Culture in Dark Times

Jost Hermand is Vilas Professor Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Honorary Professor at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He has been visiting professor at universities across the U.S. and Germany, is a fellow of the Vienna Academy, member of the Saxon Academy in Leipzig, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Kassel.

CHOICE OUTSTANDING ACADEMIC TITLE 2013“What makes this volume particularly valuable is the book's comprehensiveness. Its encyclopedic range will enable students to get a real sense of the complexity of the arts under German fascism…n sum this well-written volume by a master in his field will be an extremely useful guide to interwar German culture…Essential.”  ·  Choice“[The author] closes with a rich, extensive discussion of the efforts of German émigré artists and filmmakers to secure a cultural heritage from fascist barbarism… This monograph has so much to offer… Students of the Nazi years  can learn a great deal too from how Hermand masterfully interweaves analyses of three immensely complicated cases. Finally, the breadth of knowledge on display is remarkable.  Culture in Dark Times will be an extremely valuable work for scholars engaging with the imbrications of culture with barbarism in Germany’s twentieth century.”  ·  German History“Hermand is to be congratulated on successfully bringing together a significant amount of information in a study which covers a great deal of ground. The resulting book…is a tribute to Hermand’s vast knowledge of the topic, and his ability always to be in control of his material. A worthwhile select bibliography rounds off a useful volume, which is further enriched by a number of fascinating illustrations.”  ·  Bulletin of the German Historical Institute London“As in all his books, Hermand impresses…with a wealth of information as much as stylistic elegance. He offers the reader a more precise insight into all that posturing normally described as opportunism, blindness, adjustment, escapism, public spirit or resistance.”  ·  Das Historisch-Politische Buch

• PrefaceChapter 1. Three Claims to Cultural RepresentationPart I: Nazi FascismChapter 2. Cultural-Political PreconditionsChapter 3. Enemy StereotypesChapter 4. Stated ObjectivesChapter 5. The Ideal of an « Eternally German » CultureChapter 6. Approaches to Practical ImplementationChapter 7. Consequences for the ArtsArchitecturePainting and SculptureMusicLiteratureTheaterRadio, Film, and the PressChapter 8. Class-Specific Successes of National Socialist Cultural PoliciesPart II: Inner EmigrationChapter 9. Between Aversion and AccommodationChapter 10. Forms of Artistic ExpressionLiteraturePainting and SculptureMusicPart III: ExileChapter 11. Fragmentation of the German Exile CommunityChapter 12. Places of RefugeChapter 13. Possibilities for an Effective AntifascismChapter 14. Consequences for the ArtsLiteratureTheaterFilmPainting, Graphic Art, and PhotomontageMusicChapter 15. Visions of a “Liberated” Culture in Post-Fascist GermanySelected Bibliography