Aus der neuen Reihe "Lauschen & Staunen": Erich Maria Remarques Erfolgsroman „Im Westen nichts Neues“ Ein Vernichtungsfeldzug der Nazis gegen Kunst und Kultur

With Ursula Zierlinger & Hans-Jürgen Lenhart
Erich Maria Remarque published his novel in 1929 and it was an overwhelming success, both nationally and internationally. The American film version won an Oscar in 1930, and the German remake in 2023 also won four Oscars. A bitter ideological battle raged over the book from both the right and the left. For the National Socialists, the debate about the book and film (1930) was a welcome opportunity to unleash a unique smear campaign against the author and the publisher. As a result, Remarque was one of the "burnt authors" in 1933 and his works went up in the flames of the pyres of the Reich-wide book burnings.
Using the example of "Nothing New in the West", the lecture shows how totalitarian systems waged a war of extermination on critical art and culture: Author portrait, eyewitness accounts, press war. Putin, Trump, Bolsonaro and Orban are examples of how close we are today to a repetition of campaigns of annihilation against art and culture.

Box Office admission: €7 / With Kulturpass Frankfurt: €1 (only available at the Box Office)