![Richard Strauss (1864–1949) um 1914 © Wilhelm Willinger (1879–1943)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Richard_Strauss_%281864%E2%80%931949%29_um_1914_%C2%A9_Wilhelm_Willinger_%281879%E2%80%931943%29.jpg)
Music in Nazi Germany, like all cultural activities in
the regime
''The Regime: Evil Advances/Before They Were Left Behind'' is the second prequel novel in the ''Left Behind'' series, written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. It was released on Tuesday, November 15, 2005. This book covers more events lea ...
, was controlled and "co-ordinated" (''
Gleichschaltung
The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied b ...
'') by various entities of the state and the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
, with Propaganda Minister
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
and the prominent Nazi theorist
Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head of ...
playing leading – and competing – roles. The primary concerns of these organizations was to exclude Jewish composers and musicians from publishing and performing music, and to prevent the public exhibition of music considered to be "Jewish", "anti-German", or otherwise
"degenerate", while at the same time promoting the work of favored "Germanic" composers, such as
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
and
Anton Bruckner
Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Germ ...
. These works were believed to be positive contributions to the ''
Volksgemeinschaft
''Volksgemeinschaft'' () is a German expression meaning "people's community", "folk community",Richard Grunberger, ''A Social History of the Third Reich'', London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1971, p. 44. "national community", or "racial community", ...
'', or German folk community.
The Nazis promoted
Aryan ideologies through heavy
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
and cultural control, blacklisting Jewish compositions, banning specific concert hall performances, and controlling radio content in order to promote
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
through cultural unity. By controlling the mediums of communication the
Reich Chamber of Culture
The Reich Chamber of Culture (''Reichskulturkammer'') was a government agency in Nazi Germany. It was established by law on 22 September 1933 in the course of the ''Gleichschaltung'' process at the instigation of Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels as ...
was able to dictate public opinion in regards to musical culture, and reaffirm their
hegemonic
Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one state over other states. In Ancient Greece (8th BC – AD 6th ), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' city-state over other city-states. ...
beliefs, promoting "Aryan" works consistent with Nazi ideology.
Propaganda Minister
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
famously decreed radio to be "the most influential and important intermediary between a spiritual movement and the nation, between the idea and the people". He put much effort into the exploitation of radio technologies and its ability to reach the German populace regardless of their
socioeconomic status
Socioeconomic status (SES) is an economic and sociological combined total measure of a person's work experience and of an individual's or family's economic access to resources and social position in relation to others. When analyzing a family's ...
. To this end, a low-cost
"people's receiver" () was introduced.
Background
The nineteenth century introduced a change in economic circumstances in Germany. The rise of
industrialization
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
and urban expansion introduced a new marketplace for music. Individuals were able to participate within the music culture as small
social club
A social club may be a group of people or the place where they meet, generally formed around a common interest, occupation, or activity. Examples include: book discussion clubs, chess clubs, anime clubs, country clubs, charity work, criminal ...
s and orchestras were easily able to purchase
sheet music
Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...
and instruments. Out of this developed an extensive network of music among German citizens. The spawned more localized concert halls and orchestras, greatly increasing the circulation of both German and Jewish compositions.
When
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
and the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
took power in Germany, it stepped in to control these cultural music products as part of its general policy of ''
Gleichschaltung
The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied b ...
'' or "co-ordination". In a speech made in 1935, Propaganda Minister
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
proclaimed the goals of the Nazi control of
German music
Germany claims some of the most renowned composers, singers, producers and performers of the world. Germany is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world.
German classical music is one of the most performed in the world; ...
. Music, he said, should be German, it should be , or linked to the ''volk'', the German nation, and it should express the soul of Germany, . Unfortunately how to interpret these Romantic goals was left up to each of the competing authorities, who wondered if one key was more "Nordic" than another, and what was the Jewish influence on music. As one modern author summed it up: "They wanted neither a simple return to nineteenth-century Romanticism nor a continuation of Weimar avant-garde but also no experimentation."
Nazi control of music
Influence of Hitler
![Bundesarchiv Bild 102-12922, Adolf Hitler](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-12922%2C_Adolf_Hitler.jpg)
As with most other aspects of the governance of the Third Reich, the personal views and preferences of Adolf Hitler played a significant role in the Nazi control of music. Hitler's normal ''modus operandi'' was to create overlapping and competing agencies within both the Nazi Party and the German state apparatus, and allow the heads of those agencies to
"work toward the Führer". Hitler would either make his preferences known, or, if he did not, the agency leaders would make assumptions about what they were, and then – usually without specific orders or guidance from Hitler – they would gear their decisions to what they believed he wanted. The overlapping of the various competencies would often lead to conflicts, which would then be brought to Hitler for ultimate settlement. Hitler, however, did not like to make these decisions, and often let the situations fester for long periods before he either made a snap decision, or one choice had become the most obvious one to select. This was the case in the realm of music, where Nazi theorist
Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head of ...
and Goebbels were pitted against each other, and their somewhat differing goals and ideological viewpoints often lead to conflicts. Usually, after the creation of the
Reich Chamber of Culture
The Reich Chamber of Culture (''Reichskulturkammer'') was a government agency in Nazi Germany. It was established by law on 22 September 1933 in the course of the ''Gleichschaltung'' process at the instigation of Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels as ...
, Goebbels had the upper hand, but at times Rosenberg would prevail, or at least manage to throw a monkey wrench into Goebbels' plans.
In regard to music, Hitler has definite views as to what was acceptable and what was not. He was passionate about the music of
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
, but denounced most contemporary music – which featured
atonality
Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on a s ...
,
dissonance, and disturbing rhythms in many cases influenced by what Hitler referred to as
"nigger jazz" – as being "degenerate" and elitist. Soon after Hitler became
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
in 1933, contemporary music concerts, as well as Modernist and
Expressionist
Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
scenic design and staging of operas were cancelled, and the music of
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
,
Hans Eisler
Hanns Eisler (6 July 1898 – 6 September 1962) was an Austrian composer (his father was Austrian, and Eisler fought in a Hungarian regiment in World War I). He is best known for composing the national anthem of East Germany, for his long artisti ...
,
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
,
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
,
Anton von Webern
Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...
,
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...
, and other formerly prominent composers, as well as Jewish composers such as
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...
,
Giacomo Meyerbeer
Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Mozart and Wagner". With his 1831 opera ''Robert le di ...
,
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach (, also , , ; 20 June 18195 October 1880) was a German-born French composer, cellist and impresario of the Romantic period. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s to the 1870s, and his uncompleted opera '' ...
and even
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
and
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook.
Born in Imperial Russi ...
, were no longer programmed or performed. At the beginning, this was not the result of a coordinated centralized program, but were uncoordinated spontaneous actions by local Nazi officials "working towards the Fuhrer", and generally reflected Hitler's often-expressed views on music.
In one instance, Hitler himself complained about these local efforts. After
Adolf Busch
Adolf Georg Wilhelm Busch (8 August 1891 – 9 June 1952) was a German–Swiss violinist, conductor, and composer.
Life and career
Busch was born in Siegen in Westphalia. He studied at the Cologne Conservatory with Willy Hess and Bram Elderin ...
, a violinist, conductor, and composer, was forced to leave Germany, he said "It is really a shame that we do not have ''
gauleiter
A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...
'' in Dresden who knows anything about the arts. ... Busch would have been the best German conductor. But
'Gauleiter''Mutschmann wanted to put old party comrades in the orchestra so as to introduce the National Socialist spirit." As a music aficionado who did not want Germany to lose talented musicians, Hitler was, in fact, less doctrinaire about the personal political backgrounds of musicians than were many Nazis, such as Rosenberg. For instance, Hitler's fondness for the operettas of
Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár ( ; hu, Lehár Ferenc ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is ''The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe'').
Life ...
took precedence over the negative facts about the composer discovered by Rosenberg's investigation. The same occurred with the partly Jewish
Johann Strauss
Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ove ...
: Hitler's enjoyment of Strauss' compositions removed any impediments to their being performed, although Goebbels took steps to make sure that Strauss' heritage never became public knowledge.
Hitler also lashed out at those Nazis who would ban
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
's ''
The Magic Flute
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that inclu ...
'' because of its
Masonic
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to Fraternity, fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of Stonemasonry, stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their inte ...
theme, or wanted to suppress Christian religious music, which he deemed to be part of "the German cultural patrimony". He also was willing, in the interest of foreign policy, to relax the general requirement of "Germanness" in concert music, allowing Italian operas, even Modernist ones, to be performed, and the music of Hungarian composer
Zoltán Kodály
Zoltán Kodály (; hu, Kodály Zoltán, ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music ed ...
and sometimes even those of the Hungarian anti-Nazi
Bela Bartók
Bela may refer to:
Places Asia
*Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar Pradesh, India
*Bela, a small village near Bhandara, Maharashtra, India
*Bela, another name for the biblical city Zoara
* Bela, Dang, in Nepal
* Bela, Janakpur, ...
. Foreign policy considerations entered into the decision to allow the works of Finnish composer
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...
to be performed, and performances of works by Russian composers dating from before the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, such as
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
,
Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky ( rus, link=no, Модест Петрович Мусоргский, Modest Petrovich Musorgsky , mɐˈdɛst pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ˈmusərkskʲɪj, Ru-Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky version.ogg; – ) was a Russian compo ...
and
Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov . At the time, his name was spelled Николай Андреевичъ Римскій-Корсаковъ. la, Nicolaus Andreae filius Rimskij-Korsakov. The composer romanized his name as ''Nicolas Rimsk ...
were sanctioned. Even
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
fell in and out of official favor.
Hitler's direct, personal involvement in musical matters was generally limited to appointing conductors and awarding the title of "Professor" and other music-related honorifics, approving grants for both institutions and individuals, and ruling on the use of certain compositions such as the "
Badenweiler March" – which could only be played in his presence – or the "Nibelungen March", which he deemed appropriate only for formal Nazi Party occasions. He also set the approved tempi for the "
Deutschlandlied
The "" (; "Song of Germany"), officially titled "" (; "The Song of the Germans"), has been the national anthem of Germany either wholly or in part since 1922, except for a seven-year gap following World War II in West Germany. In East German ...
", the national anthem, and the "
Horst-Wessel-Lied
The "" ("Horst Wessel Song"; ), also known by its opening words "" ("Raise the Flag", ), was the anthem of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 1930 to 1945. From 1933 to 1945, the Nazis made it the co-national anthem of Germany, along with the first sta ...
", the Party's anthem and later the co-national anthem. In most other instances, as was typical for Hitler, he allowed his paladins a free hand.
It was Hitler's goal that music in Germany should be as important as he imagined it was in ancient Greece, and should serve the public good. Thus composers should write music that was aesthetically pleasing to most people, and the state should make that music available to the people. Such music would also help promote the state by providing its credibility, both culturally and politically, and distract the world from the Nazi street terrorism which was helping to create the totalitarian ''Führer'' state. Despite Germany being, in general, a sophisticated musical culture, the "co-ordination" () of German music took less effort than any of the other arts, with fewer non-Jewish musical personalities choosing to emigrate into exile. It was also a factor that once Hitler took power, he showed less interest in music than he did on controlling painting and sculpture. In those fields, ideologically impure artists were sometimes threatened with being sent to a concentration camp. Ideologically suspect composers were, for the most part, allowed to continue writing music, and even at times managed to be them performed, unlike suspected painters and sculptors who had their works and material confiscated.
Nazi agencies
Competing Nazi entities separately claimed control of all musicians and publications of musical material, each hoping to eventually become the administration of all culture, including music, in Nazi Germany. Alfred Rosenberg, who saw himself as the Party's chief ideologue, played a key role in the early days before Hitler came to power, spawning many sub-organizations such as the Party's
Militant League for German Culture
The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...
(). This organization had departments for music, cinema, visual arts, and radio. In hopes of strengthening "suppressed" Aryan artists and eliminating
"degenerate" artists, such as Jewish and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
artists, Rosenberg's institutions published many inflammatory brochures warning citizens of non-German nationalist music. His institution funded Aryan musicians and even went as far as to disrupt concerts, threaten Jewish performers and intimidate audiences. These practices were the beginning of the overarching political intervention of concert halls and orchestras of the 19th century.
In March 1933 Hitler appointed Joseph Goebbels to be the
Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. It was Goebbels' intention to have his ministry take control of all German culture, but he ran up against Rosenberg's already-existing Party infrastructure. Fortunately for him, Rosenberg's activist stance had caused considerable disruption, which had become politically inconvenient for Hitler. This allowed Goebbels to convince the ''Führer'' to sign a decree creating the
Reich Chamber of Culture
The Reich Chamber of Culture (''Reichskulturkammer'') was a government agency in Nazi Germany. It was established by law on 22 September 1933 in the course of the ''Gleichschaltung'' process at the instigation of Reich Minister Joseph Goebbels as ...
() on September 22, 1933, with Goebbels as President. Within the Chamber were divisions for each of the arts, including the
Reich Chamber of Music The Reich Chamber of Music (German: ''Reichsmusikkammer'') was a Nazi institution. It promoted "good German music" which was composed by Aryans and seen as consistent with Nazi ideals, while suppressing other, "degenerate" music, which included ato ...
(), to which all musicians and composers were required to belong if they wished to work; those rejected were effectively professionally banned. Goebbels used the Chambers not only to regulate the arts, but also to improve pensions and get rid of unqualified and untrained artists. The ministry controlled the Chambers through the senior artists involved, who ran them on a daily basis. By 1937, the Reich Chamber of Music had 95,600 members.
Goebbels v. Rosenberg
The creation of the Chamber of Culture set up a long-term struggle between Goebbels and Rosenberg for control of the culture of Nazi German, including music. Rosenberg directly attacked some of the artists picked by Goebbels to head up the constituent Chambers, for instance calling the appointment of
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
as head of the Chamber of Music a "cultural scandal", because the libretto of his comic opera ''
Die schweigsame Frau
''Die schweigsame Frau'' (''The Silent Woman''), Op. 80, is a 1935 comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with libretto by Stefan Zweig after Ben Jonson's '' Epicoene, or the Silent Woman''.
Composition history
Since '' Elektra'' and ''Der ...
'' ("The Silent Woman") was written by a Jew. Goebbels was furious, and pointed out that librettist was not
Arnold Zweig
Arnold Zweig (10 November 1887 – 26 November 1968) was a German writer, pacifist and socialist.
He is best known for his six-part cycle on World War I.
Life and work
Zweig was born in Glogau, Prussian Silesia (now Głogów, Poland), the son ...
, as claimed by Rosenberg, but a different person, the Austrian Jew
Stefan Zweig
Stefan Zweig (; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist, and biographer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular write ...
. Eventually, the
Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
intercepted a damning letter from Strauss to Stefan Zweig which forced Goebbels to ask Strauss to resign. Rosenberg also attacked
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
.
Eventually, though, Rosenberg could not win against Goebbels, who was both Minister of Propaganda for the German state and the head of propaganda for the Nazi Party, giving him a great deal more power than Rosenberg, who held only Party positions. Rosenberg's Fighting League was renamed the "National Socialist Cultural Community" and hung on until 1937, overshadowed by Goebbels' organization, and Rosenberg himself received the grandiloquent title "Representative for the ''Führer'' for the Overall Philosophical and Intellectual Training and Education of the National Socialist Party." Goebbels' advantage over Rosenberg was that he had the frequent ear of the Führer, which Rosenberg did not, as Hitler did not have great respect for him; he considered the ideologue to be weak and lazy, and kept him at arm's length. Rosenberg's advantage was that his personal taste in music was closer to Hitler's than Goebbels' was: Goebbels had appreciation for some Modern music, which Hitler definitely did not share. Nevertheless, by 1939, Rosenberg had for the most part abandoned the cultural field to Goebbels and concentrated instead on foreign policy.
Other Nazi leaders
Other high-ranking Nazis with an interest in German music included
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1 ...
, who, as
Minister-President of Prussia
The office of Minister-President (german: Ministerpräsident), or Prime Minister, of Prussia existed from 1848, when it was formed by King Frederick William IV during the 1848–49 Revolution, until the abolition of Prussia in 1947 by the Alli ...
controlled many cultural institutions in that state;
Bernhard Rust
Bernhard Rust (30 September 1883 – 8 May 1945) was Minister of Science, Education and National Culture ( Reichserziehungsminister) in Nazi Germany.Claudia Koonz, ''The Nazi Conscience'', p 134 A combination of school administrator and zealous ...
, the Minister of Education, who was in charge of overseeing music conservatories and music in German schools;
Robert Ley
Robert Ley (; 15 February 1890 – 25 October 1945) was a German politician and Labour Union, labour union leader during the Nazi era; Ley headed the German Labour Front from 1933 to 1945. He also held many other high positions in the Party, inc ...
, the head of the
German Labour Front
The German Labour Front (german: Deutsche Arbeitsfront, ; DAF) was the labour organisation under the Nazi Party which replaced the various independent trade unions in Germany during Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
History
As early as March 1933, ...
, whose usurping of the trade unions brought in many musicians; and
Baldur von Schirach
Baldur Benedikt von Schirach (9 May 1907 – 8 August 1974) was a German politician who is best known for his role as the Nazi Party national youth leader and head of the Hitler Youth from 1931 to 1940. He later served as ''Gauleiter'' and ''Re ...
, the head of the
Hitler Youth
The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...
, who controlled music in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
.
Although these other powerful Nazis were in some respect in competition with Goebbels,
[Goebbels and Ley reached an accommodation, in which Ley withdrew from his attempts to influence the control of music in return for Goebbels' support for the German Labour Front's "]Strength Through Joy
NC Gemeinschaft (KdF; ) was a German state-operated leisure organization in Nazi Germany.Richard Grunberger, ''The 12-Year Reich'', p. 197, It was part of the German Labour Front (german: link=no, Deutsche Arbeitsfront), the national labour org ...
" program. they nevertheless were all in agreement about the desired result, which was the removal of Jewish musicians and composers and the suppression of their music. Although it took longer than it might have, because of objections from the Economics Ministry about the possible damage to the economy, by mid-1935 Jews had been effectively removed from German culture – including music – through suppression, censorship and emigration. All musical organizations, from local chorals to professional symphonies, including the
Berlin Philharmonic
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
, had been purged of Jewish members. This was largely made possible by the
Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service
The Law for the Restoration of the Professional Hitler Service (german: Gesetz zur Wiederherstellung des Berufsbeamtentums, shortened to ''Berufsbeamtengesetz''), also known as Civil Service Law, Civil Service Restoration Act, and Law to Re-es ...
, which dated from April 1933. This law essentially dismissed hundreds of Jewish citizens from
civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
, including musicians and composers – who were civil servants – from German orchestras and concert halls. More than any other law, this one pushed Jewish musicians out of German culture at large.
Blacklists
Because of the multiplicity of authorities involved in controlling music, there was often confusion about what was and was not allowed to be performed. To help alleviate this problem, in June 1935, Richard Strauss, who headed the Reich Music Chamber, published a register of three categories of operas that were permitted, and later in the year a list of 108 compositions which were "under no circumstances to be performed." Berlin Radio also distributed an error-filled list of 99 composers whose works were forbidden, which was later corrected.
In 1937, Goebbels transferred the authority of the Music Chamber to the Ministry of Propaganda, in order to more directly control the realm of music in Nazi Germany, through the
Reich Music Censorship Board (), whose remit included all music publication, programming, broadcasting, and recording. This board also disseminated lists of proscribed works.
Concert halls
Within the music realm Goebbels initially focused on the rapidly expanding concert hall industry. With the increase of both music publications and instrument production, a public sphere of music emerged. German citizens were able to exchange music unlike ever before, increasing circulation of all genres of music. Since the performance of Jewish or
Romani music
Romani music (often referred to as gypsy or gipsy music, which is sometimes considered a derogatory term) is the music of the Romani people who have their origins in northern India but today live mostly in Europe.
Historically nomadic, though n ...
was prohibited by the state, this expanding circulation of sheet music was problematic. In an effort to regain control of this industry, and eliminate degenerate music, Goebbels soon instituted a harsh purge of Jewish musicians.
The Chamber of Culture specifically promoted art produced by "Aryans" whose views were consistent with Nazi ideologies. The organization blacklisted many Jewish musicians and composers from performing live in concert halls. The Chamber of Culture famously banned Jewish composer, conductor and pianist
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the Un ...
from performing in public in 1933. Walter's performance in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
was cancelled due to "threats of violence." Four days later Walter was officially blacklisted when
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
replaced him at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall.
[Strauss would later show his loyalty to the Nazi regime when he also replaced banned conductor ]Fritz Busch
Fritz Busch (13 March 1890 – 14 September 1951) was a German conductor.
Busch was born in Siegen, Westphalia, to a musical family, and studied at the Cologne Conservatory. After army service in the First World War, he was appointed to senior p ...
and then the Italian anti-Fascist conductor Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
to conduct their concerts. He would later accept the position of President of the Chamber of Music when it was created. He was later forced out of the post after conflicts with Goebbels. Given Strauss's international celebrity, Goebbels allowed him to travel as a cultural ambassador for Germany, but he remained excluded from the center of cultural power. See
Being German or "Aryan" was not the sole consideration in determining whether a composer's music would be allowed to be presented in Nazi Germany. Modernist or atonal music was discouraged even when the composers were German or Austrian.
Arnold Schönberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
's pupils, for instance, such as
Anton von Webern
Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...
and
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...
, adhered to
twelve-tone technique
The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...
s and were therefore singled out by the regime for suppression.
[A critic who gave Berg's opera '']Lulu
Lulu may refer to:
Companies
* LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer
* Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer
* Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia
* Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, a C ...
'' a good review was expelled from the German Music Critics' Association, and the conductor emigrated to Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. Winfried Zillig
Winfried Zillig (1 April 1905 – 18 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, and conductor.
Zillig was born in Würzburg. After leaving school, Zillig studied law and music. One of his teachers there was Hermann Zilcher. In Vienna h ...
, on the other hand, used the same techniques, but in a more tonal way, and his works depicted the self-sacrificing heroism of German peasants and other subjects close to Nazi ideology, so he was allowed to have his music performed and continued to conduct.
Geobbels was also well aware of diplomatic and foreign policy considerations, so the works of Hungarian modernist composer
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...
were not banned, because
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
was Germany's ally – even though Bartók himself was anti-Fascist. When his publisher was Aryanized, he switch to another one, he declared solidarity with banned composers, and protested when his music was not included in the
"Degenerate Music" Exhibition .
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...
, on the other hand, did have his works included in the show, but nevertheless, despite attacks by Rosenberg, it continued to be performed in Germany, and Stravinsky collected the royalties in Paris.
These factors and the banning of Jewish influences produced a music industry based on
Aryanism
Aryanism is an ideology of racial supremacy which views the supposed Aryan race as a distinct and superior racial group which is entitled to rule the rest of humanity. Initially promoted by racist theorists such as Arthur de Gobineau and Houst ...
and focused primarily on classical German composers. Goebbels believed that music could create a public emotional and spiritual experience competitive with religion. Concert halls with their darkened auditoriums and formal settings exposed the audience to an experience similar to that of going to church. The music of Bruckner and Wagner were the centerpiece of the new "Aryan" spirituality, aiming to attain the same "impact generated by traditional Christian religious ecstasy and devotion". Goebbels strongly believed music could bring about national pride through cultural identification.
Hindemith and Furtwängler
Conflict between Goebbels and Rosenberg had not ended with the creation of the Chamber of Culture. For instance, they battled over the composer
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
. As an Hindemith had composed in a modernist style, but changed to a neo-Classical style in 1930. Goebbels wished to keep Hindemith in Germany because his international recognition was second only to Strauss'. He was appointed to the governing council of the Chamber of Music's Composers' Section and his new compositions were given prestigious premieres. Unlike Goebbels, however, who appreciated more modern music, Rosenberg's tastes were strictly old-fashioned, more in line with Hitler's, and he launched a series of attacks on Hindemith's previous musical style and his earlier political affiliations. That his wife was half-Jewish did not help his case. Rosenberg pressured radio stations not to play Hindemith's works and concert halls not to program them.
The noted conductor
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major ...
defended Hindemith in an article in a daily newspaper, but did so in a way that denigrated political criteria being used to judge art, and defending artistic freedom. While Furtwängler received a very positive response from the audience when he took the rostrum to conduct that night, Goebbels was in the audience, as was Göring, and he subsequently closed ranks with Rosenberg to counter the implicit criticism of the regime's cultural policies. The Propaganda Minister forced Furtwängler out of all his numerous official positions, but did not ban him from working. Goebbels subsequently relented somewhat, but kept the conductor on a short leash, telling him that if he accepted a guest conductor opportunity with the
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
, he would not be allowed back into Germany.
Hindemith, meanwhile, took an indefinite leave of absence from his teaching job in Berlin, but stayed in Germany. He made efforts to distance himself from his previous musical styles, worked on musical education, and swore an oath of allegiance to Hitler. His works were performed in small concert venues, but the attacks on him continued and were sufficient to discourage major music institutions from hiring him or programming his music. In 1936, responding to a speech by Hitler urging that the regime increase its efforts to purify the arts, the Propaganda Ministry banned performances of Hindemith's music. Hindemith emigrated to Switzerland in 1938, and from there to the United States.
Degenerate Music
In May 1938, as part of the first Reich Music Rally,
Hans Severus Ziegler
Hans Severus Ziegler (13 October 1893 – 1 May 1978) was a German publicist, theater manager, teacher and Nazi Party official. A leading cultural director under the Nazis, he was closely associated with the censorship and cultural co-ordinatio ...
assembled in
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
an exhibition of "Degenerate Music" (). Ziegler, the manager of the national theatre in
Weimar
Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...
, was inspired by the tremendously popular "
Degenerate Art Exhibition" which had been presented the year before in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. The exhibition featured sections on Jewish composers and conductors, modernist and atonal music, jazz, and other subjects. Ziegler positioned the show as presenting examples of
Cultural Bolshevism
Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...
, saying at the opening ceremony:
What's been gathered together in his
His or HIS may refer to:
Computing
* Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company
* Honeywell Information Systems
* Hybrid intelligent system
* Microsoft Host Integration Server
Education
* Hangzhou International School, in ...
exhibition constitutes the portrayal of a true witches' sabbath and the most frivolous spiritual-artistic cultural bolshevism and a portrayal of the triump of subhumanity, of arrogant Jewish insolence and total spiritual senile dementia.
Booths had been installed where attendees could listen to specially made records with excerpts of "Degenerate Music". However, long lines at the booth for
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...
's ''
Threepenny Opera
''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music b ...
'' showed that not all of the music presented at the exhibition was disliked by the public.
Ziegler had mounted the show with help from Rosenberg's staff, so it was perhaps inevitable that Goebbels would not totally approve of it. He wrote in his diary that the exhibition was "getting a lot of criticism. I get the objectionable parts removed." Goebbels' disapproval may account for the exhibition running only for three weeks.
Radio and popular music
![Ve301w](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Ve301w.jpg)
Goebbels famously stated that the radio is an instrumental tool for the nation-state to influence the masses. In "Radio as the Eighth Great Power" Goebbels stresses the importance of the radio as an intermediary between the government and the nation. He blamed the profit-driven radio industry for diluting the political potential of this medium. The corporate entities focused more on profit than political enlightenment, motivating Goebbels to institute strict Nazi control of the industry.
The Office of Radio Technology released the ''
Volksempfänger
The ''Volksempfänger'' (, "people's receiver") was a range of German radio receivers developed by engineer Otto Griessing at the request of Joseph Goebbels, the Reich Minister of Propaganda of the Nazi regime.
The purpose of the ''Volksempfä ...
'', "the people’s receiver", in August 1933. The low price of 76 German
Reichsmark
The (; sign: ℛℳ; abbreviation: RM) was the currency of Germany from 1924 until 20 June 1948 in West Germany, where it was replaced with the , and until 23 June 1948 in East Germany, where it was replaced by the East German mark. The Reich ...
s, roughly two weeks pay, enabled the broad masses to become radio consumers. The units were, however, not of good quality and they broke down often. With spare parts difficult to come by, a thriving black market sprang up for them.
Under the Chamber of Culture the Party Propaganda Department, or Reichspropagandaleitung, was responsible for radio regulation. The radio division was split into three offices: Cultural Radio and Radio Organization, Radio Technology, and Radio Propaganda. The Office of Radio propaganda censored music and programming, adhering to the strict authority seen in the concert hall regulation.
Goebbels understood that while the radio was an effective mechanism to disseminate propaganda, radio programming could not be dominated by propaganda because the listener would get bored and tune out. Even as early as May 1934 we was turning down requests from high Nazi officials for airtime, and he insisted to radio station managements that a mixture of interesting and imaginative content, including music – and not primarily martial music. "The first law," he wrote to them in March 1933, "is don't be boring!" In spite of this admonition, at first speeches by Hitler and other propaganda dominated the radio airways. For the Mayday celebrations in 1934, 17 hours of speeches, songs, and marches were broadcast.
Over time, between 1932 and 1939 the amount of time given over to music gradually increased to 33%, and a full 87.5% of that was popular music. By 1944, the radio network broadcast 190 hours of content, of which 71 hours was popular music and 24 was classical music. Because it was wartime, some listeners objected to the broadcasting of popular music, especially those in rural areas, who objected to
crooner
Crooner is a term used to describe primarily male singers who performed using a smooth style made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic range ...
s and dance music. But these programs were popular with German troops and those in the
Labour Service
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
, and the morale value of the music won out.
Stations played music of approved "Aryan" composers such as Wagner, prohibiting any Jewish compositions or "degenerate music" such as the newly popular
American jazz
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
. Goebbels acknowledged the importance of
pop music
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...
, claiming "Not all music suits everyone. Therefore that style of entertaining music that is found among the broad masses also has a right to exist".
Unlike degenerate music, pop music was accepted as long as it reiterated the theme of nationalism. "Everything should include the theme of our great reconstructive work, or at least not stand in its way". He stressed that popular music and entertainment, though not directly affecting political enlightenment, provides cultural enrichment and a potential step towards
cultural imperialism
Cultural imperialism (sometimes referred to as cultural colonialism) comprises the cultural dimensions of imperialism. The word "imperialism" often describes practices in which a social entity engages culture (including language, traditions, ...
.
Especially popular with the public was the "request concert" in which hit songs and other entertainment music was played, in style essentially unchanged from that of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
. Also popular were sentimental songs such as "
Ich weiss, es wird einmal ein Wunder geschehen "Ich weiß, es wird einmal ein Wunder gescheh’n" ("I Know Some Day a Miracle Will Happen") is a song composed by Bruno Balz and Michael Jary, which was originally recorded by Swedish actress and singer Zarah Leander. It first appeared in the 1942 ...
"
know, one day a miracle will comeby
Zarah Leander
Zarah Leander (; 15 March 1907 – 23 June 1981) was a Swedish singer and actress whose greatest success was in Germany between 1936 and 1943, when she was contracted to work for the state-owned Universum Film AG (UFA). Although no exact record ...
, and
Lale Andersen
Lale Andersen (23 March 1905 – 29 August 1972) was a German chanson singer-songwriter and actress born in Lehe (now part of Bremerhaven). She is best known for her interpretation of the song ''Lili Marleen'' in 1939, which by 1941 transcend ...
singing ""
t'll all be over / It'll end one day which the German troops in the
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...
huddled around radios to listen to, as well as her "
Lili Marleen
"Lili Marleen" (also spelled "Lili Marlen'", "Lilli Marlene", "Lily Marlene", "Lili Marlène" among others; ) is a German love song that became popular during World War II throughout Europe and the Mediterranean among both Axis and Allied troop ...
", which was also sung to Allied soldiers as "My Lili of the Lamplight" by
Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...
and
Vera Lynn
Dame Vera Margaret Lynn (; 20 March 191718 June 2020) was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during World War II. She is honorifically known as the " Forces' Sweetheart", having giv ...
, and by
Édith Piaf
Édith Piaf (, , ; born Édith Giovanna Gassion, ; December 19, 1915– October 10, 1963) was a French singer, lyricist and actress. Noted as France's national chanteuse, she was one of the country's most widely known international stars.
Pia ...
in a French version. Goebbels was not pleased with that song's tone of pessimism and nostalgia, and he had Andersen arrested in September 1942 for undermining the morale of the troops, blackballing her until the middle of 1943. At her first concert after returning to public performances, "Lili Marleen" was not included in the programme, and the audience called for her to sing it. When she did not, they sang it themselves. The song was subsequently banned outright in August 1944. Near the end of the war, British officials broadcast the German version of the song across the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
, hoping to depress the German troops.
The various number of
bureaucrat
A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can compose the administration of any organization of any size, although the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government.
The term ''bureaucrat'' derives from "bureaucracy", ...
s and committees involved in the radio industry resulted an unorthodox structure. The lack of unified organization across the industry was a hindrance to productivity and a sign of corruption, according to Goebbels. State-regulated radio was necessary to meet the needs of the masses, placing their common good in the forefront. With the Propaganda Ministry in place, after August 1939 Goebbels exercised complete control of the radio industry from content to distribution. Now instead of regulating music on the local level in concert halls, Goebbels and the Chamber of Culture had centralized control of the massively influential medium of radio. Through the saturation of German nationalist music and boycotting of Jewish compositions, Goebbels harnessed cultural products to further political control.
As with classical music, Jewish popular entertainers were forced to stop performing, and were frequently sent to concentration camps. The cabaret artist
Fritz Grünbaum
Franz Friedrich 'Fritz' Grünbaum (7 April 1880 in Brünn (Brno), Moravia – 14 January 1941 at the Dachau concentration camp, Germany) was an Austrian Jewish cabaret artist, operetta and popular song writer, actor, and master of ceremonies ...
was turned away at the border when he tried to leave Austria after the ''
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
'' for Czechoslovakia, and was sent to
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
and later to
Dachau
,
, commandant = List of commandants
, known for =
, location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany
, built by = Germany
, operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS)
, original use = Political prison
, construction ...
, where he died in 1941. The noted
Bohemian
Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to:
*Anything of or relating to Bohemia
Beer
* National Bohemian, a brand brewed by Pabst
* Bohemian, a brand of beer brewed by Molson Coors
Culture and arts
* Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, origin ...
lyricist
Fritz Löhner-Beda
Fritz Löhner-Beda (24 June 1883 – 4 December 1942), born Bedřich Löwy, was an Austrians, Austrian Libretto, librettist, lyricist and writer. Once nearly forgotten, many of his songs and tunes remain popular today. He was murdered in Monowitz ...
, who had collaborated on operas with
Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár ( ; hu, Lehár Ferenc ; 30 April 1870 – 24 October 1948) was an Austro-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas, of which the most successful and best known is ''The Merry Widow'' (''Die lustige Witwe'').
Life ...
, spent time in Dachau and Buchenwald before being sent to
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
, where he was beaten to death in the
Monowitz
Monowitz (also known as Monowitz-Buna, Buna and Auschwitz III) was a Nazi concentration camp and labor camp (''Arbeitslager'') run by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland from 1942–1945, during World War II and the Holocaust. For most of its existe ...
sub-camp. The
Silesian writer of hit songs, Ralf Erwin, left Germany in 1933 after the Nazi "seizure of power", but was later captured in France, and died in an internment camp there.
The advent of
swing music
Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. The name derived from its emphasis on the off-beat, or nominally weaker beat. Swing bands ...
, pioneered in the United States by clarinetist
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".
From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing big bands in the United States. His co ...
and his groups, caught on with European youths in a major way. Nazi officials could not stop it completely – even though, like all forms of
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
it was derided as "''
Negermusik
''Negermusik'' ("Negro music") was a derogatory term used by the Nazi Party during the Nazi Germany, Third Reich to demonize musical styles that had been invented by black people such as swing music, swing and jazz. The Nazi Party viewed these m ...
''" ("Negro music") – but did attempt to control it. For instance, the official swing band of Nazi Germany was Charlie's Orchestra, which also had a radio following in the UK. Still, even SS officers posted to Paris after the defeat of France in 1940 would go to jazz clubs, despite the official disapproval of the music.
See also
*
Art in Nazi Germany
The Nazi Germany, Nazi regime in Germany actively promoted and censored forms of art between 1933 and 1945. Upon becoming dictator in 1933, Adolf Hitler gave his personal artistic preference the force of law to a degree rarely known before. In th ...
*
Aryanism
Aryanism is an ideology of racial supremacy which views the supposed Aryan race as a distinct and superior racial group which is entitled to rule the rest of humanity. Initially promoted by racist theorists such as Arthur de Gobineau and Houst ...
* ''
Negermusik
''Negermusik'' ("Negro music") was a derogatory term used by the Nazi Party during the Nazi Germany, Third Reich to demonize musical styles that had been invented by black people such as swing music, swing and jazz. The Nazi Party viewed these m ...
'', derogatory term used in Nazi Germany for
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
and other music they associated with black people
References
Informational notes
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*{{Commons category-inline, Reichsmusikkammer, Reich Chamber of Music
Nazi culture
Censorship of music
Antisemitism in Germany
Radio in Germany
German music history