The Censorship of Music in Nazi Germany

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The Censorship of Music in Nazi Germany The Nazis transformed Germany unbelievably rapidly to a state of complete police control and political repression. In order to do this, however, unmerciful, heavy and consistent censorship was carried out. The aim of this Nazi censorship was to politically influence German citizens to the extent where each and every one of their beliefs would conform perfectly to those of the Nazis; obliterating any potential confliction or opposition against the Nazi party. One area in which the Nazis felt it was appropriate to intervene was the music industry. This was due to the fact that, both in the time of and before the rise of the Nazis, music was an extremely popular creative outlet in 1930s Germany: with genres such as jazz and soul making appearances in the forefront of this market. Upon the theft of political freedom in Germany people found that they were limited even in terms of the music of which they were legally permitted to listen to. One of the most famous Nazi bans was that of jazz music; a statement which (however controversial it may have been) signified greatly the Nazi influence and control on even creative practices designed to be expressive and based upon true emotion. The Nazi's reasons behind banning Jazz music were that this was a genre not of primarily German or even European roots. The African-American origins of these compositions alone were reason enough for the Nazis to believe it was unsuitable for the ears of the German people; it was consequently entirely boycotted and it was made both illegal and socially unacceptable to promote this genre. Also, the Nazis banned Jewish musicians from performing; by stripping them not only of work but of their passion, the Nazis found a way of repressing the Jewish people further then they already were. These bans reinforced Nazi/general anti-Semitic ideas
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