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Nazis And The Power Of Music

Wagner believed that the Germans had a special role to play in contemporary culture with regard to music and art. Germans artistic talents were able to touch the deepest roots of spiritual and social vitality. The music was what made them the people they were; the two were inseparable. .
             Not only was the cultural heritage of the Germans a longstanding strength in their society, but also the feeling that the Jews were a threat to the purity of the music started before Hitler came into power. Wagner believed that there was a great mission to bring Germans a sense of identity and purpose. According to Wagner, Jews were permanent aliens, and they were conspiring against the goals of the country via a conspiracy by the Jewish politicians, bankers and critics who allied against Hitler (Sheehan 841). In 1850 Wagner wrote an anti-Semitic book called Das Judenthum in der Musik, stating that the Jews ruined the public taste in the arts (Teacher's Guide). Hitler agreed with Wagner's assertions, making Wagner's music acceptable and exemplary. .
             Another favorite composer of Hitler was Ludwig van Beethoven. Although he lived a century prior to Hitler, he remained very well loved by the German people. Beethoven's music was powerful and proud, traits that the Germans could relate to. Hitler felt that Beethoven exemplified the true heroic spirit of Germany. Hitler played upon the sentimentality of the German people so that they would accept the ideals of the Nazi regime and used Beethoven as the archetype for what music should be (Teacher's Guide).
             Anton Bruckner was a composer who learned many of his skills from listening to Wagner. Hitler thought that Bruckner was a fine example of what a musician should be, not only for his talent as a musician, but also due to his great love for Germany. When the news of Hitler's death was announced, a movement from Bruckner's Seventh Symphony was played in honor of the deceased (S.


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