German Cultural Policy in the Reich Province of Danzig-West Prussia: A Short Characteristic
German Cultural Policy in the Reich Province of Danzig-West Prussia: A Short Characteristic

Summary/Abstract: An important element of the ethnic and racial policy pursued by the German occupant in the Reich Province of Danzig-West Prussia was cultural policy (Kulturpolitik). Admittedly, since the first days of occupation the German authorities attached great importance to matters of culture – however, in the Nazi reality there was no cultural policy understood as encouragement and support offered by state authorities for independent, artistic creativity in its varied forms. The Nazis “controlled” culture, which played an important role in the process of creating a new reality in the annexed Polish territories. In the present paper, the author discusses selected issues illustrating the organization and forms of German cultural life in the Danzig-West Germany Province of the Reich. In outlining the German cultural policy, two main aspects were taken into account: culture as just another component of the broader German nationalistic and ethnic policy, as well as its role as an integral part of social reality.

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