A Weekend in Munich: Art, Propaganda and Terror in the Third Reich

by RobertS.Wistrich (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1996

  $3.26

  This is a collection of colour photographs of the Nazi hierarchy at the peak of its power, just before the outbreak of World War II. Many are images shot by an amateur film-maker, of the Day of German Art held in Munich during the weekend of 14-16 July 1939. The book offers an insight into the world of myth, illusions and political mystification which lay behind the deceptive facade of Nazism. These images are troubling in their power to evoke a past that seems carefree, naively joyful and full of hope. German participants, still alive today, recall their feeling on that day. The Jewish memory is wholly different, full of the fear that was the dark face of Nazism. At the time the film was made, Hitler was at the peak of his power, six weeks away from invading Poland. The Nazis were masters of the orchestration of power, with a sure sense of their audience. This book analyzes the way in which they used art, mass culture and mythology to mobilize the German people and legitimize their rule.