Please be aware
This article refers to and includes ideas which many people will rightly find offensive.
They are here to make clear what was said at the time of these events.
When the Nazi Party came to power in Germany in 1933, art had been of interest to them for some time.
Many of the Party leaders were artists themselves (including Adolf Hitler) and some were collectors of fine art. But it was the perceived effect of art on the German people which concerned them. Hitler had a strong preference for the classical ideals of ancient Greece and Rome (which he considered to be unpolluted by ‘Jewish influence’) and a particular antipathy towards modernist art. Movements such as Cubism, Abstract Art and Fauvism were considered ‘foreign’ and suspect. Within National Socialism, an ideology grew up which identified modern art as part of a Jewish and Communist plot to subvert the Aryan character of the people.
In the same year that the Party came to power, Hitler set up the Reich Culture Committee (Reichskulturkammer) headed by Joseph Goebbels. Part of its role was Volksaufklärung - to enlighten the public - and in that capacity, the Committee confiscated an estimated 16,000 paintings and sculptures from German museums and galleries. Some were destroyed, some were stored, and some (ironically) went into the private collections of men like Heinrich Himmler. The word which the Party used to describe this, allegedly, polluting art was degenerate - entartete.
The Party had also for some time been setting out guiding principles for 'true' German art. It was to be Heroic and Romantic (in art terms), and it was to embody Aryan themes – Blood and Soil (Blut und Boden), militarism, obedience and racial purity. Large international events such as the 1936 Olympics in Berlin became showcases for this kind of work.
In 1937, plans were underway for an exhibition of "Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung" – "great German art". In terms of the Party’s aspirations, it was a disaster. By and large, the art chosen was of such poor quality that Hitler sacked the selection committee, and the exhibition never took place.
Instead, Goebbels proposed an exhibition of the despised alternative. 650 of the confiscated works were brought together in Munich for an exhibition entitled "Entartete Kunst" – Degenerate Art. Thousands flocked to see it. Some will have come to show loyalty (genuine or pretended) to the Party, some were made to attend.
History will draw its own conclusions about these events. In principle though, they show the power attributed to art by those who wish to impose their will on society. They also reveal how art can be manipulated to embody ideologies of any ilk.
It is not possible to remain impartial about issues like these.
Those who care about art, those who care about the flourishing of human society, will want to note the experience of history and read the signs of the times.