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Module Title Student No. Assignment No. Question in full

Perceptions of Heritage 09004116 2

Heritage is always a dangerous and irrational faith activity. Discuss with particular reference to the following: Nazi art and scholarship

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3658 07/01/2013

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This essay is entirely my own work and all internet and conventional sources have been fully attributed. I understand that this document may be subject to a plagiarism check.

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Since the dawn of the Human Race, there has been a strong connection to Heritage. It is the creator of legacies, of traditions, and of customs that are passed on through generations leaving gifts of physical and sentimental value such as the natural environment or the landscape, and art. It builds structures within societies creating Nobility and status. It is a way of life that is unique to each culture and is coveted and practiced on a daily basis. It is for this very reason that heritage can be a dangerous and irrational faith activity. Heritage can easily be changed to suit an individual belief or manipulated to change an entire society. It can be used to persuade the masses, backed up with lose facts and scientific evidence by the most scholarly of people who are well known and trusted. The belief in a national heritage is something that is worth fighting and dying for, and if the heritage of a society is being threatened or lost, then great lengths and sacrifices will be made to re-build or re-create it. This essay will identify the dangers of heritage and the devastating consequences it has had on cultures in the past. In particular there will be a focus on heritage and what it meant to people living in Germany during the time of the Third Reich as well as the influences of Nazi art and scholarship. The beginning will discuss a nation in cultural ruins from the after math of World War One. It will show how one man destroyed a nation that was vulnerable and without identity. From here the essay will focus in on the art that changed the nation and led them into an illusion of prosperity, of victory, and of a pure race that would dominate the world. With examples of various works such as paintings and sculptures it will demonstrate the awful consequences of a new heritage that would not last. Moving on from art to scholarship, the essay will end with the men who were able to brainwash a nation will their intelligence and put their beliefs and customs into action in what would forever been seen as a very dark point in European history. To address the issue of heritage as an irrational faith could be dangerous grounds as heritage has been around since the dawn of man. Heritage gives meaning to mundane everyday life and creates a nostalgia and devotion to things in the past that make up current traits of cultures. It binds people together as family, as a race, as a community and as a nation. Lowenthal described National Heritage as a communal act in language, the past, culture, values and landscape (Lowenthal 1997: 63). What makes heritage dangerous is it can be changed and manipulated for any fitting purpose. It can tweak history mixing fact and fiction. Nevertheless, it is exclusive to each culture, an can be essential to the survival and health of that particular group of people (Lowenthal 1997: 128). With such strong ties to communal heritage, if that very centre of what is holding a community together is stripped away, their cultural word could crumble leaving the people in social ruins. Some might say that at this crucial point what they would need is to surrender to order, structure, and sacrifice to survive. John Ruskin wrote about communities and their relationship to obedience as being beautiful, that freedom is a myth, and that art is at the centre of national unity during times of disorder. His idea of sacrifice meant spending more for the sake of beauty and expense or to give the illusion of grandeur the easiest and cheapest way possible (Ruskin 1880:10-11). While he spoke of sacrifice in terms of architecture, the idea can be applied to a community willingly (or unwillingly) losing something together in order to please just one person. If a community like the Germans for example, left in an economic devastation after a war lost their identity, they might be willing to sacrifice everything they have left that is precious to them to please an individual for their own advantage (Ruskin 1880: 11). Whether this is a
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deity or in fact a person close to deity could be on a fine line. For the Germans, it was Adolf Hitler. With the people of Germany trying to reinvent their lives, their customs, their traditions, Hitler stepped in with a voice and a dream of change. To look at Hitler it would have been easy to see his love for nature and art; all things beautiful, and be blinded to the underlying hatred and evil for anything that did not fit his ideas of what was good. Although his definition of beautiful was slightly skewed from the rest of the world he believed, much like Edmund Burke, that anything good had to be beautiful, and art concentrated on the good. Even his speeches were of an artful form, bringing beauty to a time of great need. He felt that the making of a new culture, especially during a time of war, was a sign of the undiminished strength and security of Germany and that art was the eternal and unchanging expression of the national will (BBC 1990). And so he strived to rebuild Germany on the arts such as buildings and architecture, paintings, propaganda posters for the war and sculptures all focusing on a harmonious relationship to nature, eternal strength for the pure race of Germans, and sacrifice for the benefit of the nation. These things alone are not wrong or evil, for to be in tune with nature and to be healthy and to be willing to make sacrifices all lead to better lives, but what Hitler was doing went far beyond these simple goals. He was feeding on their national tragedy and strong desire to belong within their own culture. Burke spoke of personal survival and self-preservation, with the fear of danger, pain or death as the most powerful of emotions and a source to the sublime (Burke 1990 30:33). What was so dangerous for the Germans were their willingness to imitate the ideologies being presented by a man who sought solitude and a heritage based on the master race of the Aryans. He sought racial purity and used art to manipulate the nation and introduce this new heritage. What he could not see though was the future that lay before him and his people. After the end of World War II, Hitler would disown the nation inviting them to die from the devastating truth that these people did not fit the description of the true master race (BBC 1990). His heritage cleansing would fail, but it would take years. It was what unfolded in those years that will be discussed further. It is often easy to see heritage entwined into the artwork of societies making a statement and leaving a historical message of both harsh realities and the hope of the future. It becomes dangerous when it is manipulated through propaganda, changing historical facts as well as dictating a fictional present and future. During the years of Nazi reign in Germany, art was exploited not too dissimilar to human minorities. Heritage was recreated to fit into the package of German Nationalism which was based upon a style of Romantic realism. Any art that was not officially approved was burned or auctioned off to private bidders. What remained were paintings, posters and sculptures that depicted German tradition, racism, purity, militarism, and obedience. The sense of German identity was strong, pushing out through the art in landscape paintings, posters depicting healthy activity, and World War II propaganda displaying pride, power and hierarchical control. Drawing heavily on nationalism in many regards including protection and guidance, it also took on a powerful and dangerous role, adding to irrational faith of the Third Reich and the Aryan Race (BBC 1990).

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Hitler was himself a lover of all art. From painting to architecture, He felt that art was one of the most important elements in the creation of the new Reich and the new man. With Hitlers idea of re-invention the perfect German, local culture and the already strong connection to German heritage were emphasized with a political undertone to manipulate desires and dreams, shape the common outlook and control behaviour. Art became a form of communication by using simplistic landscape paintings and driving in the political message for example adding the word German into the title, or feeding on traditions and thus giving them a strong National tie. The key was repetition and tapping into the pre-existing emotions of the people (BBC 1990).

Figure 1. Typical painting of the Third Reich with the stereotypical farmer and an abundance of crops

Hitler drilled this endless repetition of lies into paintings. The images of mother and child, the farmer ploughing his field, and the abundance of crops it emphasized strength, health, sacrifice and the bonds of family, and all this despite the natural process of mechanization in farming (Fig 1). It also carried the underlying identity of the Aryan race. With the intent to erase class distinction and promote a new stereotype, no real people were painted but fictional ones of perfection. It was a fictional Germany of peace and prosperity while the reality was that of a Germany in ruins.
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The political propaganda was especially indistinguishable from art during the Second World War. Hitler used art to control ideas and emotions and have the people almost begging to die for his cause. Soldiers were depicted as the ideal German with a readiness to fight and die for the nation (Fig 2). Sacrifice was essential, and not only from the soldier, but from the family left behind. The invitation was sent out for the entire nation to die for the glory of Germany (BBC 1990). Television, films, architecture, sculptures, posters and paintings all carried the same message of invincibility, strength and power. The homeland was to be defended by everyone and the people were so brainwashed from the cultural programming, schools and armies that except for the few rebels, little persuasion was needed to join the cause.

Figure 2. Painting of Waffen-SS man or recruit (Anton, O N.D.)

The manipulation of Hitler in his scheme to change the heritage of Germany was the exact opposite of what he was promoting. Reality was put aside for the edited illusion of a victorious nation. A prime example of this was the Olympics. It was the perfect way to bring people into a communal area, subtract individualism, and demonstrate the eternal power, health and strength of the Aryan German Race (Fig 3). The Games were a national propaganda and seen as another form a war (in preparation for the real war). It taught self-sacrifice, was a way to get people fit, and it instilled national pride. Mass participation both at the games and through television was an easy way to rule out individualism. It was the perfect way to show that the German man was physically best prepared for anything, had physical superiority, and could give insight into world ranking (Krger 1998:2-3). If there was any place to show the might of the Aryan race, the Olympics were the place.
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Figure 3. Propaganda Poster for the German Olympics

German Nationalism was quickly being established to the every whim of a dark charismic leader who wanted German Heritage to reflect the perfect master race. The ideology reflected in the art was becoming overwhelming and was forced upon many. Everything told the same story. With art the centre of every idea, every thought, and every fundamental political movement there was sitting at the very heart of it all a symbol of the swastika (Fig 4). While this symbol became a powerful image of hatred and racism, its origins were deeply rooted in the history of mankind. Having been dated back to the times of ice age in Russia, it was strongly connected to the image of women and the idea of fertility. In other cultures, like Mesopotamia, it was closely associated with sexual organs, funerary pottery and magic. In Japan it was seen as a lunar symbol in conjunction with agriculture (Loewenstein 1941). These ideas of fertility, death and agriculture are the backbone to what Hitler was trying to achieve for Germany. His ultimate goals were to kill off the Jews and anyone else non Aryan, to build up the master race, and to promote an abundance of crops to show power and encourage the people to the simple ways of life. But what Hitler saw in the swastika was probably far more than all these things. There were a few archaeologists who ignored the research that the symbol had not
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appeared in northern Europe until the Bronze Age, before the Danubain peasants had taught the Nordic people agriculture and possibly introduced the correlating symbol. They believed that the symbol was of that of the Aryans and used as a solar symbol (Loewenstein: 1941: 54). This newly defined symbol helped to represent eternal life for the new German race, and keeping with the connection of the female and of nature, Hitler carried this idea in the art of the third Reich. A painting that hung over the mantle in his house was of four naked women who represented the four seasons (fig 5). The painting carried the message of the social role of the woman to sacrifice herself (as it looks like they are sitting on an alter), and to be admired as an object to be fertilized. These very stereotyped naked bodies were perfection and very unrealistic (BBC 1990).

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Figure 4. the Swastika

Figure 5. A newer version of the classic four seasons for the Nazi Art collection

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With Germany saturated in political art propaganda, the people were sheltered to the violent truth of the regime. It was a bloodless takeover of a society and heritage. The desire within Hitler to breed the Aryan race and control their every thought went beyond his love and eventual manipulation of all the arts. It was his scholarly background and cultural upbringing that would influence his ideas for his political take over and what would become known as the third Reich. It was a dangerous faith in that it meant the killing of many innocent people. By the end of the Second World War, his ideology had led to the death of 55 million people. He was so angered by the outcome that he disowned the nation and invited them to die (video soure). But he was not alone in these ideas. Many scholars shared the strong belief in the Nordic race, believing it was the true master race and should dominate, control, and re-populate the world. But this idea of race was a very modern idea, unlike the origins of heritage, and the concept was developed shortly after the Europeans conquered the Americas and people were forced into slavery. So already the idea of race is linked with negative actions yet the word was easily confused as it had so many different meanings. Because of the lose definition it could be easily manipulated politically which is exactly what Hitler did by referring to the mythical race of the Aryans (Pringle 1996:27-28). Stemming from a mythical ancient Himalayan culture that had no name, a German literary critic gave them the name Aryan meaning noble. In this way they entered into German heritage. For the nationalists, it put their ancestors up on pedestals as conquerors and masters of the world (Pringle 1996: 32-33). And just like that a heritage of supremacy had arisen to grab the attention of a select elite group of people with selfish ambitions and evil intentions. For only a few people with so much scholarship and authority and influence on so many the consequences could be a massive object of destruction to a society, especially when in search of a new identity; a new heritage. One of these elect few was Hans Gunther. He was respected by many including Hitler and Himmler (Pringle 2006: 418). His list of credentials included German Race Researcher, Eugenicist, professor, scientist and author. His research of the Nordic race was combined with the idea of a eugenicist (improvement of human hereditary traits through forms of intervention such as creating healthier more intelligent people), and he taught these ideals with a very strong conviction of National Socialism. He was not only a member of the N.S.D.A.P but was seen as the pride of the organization for his work. He argued for legal sterilization for in his mind unintelligent people were reproducing far too much in Europe so state sponsored family planning should be instated (Metapedia 2012). Most of all he believed that the Nordic race was the most valuable, the noblest and the great creative force in history (Gunther 1927). His convictions for the Nordic race were on the lines of obsessive with books and journal articles written on all the same material. And it was hard to disprove him with his scientific and archaeological evidence to back up his theories. In his book The Racial Elements of European History Gunther goes to great lengths to discuss the short comings of other cultures with head shots of various races and stories of culture downfalls. He takes archaeological and anthropological studies of Europe and applies them to Germany and Nordic racial characters going to the extreme of linking the Nordic race to Greece and the heroic sagas of the Hellenes (Gunther 1927: 136). He provides photos of Hellenic sculptures with fair hair and blue eyes, yet the photos are in black and white and the art might or might not have been
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painted, and some of the sculptures have the outline of the sockets with no eyes painted in at all (Gunther 1927: 138-139). Yet Gunther continues on with the evidence with what seems like endless head shots of the Greek/Nordic art relationship. He concludes his book calling out for a world cleansing both racially and eugenically. He encourages the reward of a lifetime of pursuit as a recognition of courage and calls out to the youth using words such as Nobility, strength and goals past that of individual life (Gunther 1927: 236). This final idea that he wrote about was what both Hitler and Himmler strived to put into action. Heinrich Himmler was a ruthless and intelligent man who was a part of the Nazi party and very dependable (Pringle 1996: 419). Working closely with Hitler, He was a firm believer in the Aryan, or true master race, and founded an elite Nazi research institute called the Ahnenerbe meaning something inherited from the forefathers. The nation was led to believe that its purpose was to discover new evidence for the ancestors of Germany by means of exact scientific methods, but the harsh reality of the organization was nothing but myths and distorted truths. They manipulated the evidence to support the racial ideas of both Himmler and of Hitler (Pringle 1996: 2-3). With such strong convictions for this pure race of Germans and being in a position of so much power, Himmler was able to carry out his life time desire of cleansing the world of its vermin. In 1932, the Nazi party came into full power and a state of emergency was declared (by manipulation of the party) in Germany. As a newly appointed police chief, Himmler ordered the arrest of those he thought were of the greatest threat such as journalists and Jewish leaders and had them placed in a new prison facility thus marking the beginning of the concentration camps (Pringle 1996: 43). By 1943 85 percent of the Jews living in Germany would be murdered bringing to light and reality the true purpose of Hitler, Himmler and Gunther. Only the end of the war would see the end of the holocaust for the Jewish nation as well as the end of the pursuit for the master race (Morretta 1997). With these men out of power, there was no chance for their mythological heritage to continue, and the nation would once again be left to start over and build a new legacy for their descents to cherish and carry forth to future generations. To conclude, heritage can be a powerful political tool when left in the hands of people who hold strong to a belief built upon myth. The danger in this kind of heritage is that the people who stand for their beliefs, no matter how far from the truth it be, they will go to any lengths to prove it is more than heritage but history itself. They will manipulate science, artefacts and anything else that pertains to the ideology and drill it into a starving culture until it becomes so integrated in everyday life, that people would begin to feel lost without it. By using art in every aspect of its meaning, Hitler was able to brainwash the nation and especially the youth to believe the illusion of victory and the lies of what the future held thanks to the Aryan ancestors. His self-love was so strong that he wanted to outdo the rest of history and sit upon the throne of the master race. When his plans failed and he took his own life, he also showed just how dangerous his irrational faith was as he had encouraged the nation to follow suit and commit a national suicide. But it was not just Hitler and his manipulation of the arts that brought about the cultural cleansing but other scholars who manipulated science and truths to back up their common interest in the master Nordic/Aryan race. They wanted desperately to show the nation that what was seen as myth was actually truth and went to every measure to force their ideologies and rid the nation and what they hoped would follow; the world. By playing
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on the broken emotions of a culture that had lost so many they were able to easily gain the trust of the people and use them as tools for their master plan. In the end they may have not succeeded in overtaking the world with the pure German race, but what they did succeed in was proving that faith in any heritage when so strongly rooted can be a dangerous and irrational thing.

Bibliography

BBC (1990) Art in the Third Reich [youtube] [24 June 1990: 16:00]

Burke, E. (1990) A Philosophical Enquiry. Great Britain: Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

Gunther, H. F. K. (1927) The Racial Elements of European History. Ostara Publications

Krger, A (N.D.) The Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda and the Nazi Olympics of 1936 Fourth International Symposium for Olympic Research

Lowenthal, D. (1997) The Heritage Crusade and the Spoils of History. Great Britain: Viking

Metapedia (2012) Biography [online] Available from <http://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Hans_F.K._ Gnther> [7 Jan 2013]

Morretta, Teresa (1997) History of the holocaust timeline [online] Available from <Remember.org/educate/mtimeline.html> [7 Jan 2013]

Pringle, H. (1996) The Master Plan. London: Harper Perennial

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09004116 Ruskin, J. (1880) The Seven Lamps of Architecture. Orpington: George Allen

List of photo references

Fig 1. Landscape painting from the Third Reich period. [online]Available from <http://www.artswallpapers.com/galleries/arts_third_reich/imagepages/image4.htm> [7 Jan 2013]

Fig 2. Anton, O (N.D.) Waffen-SS poster [online] Available from < http://ssrelics.net/ss-propaganda.htm> [7 Jan 2013] Fig 3. Propaganda Poster for the German Olympics [online] Available from < http://iranpoliticsclub.net/photos/nazi-girls3/index.htm> [07 Jan 2013]

Fig 4. The swastika [online] Available from < http://itcmaster.deviantart.com/art/Swastika-PSD-187092385> [ 7 Jan 2013]

Fig 5. Remake of the Four Seasons for Nazi Art [online] Available from <googleimages.com> [7 Jan 2013]

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