AfD threatens to cut funding for 'modern-thinking' culture
The far-right party could win an absolute majority in Saxony-Anhalt's state election in September. Their cultural program denigrates Bauhaus, Holocaust remembrance culture and diversity in theater.
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, vying for an absolute majority in the upcoming state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, has threatened to cut funding for modern-thinking culture. The AfD's cultural policy program targets museums, theaters and cultural institutions, requiring them to pledge not to hold contempt for Germany and its culture to receive state funding.
This interpretation of disrespect to German culture also includes what the party calls "anti-German art." According to Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, the AfD's cultural policy spokesperson, "Anti-German art is German art that doesn't want to be German." This stance is reminiscent of the Nazi era, where avant-garde ideas and open-minded attitudes were considered "un-German."
The Bauhaus, Germany's iconic architecture, art, and design school, is one example of a cultural institution viewed negatively by the AfD. The party has criticized the Bauhaus, accusing it of being too modernist and globalist for their patriotic cultural policy. This criticism echoes sentiments from 100 years ago, when the Bauhaus was forced to close under the Nazis.
The AfD's cultural policy program aims to emphasize the state's contributions to German history, downplaying the role of Bauhaus and other institutions that challenge this narrative. Cultural practitioners and artists in Saxony-Anhalt fear that these policies could lead to a decline in artistic freedom, historical memory, and public cultural life.
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