Benutzerspezifische Werkzeuge

The Nazi Party's use of Heinrich Woelfflin: Towards a Political History of Art

The political development of the Nazi Party is well known in historical texts but plays little role in the historiographical analysis of art history. Focusing on culture not as an ideological cipher but rather as intellectual work of instrumental use, this presentation argues that art history functioned to buttress specific propaganda positions and party tactics at a crucial time in the NSDAP's development. Heinrich Wölfflin, perhaps the most well-known art historian ever, and his work were especially useful to specific Nazi leaders in surprising ways. Through an analysis of his later scholarship and the ultimate rise of the party to power, this paper asserts the importance of a political history in order to clarify even the use of our own discipline for the strategies of the fascist state.

Paul B. Jaskot
is associate professor of art history at DePaul University (Chicago) and has published widely on the art history of Nazi Germany and its postwar cultural influence. He is the author of 'The Architecture of Oppression: The SS, Forced Labor and the Nazi Monumental Building Economy' as well as the co-editor of 'Beyond Berlin: Twelve German Cities Confront the Nazi Past.' He is also the President of the U.S. College Art Association (CAA).