Munich, July 10, 1938
Scarcely six years have passed since the National
Socialist Movement, following many years of struggle, was finally entrusted
with the leadership of the Reich. Nonetheless, today we can already state that
rarely in the history of our Volk has there been a comparably eventful period
of peace as in these past five and a half years, an epoch of National Socialist
leadership which was inaugurated on that memorable January 30, 1933. How many
realms of our lives have witnessed radical change since then, a resurgence of
life which had been declared completely impossible just a few years earlier by
those who had felt themselves “called upon.” The Party which had been decried
as a threat to the inner peace in fact bestowed true inner peace upon the
German Volk in the first place.
A regime that supposedly would
precipitate economic collapse pulled the German Volk back from the brink of
economic ruin and saved it. That very National Socialism, which was assumed to
spell a disastrous defeat in matters of foreign policy, has uplifted the German
Volk from the most dreadful defeat in its entire historical existence, has
restored its proud self-confidence and has led Germany to become a
highly-respected force in the world. There is hardly one realm in which the
prophecies of our opponents were not revealed as lies.
During these months, we have
borne witness to the fact that the economic philosophy of National Socialism,
which ten years ago had been decried as pure stupidity and only five years ago
was termed a criminal act or madness at least, that this philosophy is now
gradually being adopted by other states as well- albeit in omission of
copyright charges. [-] The cultural program of this new Reich is of an
unparalleled grandeur in the history of our Volk. Success will come about as a
matter of consequence as it already has in all other realms of our lives.
However, we are fully aware that in this instance the initial time period by
nature will be a longer one than the ones to date.
In the twentieth century, the
German Volk is a Volk of a resurrected affirmation of life, enchanted in its
admiration of the strong and beautiful and hence of what is healthy and capable
of sustaining life. Power and beauty are the slogans of our time. Clarity and
logic reign supreme in our efforts. Whoever wants to be an artist in this
century must wholeheartedly pledge himself to this century.
There is no room for any
Neanderthal culture in the twentieth century, no room for it at least in
National Socialist Germany. We rejoice that the democracies are opening their
progressive doors to these degenerated elements for, after all, we are not
vindictive. Let them live, we do not mind! For all we care, let them work-but
not in Germany! In 1937, 1 felt the time to have come for a clear decision in
this matter as well. Naturally, this entailed a severe intervention. Whether or
not we can today call geniuses of eternal standing our own is as always difficult
to judge, but in the end it is of little consequence for our actions. What is
of great consequence, however, is the preservation of an environment in which
true genius can be nurtured. To this end, it is imperative to uphold the solid
and decent underpinnings of the common artistic heritage of a people out of
which develops true genius. Genius is not synonymous with insanity, and above
all genius is not synonymous with fraud. To the contrary, genius manifests
itself through extraordinary accomplishments which are easily differentiated
from the common.
This prejudice threatened to
pervade the entire nineteenth century [in the time of decline]. The decent, or
let me say well-intentioned naive average of that century, has nonetheless
furnished that ground from which arose many a great artist. A century that can
claim so many great musicians, great poets and thinkers, renowned architects,
wonderful sculptors and painters, towers way above the stupid profanities of an
epoch of noise-makers in the Dadaist tradition, formers of plaster in the
Cubist mode and colorers of futurist screens.
Of course, the nineteenth
century also brought forth many an average performance and even more
performances ranking below average. However, that is the mark of any century of
achievement. How many people wander through life and how few of them are able
to run a marathon, and how many actually win the race? Yet these victors are
but the fastest runners of humankind. However, if these men would hop around
crazily instead of walking like ordinary men, then their performance would
equal that of our cultural geniuses of the time of disintegration. They would
be no better than these because they, too, would lack the basis for the
creation and assessment of supreme achievements.
Hence in the course of the
past year, I resolved to clear a passage for the honest and decent average
performance. Already at the exhibition prior to the last, we warranted the
joyful premonition that one or the other artist was well capable of even
greater achievement in the future. Developments since then have proven this
assessment correct. Our suspicions were, moreover, reinforced by the winter
exhibition on German architecture and the products of our arts and crafts.
These days I greatly rejoice
in having been able to afford the German Volk this magnificent work of eternal
beauty to be placed in the capital of its arts thanks to the truly magnanimous
permission granted by the Italian Government. May none of you who visit this
house fail to go to the sculpture gallery. May you all then realize how
glorious man already was back then in his corporeal beauty, and that we can
speak of progress only if we have attained like perfection or if we manage to
surpass this level.
Above all, may the artists
appreciate how great the sight and the artistic ability of this Greek named
Myron must have been as it reveals itself to our eyes today. How marvelous an
achievement of that Greek who created a statue two and a half millenniums ago,
a statue the Roman copy of which still elicits stunned admiration on our part.
And may all of you take this to heart as a standard for the tasks and
accomplishments of our time. May you all strive for beauty and perfection so
that you shall also stand the test of time both before the Volk and the ages.
[-] I have no doubt that you will be moved by the same sensations that moved me
when I first saw this unparalleled testimony to eternal beauty and achievement.
You will perhaps then, too, be
able to sense what I feel on this day as I declare open this second art
exhibition in the Reich and as I compare it to what existed just a few years
before we came.
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