How Did the Nazis Utilize Art in General, and Classical Music in Particular, to Further Their Aims - Essay Example

How did the Nazis utilize art in general, and local music in particular, to further their aims? "Propaganda tries to force a doctrine on the whole people. Propaganda works on the general public from the standpoint of an idea and makes them ripe for the victory of this idea." (Adolf Hitler).  After the Nazis captured power in 1933, Hitler created The Reichs Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels. The task of the Ministry was to inculcate the ideas of Nazis in the masses through art, music, theatre, cinema, books, radio, and the press (Churchill, 1986).

Nazi propaganda has several goals. Germans were reminded about the necessity of struggle with foreign enemies and the destruction of Jews. Movies played a very important role in the spread of racial anti-Semitism as Jews were defined as the enemies of the nation. The films created by Nazis depicted Nazis as inhuman beings, which penetrated German society. Classical music also was an important tool of propaganda during World War II. Now it is difficult to imagine that classical music played a key role during the national crisis.

Nevertheless, music was a very noticeable background for different World War II events. According to Hitler’s order, the overture from the opera “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg” should have accompanied every mass meeting in Nürnberg. Nazis encouraged the performing of the works of Wagner because Hiller was his fan (Waite, 1977). The works of Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn were forbidden due to the Jewish origin of these composers. German orchestras were not allowed to perform the music by Paul Hindemith, the leading national composer, who was recognized all over the world (Heinsohn, 2000).