0:00:02.730,0:00:14.889 [Opening music] 0:00:14.889,0:00:18.759 Voiceover (narrator David McColloch): [br]Here in Berlin in 1933, 0:00:18.759,0:00:21.679 the Nazi party came to power. 0:00:21.679,0:00:25.499 [Train clattering and whistling] 0:00:25.499,0:00:28.000 [Music] 0:00:28.000,0:00:30.685 At once they began burning books 0:00:30.709,0:00:33.976 and attacking writers[br]and artists, 0:00:34.000,0:00:38.789 waging a full scale war[br]on the modern imagination. 0:00:38.789,0:00:43.876 [Music] 0:00:43.876,0:00:47.768 In 1937, the Nazis held up[br]for ridicule 0:00:47.792,0:00:51.101 the works of art[br]they most despised 0:00:51.125,0:00:54.505 in the most infamous art show[br]of all time. 0:00:54.505,0:00:56.501 Robert Hughes: Three million people[br]went to it. 0:00:56.501,0:00:58.518 It was the most successful[br]goddamn blockbuster 0:00:58.542,0:01:01.975 in the history[br]of modern exhibition techniques 0:01:01.975,0:01:05.459 and 95% of 'em just laughed[br]at it. 0:01:08.194,0:01:09.834 (Peter Selz - Art Historian) 0:01:09.834,0:01:12.935 - Here were outstanding artists[br]who were highly honored 0:01:12.959,0:01:15.310 and then suddenly[br]they were criminals, 0:01:15.334,0:01:17.768 and they were Jews,[br]and they were Bolsheviks, 0:01:17.792,0:01:20.685 and they were all kinds[br]of things. 0:01:20.709,0:01:23.976 Voiceover: In the end many artists[br]and writers would flee. 0:01:24.000,0:01:30.143 Others remained to face ruined[br]careers, suicide, and death. 0:01:30.167,0:01:35.351 The Nazis called the exhibition[br]Entartete Kunst-- 0:01:35.375,0:01:38.292 Degenerate Art. 0:01:38.315,0:01:58.495 [Music] 0:02:04.135,0:02:11.083 Narrator: The Altes Museum [br]in Berlin, 1992. 0:02:12.721,0:02:14.584 Painting and sculpture 0:02:14.584,0:02:17.625 once part of the Nazi Degenerate[br]Art Exhibition 0:02:17.625,0:02:20.894 has been gathered together[br]by an American museum 0:02:20.918,0:02:23.542 and put on display[br]here in Germany. 0:02:29.083,0:02:34.310 Today for most of us these works[br]of art are no longer threatening 0:02:34.310,0:02:37.435 but there was a time when[br]they outraged most people, 0:02:37.435,0:02:40.758 shocked and bewildered them. 0:02:40.758,0:02:44.768 In the 1930s, the Nazis said[br]they were dangerous 0:02:44.792,0:02:48.289 and were bent on their[br]destruction. 0:02:48.289,0:02:56.457 [Music] 0:02:56.457,0:02:58.327 [Drumming] 0:02:58.327,0:03:08.156 [Trumpets, drumming and cheering] 0:03:09.209,0:03:14.421 Nazi Germany was dominated[br]by a single man, Adolf Hitler. 0:03:16.515,0:03:21.098 He called himself the Fuhrer[br]and promised a new Germany, 0:03:21.102,0:03:24.460 peopled by a master race, 0:03:24.460,0:03:27.167 cleansed of degenerates. 0:03:27.167,0:03:31.619 [Music, crowd noise] 0:03:31.619,0:03:35.852 Modern artists, Hitler said,[br]were degenerate 0:03:35.876,0:03:37.715 and he vowed to eliminate them. 0:03:37.715,0:03:39.595 [Music, crowd noise] 0:03:41.145,0:03:43.497 The show he called[br]"Degenerate Art" 0:03:43.497,0:03:46.351 was to be more than[br]an exhibition. 0:03:46.375,0:03:49.250 It was to be their funeral. 0:03:49.257,0:03:54.408 [Music] 0:03:54.408,0:03:58.530 Josephine Knapp: I had heard nothing [br]about this Degenerate Art Exhibition. 0:03:58.530,0:04:00.226 I stumbled onto it. 0:04:00.250,0:04:02.477 It wasn't on my itinerary[br]because-- 0:04:02.477,0:04:04.999 Voiceover: Josephine Knapp[br]was an American art student 0:04:04.999,0:04:08.810 traveling through Germany[br]in 1937. 0:04:08.834,0:04:10.518 Knapp: I was walking on the street 0:04:10.542,0:04:15.310 and I saw the banner[br]over the door, went inside, 0:04:15.334,0:04:18.726 rickety staircase. I went up 0:04:18.750,0:04:22.017 and then I almost bumped my head[br]on the knee 0:04:22.041,0:04:24.785 of the great wooden[br]Christ by Gies. 0:04:24.785,0:04:26.999 They'd hung it on the landing[br]in such a way 0:04:26.999,0:04:28.852 that you had to get around it 0:04:28.876,0:04:33.463 when originally it had been hung[br]high in the Lubeck Cathedral. 0:04:35.167,0:04:40.560 I'd turned off the landing and[br]saw pictures crowded together, 0:04:40.584,0:04:45.577 some on burlap, some crooked,[br]badly lighted. 0:04:47.417,0:04:50.975 Peter Gunter: It was a [br]claustrophobic affair. 0:04:50.999,0:04:53.185 The rooms were relatively small. 0:04:53.209,0:04:56.143 Voiceover: Gunter witnessed[br]the Nazi sponsored exhibition 0:04:56.167,0:04:58.773 as a 17-year-old. 0:04:58.773,0:05:02.393 Gunter: The walls were not hung[br]in the normal way 0:05:02.417,0:05:05.268 but were plastered with works[br]of art, 0:05:05.292,0:05:07.975 some of the pictures without[br]the frames, 0:05:07.999,0:05:10.975 some of the abstract pictures[br]upside down 0:05:10.999,0:05:14.018 with graffiti written behind[br]them and above them 0:05:14.042,0:05:15.976 and around them. 0:05:16.000,0:05:18.975 Voiceover: The graffiti ridiculed[br]the works of art. 0:05:18.999,0:05:23.810 "Nature is seen by sick minds,"[br]"An insult to German womanhood," 0:05:23.834,0:05:26.194 "Crazy at any price." 0:05:26.795,0:05:29.375 Sander Gilderman, Cultural Historian:[br]The common person 0:05:29.375,0:05:32.375 walked into the Degenerate Art Show 0:05:32.375,0:05:36.396 in a sense as a horror show--[br]a side show. 0:05:37.050,0:05:42.018 This stuff on the wall[br]was the work of madmen. 0:05:42.042,0:05:43.976 This was the work of outsiders. 0:05:44.000,0:05:45.435 This was the work of people 0:05:45.459,0:05:49.238 who were out to destroy[br]German culture. 0:05:50.312,0:05:53.682 Voiceover: Kurt Assis was a 16-year-old[br]high school student 0:05:53.682,0:05:56.560 when the Degenerate Art Exhibit[br]opened. 0:05:56.584,0:06:00.314 His teacher urged his entire[br]class to go and see it. 0:06:33.792,0:06:36.975 Gilman: The Nazis took this art[br]seriously. 0:06:36.999,0:06:42.393 It scared them[br]and they wanted to control it. 0:06:42.417,0:06:46.435 It's very hard today[br]in the United States, at least, 0:06:46.459,0:06:49.375 to imagine art[br]having that power. 0:06:49.375,0:07:01.027 [Music] 0:07:01.027,0:07:03.369 Voiceover: To understand why the Nazis 0:07:03.369,0:07:05.226 attacked modern art you have to go back 0:07:05.250,0:07:08.477 to the turn of the century and look at 0:07:08.501,0:07:11.310 the work of a young[br]Austrian struggling to 0:07:11.334,0:07:13.868 paint in the popular style of the day. 0:07:16.332,0:07:19.639 His name was Adolf Hitler. 0:07:20.041,0:07:23.821 He was rejected by the Academy[br]of Visual Arts in Vienna, 0:07:23.821,0:07:27.028 and never did become[br]a recognized artist. 0:07:27.028,0:07:30.975 But all his life he would insist[br]that the only true art 0:07:30.999,0:07:34.346 was art that tried to imitate[br]the natural world. 0:07:37.253,0:07:39.976 Gilman: He painted basically[br]postcards and 0:07:40.000,0:07:42.477 you can't fault him for [br]that; that's what sold. 0:07:42.501,0:07:46.535 He wants to represent the world[br]the way it "really" is. 0:07:46.535,0:07:48.687 Sometimes it's called academic[br]art 0:07:48.687,0:07:51.687 but it looks kind of real. 0:07:51.687,0:08:05.891 [Jarring instrumental music] 0:08:05.891,0:08:08.999 Now what modernism does is[br]to say, "What we're going to 0:08:08.999,0:08:11.349 do is paint the world 0:08:11.349,0:08:15.091 underneath that external image. 0:08:15.091,0:08:17.810 We're not going to paint the skin, we're 0:08:17.834,0:08:20.430 going to paint the bones[br]and the sinews. 0:08:20.430,0:08:25.641 [Discordant music] 0:08:25.641,0:08:28.681 Voiceover: Hitler and Germany's [br]modern artists were 0:08:28.681,0:08:31.505 shaped by the same forces of history, 0:08:31.505,0:08:34.944 but they were set[br]on a collision course. 0:08:35.238,0:08:38.182 The smash up would come[br]when Hitler came 0:08:38.182,0:08:39.695 to power. 0:08:40.947,0:08:45.675 Bernard Schultze, today one of[br]Germany's important abstract painters, was 0:08:45.675,0:08:48.977 an art student when he [br]visited the exhibition. 0:09:45.000,0:09:46.768 Voiceover: In the early 1900's 0:09:46.792,0:09:49.185 a band of brash and confident[br]young artists 0:09:49.209,0:09:52.083 were working at the same time[br]as Hitler. 0:10:00.417,0:10:05.685 One of them was[br]Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. 0:10:05.709,0:10:09.727 He was an early modernist hero[br]rallying young painters 0:10:09.751,0:10:12.727 to forge a new way of looking[br]at the world 0:10:12.751,0:10:13.751 that came to be called[br]Expressionism. 0:10:13.751,0:10:16.250 Peter Selz (Art Historian) 0:10:16.250,0:10:18.560 Selz: Kirchner started out[br]as the leader 0:10:18.584,0:10:22.477 of the first expressionist group 0:10:22.501,0:10:24.810 and these people really tried[br]to renew art. 0:10:24.834,0:10:27.435 They wanted to go beyond[br]Impressionism 0:10:27.459,0:10:29.852 that's why they were called[br]"Expressionists." 0:10:29.876,0:10:34.000 They distorted the figure,[br]they used rather violent color. 0:10:41.751,0:10:43.477 Voiceover: Oskar Kokoschka 0:10:43.501,0:10:47.975 was another young controversial[br]Expressionist. 0:10:47.999,0:10:49.975 Academic critics wrote that[br]his paintings 0:10:49.999,0:10:57.667 were "repulsive plague sores and[br] 0:10:58.487,0:11:01.487 phantoms of a morbid youth." 0:11:07.000,0:11:09.975 But his passionate distortions[br]were never 0:11:09.999,0:11:12.518 meant to depict the natural world. 0:11:12.542,0:11:16.999 He painted the inner world,[br]psychological landscapes. 0:11:17.300,0:11:20.300 Olda Kokoschka (Kokoschka's widow) 0:11:21.167,0:11:25.059 Viennese society[br]didn't understand at all. 0:11:25.083,0:11:29.435 The reaction to his[br]works was very violent 0:11:29.459,0:11:35.435 because I think the Viennese[br]expected something 0:11:35.459,0:11:37.976 entirely different from artists. 0:11:38.000,0:11:41.059 It was something which[br]was not normal to them 0:11:41.083,0:11:43.852 It was mad. 0:11:43.876,0:11:47.018 Selz: Nobody had ever painted[br]portraits like he had. 0:11:47.042,0:11:49.351 So they called him the 'Mad Kokoschka'. 0:11:49.375,0:11:51.975 He has unbelievable[br]psychological insight. 0:11:51.999,0:11:53.685 When he was very, very young, coming out of 0:11:53.709,0:11:56.975 nowhere, he painted these incredible portraits. 0:11:56.999,0:12:00.852 There was a portrait of an old[br]man, and he 0:12:00.876,0:12:02.268 was very angry when he saw[br]the painting. 0:12:02.292,0:12:03.894 He said it didn't look like him and Kokoschka 0:12:03.918,0:12:06.435 said, 'Well, 20 years from now it will'. 0:12:06.459,0:12:08.000 And it did. 0:12:08.000,0:12:11.000 Voiceover: The Expressionists were young 0:12:11.000,0:12:14.975 and passionate idealists at the start 0:12:14.999,0:12:19.560 [br]of promising careers. 0:12:19.584,0:12:21.975 Adolf Hitler was unknown, painting sentimental 0:12:21.999,0:12:27.059 pictures and struggling just to survive. 0:12:27.083,0:12:29.560 Gradually he would rise to power and cut off 0:12:29.584,0:12:34.334 the great German[br]modernists in their prime. 0:12:35.279,0:12:38.279 (Military Music) 0:12:39.959,0:12:43.975 World War I was the turning[br]point for Hitler 0:12:43.999,0:12:47.477 and the Expressionists. 0:12:47.501,0:12:50.768 In 1914, fired by visions[br]of glory, 0:12:50.792,0:12:52.975 they joined millions[br]of young Germans 0:12:52.999,0:12:55.975 in an outburst[br]of patriotic fervor. 0:12:55.999,0:13:02.143 In the Great War, Hitler[br]would discover his destiny 0:13:02.167,0:13:03.602 and the Expressionists, 0:13:03.626,0:13:06.999 the shock and squalor[br]of trench warfare. 0:13:06.999,0:13:09.999 (Whistling and Gunfire) Robert Hughes (Art Critic) 0:13:10.459,0:13:13.185 Hughes: The main effect of trench[br]warfare on 0:13:13.209,0:13:14.643 these painters was to drive them crazy. 0:13:14.667,0:13:17.976 If you spent the best part of a year 0:13:18.000,0:13:19.894 sitting in this filthy mud hole 0:13:19.918,0:13:22.059 with a couple of corpses[br]as your companions 0:13:22.083,0:13:24.852 listening to high explosives[br]going off all the time 0:13:24.876,0:13:28.143 and looking at the people[br]on the barbed wire 0:13:28.167,0:13:31.226 slowly falling to pieces, 0:13:31.250,0:13:32.810 you went crazy 0:13:32.834,0:13:38.059 and the more sensitive you were[br]the crazier you went. 0:13:38.083,0:13:43.143 -Voiceover: The war shattered Oskar[br]Kokoschka's mind and spirit. 0:13:43.167,0:13:46.518 Even before it began[br]he sketched himself with a wound 0:13:46.542,0:13:49.268 he predicted he would receive, 0:13:49.292,0:13:54.975 a wound that eventually[br]he did suffer, 0:13:54.999,0:13:58.727 and Kirchner, too, suffered[br]a profound nervous collapse 0:13:58.751,0:14:02.852 from which he never fully[br]recovered. 0:14:02.876,0:14:05.976 Hughes: Kirchner, for instance, paints[br]the famous portrait of himself 0:14:06.000,0:14:09.226 as an inductee with that hand[br]lopped off. 0:14:09.250,0:14:14.727 That startling piercing[br]image of castration really. 0:14:14.751,0:14:17.852 There he is in his military[br]uniform rendered impotent, 0:14:17.876,0:14:21.626 crippled already[br]although he never was. 0:14:32.167,0:14:37.975 People think that pictures like[br]Dix's renderings of the trenches 0:14:37.999,0:14:41.310 kind of distorted, exaggerated, 0:14:41.334,0:14:44.918 but they are really, practically[br]photography. 0:14:54.083,0:14:56.894 Voiceover: 23-year-old Otto Dix[br]had imagined war 0:14:56.918,0:15:02.143 as a kind of poetic initiation 0:15:02.167,0:15:05.250 until he manned a machine gun[br]in the trenches. 0:15:12.918,0:15:15.810 But Adolf Hitler found in war[br]a satisfaction 0:15:15.834,0:15:18.768 that redeemed the bitter years[br]of frustration and failure 0:15:18.792,0:15:21.975 as an artist. 0:15:21.999,0:15:24.602 He was a twice-decorated[br]dispatch runner 0:15:24.626,0:15:29.101 recovering from a gas attack[br]when Germany surrendered. 0:15:29.125,0:15:31.975 "Hatred grew in me,"[br]he later wrote, 0:15:31.999,0:15:34.975 "hatred for those responsible[br]for this deed, 0:15:34.999,0:15:38.268 "miserable and degenerate[br]criminals 0:15:38.292,0:15:41.975 "in the days that followed[br]my own fate became known to me 0:15:41.999,0:15:45.768 I resolved to go into politics." 0:15:45.792,0:15:49.477 Voiceover: Hitler was a nobody, he was[br]nothing, he wasn't even a gofer. 0:15:49.501,0:15:55.999 He was just one of the hundred[br]thousand soldiers without a war. 0:16:00.417,0:16:03.643 Voiceover: The war left Germany in chaos. 0:16:03.667,0:16:06.518 The fragile democracy reeled[br]with turmoil 0:16:06.542,0:16:12.975 and a ruinous inflation. 0:16:12.999,0:16:15.351 Hitler abandoned his dream[br]of becoming an artist 0:16:15.375,0:16:18.185 and formed a new[br]political party, 0:16:18.209,0:16:22.560 the National Socialist Party. 0:16:22.584,0:16:26.435 He even sketched[br]the party symbols. 0:16:26.459,0:16:28.976 He promised a rebirth[br]of the fatherland, 0:16:29.000,0:16:32.685 peopled by a race[br]of pure Aryans. 0:16:32.709,0:16:36.685 The vision appealed to one[br]of the Expressionist painters. 0:16:36.709,0:16:44.643 Emil Nolde joined the Nazi Party[br]in 1920. 0:16:44.667,0:16:50.959 Nolde was a loner bound only[br]to Germany and his art. 0:16:56.320,0:16:59.320 (Discordant Music) 0:17:09.000,0:17:10.974 Hughes: Nolde exalted the primitive. 0:17:10.999,0:17:13.976 He loved the idea of that[br]which was peasant, 0:17:14.000,0:17:15.560 that which was instinctive, 0:17:15.584,0:17:19.185 that which was harnessed[br]to ancient rhythms 0:17:19.209,0:17:21.791 in a way which predated[br]civilization. 0:17:27.334,0:17:29.975 Selz: In a way, those religious paintings 0:17:29.999,0:17:31.976 are the very essence of Expressionism, 0:17:32.000,0:17:34.560 but he was not really[br]a churchgoing religious person. 0:17:34.584,0:17:36.477 It went very much deeper, 0:17:36.501,0:17:39.810 yet he had these mystical,[br]spiritual experiences 0:17:39.834,0:17:41.999 which really shook[br]his whole being. 0:17:47.999,0:17:49.975 I really think that[br]in the long run 0:17:49.999,0:17:52.101 he painted the most powerful[br]religious painting 0:17:52.125,0:17:54.975 of the century. 0:17:54.999,0:17:58.351 What Nolde was dreaming of[br]was kind of a new Germany 0:17:58.375,0:18:01.975 where his kind of paintings[br]would go into the churches 0:18:01.999,0:18:04.584 and exactly the opposite[br]happened. 0:18:07.987,0:18:10.987 (Sombre Music) 0:18:12.834,0:18:16.975 Voiceover: In 1924 Adolf Hitler[br]emerged from a Bavarian prison 0:18:16.999,0:18:18.975 where he had been held for trying 0:18:18.999,0:18:21.976 to overthrow the German democracy. 0:18:22.000,0:18:24.976 He was 35 years old. 0:18:25.000,0:18:28.975 At once he lashed out[br]at those who had lost the war, 0:18:28.999,0:18:33.101 who had stabbed the fatherland[br]in the back. 0:18:33.125,0:18:36.643 He called them Jews, Communists,[br]and Bolsheviks 0:18:36.667,0:18:37.975 and borrowing an idea 0:18:37.999,0:18:40.935 popularized by[br]19th century science, 0:18:40.959,0:18:42.976 he called them degenerates. 0:18:43.000,0:18:45.810 Gilman: The idea of the degenerate[br]was ubiquitous. 0:18:45.834,0:18:49.685 By the end of the 19th century[br]anybody could use the term 0:18:49.709,0:18:51.560 and they did, degenerate, 0:18:51.584,0:18:54.518 as a sort of general term[br]of opprobrium-- 0:18:54.542,0:18:56.935 "You degenerate, you." 0:18:56.959,0:18:58.768 We can say that today[br]without any problem 0:18:58.792,0:19:00.393 but what was understood under it 0:19:00.417,0:19:06.894 was a very specific form[br]of deviance from the norm. 0:19:06.918,0:19:09.310 In the 19th century[br]being degenerate 0:19:09.334,0:19:11.226 and knowing who is a degenerate 0:19:11.250,0:19:16.310 was a central aspect of medical[br]science, biological science, 0:19:16.334,0:19:19.477 and anthropological science. If you were a 0:19:19.501,0:19:21.975 physician you had[br]all sorts of signs and symptoms 0:19:21.999,0:19:24.975 that you looked for;[br]the shape of their ears; 0:19:24.999,0:19:26.560 size of their nose; 0:19:26.584,0:19:30.101 whether they gazed at you[br]in a certain way. 0:19:30.125,0:19:32.768 So it meant if you didn't look[br]the right way 0:19:32.792,0:19:35.226 you're obviously a deviate[br]from the norm 0:19:35.250,0:19:39.643 and therefore you're also[br]obviously mad, you're crazy. 0:19:39.667,0:19:42.059 What also happened of course[br]at the same time 0:19:42.083,0:19:46.975 was the Avant-Garde saw itself[br]as mad, 0:19:46.999,0:19:53.059 saw itself as outside of[br]the norms of accepted action, 0:19:53.083,0:19:56.250 statement, and belief. 0:20:05.125,0:20:08.727 The Expressionists, for example,[br]without any problem 0:20:08.751,0:20:11.101 thought of themselves[br]as the mentally ill 0:20:11.125,0:20:13.727 of the world of art. 0:20:13.751,0:20:14.975 They evoked that. 0:20:14.999,0:20:19.768 They said we are artists who are[br]just like the mentally ill. 0:20:19.792,0:20:21.518 We stand outside[br]of all institutions, 0:20:21.542,0:20:24.351 we use our own language. 0:20:24.375,0:20:27.417 They meant it, of course,[br]metaphorically. 0:20:29.738,0:20:32.738 (Shouts and sinister music) 0:20:34.834,0:20:38.101 Voiceover: But in the 1920's[br]the Expressionists had no reason 0:20:38.125,0:20:39.935 to fear the Nazis, 0:20:39.959,0:20:44.185 a tiny faction of misfits[br]marginal at best. 0:20:44.209,0:20:48.876 There were fewer than 27,000[br]Nazis in all of Germany. 0:20:49.709,0:20:52.709 (1920's Jazz Music) 0:20:52.709,0:21:00.643 In Berlin, modern artists[br]flourished 0:21:00.667,0:21:03.975 and their work sold. 0:21:03.999,0:21:07.477 A new freedom stirred the air. 0:21:07.501,0:21:14.727 Few people cared about Hitler[br]and his fanatic ideas. 0:21:14.751,0:21:18.999 Berlin became the capital[br]of the international art world. 0:21:27.542,0:21:30.976 Museum directors spent public[br]funds on contemporary art 0:21:31.000,0:21:37.975 proclaiming, we cannot have[br]museums that sit and wait. 0:21:37.999,0:21:40.393 Perhaps the most celebrated[br]of all the artists 0:21:40.417,0:21:42.975 was Max Beckmann. 0:21:42.999,0:21:47.643 Beckmann had known success early[br]before the Great War. 0:21:47.667,0:21:49.975 At 29 years old[br]he was already praised 0:21:49.999,0:21:54.975 as a genuine and noble artist,[br]a true German. 0:21:54.999,0:21:59.351 Then his work had little in[br]common with the Expressionists 0:21:59.375,0:22:02.976 but he was transformed[br]by the war. 0:22:03.000,0:22:05.975 He had volunteered[br]for the ambulance service, 0:22:05.999,0:22:09.852 after months in the thick of[br]the fighting he was discharged, 0:22:09.876,0:22:12.459 mentally exhausted. 0:22:17.501,0:22:21.975 His self-portrait in 1917[br]"Twisted and Defiant," 0:22:21.999,0:22:25.268 bears witness to his experience. 0:22:25.292,0:22:29.501 "My pictures reproach God[br]for his errors," he wrote. 0:22:34.959,0:22:39.143 Now in the 1920s Beckmann,[br]at the height of his career, 0:22:39.167,0:22:42.976 continued to be haunted[br]by the war. 0:22:43.000,0:22:46.975 "We have to lay our hearts[br]bare to the cries of people 0:22:46.999,0:22:50.167 who have been lied to." 0:23:13.250,0:23:18.393 In 1929 Hitler got the chance[br]he was waiting for. 0:23:18.417,0:23:22.435 The Great Depression broke[br]the German democracy's back. 0:23:22.459,0:23:28.059 Over five million people[br]were out of work. 0:23:28.083,0:23:30.727 Hitler rejoiced, 0:23:30.751,0:23:33.810 "Never in my life have I been[br]so well disposed 0:23:33.834,0:23:37.435 and inwardly contented[br]as in these days." 0:23:37.459,0:23:40.727 Hughes: People just felt the bottom[br]had dropped out of their world. 0:23:40.751,0:23:43.602 The impotent rage[br]that was generated by this, 0:23:43.626,0:23:45.975 the feeling that you had been[br]betrayed, 0:23:45.999,0:23:49.018 all this was extremely ripe[br]ground for the direction 0:23:49.042,0:23:52.852 of indignation against[br]certain targets. 0:23:52.876,0:23:54.268 Gilman: They were the Jews, 0:23:54.292,0:23:57.143 they were the politicals[br]who were not acceptable, 0:23:57.167,0:24:00.143 they were the ones who were[br]infecting the bloodstream 0:24:00.167,0:24:02.976 of the pure race. 0:24:03.000,0:24:04.935 But he also sees the idea 0:24:04.959,0:24:12.685 of culture being infected[br]by degenerates. 0:24:12.709,0:24:16.143 Modernism in art was a symptom. 0:24:16.167,0:24:19.852 There is a sign of what's going[br]wrong with this society, 0:24:19.876,0:24:21.477 that's why you don't have a job, 0:24:21.501,0:24:22.975 that's why you're standing[br]in a bread line, 0:24:22.999,0:24:24.643 that's why you're paying[br]a million marks 0:24:24.667,0:24:25.975 for a loaf of bread. 0:24:25.999,0:24:29.143 It's because of that kind[br]of sickness within the society 0:24:29.167,0:24:31.975 which is symbolized[br]by this kind of art. 0:24:31.999,0:24:37.101 That became a very powerful[br]argument. 0:24:37.125,0:24:40.143 Voiceover: Casting themselves as[br]defenders of the middle classes, 0:24:40.167,0:24:43.975 the Nazis exploited[br]public anxiety and fear 0:24:43.999,0:24:47.560 and harvested the protest vote. 0:24:47.584,0:24:49.976 They had no real program. 0:24:50.000,0:24:52.018 A Hitler lieutenant declared, 0:24:52.042,0:24:56.975 "National Socialism is the[br]opposite of what we have now." 0:24:56.999,0:25:01.560 With the elections of 1930[br]and 1932, the Nazis emerged 0:25:01.584,0:25:06.292 as the country's largest[br]political party. 0:25:08.467,0:25:11.467 (Patriotic Songs) 0:25:12.209,0:25:18.351 January 1933,[br]German parliament deadlocks, 0:25:18.375,0:25:20.810 Hitler is appointed chancellor 0:25:20.834,0:25:26.768 of the very republic[br]he had promised to crush. 0:25:26.792,0:25:30.459 The German democracy[br]was near death. 0:25:30.884,0:25:33.884 (Cheers and patriotic singing) 0:25:35.876,0:25:37.976 The fires of the Nazi torchlight[br]parades 0:25:38.000,0:25:42.999 would soon become the fires[br]of the Berlin book burnings. 0:26:04.751,0:26:06.975 Voiceover: In power less than five months, 0:26:06.999,0:26:09.435 the Nazis fueled a bonfire[br]in Berlin 0:26:09.459,0:26:11.727 with books by some of[br]the greatest modern authors 0:26:11.751,0:26:13.894 and thinkers. 0:26:13.918,0:26:19.727 Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht,[br]Karl Marx, Albert Einstein, 0:26:19.751,0:26:22.226 Sigmund Freud. 0:26:22.250,0:26:26.209 The war on the modern[br]imagination had begun. 0:26:30.030,0:26:33.030 (Ominous Music) 0:26:37.292,0:26:40.810 One of the painter's exhibited[br]in the Degenerate Art show 0:26:40.834,0:26:44.501 was Titus Felixmuller's father,[br]Conrad. 0:28:16.334,0:28:20.975 Voiceover: The Nazis swept through[br]German museums firing directors. 0:28:20.999,0:28:23.643 The official term[br]was vacationing, 0:28:23.667,0:28:25.852 confiscating works of art, 0:28:25.876,0:28:29.435 shutting down the modern wing[br]of the Berlin National Gallery 0:28:29.459,0:28:30.643 and the Bauhaus, 0:28:30.667,0:28:33.975 famed symbol of modernisms[br]commitment to social change, 0:28:33.999,0:28:37.042 was summarily closed forever. 0:28:42.876,0:28:46.894 Through it all Emil Nolde[br]remained a loyal party member 0:28:46.918,0:28:50.975 attacking other artists calling[br]them half-breeds, bastards, 0:28:50.999,0:28:52.477 and mulattos, 0:28:52.501,0:28:57.768 and extolling the natural[br]superiority of Nordic peoples. 0:28:57.792,0:28:59.435 Hughes: There's no contradiction[br]between 0:28:59.459,0:29:01.975 being a fascist and being an artist. 0:29:01.999,0:29:03.560 I'm sorry but there isn't. 0:29:03.584,0:29:08.810 It happens that not very many[br]good artists have been Nazis. 0:29:08.834,0:29:10.310 It's not surprising, actually, 0:29:10.334,0:29:13.268 that Nolde was such an early[br]party member 0:29:13.292,0:29:16.976 because the Nazis, too, believed[br]in blood and race and soil 0:29:17.000,0:29:18.935 and the primitive and the truth[br]of the peasants 0:29:18.959,0:29:20.226 and all the rest of it. 0:29:20.250,0:29:22.852 What is slightly more surprising 0:29:22.876,0:29:28.417 is the vehemence with which[br]the party later turned on him. 0:29:33.876,0:29:37.268 Voiceover: Joseph Goebbels was Hitler's[br]cultural deputy. 0:29:37.292,0:29:41.250 He headed the Nazi Ministry of[br]Enlightenment and Propaganda. 0:29:52.709,0:29:55.976 Goebbels gained total power[br]over public exhibitions, 0:29:56.000,0:30:00.101 films, radio, theater, music,[br]literature, artists, 0:30:00.125,0:30:03.976 and the press. 0:30:04.000,0:30:06.393 Karla Eckert was working[br]as a reporter 0:30:06.417,0:30:08.143 for a Nazi party newspaper 0:30:08.167,0:30:12.042 when she was sent to cover[br]the Degenerate Art Exhibit. 0:31:43.167,0:31:45.059 Voiceover: All the arts were affected. 0:31:45.083,0:31:52.975 Films like this one by[br]Laszlo Moholy-Nagy were banned. 0:31:52.999,0:31:55.999 Abstraction was strictly[br]forbidden. 0:32:00.959,0:32:03.351 In music atonality, dissonance, 0:32:03.375,0:32:08.768 any deviation from classical[br]tradition was not permitted. 0:32:08.792,0:32:13.935 Paul Hindemith, Alban Berg, and[br]this piece by Arnold Schoenberg 0:32:13.959,0:32:16.751 were labeled degenerate. 0:32:21.667,0:32:25.250 All forms of modern music[br]were ridiculed. 0:32:25.250,0:32:28.250 (Jazz Music) 0:32:28.999,0:32:31.768 Jazz was attacked[br]and viciously parodied 0:32:31.792,0:32:34.584 in so-called degenerate music[br]exhibitions. 0:32:38.626,0:32:40.643 One former jazz musician[br]remembers 0:32:40.667,0:32:43.435 that the Nazis prohibited[br]all mutes 0:32:43.459,0:32:46.685 which turned the noble sound[br]of wind and brass instruments 0:32:46.709,0:32:50.876 into a Jewish-free masonic howl. 0:32:58.083,0:33:02.268 Hitler resolved to create[br]a new culture for the new Reich. 0:33:02.292,0:33:06.059 There was no place for the[br]sensitive or troubled soul. 0:33:06.083,0:33:11.975 A steady stream of propaganda[br]infiltrated daily life. 0:33:11.999,0:33:14.810 The very first Nazi public[br]building project 0:33:14.834,0:33:17.975 was to be a museum in Munich. 0:33:17.999,0:33:20.975 Hitler called it[br]the House of German Art 0:33:20.999,0:33:23.975 and spent hours poring[br]over the most minute details 0:33:23.999,0:33:29.975 of its design. 0:33:29.999,0:33:33.518 To honor its completion in 1937, 0:33:33.542,0:33:36.185 thousands of marchers celebrated[br]in a pageant 0:33:36.209,0:33:42.975 called "2,000 Years[br]of German Culture." 0:33:42.999,0:33:46.685 It was a vision of history based[br]on a link with an archaic past 0:33:46.709,0:33:49.584 that had never existed. 0:34:02.792,0:34:07.975 On July 18, 1937, the House[br]of German Art opened its doors 0:34:07.999,0:34:13.185 with an exhibition selected[br]by the Fuhrer himself. 0:34:13.208,0:34:16.935 Here was Hitler's pantheon[br]honoring what he called 0:34:16.958,0:34:19.958 a new and genuine German art 0:34:22.250,0:34:24.851 and it was all for sale. 0:34:24.876,0:34:26.975 People gathered especially[br]around those paintings 0:34:26.998,0:34:30.185 and sculptures that Hitler[br]had bought himself. 0:34:30.208,0:34:33.101 Hitler knew what he liked. 0:34:33.125,0:34:36.351 It was a celebration[br]of Aryan ideals 0:34:36.375,0:34:39.975 of racially pure women and men. 0:34:39.998,0:34:45.226 Hughes: The art must be elevated,[br]it must be classical. 0:34:45.250,0:34:47.726 I suppose you could say, yeah,[br]it's bulls and Greeks 0:34:47.751,0:34:49.810 and naked woman. 0:34:49.833,0:34:54.059 It's the vocabulary of classism. 0:34:54.083,0:34:59.310 It has to have this character[br]of permanence and nobility. 0:34:59.334,0:35:00.975 Now what they got out of it[br]of course 0:35:00.999,0:35:05.185 was the most extraordinary kind[br]of art deco kitsch. 0:35:05.209,0:35:08.975 Anybody can understand[br]a whacking great surfer 0:35:08.999,0:35:12.501 with giant pecs[br]holding up a sword. 0:35:13.654,0:35:16.654 Peter Guenther (Witness/Art Historian): 0:35:18.417,0:35:21.310 Guenther: The Haus der Deutschen Kunst[br]is a very large building, 0:35:21.334,0:35:26.975 high ceilings, wide halls,[br]and marble floors 0:35:26.999,0:35:28.643 and those enormous spaces 0:35:28.667,0:35:31.643 these muscle-bound huge,[br]big figures, 0:35:31.667,0:35:34.643 they're relatively few people[br]in there. 0:35:34.667,0:35:38.685 It was really kind of[br]a frightening affair 0:35:38.709,0:35:40.975 and then the other thing[br]which also disturbed me 0:35:40.999,0:35:43.975 and, I hope you don't mind,[br]but was the 17-year-old one 0:35:43.999,0:35:46.894 were the enormous numbers[br]of nudes. 0:35:46.918,0:35:48.975 Not only male nudes muscle[br]packed 0:35:48.999,0:35:53.477 but also pink females[br]in large numbers. 0:35:53.501,0:35:55.975 They were like manikins[br]with no movement 0:35:55.999,0:35:59.101 and no expression[br]and no character. 0:35:59.125,0:36:03.975 Basically to me that was[br]by far closer to pornography 0:36:03.999,0:36:06.518 than anything which[br]the Expressionists did. 0:36:06.542,0:36:09.477 The Expressionists' figures[br]were all moving, 0:36:09.501,0:36:12.185 they were dancing or swimming[br]or jumping or running 0:36:12.209,0:36:16.643 or doing something because[br]they were out in nature. 0:36:16.667,0:36:19.310 They had just taken off[br]this bourgeois clothing 0:36:19.334,0:36:22.685 and here they were full of joy[br]of life. 0:36:22.709,0:36:24.435 As far as women were concerned 0:36:24.459,0:36:27.768 if you look at the Nazi[br]depiction 0:36:27.792,0:36:30.268 they were really were[br]only two roles, 0:36:30.292,0:36:34.560 either they were nude[br]or they were mothers. 0:36:34.584,0:36:36.975 And then the other thing[br]if you really want to look 0:36:36.999,0:36:40.226 at the two sides of the coin[br]of what is war 0:36:40.250,0:36:42.685 look at the Nazis[br]and look at the Expressionist 0:36:42.709,0:36:46.143 and you'll find out who is who. 0:36:46.167,0:36:49.935 The German Expressionists[br]were all against the war. 0:36:49.959,0:36:53.976 There was not an Expressionist[br]who was not against the war. 0:36:54.000,0:36:55.894 Now the Nazis considered war 0:36:55.918,0:36:58.852 as the greatest accomplishment[br]of mankind. 0:36:58.876,0:37:01.602 The honored victory[br]and the all circumstance 0:37:01.626,0:37:03.975 and even if you died[br]you died in victory 0:37:03.999,0:37:08.268 and therefore you were a martyr. 0:37:08.292,0:37:10.560 Hughes: It is perfect hypocritical art. 0:37:10.584,0:37:11.935 It's hypocritical about the body, 0:37:13.000,0:37:15.560 about politics, every[br]damn thing you can imagine. 0:37:15.584,0:37:16.935 What it has on its side is 0:37:16.959,0:37:18.810 a certain kind[br]of technical virtuosity, 0:37:18.834,0:37:20.975 which is undeniably there 0:37:20.999,0:37:24.101 and which people[br]certainly found attractive 0:37:24.125,0:37:27.268 and you know I dare say[br]people still do. 0:37:27.292,0:37:29.894 One of the things that made[br]the propaganda work 0:37:29.918,0:37:31.894 was the spectacle of the other. 0:37:31.918,0:37:37.975 It was the ability to hold up[br]a painting of a distorted head 0:37:37.999,0:37:41.059 with its mouth going like that 0:37:41.083,0:37:44.643 and it's eyes goggling at you[br]all in weird colors 0:37:44.667,0:37:46.975 and say if you don't believe[br]in our kind of culture 0:37:46.999,0:37:49.918 this is what you're going[br]to get. 0:37:55.876,0:37:57.685 Voiceover: Just across the park 0:37:57.709,0:38:01.351 the very day after the opening[br]of the House of German Art, 0:38:01.375,0:38:06.477 the Nazi war against modernism[br]came to a climax. 0:38:06.501,0:38:08.975 16,000 works of art[br]had been snatched 0:38:08.999,0:38:13.560 from the great public museums[br]of Germany. 0:38:13.584,0:38:20.018 Now 650 were put on exhibition[br]in the Degenerate Art Show. 0:38:20.042,0:38:21.935 Along with German artists, 0:38:21.959,0:38:26.059 modern masters like Wassily[br]Kandisnsky, Piet Mondrian, 0:38:26.083,0:38:29.351 and Paul Klee were put up[br]for ridicule. 0:38:29.375,0:38:31.976 Hughes; It had the character[br]of a show trial. 0:38:32.000,0:38:33.310 Very different matter[br]just to say, 0:38:33.334,0:38:35.643 well, this is just a bunch of[br]rubbish done by Jews and gypsies 0:38:35.667,0:38:38.643 and it's culturally hideous[br]and let's get rid of it, 0:38:38.667,0:38:41.894 the important thing is that[br]people should agree with you, 0:38:41.918,0:38:44.185 that they should see it for[br]themselves with their own eyes 0:38:44.209,0:38:47.000 and then conclude[br]that it's rubbish. 0:38:54.000,0:38:58.101 German Expressionism was an art[br]which above all celebrated-- 0:38:58.125,0:39:01.268 Ein Fuhrer, 0:39:01.292,0:39:05.834 and that which was inward[br]must be outlawed. 0:39:09.000,0:39:11.059 This is the essence[br]of totalitarianism 0:39:11.083,0:39:12.975 so therefore the project 0:39:12.999,0:39:17.268 was to sweep all these little[br]inward thoughts 0:39:17.292,0:39:19.059 out of their secret chambers 0:39:19.083,0:39:21.976 and expose them to the light[br]of ridicule, you know, 0:39:22.000,0:39:25.834 like spraying Raid[br]on a bunch of cockroaches. 0:39:28.999,0:39:32.059 Knapp: I was asking[br]at each picture, "Why?" 0:39:32.083,0:39:35.975 because some it seemed difficult[br]to understand 0:39:35.999,0:39:38.976 why a particular picture[br]had been taken 0:39:39.000,0:39:42.310 and they had an answer[br]for everyone, 0:39:42.334,0:39:47.560 either it was a sick mind,[br]it was Bolshevik, it was Jewish. 0:39:47.584,0:39:50.768 There were about 10 reasons. 0:39:50.792,0:39:55.602 The cows I couldn't understand[br]that one. 0:39:55.626,0:39:59.393 Guenther: Franz Marc had once painted[br]a happy cow. 0:39:59.417,0:40:01.393 Now that was unacceptable 0:40:01.417,0:40:04.143 and shows the Nazis very[br]typically said 0:40:04.167,0:40:08.643 bring any farmer up[br]and let him look at that 0:40:08.667,0:40:12.975 and he will say[br]that's not a cow. 0:40:12.999,0:40:14.935 Hughes: It was a very[br]naively-arranged show. 0:40:14.959,0:40:16.185 It wasn't a very[br]systematic show, 0:40:16.209,0:40:18.018 I mean, they didn't go around[br]picking artists 0:40:18.042,0:40:19.935 specifically through theme. 0:40:19.959,0:40:21.435 They didn't go around picking[br]them specifically 0:40:21.459,0:40:22.560 because they were Jewish. 0:40:22.584,0:40:25.268 They just said, hey, look here's[br]this whole bunch of rubbish 0:40:25.292,0:40:27.560 and now let's stick[br]in front of the German public 0:40:27.584,0:40:31.059 and let them vote[br]with their eyes. 0:40:31.083,0:40:34.602 Guenther: The number of Jewish painters[br]was relatively small. 0:40:34.626,0:40:36.560 Now, Chagall was exhibited 0:40:36.584,0:40:38.976 although he was A, Russian[br]and B, a Frenchman 0:40:39.000,0:40:42.477 but nevertheless he was "a Jew." 0:40:42.501,0:40:46.560 Voiceover: 112 artists had been singled[br]out as degenerate, 0:40:46.584,0:40:49.351 only six in the show[br]were Jewish. 0:40:49.375,0:40:52.975 Gilman: The interesting thing is that[br]Jewish, degenerate, 0:40:52.999,0:40:57.975 Bolshevik, insane, become[br]interchangeable categories. 0:40:57.999,0:41:00.518 Therefore everybody who paints[br]paintings 0:41:00.542,0:41:03.852 that are hung in the Degenerate[br]Art Exhibit are Jewish, 0:41:03.876,0:41:06.059 they're also insane,[br]and they're also Bolshevik 0:41:06.083,0:41:09.059 no matter what their religious 0:41:09.083,0:41:12.999 or political identification[br]really was. 0:41:15.209,0:41:18.560 Voiceover: Not even Nazi party membership[br]was protection. 0:41:18.584,0:41:24.143 Emil Nolde had now been[br]a Nazi party member for 16 years 0:41:24.167,0:41:27.852 but Nazi critics charged[br]that his fascination 0:41:27.876,0:41:31.226 with the life of people of a[br]simpler nature and darker color 0:41:31.250,0:41:36.975 was an indication[br]of degeneration. 0:41:36.999,0:41:40.976 27 of his paintings were hung[br]in the Degenerate Art Show, 0:41:41.000,0:41:44.477 more than any other painter. 0:41:44.501,0:41:47.018 The great altarpiece,[br]"The Life of Christ," 0:41:47.042,0:41:49.602 was flanked by commentary[br]that read 0:41:49.626,0:41:52.975 "Insolent mockery[br]of the Divine." 0:41:52.999,0:41:57.250 [ singing in German ] 0:42:05.459,0:42:07.894 - At the opening[br]of The House of German Art, 0:42:07.918,0:42:10.935 Hitler told[br]an enormous gathering, 0:42:10.959,0:42:14.185 "We are going to wage[br]a merciless war of destruction 0:42:14.209,0:42:15.975 "against the last[br]remaining elements 0:42:15.999,0:42:18.975 "of cultural disintegration. 0:42:18.999,0:42:22.226 "All those cliques of[br]chatterers, dilettantes, 0:42:22.250,0:42:26.751 and art forgers will be picked[br]up and liquidated." 0:42:29.250,0:42:33.143 Max Beckmann heard Hitler's[br]speech on the radio. 0:42:33.167,0:42:36.975 He had been perhaps the most[br]honored painter in Germany. 0:42:36.999,0:42:39.810 Now he and his wife quickly[br]packed a few things 0:42:39.834,0:42:42.018 and left Berlin 0:42:42.042,0:42:45.975 never to return. 0:42:45.999,0:42:48.975 In Amsterdam, he painted[br]a self-portrait. 0:42:48.999,0:42:52.584 He called it[br]"The Liberated Man." 0:42:56.667,0:43:01.518 Oscar Kokoschka had fled[br]to Czechoslovakia. 0:43:01.542,0:43:03.351 Olda: Because he suddenly saw[br]himself 0:43:03.375,0:43:05.143 in front of nothing whatsoever 0:43:05.167,0:43:09.351 when everything that[br]he has worked for and done 0:43:09.375,0:43:11.810 and developed and was proud of 0:43:11.834,0:43:14.810 was suddenly delivered[br]through destruction. 0:43:14.834,0:43:19.226 It's a shocking thing[br]to absorb somehow. 0:43:19.250,0:43:21.894 What happened was that[br]he got ill. 0:43:21.918,0:43:24.143 He had a sort[br]of nervous breakdown 0:43:24.167,0:43:29.768 which suddenly produced[br]a physical weakness 0:43:29.792,0:43:33.518 and then he decided that[br]painting was the one thing 0:43:33.542,0:43:36.975 which he really had to--[br]had to do. 0:43:36.999,0:43:39.975 At that time he was working[br]on a self-portrait. 0:43:39.999,0:43:42.310 He suddenly pulled himself[br]together 0:43:42.334,0:43:46.059 and it became one of the most[br]important of his works 0:43:46.083,0:43:50.643 and it's called "The Portrait[br]of the Degenerate Artist" 0:43:50.667,0:43:55.834 that really was an absolutely[br]immediate rejection of pride. 0:44:07.584,0:44:09.685 Voiceover: Many artists emigrated 0:44:09.709,0:44:12.975 but Otto Dix chose to stay[br]in Germany. 0:44:12.999,0:44:16.268 His son Ursus remembers why. 0:44:16.292,0:44:18.975 Ursus: He said he could not paint[br]outside Germany 0:44:18.999,0:44:23.643 and then he said, "What can I do[br]with two studios full of paintings here? 0:44:23.667,0:44:24.894 "I can't just leave that, the 0:44:24.918,0:44:27.477 Nazis will come in[br]and confiscate it all." 0:44:27.501,0:44:31.059 He felt that his theme[br]was people. 0:44:31.083,0:44:34.143 And there he was, dismissed[br]from his job in Berlin, 0:44:34.167,0:44:39.435 he had to retire likely to[br]the... furthest most corner 0:44:39.459,0:44:41.768 of Germany, to Lake Constance 0:44:41.792,0:44:45.518 where he could only paint[br]landscapes. 0:44:45.542,0:44:48.059 Voiceover: "I painted landscapes,"[br]Dix said, 0:44:48.083,0:44:52.959 "that was tantamount[br]to emigration." 0:44:57.113,0:45:00.113 (Discordant Music) 0:45:05.417,0:45:09.143 The exhibition called Degenerate[br]Art toured Germany and Austria 0:45:09.167,0:45:13.768 for more than four years. 0:45:13.792,0:45:16.185 It became the most popular[br]exhibition of art 0:45:16.209,0:45:18.435 ever assembled. 0:45:18.459,0:45:22.185 More than three million people[br]came to see it. 0:45:22.209,0:45:24.975 Knapp: Here was the death--the[br]absolute death 0:45:24.999,0:45:27.477 of art in Germany. 0:45:27.501,0:45:30.477 The wonderful things that had[br]been taking place there, 0:45:30.501,0:45:32.975 the great artists, the Bauhaus, 0:45:32.999,0:45:38.018 all of these things[br]were being killed. 0:45:38.042,0:45:41.560 Voiceover; The Nazis had hung Ernst[br]Ludwig Kirchner's self-portrait 0:45:41.584,0:45:43.810 in the Degenerate Art Exhibit. 0:45:43.834,0:45:47.477 They renamed it[br]"Soldier with Whore." 0:45:47.501,0:45:49.059 Kirchner had been[br]a popular leader 0:45:49.083,0:45:51.143 of the Expressionist movement. 0:45:51.167,0:45:53.975 Now his work was outlawed. 0:45:53.999,0:45:56.976 Deeply agitated, he began[br]to destroy the pieces 0:45:57.000,0:45:58.852 he himself owned. 0:45:58.876,0:46:02.975 He shattered his woodblocks[br]and burned his paintings. 0:46:02.999,0:46:07.751 On June 11, 1938,[br]he committed suicide. 0:46:11.292,0:46:17.894 Voiceover: For Emil Nolde, the Nazis seemed[br]to harbor a special vengeance. 0:46:17.918,0:46:20.935 Selz: The Nazis really tried[br]to eradicate this man. 0:46:20.959,0:46:23.185 They first prohibited him[br]of exhibiting, 0:46:23.209,0:46:25.101 then actually put a cop[br]around him 0:46:25.125,0:46:26.894 to prohibit him from painting 0:46:26.918,0:46:29.351 and he kept pleading[br]with the Nazis. 0:46:29.375,0:46:32.268 He said, "Look, but I joined[br]the Nazi party early." 0:46:32.292,0:46:34.018 They didn't want to hear[br]any of this. 0:46:34.042,0:46:35.975 During that period he couldn't[br]paint oils anymore 0:46:35.999,0:46:38.975 because people could smell the[br]turpentine around his studio 0:46:38.999,0:46:41.477 so he painted what he called[br]unpainted pictures 0:46:41.501,0:46:45.310 which are wonderful small[br]watercolors very tiny 0:46:45.334,0:46:47.975 and this was some of his most[br]extraordinary paintings, 0:46:47.999,0:46:50.459 of big mystery. 0:46:53.292,0:46:57.727 Voiceover: "Only to you my little[br]pictures," Nolde wrote, 0:46:57.751,0:47:02.059 "do I sometimes confide[br]my grief, my torment, 0:47:02.083,0:47:04.999 my contempt." 0:47:20.999,0:47:24.768 Voiceover: In 1938, the Nazis decided[br]to turn the most valuable 0:47:24.792,0:47:27.518 of their plundered art[br]into hard currency 0:47:27.542,0:47:31.685 and put them up for auction. 0:47:31.709,0:47:34.435 Gert Verneberg was responsible[br]for cataloguing 0:47:34.459,0:47:35.975 the plundered art 0:47:35.999,0:47:39.751 when one day Emil Nolde[br]came asking for help. 0:48:25.375,0:48:29.975 Voiceover: The auction was held[br]in Switzerland in June 1939, 0:48:29.999,0:48:33.975 Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso,[br]Gauguin, 0:48:33.999,0:48:39.560 along with the German artists[br]were all put on the block. 0:48:39.584,0:48:44.935 Profits went directly[br]into Nazi party coffers 0:48:44.959,0:48:50.185 but the loss to Germany[br]was irreparable. 0:48:50.209,0:48:56.999 The Nazis were selling off the[br]cultural heritage of the nation. 0:49:16.634,0:49:19.634 (Rousing Instrumental Music) 0:49:43.626,0:49:46.059 Voiceover: Every year Hitler mounted[br]a new exhibition 0:49:46.083,0:49:51.727 at The Museum of German Art 0:49:51.751,0:49:58.894 and every year Hitler himself[br]was the largest buyer. 0:49:58.918,0:50:05.560 He bought 264 works of art[br]in July 1939. 0:50:05.584,0:50:09.477 Six weeks later German armies[br]invaded Poland. 0:50:09.501,0:50:13.000 [ bombs exploding ] (Dramatic music) 0:50:36.167,0:50:42.185 The war would leave Germany[br]in ruins, millions dead, 0:50:42.209,0:50:46.975 millions more murdered[br]in the concentration camps. 0:50:46.999,0:50:51.560 Years before, the writer[br]Heinrich Heine had warned, 0:50:51.584,0:50:55.643 "Where books are burned,[br]people will be burned." 0:50:55.667,0:50:57.975 Hughes: One of the most[br]grotesque kind 0:50:57.999,0:51:00.727 of unintended results of this- 0:51:00.751,0:51:02.185 I remember when I was a kid 0:51:02.209,0:51:06.975 seeing the newsreels of[br]the liberation of the camps. 0:51:06.999,0:51:10.518 I never forgot that shot[br]of the bulldozer 0:51:10.542,0:51:15.059 rolling the mass of starved[br]corpses, the typhoid dead, 0:51:15.083,0:51:18.976 the murdered, into this enormous[br]mass grave 0:51:19.000,0:51:21.185 and it always comes back to me[br]strangely enough 0:51:21.209,0:51:25.852 when I look at the distortion[br]and elongation 0:51:25.876,0:51:29.643 in certain German[br]Expressionists' pictures 0:51:29.667,0:51:38.018 as though the aesthetic[br]distortions of Expressionism 0:51:38.042,0:51:41.435 had been made real and concrete[br]and absolute 0:51:41.459,0:51:44.975 on the real suffering human body[br]by the Nazis. 0:51:44.999,0:51:48.975 As though this was some kind[br]of climactic work of art 0:51:48.999,0:51:52.975 which ended up mimicking what[br]they had attempted to repress. 0:51:52.999,0:51:55.351 This is a very superficial way[br]of looking at it, I know, 0:51:55.375,0:51:56.975 because it leaves out[br]the actually content 0:51:56.999,0:51:57.975 of the suffering, 0:51:57.999,0:52:01.975 but for a gentile boy seeing[br]that in Australia 0:52:01.999,0:52:06.602 40-some years ago[br]on a grainy movie.... 0:52:06.626,0:52:10.999 I compare the two images[br]and I can't help thinking of it. 0:52:20.209,0:52:22.602 Voiceover: The Degenerate Art Exhibit[br]evokes an era 0:52:22.626,0:52:25.042 that continues to haunt us. 0:52:32.167,0:52:36.143 Look carefully[br]at these paintings. 0:52:36.167,0:52:41.185 In their story lies the best and[br]the worst of the human spirit. 0:52:41.209,0:52:45.351 Guenther: I think in order to continue[br]any kind of free expression, 0:52:45.375,0:52:46.852 you have to know what happens 0:52:46.876,0:52:48.975 when free expression[br]gets stifled, 0:52:48.999,0:52:53.393 and that great art[br]can be vilified like this. 0:52:53.417,0:52:56.768 It makes you think--it makes you[br]question authority. 0:52:56.792,0:53:01.435 I think that is where[br]art is dangerous. 0:53:01.459,0:53:05.685 Gilman: It's terribly frightening[br]to look into a work of art 0:53:05.709,0:53:09.894 and see those secret parts[br]of yourself 0:53:09.918,0:53:13.310 those parts that you don't ever[br]want to talk about or see 0:53:13.334,0:53:15.101 revealed to the world 0:53:15.125,0:53:18.975 and I think that's what scared[br]the Nazis. 0:53:18.999,0:53:22.975 Hughes: The avant-garde had always[br]hoped to be dangerous 0:53:22.999,0:53:24.685 that is the thing the guys[br]with the armbands 0:53:24.709,0:53:26.602 were paying a kind of supreme[br]compliment 0:53:26.626,0:53:27.975 even in the act[br]of repressing it. 0:53:27.999,0:53:29.975 They were saying[br]this really matters, 0:53:29.999,0:53:33.310 this really counts in the way[br]that people react to one another 0:53:33.334,0:53:34.976 in the way in which states[br]are formed. 0:53:35.000,0:53:42.477 This is language[br]and it affects daily life. 0:53:42.501,0:53:46.768 Voiceover: In 1933, the great German[br]novelist Thomas Mann 0:53:46.792,0:53:49.975 fled Hitler's Germany. 0:53:49.999,0:53:53.351 12 years later,[br]the war at an end, 0:53:53.375,0:53:56.975 he spoke at[br]the Library of Congress. 0:53:56.999,0:54:02.727 Mann: "This story should convince us[br]of one thing-- 0:54:02.751,0:54:06.477 "that there are not[br]two Germanys, 0:54:06.501,0:54:09.477 "a good one and a bad one, 0:54:09.501,0:54:11.518 "but only one. 0:54:11.542,0:54:14.643 "It is quite impossible[br]for one born there 0:54:14.667,0:54:18.975 "simply to renounce[br]the wicked, guilty Germany 0:54:18.999,0:54:25.143 "and to declare 'I am the good,[br]the noble, the just Germany.' 0:54:25.167,0:54:27.685 "It is always in me. 0:54:27.709,0:54:31.417 I have been through it all."