AfD's 'Patriotic Culture' Push Targets Bauhaus, Sparks Alarm

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in the state of Saxony-Anhalt is signaling a significant shift in cultural policy should they achieve an absolute majority in the upcoming state elections on September 6. Their party program, confidently titled "Government Program" due to strong poll numbers, outlines "diverse opportunities" to implement their cultural vision. Saxony-Anhalt aspires to become a "model state for cultural policy," aiming to exert a "radiating effect" on other German states and initiate a "necessary change throughout Germany."

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After a victory, the AfD will have 'diverse opportunities' to implement its cultural policy ideas.

The AfD's proposed cultural transformation centers on a "new, patriotic cultural policy" intended to "heal" Germans and restore their "self-confidence." This vision starkly contrasts with an open understanding of art, as evidenced by their rejection of modern movements. While embracing figures like Heinrich I and Bismarck, the party dismisses the Bauhaus, founded by Walter Gropius in the 1920s, and its associated modernism, labeling it an "erratic path of modernity."

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Saxony-Anhalt wants to become a 'model state for cultural policy' that will have a 'radiating effect' on other federal states and thus initiate the 'necessary change throughout Germany.'

Critics draw parallels between the AfD's cultural agenda and propaganda strategies employed in authoritarian regimes. The article notes that during the Nazi era, culture was used to foster a "healthy body politic," while avant-garde styles like Expressionism were condemned as "un-German" and "degenerate." Similarly, in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), culture was instrumental in shaping the "new man" under socialist realism, with the worker as the idealized hero.

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A 'new, patriotic cultural policy' should 'heal' Germans and give them back 'their self-confidence.'

The AfD's selective embrace of German history and its rejection of influential modern art movements like the Bauhaus suggest a desire to curate a national identity based on a narrow, nationalistic interpretation. This approach, critics argue, risks stifling artistic innovation and diversity, echoing historical precedents where culture was manipulated for political ends.

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The Bauhaus is an 'erratic path of modernity.'