The Reich Chamber of Culture: Ideology, Structure and Interaction With an Artist in the Third Reich

Abstract

The presented article aims to analyse the activities of one of the key management structures in the Third Reich, the so-called Reich Chamber of Culture. The main focus is placed on such aspects as the ideological influence of culture and the formation, through culture, of a united and consolidated "spirit of the nation". It is argued that the foundation of notions propagated by Nazi ideologists lied in the philosophical tradition of understanding the values and significance of German culture, which supported the perceived uniqueness of the "national cultural spirit". The article delves into the organisational mechanisms of control over cultural processes in the Third Reich. A special attention is given to exploring how the complex bureaucratic apparatus that amalgamated seven chambers would control literally all spheres of culture — from book publishing to cinema, from amateur groups to professional theatres and concert halls. Interaction with artists became one of the principal methods of cultural consolidation for the Reich Chamber of Culture under the Nazi regime. All artists, except for those of Jewish origin, were obliged to join the Reich Chamber of Culture; otherwise, they were barred from conducting their professional activities. Accordingly, based on typical examples of how individual artists were able to fare in their creative activities, the article discusses various ways of artists’ interaction with the totalitarian regime — from cooperation to cultural resistance and creativity in exile — and outlines the key models of such interaction. In conclusion, the author points out to the strategic nature of the Reich Chamber of Culture in the Nazi policies, its orientation towards diversifying the forms in which the regime’s goals were to be implemented through the extensive bureaucratic system, of the kind specially built to transmit state ideology