Hitler's Designs on Power

What seems to be the hottest exhibition ticket in the Netherlands at the moment? Rembrandt, Van Gogh? No, it's Design of the Third Reich at the Design Museum in Den Bosch. Surprised? Don't be. It's superbly done, well explained and really engrossing. 

The Nazis didn't achieve power in Germany without making themselves and their message attractive to millions of people, and the design of their emblems, electoral posters, the very styling of Adolf Hitler contributed to that. And those efforts didn't stop once they'd taken over. This show doesn't make any attempt to downplay the evils of Nazism, the horrors of the concentration camps and of World War II -- this is, after all, the 75th anniversary of the liberation of parts of the southern Netherlands, including Den Bosch, from German occupation -- but the aim is to try and understand the role design played in it all -- even if that role wasn't always a very coherent one. 

The decision to stage this exhibition was controversial -- it's the first ever devoted to the topic -- but it's attracted record numbers of visitors to the Design Museum, which has led to opening hours being extended to seven days a week to meet demand. 

"The history of design is, after all, first and foremost history," we're told in the introduction. "While many museums are almost exclusively interested in culture that is morally positive, historical reality always consists of both good and evil." 

While this very extensive exhibition was busy when we visited, it wasn't overcrowded, and it was easy to see everything in what was a studious, almost library-like atmosphere. That's perhaps in part due to a general ban on taking photos, though as members of the press we were allowed to.

An introductory video takes you through the history of the rise of the Nazi party, their seizure of power and the war, to the downfall of Hitler's regime, and highlights some of the things you'll see in the exhibition.

A wide variety of artefacts is complemented by much archive film and photo material, including footage of the 1936 Berlin Olympics and a paean to the joys of driving the Volkswagen, the people's car, on the new network of Autobahns stretching across Germany.

The Nazi ideal of home life is portrayed in a painting by Hans Schmitz-Wiedenbrück entered for the Venice Biennale of 1940; simple furniture; wild flowers; a traditional beer mug; contented blond children, four in this case, qualifying the mother for a medal. Somewhere out of the painting there'll be a Volksempfänger, the low-cost people's radio designed only to pick up German stations.

Grand projects for civic buildings are just a few paces away from heart-breaking plans for concentration camps. Carefully calculated schemes differentiate camp victims according to category, with different colours and shapes of symbols. You see an actual cloth yellow star that Jews were forced to wear. And mind-numbingly, from the years of genesis of a regime that would treat the disabled as sub-human, a braille version of Mein Kampf.

The first object that strikes your eye in the exhibition hall proper is this statue, Der Wager by Arno Breker. It translates as The Venturer, or perhaps The Risk-Taker.

Breker was a favourite artist of Hitler's, and this was one of five statues he designed for the Führer's chancellery in Berlin. This is the riposte to that degenerate Expressionist art the Nazis banned with all its classical influence and its rippling muscles. But those shoulders! The pomposity of self-satisfied extremism, expressed through its art. 

The image of the strongman had made an earlier appearance in this Nazi election poster from 1932. "Enough's enough!" is the slogan. "Vote Hitler." Apart from the name and the small swastika on the belt, it's a very red image, isn't it? Could be the Communists.... The Nazis were to happy to adopt their imagery both from history and from their contemporary opponents.

But "Vote Hitler." It's the personality cult -- the sort of personality cult that dispenses with any actual political argument and focuses on one recognisable name and face, as in another poster from 1932. Very simple, very arresting, standing out from the crowd.  

Hitler's image, as important to the Nazis as the swastika, was carefully cultivated down the years. Pictures for every purpose; the resolute statesman, the kindly uncle, the (rather camp-looking) nature-lover in lederhosen. Suggestions that he might ditch the moustache -- a gift to cartoonists -- were rebuffed. 

It was the photographer Heinrich Hoffmann who managed that image and licensed the use of pictures of Hitler. So, we learn, the Führer made money on the sale of postage stamps bearing his face.

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they immediately began to organise all aspects of German life according to their own ideology. Highly specific rules and regulations were set out for all sorts of activities. This handbook for the paramilitary Sturmabteilung gives, on the right-hand page, pictures and a diagram prescribing the correct form for the Hitler greeting with raised right arm. 

The Nazis' attempt to somehow show the regime as embodying the spirit of ancient Greece and Rome, including in military standards, was highlighted in the Berlin Olympics. There are more pseudo-classical statues by Breker, and here's a poster for the Games. 

But any German claims to Aryan racial supremacy were of course nullified by the Black American athlete, Jesse Owens, who took four gold medals, including the 100 metres title. 

Among the various extracts from films we get to view throughout the exhibition is one showing the plans for a gigantic rebuilding of central Berlin as imagined by Hitler's architect, Albert Speer -- huge colonnaded facades on an anything but human scale. There's more grandiose pomposity in this Speer-designed buffet for Hitler's study in his chancellery in Berlin. A far cry from the pared-back drab  furniture intended for das Volk displayed near the start of the show.

It's actually quite hard to put this exhibition into words, but it's one that's really extremely enlightening, and it's among the best things we've seen this year. It's no wonder it's been so well-attended.

Practicalities

Design of the Third Reich is on at the Design Museum in Den Bosch (formally known as 's-Hertogenbosch) until January 19. It's open daily from 1100 to 1700. Full-price tickets are a remarkably reasonable 10 euros (including audio guide), but you really do need to book a timeslot in advance online here, as there's no guarantee you'll be able to get in if you just turn up at the door. Give yourself plenty of time; we spent more than 2 1/2 hours in the exhibition.

The Design Museum is in Den Bosch's museum quarter, a signposted walk from the city's central station that takes about 10-12 minutes. Using the stupendous Dutch public-transport network, you can get to Den Bosch in just under an hour by train from Amsterdam Centraal, for example, with services every 10 minutes or so (you may need to change in Utrecht). You can check connections across the Netherlands on 9292.nl.

Images

Arno Breker, Der Wager, 1939, Atelier Arno Breker, Dusseldorf
Election poster, NSDAP, 1932, Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich
Poster, Ja!, 1938, Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich
Handbook, Handbuch der SA, 1939, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, Munich
Poster for the Olympic Games in Berlin, 1936, Münchner Stadtmuseum, Munich
Sideboard from Hitler's study in the Neue Reichskanzlei in Berlin, 1938, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin