Hitler's architect Albert Speer, who later became Minister of Defense, spent 20 years in prison for his Nazi past, but in the 1970s he began to publish books about his life during the National Socialist era with great success. Wieland Wagner, a protégé of Adolf Hitler, worked at the Bayreuth Festival in the 1950s, and Herbert von Karajan, who was a member of the National Socialist Party in both Austria and Germany, became renowned as one of the world's best conductors.
The composer Richard Strauss, the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, the sculptors Arno Brecker and Willy Möller all benefited from National Socialism and nevertheless had successful careers after the end of the war. Most of them were featured in the so-called "List of the Chosen Ones" commissioned by Hitler in August 1944. These favored cultural figures were under special protection of the regime and were not called up for military service.
Denazification and the transition to democracy
From 1945 onwards, all of Hitler's close associates had to go through the so-called denazification procedure. However, Wilhelm Furtwängler was officially allowed to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic again after only a two-year ban.
"During the process of democratization, this was a security procedure in which people had to fill out very precise questionnaires to determine who could remain in a given profession," historian Hanne Lessau explained to DW. This was particularly true for civil servants and high-ranking officials. Filling in false information - for example, membership in the National Socialist Party - was severely punished, especially by the American allies.
The Case of Wieland Wagner
Wieland Wagner was also on the "list of God's chosen ones". His grandfather, the composer Richard Wagner, was the founder of the famous Bayreuth Festival, which was first held in 1876. In 1908, his son Siegfried Wagner, and later his daughter-in-law Winifred Wagner, took over its management. The couple supported Adolf Hitler in the 1920s, even before he came to power.
"Wieland, the eldest son of Siegfried and Winifred Wagner, was designated as the heir and was personally favored by Hitler," says Sven Friedrich, director of the "Richard Wagner" Museum in Bayreuth. According to Friedrich, the stage designer and opera director Wieland Wagner was a typical representative of his generation: "He did exactly what millions of his peers did - he tried to erase unpleasant things from his mind. After the war, he always said: "Hitler is finished for me".
According to Hanne Lesau, Wieland Wagner was one of those who used the Nazi system for personal gain. For example, he wanted to harm his competitor, the successful stage designer Emil Pretorius. However, Wieland Wagner escaped with only a fine and after the war took over the management of the Bayreuth Festival together with his brother Wolfgang.
How is this possible?
During his research on the subject, Wolfgang Braunais discovered that many famous figures of artists from the National Socialist sphere continued their careers in the Federal Republic after 1945. "The new and progressive art scene ignored these artists. Nevertheless, even after 1945, many of them received an incredible number of well-paid commissions in the public sphere - town halls, schools, theaters, hospitals and industry", says the art historian and curator. The past did not play a big role in this process, especially since some of the commissioners also had connections to National Socialism," says Braunais.
There was hardly any resistance against these people. Commissions for the decoration of memorials to the victims of National Socialism, which were given to artists close to the Nazis, are particularly problematic for Braunais. "In front of the first center for documenting the crimes of Nazism, which opened in Oberhausen in 1962, there was Willi Möller's monumental statue "The Mourners", a work by one of the most important representatives of National Socialism. I can't understand it," he says.
The attitude towards the "God's chosen ones" today
In Oberhausen, Willi Möller's work is now surrounded by huge panels that explain the historical context. "In this way, the work itself is no longer the center of attention," says Braunais. For him, this is a positive example of a reassessment of history, although it remains rare.
Author: Gaby Roycher