"Bauhaus and National Socialism": Annual exhibition at the Klassik Stiftung Weimar provides insights

The show presents around 450 Arts and Design objects from private collections and renowned museums in Europe and the USA at three locations in Weimar. The works illustrate the complex political history of the Bauhaus up to its closure in 1933 and show the extremely varied lives of Bauhaus members under National Socialism.

In the "Museum Neues Weimar", the artistic and political conflicts that began with the founding of the art institution in Weimar and continued unabated in Dessau and Berlin are highlighted under the title Politische Kämpfe um das Bauhaus 1919−1933” ("Political Struggles around the Bauhaus 1919–1933"). In the Bauhaus Museum, under the heading "Abgehängt – Beschlagnahmt – Angepasst 1930/1937” ("Seized – Confiscated – Adapted 1930/1937"), the focus is on the confiscation of "degenerate Arts" in 1937 and its precursor action in Weimar: as early as 1930, over 70 works by artists such as Lyonel Feininger and Paul Klee had to be removed from the Palace Museum. More than 450 works were confiscated in 1937 – a cultural loss in the collections that is still felt today. The main part of the exhibition at the Schiller Museum is dedicated to Bauhaus members and their "Lebenswegen in der Diktatur 1933−1945” ("Lives under the dictatorship 1933–1945"). The station focuses on the tightrope walks they took in the face of the new political circumstances after 1933. Many Bauhaus members had little choice: they lost their jobs and fled into exile because of their origins. At least 21 Bauhaus members were killed in Nazi prisons or concentration camps. However, the majority remained unharmed in Germany. The former Bauhaus students took part in National Socialist propaganda exhibitions or presented their works at design fairs. They designed film posters, furniture, household goods and even Hitler busts.

The three-part exhibition aims to show new and uncomfortable perspectives on Bauhaus history. For long after 1945, the illusion of a uniquely "good" and persecuted modernism persisted. An innovative artistic attitude alone, as the fates of many Bauhaus members show, does not protect against the seductiveness of fascism. This makes the role of Arts in a liberal and cosmopolitan society a central theme of the exhibition.

The three-part exhibition is completed by the installation "Denkmal für Ehrlichkeit" ("Monument to Honesty"), which was built from the famous type 602 furniture by Bauhaus artist Franz Ehrlich. The installation by the artist trio Friedrich von Borries, Frieder Bohaumilitzky and Jens-Uwe Fischer deconstructs the complex biography of the Bauhaus architect, graphic artist and designer Ehrlich (1907–1984), who was also a resistance fighter and Buchenwald prisoner, but also an SS architect, Stasi informant and impostor. Based on his story, the memorial questions the dominant self-perceptions of the present: How honest are we?

The exhibition will open on 8 May 2024 at 8 p.m. Admission to the opening is free. Afterwards, the exhibition can be seen as follows

Part „Politische Kämpfe um das Bauhaus 1919 – 1933“:
Museum Neues Weimar | Mon, Wed – Sun, 9.30 am – 6 pm

Part „Abgehängt – Beschlagnahmt – Angepasst 1930/1937“:
Bauhaus Museum Weimar | Mon, Wed – Sun, 9.30 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Part „Lebenswege in der Diktatur 1933 – 1945“:
Schiller Museum | Tue – Sun, 9.30 a.m. – 6 p.m.