The Volk were also very fond of Beethoven, a German composer, however Hitler’s favourite composer was Richard Wagner and he used his music in death camps right before they would be killed. Pan German Nationalism started to radicalise after the First World War. The loss of the war was the main reason why pan German nationalism intensifies. Germany surrenders on the 11th of November 1918, and the German people (especially the Pan Germanics), are confused as to why the armistice was signed. This is because the German people thought they were winning the war, and rightly so.
However, there have been increasing opinions on how Nietzsche’s philosophy was abused and twisted by either his sister or the Nazi officials themselves, which leads onto the debate whether Nazi ideas are affected Nietzsche’s original views or the perverted ones. In order to understand more and discuss further, it is necessary to define the Nazi ideas of leadership first. There can be two interpretations: personal leadership, referring to Hitler’s dictatorship and racial leadership, echoing the Nazi idea that Aryan was the superior race and thus should be the race ruling the world. To some extent, it can be agreed that the ideas of Nietzsche did influence Nazi ideas of leadership. It is evident in the similarity between the most famous idea of Nietzsche, übermensch and Hitler’s image as the strong leader overcoming the harsh circumstances around him.
The Depression which began in 1929 was a great mean for Hitler to come to his power. During the Depression (1929-33), the Weimar Republic was seriously undermined by the social and economic conditions, which were also exploited by the Nazi Party. The Nazi ideologies appealed to those people who had seen no hope on the Republic. The Party promised people jobs, money, and homes, plus, they also wanted to abolish the Treaty of Versailles so there wouldn’t be huge reparations. That’s what German people want; they liked to be reminded of the humiliation caused by the War, and they wanted to get it back from the Republic.
The whole of Wagner’s works from 1850, the year Wagner published the infamous essay Das Judentum in der Musik, onward, incorporates his revolutionary theories concerning social issues and reveals him to be similar to his contemporary audience, a member of his culture steeped in beliefs that characterize him as anti-Semitic. By using the body, Wagner was able to evoke certain associations linked to the corporeal in his culture, which gave his ideas a degree of merit to his contemporary audience. It is only with the cultural context of Wagner’s time, that anti-Semitic implications of the music make sense. The associations connected to Wagner’s music, is not necessarily those of today. Specific key (tonality) are associated with specific dramatic configurations, moods or meanings.
German Expressionism dealt with Immediacy, influenced greatly by Nietzsche, whilst shunning the bourgeois art of the time. The movement also engaged with the ideas of Schopenhauer and Freud and their ideas heavily influenced a lot of writings.
Funder proves how vital the past is and why it should be remembered rather than forgotten. Remembering the past prevents history from reoccurring in the future, as it preserves the evils, atrocities and gross injustices of the GDR’s communist regime. For citizens of reunited Germany such as Funder’s employers Alexander Scheller and Uwe Schmidt, the former East Germany is a source of national shame. “It’s sort
He loses his position and sense of authority, which is an overriding theme displayed in the film. At this moment in time, we are very familiar with realist films which portray real-life society and events. In fact, realist films take root from the Kammerspiel film, a genre synonymous with Franz Murnau. The Kammerspiel film was essentially a realist drama, which mirrored life in Germany in the Weimar Republic after the Second World War. It was part of the wider Neue Sachlichkeit movement, which incorporated various art forms to capture and portray the mood of the German public in the post-World-War I period.
Ibsen invokes this motif through Rank’s dialogues. In his first appearance in Act I, Rank speaks disdainfully of the ill’s wish ‘to prolong the agony [of living with an illness] as long as possible’, and scornfully states that the ‘morally diseased’, feel the same. He goes on to state that such is the case of ‘a lawyer of the name of Krogstad... [who] suffers from a diseased moral character’, (Ibsen, 1992, p. 15). We later learn that Krogstad, another character in the play, is guilty of having committed a crime many years ago. By making a vivid comparison in Rank’s dialogues between fatal illness and moral blemishes, Ibsen emphasizes his society’s intolerance of that
“Only constant repetition will finally succeed in imprinting an idea on the memory of the crowd.” Adolf Hitler said this sentence in his notorious book, Mein Kampf, which translates to ‘My Struggle’. He had an emphasis on propaganda and its importance to a political rise to power. He stressed the significance of repeating ideas so that even those with the “most limited intelligence,” could understand. He appointed Joseph Goebbels as Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (1933-1945). He and his department were in charge of German news, literature, filmmaking, theatre, music and broadcasting.
Water, Water, Everywhere! Death in Venice, a novella by German author Thomas Mann, tells the extraordinary story of a conservative author trying to find a balance between societal expectations and the decadence that he craves. Gustav von Aschenbach, who is said to be loosely based on Mann himself, struggles in his quest for personal satisfaction on the streets on Venice, but things don’t always turn out the way he thinks. With the use of deep metaphors, philosophical allegories, and colorful imagery, Mann is able to paint a vivid picture of life and longing that continues to stand the test of time. One of the most suggestive imageries employed in Death in Venice is that of water.