ABSTRACT
Nazi totalitarianism pursued the expansion of Germanism. This goal had to be satisfied in the short run. For that purpose, populism became a very effective strategy to hoodwink a Germany that felt humiliated after World War I and by the Versailles Treaty. Writing about Nazism involves writing about Hitler, the politician, and Hitler, a frustrated and anachronistic artist who lived in a fertile, audacious and transgressive artistic context. Some of the avant-garde movements such as Dadaism rejected beauty, and most of the aesthetic and compositional categories of art used in the last six centuries. The political programme of the Nazi party can be found in Mein Kampf, where Hitler talks openly about the “race-based state”. Racism, purity, etc. would later promote ethnic cleansing and eugenics. These ideas were aestheticized through films. Nazi propaganda used documentary films to shape and spread their message. These films showed Hitler’s positive attitude towards ancient Greece and Rome.
