Culture Flashcards
1
Q
Bauhaus
A
- literally means architecture house
- design school set up by Walter Gropius in 1919
- the name spread to a way of thinking and designing
Focused on simple design + technology
2
Q
Neuf Sachlichkeit
A
- New Objectivity
- a matter of fact representation
- focus on the reality of life - like showing the squalor of poverty in film
3
Q
Art Elite Culture
A
- supported by artists + intellectuals + writers
- experimental
- first favoured expressionism - made it darker with New Objectivity
- influenced other parts of culture - art + literature
- highly valued by some wealthy people who subsidised artists
4
Q
Government subsidised culture
A
- the gov subsidised theatres + orchestras + museums + libraries
- brought culture to small towns
- subsidies were small - social welfare projects took priority
- the gov encouraged other cultural initiatives
- Ufa was a gov organised film consortium of the biggest film studios - made most German movies including Metropolis - directed by Fritz Lang
- first full length film to have a sci-fi subject - most expensive film to date at that point
5
Q
Modernism
A
- saw beauty in technology + mass production + mass culture
- rejected representational art or fiction that idealised life
6
Q
Expressionism
A
- stressed that thoughts + feelings were more important than accurate representation
-a famous composer was Arnold Schonberg - Jewish
7
Q
Popular Culture
A
- widely enjoyed + largely non-subsidised
- most diverse
- the young were influenced by US trends - jazz + consumer culture +advertising
- traditional music + plays still had a large following
- Cinema became popular in this Weimar Period
- subject of film were often dark
- first vampire movie Nosferatu was made in Germany *1922**
- Clara Zetkin - communist + wmen’s rights campaigner agreed weigh New Objectivity as a way to show real life and not unrealistic fiction - hoped to spark social reform
8
Q
Reaction to Experimentation
A
- the Weimar Constitution said free speech was a right of the citizens
- the Criminal code still had Paragraph 184 - banned obscene film + publication
- Weimar gov used censorship to protect those under 16
- critics were able to express their views
- many right wing people + politicians worried about Weimar culture - decadence + Jews + Americanisation + new women
- anti sodomy law + department of blackmail and homosexuality
9
Q
Gleichschaltung and Culture
A
- censored unacceptable culture + created own
- Nazi propaganda stressed that Germans were Kulturträger - Culture-Bearers - they had been led astray by Jewish-led Weimar Germany
10
Q
Book burnings + censoring art
A
- 10 May 1933 - mass burning of approx 25k books - textbooks + novels
- burnings held in public squares of 35 cities + towns at night
- art + music + theatre censored of unacceptable people + ideas + styles = Jews + Expressionism
- anything encouraging individualism or non-conformity = unsound
11
Q
RKK
A
- set up Sept 1933 by Goebbels to control all of creative art + bring to the masses
- nationalist + approachable + realistic art encouraged
- idealised the simple rural life despite focus on industrialisation
12
Q
Strength Through Joy trips
A
- theatre + opera + galleries + museums
- only showed acceptable art
- 1937 degenerate art exhibition in Munich - visited by many
- acceptable art displayed in work places - saturate lives with propaganda
13
Q
Sport
A
- encouraged to produce a healthy nation
- artists created sculptures of healthy Aryan bodies
- hosted 1936 Olympics - won 89 medals
- emphasised sport in education system + youth groups
14
Q
Holidays + Rallies
A
- calendar of festivals + holidays shifted to celebrate Nazi history
- Mother’s Day became an official holiday - mothers given medals based on no. Of kids
- parades with propagandist speeches - military in nature after 1935 - Nuremberg Rallies
15
Q
Building projects
A
- impression that Third Reich was powerful + established
- created large-scale public buildings - with flags of the Nazi Swastika
- created the Reichssportfeld - Sports Complex + Olympic Vilagge for the 1936 Olympics - space for over 100k spectators
- Nuremberg Nazi Party Rally Grounds - held yearly rallies from 1933 - 38 - lasted weeks + attracted foreign journalists
