Rathausausstellung 2026 - Tafel 08: »Völkisch«, »nordisch« oder »modern«? | Town-hall Exhibition 2026 - Panel 08: Völkisch, nordisch or modern?

The principles and objectives of National Socialist cultural policy were long a matter of dispute among the upper echelons of the Nazi hierarchy. ‘Intellectual’ theatre and ‘un-German’ films were considered undesirable. Classical modern was a particular bone of contention. While various, supposedly ‘Nordic’, forms of this art movement were appreciated, völkisch circles rejected all things modern as ‘degenerate’. This conflict paralysed cultural policy in Hamburg. It led to a number of management positions being initially filled on a temporary basis only. The closing of an exhibition at the Hamburger Kunstverein in 1936 marked a turning point. Thereafter, modern art was virtually never shown anywhere in the Reich. In Hamburg, too, the advocates of a völkisch conception of art had prevailed.