Rathausausstellung 2026 - Tafel 32: Aufbruch und Stillstand | Town-hall Exhibition 2026 - Panel 32: A sense of both awakening and standstill

Cultural work under the British occupation The cultural policy adopted by the British occupation administration was aimed at re educating the population with regard to democracy. It used cinema and radio to do so, and promoted an open, diverse and international approach to art, literature, and music. Theatres, too, embraced new productions. Wolfgang Borchert’s anti-war play Draussen vor der Tür [The Man outside], which premiered at Hamburg’s Kammerspiele in 1947, had a major impact on German Trümmerliteratur or ‘rubble literature’. However, many cultural institutions in Hamburg struggled to make a fresh start. In quotidian life marked by the ravages of war, they continued to focus on previous areas of interest. Hamburg’s museums had barely changed in terms of personnel and remained focused on rural life and the peasantry, ethnology, and proto-history. As for the art museums, the art once forbidden by the Nazi regime now regained its importance.