The Militant League for German Culture (German: ''Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur'', ''KfdK''), was a nationalistic

anti-Semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

political society during the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

and the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

era. It was founded in 1928 as the ''Nationalsozialistische Gesellschaft für deutsche Kultur'' (NGDK, National Socialist Society for German Culture) by Nazi ideologue

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 o ...

and remained under his leadership until it was reorganized and renamed to the National Socialist Culture Community (''Nationalsozialistische Kulturgemeinde'') in 1934. Its aim was to make a significant imprint on cultural life in Germany that was based on the aims and objectives of the inner circles of the Nazi Party. Upon its reorganization, it was merged with the ''Deutsche Bühne'' (German Stage), connected with the establishment of the official body for cultural surveillance, the "Dienstelle Rosenberg" (DRbg, Rosenberg Department), which was later known as the Amt Rosenberg (ARo, Rosenberg Office).

Members and followers

The number of members, who were organized in local chapters, rose from approximately 300 in 25 chapters in April 1929 to about 38,000 in 450 chapters by October 1933. The members and supporters included representatives of the extreme right wing of the National Socialist movement. These included anti-Semitic literary historians Adolf Bartels, Ludwig Polland, Gustaf Kossinna, physicist and

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

-opponent

Philipp Lenard Philipp Eduard Anton von Lenard (; ; 7 June 1862 – 20 May 1947) was a Hungarian-German physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1905 "for his work on cathode rays" and the discovery of many of their properties. One of his most im ...

, publishers

Hugo Bruckmann Hugo Bruckmann (13 October 1863, in Munich – 3 September 1941, in Munich) was a German publisher. He became a supporter of Adolf Hitler and served as a Nazi Party deputy in the '' Reichstag'' from 1932 until his death. Biography Bruckmann was ...

and Julius Friedrich Lehmann, the leaders of the Bayreuth Society Winifred Wagner, Daniela Thode, Hans Freiherr von Wolzogen, the widow of racial ideologist

Houston Stewart Chamberlain Houston Stewart Chamberlain (; 9 September 1855 – 9 January 1927) was a British-German-French philosopher who wrote works about political philosophy and natural science. His writing promoted German ethnonationalism, antisemitism, scientific r ...

, Eva Chamberlain, the composer Paul Graener, the philosophers Otto Friedrich Bollnow, and Eugen Herrigel, the poet and later president of the ''Reichsschrifttumskammer''

Hanns Johst Hanns Johst (8 July 1890 – 23 November 1978) was a German poet and playwright, directly aligned with Nazi philosophy, as a member of the officially approved writers’ organisations in the Third Reich. The statement “When I hear the word cult ...

; the architect Paul Schulze-Naumburg, who edited the periodical ''Kunst und Rasse'' 'Art and Race'' and who spoke at many events; Gustav Havemann, a violinist and later leader of the '' Reichsmusikkammer'' (who founded and lead a Kampfbund orchestra); the theater director Karl von Schirach; Fritz Kloppe who led ''

Werwolf ''Werwolf'' (, German for "werewolf") was a Nazi plan which began development in 1944, to create a resistance force which would operate behind enemy lines as the Allies advanced through Germany in parallel with the ''Wehrmacht'' fighting in ...

'', a paramilitary organization; and the theologian, nationalist musicologist Fritz Stein, actors Carl Auen and Aribert Mog, philosopher, sociologist and economist

Othmar Spann Othmar Spann (1 October 1878 – 8 July 1950) was a conservative Austrian philosopher, sociologist and economist. His radical anti-liberal and anti-socialist views, based on early 19th century Romantic ideas expressed by Adam Müller et al. ...

, and Austrian political philosopher and a teacher of

Friedrich Hayek Friedrich August von Hayek (8 May 1899 – 23 March 1992) was an Austrian-born British academic and philosopher. He is known for his contributions to political economy, political philosophy and intellectual history. Hayek shared the 1974 Nobe ...

. After an ad on April 20, 1933, Edwin Werner, PhD, founded his own association in Passau.Anna Rosmus: Hitlers Nibelungen, Samples Grafenau 2015, pp. 61f Corporate and organizational members included the Association of German Fraternities eutsche Burschenschaften the German Homeland Association eutsche Landsmannschaft German College Gymnastics Associations urnerschaften an deutschen Hochschulen the Association of German Guilds eutsche Gildenschaften the Association of German Glee Clubs eutsche Sängerschaft the German College Music Society ondershäuser Verband and German College Art Society eutscher Hochschulring

Publications and political action

The Society published the periodical ''Mitteilung des Kampfbundes für deutsche Kultur'' 'Proceedings of the KfdK''from 1929 to 1931. Under the heading "Signs of the Times" they listed their enemies:

Erich Kästner Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including ''Emil and the Detectives'' and '' Lisa an ...

Kurt Tucholsky Kurt Tucholsky (; 9 January 1890 – 21 December 1935) was a German journalist, satire, satirist, and writer. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Kaspar Hauser (after the Kaspar Hauser, historical figure), Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger and Ignaz Wr ...

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

Walter Mehring Walter Mehring (29 April 1896 – 3 October 1981) was a German author and one of the most prominent satirical authors in the Weimar Republic. He was banned during the Third Reich and fled the country. Early life Mehring was Jewish, the so ...

, and the Berlin Institute for Sexual Research. Later the most frequently mentioned were

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

, Kandinsky,

Kurt Schwitters Kurt Hermann Eduard Karl Julius Schwitters (20 June 1887 – 8 January 1948) was a German artist. He was born in Hanover, Germany, but lived in exile from 1937. Schwitters worked in several genres and media, including Dadaism, Constructivism (a ...

, the Bauhaus Movement, Emil Nolde, Karl Hofter,

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, drawing, draftsman, printmaker, sculpture, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the m ...

, and

Georg Grosz George Grosz (; ; born Georg Ehrenfried Groß; July 26, 1893 – July 6, 1959) was a German artist known especially for his caricature, caricatural drawings and paintings of Berlin life in the 1920s. He was a prominent member of the Berlin Dada ...

. Books by

Ernst Toller Ernst Toller (1 December 1893 – 22 May 1939) was a German author, playwright, left-wing politician and revolutionary, known for his Expressionist plays. He served in 1919 for six days as President of the short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic, ...

Arnold Zweig Arnold Zweig (; 10 November 1887 – 26 November 1968) was a German writer, pacifist, and socialist. Early life and education Zweig was born in Glogau, Prussian Silesia (now Głogów, Poland), the son of Adolf Zweig, a Jewish shipping agent and ...

, Jakob Wassermann,

Lion Feuchtwanger Lion Feuchtwanger (; 7 July 1884 – 21 December 1958) was a German Jewish novelist and playwright. A prominent figure in the literary world of Weimar Republic, Weimar Germany, he influenced contemporaries including playwright Bertolt Brecht. ...

, Arnolt Bronnen, Leonhard Frank, Emil Ludwig, and Alfred Neumann were dismissed as not properly German. In 1930, the society directed a campaign against

Ernst Barlach Ernst Heinrich Barlach (2 January 1870 – 24 October 1938) was a German Expressionism, expressionist sculptor, medallist, printmaker and writer. Although he was a supporter of the war in the years leading to World War I, his participation in th ...

and the so-called "hate art" (''Hetzkunst'') of

Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz ( born Schmidt; 8 July 186722 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including ''The Weavers'' and ''The Peasa ...

. The Society published ''German Culture Watch: Journal of the KfdK'' in October 1932, reprinted in 1933, under the editorship of Hans Hinkel. Their activities had a nationwide impact. In 1930

Wilhelm Frick Wilhelm Frick (12 March 1877 – 16 October 1946) was a German prominent politician of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and convicted war criminal who served as Minister of the Interior in Adolf Hitler's cabinet from 1933 to 1943 and as the last governor ...

, the Nazi Interior and Cultural minister of Thuringia and KdfK regional leader, named

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-ordination of ...

of the Schultze-Naumburg firm as director of the Weimar Architecture Institute. He immediately dismissed all practitioners of the Bauhaus style. Frick ordered artworks by " degenerate artists" to be removed from the Schlossmuseum in Weimar. These included works by

Otto Dix Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (; 2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969) was a German painter and Printmaking, printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war. Alon ...

Lyonel Feininger Lyonel Charles Adrian Feininger (; July 17, 1871January 13, 1956) was a German-American painter, and a leading exponent of Expressionism. He also worked as a caricaturist and comic strip artist. He was born and grew up in New York City. In 1887 h ...

, Kandinsky,

, Barlach,

Oskar Kokoschka Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright and teacher, best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the Viennese Expre ...

Franz Marc Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (8 February 1880 – 4 March 1916) was a German painter and printmaking, printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of ''Der Blaue Reiter'' (The Blue Rider), a journal whose ...

, and Emil Nolde, although the latter was himself a nazi. Works by modernist composers

Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of ...

and Hindemith were struck from state-subsidized concert programs, and books by Erich Maria Remarque, and films by Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and Georg Wilhelm Pabst were banned outright. The KfdK, under Frick's auspices, arranged its first major youth conference on

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 49th day (50th day when inclusive counting is used) after Easter Day, Easter. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spiri ...

in 1930. It presented Nazi leaders

Baldur von Schirach Baldur Benedikt von Schirach (; 9 May 1907 – 8 August 1974) was a German politician who was the leader of the Hitler Youth from 1931 to 1940. From 1940 to 1945, he was the '' Gauleiter'' (district leader) and '' Reichsstatthalter'' (Reich gov ...

, Goebbels, Göring, and Darré. Referencing Weimar's "spiritual heroes" a resolution called for "strengthening German military will" and, in reference to the arts, "resistance against all populist harmful influences in the area of theater, literature and fine arts, and against alien architecture." The following Pentecost in 1931, saw a youth and cultural meeting in Potsdam, where Rosenberg gave lectures on "Blood and Honor," and "Race and Personality", and Göring on the theme "Readiness to fight to protect our culture."

Bibliography

;Background history * Hildegard Brenner: ''Die Kunstpolitik des Nationalsozialismus''. Reinbek bei Hamburg 1963
DNB
* Klaus Vondung: ''Die Apokalypse in Deutschland''. Munich 1988, . * Jan-Pieter Barbian: ''Literaturpolitik im »Dritten Reich«''. Institutionen, Kompetenzen, Betätigungsfelder, Nördlingen 1995, . * Wolfram Meyer zu Uptrup: ''Kampf gegen die „jüdische Weltverschwörung“''. Propaganda und Antisemitismus der Nationalsozialisten 1919-1945. Berlin 2003, . ;Primary sources and documents * Alfred Rosenberg: ''Aufruf!''. in: Der Weltkampf 5 (May 1928), pp 210–212. * ''Nationalsozialistische Propaganda in der Münchner Universität''. In Frankfurter Zeitung, Evening Edition 25. February 1929, P. 2. * Reichsleitung/Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur (ed.): ''Schwarze Liste für öffentliche Büchereien und gewerbliche Leihbüchereien''. Berlin 1934
DNB
;Research and monographs * Reinhard Bollmus: ''Das Amt Rosenberg und seine Gegner''. Studien zum Machtkampf im nationalsozialistischen Herrschaftssystem. Stuttgart 1970
DNB
(2. Aufl., Munich / Oldenburg 2006, .) (One chapter of quantitative data based closely on source material) * Frank Wende (ed.): ''Lexikon zur Geschichte der Parteien in Europa''. Kröner, Stuttgart 1981, . * Jürgen Gimmel: ''Die politische Organisation kulturellen Ressentiments''. Der „Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur“ und das bildungsbürgerliche Unbehagen an der Moderne. Münster / Hamburg / London 1999, . * Harald Lönnecker: ''„... Boden für die Idee Adolf Hitlers auf kulturellem Felde gewinnen“. Der „Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur“ und die deutsche Akademikerschaft''. In: GDS-Archiv für Hochschul- und Studentengeschichte, Vol. 6, edited by Friedhelm Golücke / Peter Krause / Wolfgang Gottwald / Klaus Gerstein / Harald Lönnecker, Cologne 2002, pp. 121–144.

Members and followers

Publications and political action

Bibliography

References

Further reading

See also