Rathausausstellung 2026 - Tafel 02: Geleitwort | Town-hall Exhibition 2026 - Panel 02: Foreword

Dr. Carsten Brosda und Carola Veit Remembrance means commemorating the victims of the Nazi regime and the crimes that regime perpetrated. It also means recognising the structures that enabled collaboration with and accommodation of the regime amongst the general populace, and it means adopting the appropriate measures for the present. The ‘Culture under Control’ exhibition shows how closely culture, politics, and administration were intertwined in Hamburg during the Nazi era. Culture assumed a stabilising role for the regime and became a means of marginalisation and exclusion: alongside the biological characteristics the Nazis attributed to certain groups of people, art and culture were used to define which people suited the antisemitic, racist, and nationalistic world view of the Nazi regime, while also serving to oppress and persecute all those who did not. The mechanisms of this policy of Gleichschaltung (enforced conformity) and the resultant sidelining of a rich and diverse cultural life were part of a trend which, within a matter of years, culminated in Auschwitz and the collapse of civilisation. ‘Arts and sciences, research and teaching shall be free’ is a principle we have therefore firmly anchored in our Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany. Institutions have a responsibility to reflect on their history and to uphold the arts as an echo chamber of an open and diverse community. Indeed, those who shape culture also shape the society of today and that of tomorrow.