Did you know that Hitler was a failed artist? Goebbels a poet? Göring a collector of art? That there was an orchestra in Auschwitz?

In this course we will examine the ways in which politics and aesthetics intertwined in Nazism: the fascist cult of beauty; the theatrics of political propaganda; anti-Semitic entertainment films; and the eroticization of the Führer-figure. We will investigate this marriage of beauty and violence, and ask ourselves: What made the “Third Reich” so attractive to so many? Beginning with the great aesthetic movements from the pre-Nazi era, we will analyze Hitler’s 1937 ban on “degenerate,” modern art, as well as his return to Greek and Roman images of beauty. Throughout the course, we will consider some of the high points of German culture – in philosophy, music, and literature – and ask: How did a society that produced such works of genius also create Nazism and the Holocaust? Restricted to first-year students. Not eligible for CR/NCR option.