Nazis and art

How did the Nazis utilize art in general, and ical music in particular, to further their aims? ” Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people… Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea.” (Adolf Hitler).  After Nazi captured the power in 1933, Hitler created The Reichs Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels. The task of the Ministry was to inculcate the ideas of Nazi in masses through art, music, theatre, cinema, books, radio and the press (Churchill, 1986). Nazi propaganda has several goals. Germans were reminded about the necessity of struggle with foreign enemies and the destruction of Jews. Movies played a very important role in the spread of racial anti-Semitism as Jews were defined as the enemies of nation. The films created by Nazi depicted Nazi as inhuman beings, which penetrated German society.
Classical music also was an important tool of propaganda during World War II. Now it is difficult to imagine that classical music played a key role during national crisis. Nevertheless, music was very noticeable background for different World War II events. According to Hitler’s order, overture from opera “ Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” should have accompanied every mass-meeting in Nürnberg. Nazi encouraged the performing the works of Wagner, because Hiller was his fan (Waite, 1977). The works of Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn were forbidden due to the Jewish origin of these composers. German orchestras were not allowed to perform the music by Paul Hindemith, the leading national composer, who was recognized all over the world (Heinsohn, 2000). Many choruses and orchestras had to leave Germany. The culture of many countries was enriched as a result, because many outstanding Jewish Musicians were afraid to be killed and chose to leave Nazi Germany.
References
Hitler A 1930, Mein Kampf, Munich: Franz Eher Nachfolger
Churchill, W 1986, The Second World War. Volume 1, Houghton Mifflin Books
Waite, R 1977, The Psychopathic God: Adolf Hitler, Basic Books
Heinsohn G 2000, ” What Makes the Holocaust a Uniquely Unique Genocide”, Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 2, no. 3