Kunst, Diskurs und Nationalsozialismus

The book discusses the central concepts of National Socialist art policy: 'degenerate art' and 'German art'. With the aid of linguistic discourse analysis the history of these concepts is traced from their emergence in the 18th century and their development investigated up to the deontic potential they were invested with in National Socialist criticism of literature and art. The author demonstrates how these two concepts were drawn upon in word and text as a foundation for bans on artists and the burning of paintings in the Third Reich.