The Fort Worth Press - German far-right AfD takes aim at Bauhaus movement

USD -
AED 3.673005
AFN 71.548685
ALL 89.774885
AMD 390.742248
ANG 1.790208
AOA 915.999811
ARS 1074.458097
AUD 1.61184
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.687686
BAM 1.768195
BBD 2.01763
BDT 121.408553
BGN 1.777715
BHD 0.376917
BIF 2969.894223
BMD 1
BND 1.335232
BOB 6.904439
BRL 5.654902
BSD 0.999277
BTN 85.310551
BWP 13.830576
BYN 3.270138
BYR 19600
BZD 2.007233
CAD 1.414235
CDF 2872.999944
CHF 0.855402
CLF 0.024745
CLP 949.559902
CNY 7.28155
CNH 7.258295
COP 4153.75
CRC 503.480698
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 99.688093
CZK 22.864024
DJF 177.940512
DKK 6.79249
DOP 63.104602
DZD 133.371823
EGP 50.5951
ERN 15
ETB 131.535666
EUR 0.910355
FJD 2.314901
FKP 0.770718
GBP 0.770295
GEL 2.749526
GGP 0.770718
GHS 15.488654
GIP 0.770718
GMD 71.502706
GNF 8647.500226
GTQ 7.712684
GYD 209.058855
HKD 7.77355
HNL 25.566404
HRK 6.854402
HTG 130.756713
HUF 368.643499
IDR 16745
ILS 3.724365
IMP 0.770718
INR 85.307499
IQD 1309.013652
IRR 42100.000116
ISK 131.359679
JEP 0.770718
JMD 157.390833
JOD 0.7089
JPY 146.436501
KES 129.24972
KGS 86.7116
KHR 3996.926137
KMF 450.495489
KPW 900.05404
KRW 1443.690267
KWD 0.30786
KYD 0.832746
KZT 500.949281
LAK 21648.13308
LBP 89589.614475
LKR 296.754362
LRD 199.855348
LSL 18.834644
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.832294
MAD 9.503842
MDL 17.846488
MGA 4557.454118
MKD 55.949556
MMK 2099.453956
MNT 3493.458295
MOP 8.006871
MRU 39.710695
MUR 45.009863
MVR 15.383085
MWK 1732.754724
MXN 20.12106
MYR 4.435018
MZN 63.910222
NAD 18.834644
NGN 1535.750135
NIO 36.768827
NOK 10.52581
NPR 136.4967
NZD 1.758505
OMR 0.384987
PAB 0.999277
PEN 3.669288
PGK 4.122593
PHP 56.961972
PKR 280.290751
PLN 3.86227
PYG 8017.358286
QAR 3.642528
RON 4.531397
RSD 106.633004
RUB 84.25884
RWF 1425.910858
SAR 3.752042
SBD 8.316332
SCR 14.484746
SDG 600.507442
SEK 9.927302
SGD 1.336815
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.749874
SLL 20969.501083
SOS 571.105687
SRD 36.550021
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.743332
SYP 13002.701498
SZL 18.841877
THB 34.21008
TJS 10.876865
TMT 3.5
TND 3.05759
TOP 2.342099
TRY 38.010203
TTD 6.775156
TWD 32.985198
TZS 2665.000038
UAH 41.249706
UGX 3641.623723
UYU 42.211373
UZS 12905.704728
VES 70.161515
VND 25805
VUV 123.569394
WST 2.832833
XAF 593.035892
XAG 0.031816
XAU 0.000324
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.737546
XOF 593.035892
XPF 107.820269
YER 245.649872
ZAR 19.004802
ZMK 9001.204424
ZMW 27.754272
ZWL 321.999592
  • RIO

    -1.4700

    58.43

    -2.52%

  • CMSC

    -0.2400

    22.26

    -1.08%

  • NGG

    3.6100

    69.39

    +5.2%

  • BTI

    1.6700

    41.92

    +3.98%

  • GSK

    1.3700

    39.01

    +3.51%

  • RBGPF

    69.0200

    69.02

    +100%

  • SCS

    -0.7200

    10.74

    -6.7%

  • AZN

    1.7000

    73.92

    +2.3%

  • CMSD

    -0.1600

    22.67

    -0.71%

  • VOD

    0.2500

    9.37

    +2.67%

  • JRI

    -0.2200

    12.82

    -1.72%

  • BP

    -2.4700

    31.34

    -7.88%

  • BCC

    -7.4400

    94.63

    -7.86%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0200

    9.78

    -0.2%

  • RELX

    0.4600

    51.44

    +0.89%

  • BCE

    0.8400

    22.66

    +3.71%

German far-right AfD takes aim at Bauhaus movement
German far-right AfD takes aim at Bauhaus movement / Photo: © AFP/File

German far-right AfD takes aim at Bauhaus movement

Germany's far-right AfD party has aimed fire at the Bauhaus movement, just as the hallowed school of architecture and design nears its centenary milestone.

Text size:

The Bauhaus movement of the 1920s, with its pioneering ethos of uniting form and function, redefined ideas about art, industrial design and building but was banned as "degenerate art" by the Nazis in 1933.

Now, as the campaign season heats up towards February 23 general elections, the Bauhaus style has been dragged into the latest culture war by the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Dessau Bauhaus school in 2025, the party has put forward a motion in the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament slamming the "simplistic glorification of Bauhaus heritage".

In a speech to the regional assembly, the AfD's Hans-Thomas Tillschneider charged that the Bauhaus style had "inspired architectural sins of crushing ugliness".

The party, usually more concerned with immigration and security than cultural issues, demanded a more "critical examination" of the style invented by architect Walter Gropius in Weimar in 1919.

Tillschneider blamed the Bauhaus school for inspiring grey concrete blocks in the former East Germany but said its influence could also be seen "in many West German cities".

- 'Vision of horror' -

Bauhaus pioneers were guided by the principle that "form follows function" and by the goal of creating objects and buildings with clean lines and no frills that are durable, affordable and aesthetically pleasing.

Their modernist ideas have left their mark on everything from teapots to tower blocks and Ikea furniture.

Bauhaus architects were also enlisted by East Germany's communist government to help build public housing, in a style using prefabricated concrete elements known as "Plattenbau".

Tillschneider said these buildings were "a vision of horror" and represented "a life in the smallest of spaces full of prohibitions and restrictions".

In the motion, the AfD also said the Bauhaus style sought to promote a "universal aesthetic" and an ideology with a "clear proximity to communism".

The motion was strongly rejected by all other parties and has been heavily criticised by representatives of the cultural sector.

Barbara Steiner, director of the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau, said she had no objection to a "critical examination" of the movement.

"We want to do that too, and we're already doing it," she said.

After six years in Weimar, the Bauhaus school moved to Dessau in 1925 due to political pressure from the Nazis in Thuringia state.

Today, visitors to the Bauhaus campus in Dessau can learn about the history of the movement as well as how it has adapted to modern challenges such as climate change.

Steiner said the AfD's claims were "absurd" and failed to acknowledge the "progress" represented by the Plattenbau style.

"After the war, people moved into (these buildings) because they had hot water, a balcony and no leaks in the ceiling," she said.

- 'Attention-grabbing' -

Political scientist Natascha Strobl said the AfD's comments are unlikely to resonate with the German public because "no one is shocked by Bauhaus architecture any more".

But the inflammatory rhetoric could serve as a means of "attention-grabbing" without any risk of alienating voters since "the AfD doesn't get any votes from academia and culture anyway", she said.

Since the outbreak of the controversy, visitors to Dessau have become more curious about the history of the Bauhaus movement, according to Steiner.

After the Bauhaus school was banned in 1933, almost half of its 1,200 students left the country -- but 200 joined the Nazi party.

Fritz Ertl, 30, helped design the Auschwitz concentration camp, while fellow Bauhaus student Herbert Bayer sketched an Aryan "superman" for a Nazi propaganda poster.

"National Socialism wasn't just about tradition" but also about "strategically" incorporated elements of modernity, said Bauhaus art historian Anke Bluemm.

The AfD declined to comment on the controversy when contacted by AFP.

Steiner said the foundation had been in a "constructive" dialogue with local representatives of the party and was keen to continue the conversation.

"But this won't be the last we hear from them," she said, predicting a revival of the controversy ahead of the Dessau school's 100th anniversary in September.

H.Carroll--TFWP