Why Did Hitler Use Art During Ww2

The Nazis controlled many things during World War II including art. Hitler used art to help him gain power and take control. He made it very clear what his art preference was by regulating all of the art. Hitler was a very manipulative man and used his power to get what he wanted. He used art to sway people in his favor. Art started being used as propaganda, he knew how powerful propaganda was and used it to its full ability. Hitler had two official artists for the Third Reich; one of which was Josef Thorak, an Austrian-German sculptor. Artists would make pictures portraying the Germans to be peaceful or depicting Hitler as a nice guy. Some art portrayed Jewish people in a bad way and inferior to everyone else. He even had paintings to glorify the war. This art propaganda was made to shape peoples opinions and trick them into thinking that what he was doing was okay (“Art Approved”). Hitler’s favorite art form was architecture. His architectural style influenced by classical Rome and Greece. The Nazi buildings had a clean and simple look. Hitler wanted his buildings to relay a sense of power and domination; he wanted to intimidate people. The architecture emphasized straight lines using columns and pilasters. Nazi buildings conveyed a sense of power the Third Reich had (“Art Under Fascism”). The 1936 Olympic stadium …show more content…
In order to get some of these paintings from private collections he would threaten people or give them something in exchange for the piece of art. Art in the Nazi regime turned into a symbol of status. If someone had a piece of art, to the Nazis, it showed their dominance and power. Hitler’s private stash of the stolen art he had collected was said to have around seven thousand paintings. In the end when the Allies came they returned over ten thousand art pieces back to their owners, although many owners were no longer alive to take back the art