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The Lyric Composers of the Concentration Camps

By: Isaac Rose

When German fascism came to power, it interrupted a revolutionary experiment in freedom exemplified by two classical composers: Arnold Schoenberg and Hanns Eisler.

(brandstaetter images / Getty Images)

In 1938, just two months after the Anschluss annexed Austria to Nazi Germany, an exhibition entitled Entartete Musik — “degenerate music” — opened in Düsseldorf. It was a culmination of the Nazis’ repressive cultural policy, which had strictly regulated German art, music, and architecture since 1933 in order to expel a perceived degeneracy. This project was underpinned […]

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In 1938, just two months after the Anschluss annexed Austria to Nazi Germany, an exhibition entitled Entartete Musik — “degenerate music” — opened in Düsseldorf. It was a culmination of the Nazis’ repressive cultural policy, which had strictly regulated German art, music, and architecture since 1933 in order to expel a perceived degeneracy. This project was underpinned […]

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In 1938, just two months after the Anschluss annexed Austria to Nazi Germany, an exhibition entitled Entartete Musik — “degenerate music” — opened in Düsseldorf. It was a culmination of the Nazis’ repressive cultural policy, which had strictly regulated German art, music, and architecture since 1933 in order to expel a perceived degeneracy. This project was underpinned […]

Large

In 1938, just two months after the Anschluss annexed Austria to Nazi Germany, an exhibition entitled Entartete Musik — “degenerate music” — opened in Düsseldorf. It was a culmination of the Nazis’ repressive cultural policy, which had strictly regulated German art, music, and architecture since 1933 in order to expel a perceived degeneracy. This project was underpinned […]