has been practiced to date. From today on, the art report will replace art criticism. During the period of Jewish domonation of art, art critics violated the concept of “criticism” and assumed the role of judges of art. The art critic will now be replaced by the art editor… In the future only those art editors will be allowed to report on art who approach the task with an undefiled heart and National Socialist convictions.”
This resulted in the following: “But of the… terrible events that occurred in Germany between 1933 and 1945, there is hardly a trace in the hundreds of illustrations that Mr. Hinz has mustered [a collection of German paintings in the Third Reich]. A perennial petit-bourgeois taste prevails throughout. Young love is always wholesome, family life is an earthly paradise, manual labour is pleasant and redemptive, all battles end happily, nature functions as a friend…”
The government should never be allowed to dominate art. Artists: Declare Your Independence!
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August 7th, 2007 at 11:39 pm
During the Nazi regime, the ironic thing is that often times, persons with musical talent were spared some of the atrocities that their peers endured because Hitler valued musical talent in general. You can find accounts where horn players, singers and whistlers were able to escape the brutality simply because they possessed this gift.
Since art is the soul of free expression, clearly it should never be mandated or controlled by the government. I believe creativity is at the very core of every success and if it is allowed to flourish, can lead to incredible things for a country. If dictators would realize this, and creative empowerment was allowed its natural progression, we would have far fewer issues in the world. This might be a naive viewpoint but one that I truly believe.
You would be quite someone to meet Jonas. Keep up your writings while on holiday. We really enjoy them!
~Kayleigh
August 8th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
You post such interesting articles, thanks Jonas! Hitler was ironic and a major hypocrite. It’s very haunting to think of a world where artists, who possess the most powerful gifts of human expression, are banned from sharing their talent with the world! Regardless of the genre of music, I don’t think any artist or type of music should be controlled by the government, it’s just wrong. That’s why personally I don’t judge people’s taste in music. Sure, I might not like some genres or absolutely deplore some artists, but i would never want them to be banned or censored.