Artists Under Hitler This page intentionally left blank Artists Under Hitler CollAborAtion And sUrvivAl in nAzi GermAny JonAtHAn PetroPoUlos Published with assistance from the foundation established in memory of Amasa Stone Mather of the Class of 1907, Yale College. Copyright © 2014 by Jonathan Petropoulos. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copy- right Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, busi- ness, or promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected] (U.S. office) or [email protected] (U.K. office). Designed by Mary Valencia. Set in Minion and ITC Franklin Gothic type by Integrated Publishing Solutions, Inc. Printed in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Petropoulos, Jonathan. Artists under Hitler : collaboration and survival in Nazi Germany / Jonathan Petropoulos. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-300-19747-1 (hardback) 1. National socialism and art. 2. Arts, German—20th century. 3. Artists— Germany—Social conditions—20th century. 4. Germany—Social conditions— 20th century. I. Title. NX180.N37P48 2014 701'.03094309033—dc23 2014021451 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (Permanence of Paper). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Dennis, Christopher, and David This page intentionally left blank when i visited France and Italy right after the war, I was full of that righteous antifascist feeling that we all had in the safety of America. I didn’t want to meet the people who had, if not exactly collaborated, certainly had not fought the Nazis. I was too prissy. And then, as I began to learn more about Europe under the occupation, and what it was like, and to compare it to us, I became less prissy about it. Because the people who were defending their children and their lives were in a different situation from the people who were defending their swimming pools and their contracts at Metro. They weren’t brave enough to be partisans, but they hadn’t sent any Jews to Auschwitz, either. I wasn’t gonna be the one from America to tell them they were wrong. Of course, I never forgave the people who sent Jews to the camps. But I did get so I could forgive the people who entertained the German troops. What else were they gonna do—not entertain them? Not entertain, and go where? If you had no group, if you were a group of one, what could you do? I can make a case for all the points of view. OrsOn Welles This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface xi Introduction 1 one “tHe sUmmer of Art” And beyond 15 1 The Fight over Modernism 19 2 Otto Andreas schreiber and the Pro-expressionist students 28 3 The Continuation of Modernism in nazi Germany 49 tWo tHe PUrsUit of ACCommodA tion 59 4 Walter Gropius 63 5 Paul Hindemith 88 6 Gottfried Benn 114 7 ernst Barlach 137 8 emil nolde 154 tHree ACCommodAtion reAlized 177 9 richard strauss 193 10 Gustaf Gründgens 212 11 leni riefenstahl 233 12 Arno Breker 261 13 Albert speer 278 Conclusion 303 Notes 331 Acknowledgments 389 Index 391 Gallery follows page 176 The bibliography for the book can be accessed at http://www .claremontmckenna.edu/hist/Artists-Under-Hitler/bibliography.php