Culture in Nazi Germany

By: Michael H. Kater

Narrated by: David de Vries

A fresh and insightful history of how the German arts-and-letters scene was transformed under the Nazis.

Culture was integral to the smooth running of the Third Reich. In the years preceding WWII, a wide variety of artistic forms were used to instill a Nazi ideology in the German people and to manipulate the public perception of Hitler's enemies. During the war, the arts were closely tied to the propaganda machine that promoted the cause of Germany's military campaigns.

Michael H. Kater's engaging and deeply researched account of artistic culture within Nazi Germany considers how the German arts-and-letters scene was transformed when the Nazis came to power. With a broad purview that ranges widely across music, literature, film, theater, the press, and visual arts, Kater details the struggle between creative autonomy and political control as he looks at what became of German artists and their work both during and subsequent to Nazi rule.

©2019 Michael H. Kater (P)2019 Tantor

Critic reviews

“There is no greater authority on the culture of the Nazi period than Michael Kater, and his latest, most ambitious work gives a comprehensive overview of a dismally complex history, astonishing in its breadth of knowledge and acute in its critical perceptions.” (Alex Ross, author of The Rest is Noise)

Excellent

Very interesting, well balanced, readable book. It held my interest from beginning to end. The overall topic is so broad it would be easy for a book to be too superficial or myopic, but the author very successfully balances covering a broad scope with meaningful detail. The author is very influenced by Ian Kershaw and his “working toward the Führer” thesis which provides the foundation that guides and supports the book. No one interested in this terrible period of history will be disappointed with this book. Having some understanding of what was going on in Germany at the time is essential before reading this work, Richard J. Evans book “The Third Reich in Power, 1933-1939” would provide this understanding. It would also be helpful to have some understanding of the culture of Weimar Germany before reading this, “Weimar Culture” by Peter Gay would be a good choice.

Excellent Look at an Often Overlooked History

This book gives a fantastic look at the means and methods that Nazi leaders tried to shape German minds for the Thousand Year Reich. It gives a great overview of their means to undo Weimar art and artists, as it instilled what it saw as a return to the folk arts and Germanic music they felt would embolden and sustain this new cultural Germany. What was truly interesting is that the Nazis were given to whim and had a hard time balancing high art and culture its rich, financial backers favored, and its attempts to create a "blood and soil" culture for the masses. This is why Nazi Germany would have jazz, albeit one of an Aryan variety, and why movies would see an immense push while music, radio, and literature suffered under Nazi rule. At the same time, this book goes into great detail about how Nazis pushed for the marginalization and cancellation of Jews who worked in the arts.
Overall, this is a fantastic read with a fantastic narrator!