No WWII and its effect on Berlin as one of the centers of avant garde art?

Titus_Pullo

Banned
After the 1st World War, art and science flourished in Weimar Germany. Historians cite the period between 1918 and 1933 as one of those with the highest level of intellectual production in human history; Germany was the country with the most advanced science, technology, literature, philosophy and art. Berlin in particular rivaled Paris as the center of avant garde art, science theater, film, fashion design, music etc (all to be labled degenerate art by the Nazis).

So what if there was no World War 2 because Hiter's experiences at the trenches actually turns him into a better artist? After the war he resumes painting and grew to reject realism in favor of abstract expressionism and nihilism as a way to release all his experiences at the Front into his canvas. Hitler becomes associated with a group of German artists known as Die Brucke and befriends a fellow veteran and artist Ernst Kirchner. From that point on Hitler's name would be associated with German expressionism.

What would be the effect of no Second World War on the German artistic scene? Would it be far-fetched to guess that Berlin would assume the role that Hollywood has in otl? Any other effects?
 
Last edited:
Well, no Hitler does not necessarily mean no WWII. It does mean no Nazis though.

The key difference here is that if we have a more generic right ring/fascist Germany they might (and it depends a lot on who's in charge) not crush most of the art movements for being 'racially degenerate'. Certainly it's the 33-39 period that really destroyed the movement rather than the war.
 

Titus_Pullo

Banned
Well, no Hitler does not necessarily mean no WWII. It does mean no Nazis though.

The key difference here is that if we have a more generic right ring/fascist Germany they might (and it depends a lot on who's in charge) not crush most of the art movements for being 'racially degenerate'. Certainly it's the 33-39 period that really destroyed the movement rather than the war.


Well maybe a regional war but no world war. And you're right the Nazi purges of the 30s did more to damage German culture than did the war itself. Maybe a more Mussolini type fascist regime still takes over in Germany, but less racist and less extreme?
 
Well, no Hitler does not necessarily mean no WWII. It does mean no Nazis though.

The key difference here is that if we have a more generic right ring/fascist Germany they might (and it depends a lot on who's in charge) not crush most of the art movements for being 'racially degenerate'. Certainly it's the 33-39 period that really destroyed the movement rather than the war.


Actually, there is still the German Workers Party which Hitler Joined (And subsequently took over and turned it into the Nazi Party) and could be still around, but won't be in the position it was in at the time
 
Top