Some thoughts on leaders and culture.
Hitler had wanted to become a painter when he was young.
But his drawings and paintings were mediocre, and he failed to gain entry into Vienna’s prestigious art school.
He applied twice and they rejected him each time.
Yet, Hitler nevertheless considered himself a preeminent authority on art and culture.
And he recognized the power of art to mold public opinion.
So, as he grabbed the reins of power, he used it.
Four years in, he staged two art exhibitions in 1937.
One, called “The Great Exhibition of German Art,” featured depictions of ‘Aryans’ in strong poses and images of verdant German landscapes.
The other, entitled “Degenerate Art,” featured modern and abstract art produced by Jews, Communists and others deemed ‘suspect.’
They were deemed ‘degenerate’ because they were said to ‘insult Germany’ or ‘distort natural forms.’
Hitler opened the degenerate art exhibit with a speech promising Germans a ‘merciless war’ on cultural disintegration.
And at the same time, books were burned, artists and musicians were fired from teaching positions and Nazi party members replaced museum curators.
Key to Hitler’s plan to remake German culture in the Nazi image was his intention to build a large European cultural center in Linz, his hometown in Austria, called the Führermuseum.
The center’s art museum would be filled with masterpieces looted from Nazi-conquered territories with an emphasis on 19th century German romantic painters.
The center would also contain a theater, a concert hall and a library containing 250,000 looted books.
As the war dragged on, Hitler’s preoccupation with the Führermuseum grew.
It became the daily topic of discussion at his regular afternoon tea.
Hitler prepared rough designs for the Führermuseum’s buildings himself, then hired Nazi architects to bring them to life.
He focused on details, specifying the manner in which paintings would be displayed on museum walls, insisting that furnishing matching the period be displayed alongside them.
When the war turned against him and he retreated to his bunker, the Führermuseum became something of an obsession.
As the Red Army advanced from the East to within forty miles of Berlin and Allied forces edged close to the Rhine in the West, Hitler demanded a scale model of the Führermuseum complex.
So, on February 9, 1945, as FDR, Churchill and Stalin met at Yalta to plan for the occupation of postwar Germany, Hitler sat with the scale model in his bunker.
Experts say authoritarian leaders attempt to control culture to root out subversive voices and stifle dissent.
In authoritarian societies, art must proclaim the leader’s message.
It’s all about control.
Anyone who remembers “All we are saying is give peace a chance,” John Lennon’s musical plea from 1969, understands the political power of art and music to shape public attitudes.
Now Trump has made himself the president of the Kennedy Center.
So, will Carrie Underwood and Kid Rock reprise their inauguration performances with Kennedy Center appearances?
Who knows.
But I’m betting that a bust of Trump which rivals the scale of JFK’s soon finds its way into the Kennedy Center’s Grand Foyer.
You heard it here first.
I’ll see you tomorrow.
— Brenda
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