{"id":8560,"date":"2019-11-06T17:50:02","date_gmt":"2019-11-06T17:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/?page_id=8560"},"modified":"2026-06-24T07:24:37","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:24:37","slug":"house-of-german-art","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/source-material-for-classroom-use\/germany-1919-39-source-material\/life-nazi-germany-1933-39\/house-of-german-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Hitler speaking at the opening of the House of German Art (1937)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The House of German Art was established in Munich, opening in 1937. Its intention was to celebrate approved works of Art by German artists. It opened the day before the Exhibition of Degenerate Art. Hitler attended the opening of the House of German Art and made a speech, an extract from which is below.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opening of the House of German Art (1937)<\/h2>\n

When, four years ago, the ceremonial cornerstone laying for this building took place, we were all aware that it was imperative to lay not only the cornerstone for a new building, but also the foundation for a new and genuinely German art. The goal was to bring about a turning point in the development of all German cultural creation.<\/p>\n

Many found it difficult to let go of the term \u201cMunich Glass Palace\u201d and to give this new building a new name. Still, at the time, we believed that it was correct to proclaim this house, whose rooms were to experience the continuation of what was once the most famous German art exhibit, not as the new Glass Palace, but rather as the \u201cHouse of German Art.\u201d For that was also precisely the way to examine and answer the question of whether a German art still existed at all.<\/p>\n

The collapse and overall decline of Germany was \u2013 as we know \u2013 not only academic or political, but rather, and perhaps to a far greater extent, cultural. Moreover, this process was also not solely attributable to the fact of the lost war. Such catastrophes have often afflicted peoples and states, and these events have not infrequently provided an impetus for their cleansing and, with it, their inner elevation. But that flood of slime and refuse, which the year 1918 spewed onto the surface of our lives, was not produced by the loss of the war, but instead only released by it. It was only through the defeat that such a thoroughly rotten body first experienced the full extent of its inner decay. After the collapse of those earlier social, political, and cultural forms that were only seemingly in order, the baseness that was underlying them for so long began to triumph, and in all areas of life at that.<\/p>\n

[ . . . ]<\/p>\n

The question has often been asked: what does \u201cto be German\u201d actually mean? Of all the definitions that have been put forth over the past centuries by so many men, one appears to me as the worthiest; it attempts less to provide an explanation than to establish a law. The most beautiful law that I could wish to imagine for my people as their life task on this earth was already declared long ago by a great German: \u201cto be German means to be clear.\u201d This implies, therefore, that to be German also means to be logical and above all to be true. [ . . . ]<\/p>\n

Now this deep inner longing for such a true German art, one that carries within it the features of this law of clarity, has always lived among our people. This longing filled our great painters, our sculptors, the creators of our architecture, our thinkers and our poets, and more than anyone our musicians. When on that fateful day, June 6, 1931, the old Glass Palace went up in fire and flames, an immortal treasure of precisely such true German art burned with it as well. They were called the Romantics but they were most beautiful representatives of this German quest for the real and true nature of our people and the most honest and virtuous expression of these inwardly experienced laws of life.<\/p>\n

Related Links<\/h2>\n

Source Material for Classroom Use – see all of our Source Banks here<\/a> – Germany 1919-39 Source Material<\/a><\/p>\n

Sources: The Weimar Republic 1918\u201329<\/a> –\u00a0Sources: Hitler\u2019s rise to power, 1919\u201333<\/a> –\u00a0Sources: Nazi control and dictatorship, 1933\u201339<\/a> –\u00a0Sources: Life in Nazi Germany, 1933\u201339<\/a><\/p>\n

Weimar and Nazi Germany<\/a> – Rise of the Nazi Party<\/a> – Appeasement: Source Material<\/a> – Source Analysis Lesson: Nazi Methods of Control<\/a> – Revision Guide, Weimar and Nazi Germany<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The House of German Art was established in Munich, opening in 1937. Its intention was to celebrate approved works of Art by German artists. It opened the day before the Exhibition of Degenerate Art. Hitler attended the opening of the House of German Art and made a speech, an extract from which is below. Opening… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":8149,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8560","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t