Entartete Kunst

Is modern day American society better than those who we call and/or have called our ‘enemies?’ I have been asking myself this question this past week during my Music History course. In this class, we have been discussing 20^th century music and in my research I have come across a movement called “Entartete Kunst.” In 1937, the German government led by the Nazi party held an art exhibit called “Entartete Kunst” in Munich, Germany. With this exhibition, it was the Nazi party’s objective to publically admonish and mock the genres of art and music they disliked; interestingly, I find this movement of the Nazi party not much unlike what we call today as good ‘American values.’

“Entartete Kunst” or ‘Degenerate Art’ was the label the party used to denote the art they felt to be inappropriate, lacking moral fiber, and a threat to German unity. In all actuality, it was part of a racist project set out to cleanse and destroy modernizing tendencies that were prominent in the artistic and musical world after World War I.  By identifying and publically displaying the art they believed to be degenerate, they were simultaneously able to institutionalize artistic and musical policies for Nazi Germany. These musical policies were undoubtedly based upon many of the fundamental ideologies of the Nazi party.

I do not want accuse modern day American society of sharing all of Nazi Germany’s radical ideology. However, is there a significant difference between what the Nazi’s did in the ‘Degenerate Art’ movement and what the American government censors in public media? During the Nazi regime, Germans were not allowed to publically show art that displayed nudity, just like how modern day American TV is unable to show full nudity on public television. I do not want to force my ideals on the rest of American society, but if we, as Americans, are to teach our children that what happened in Nazi Germany was wrong how can we be so hypocritical about something as important as art.