# How a postwar German literary classic helped eclipse painter Emil Nolde’s relationship to Nazism
**Date de l'événement :** 05/06/2025
* Publié le 05/06/2025

### Image
![1.jpg](https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/memory-sp-pr.appspot.com/o/prod%2F1y7CgDOTakHDiB3dgoi0%2FprojectsMedias%2FC1OPlIQPPkuopXcULoYd%2Fthumbs%2F1_1600x900.png?alt=media&token=b38dd80a-4dd6-4dad-9bba-24e3de146ed6) 

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Paintings by German artist Emil Nolde (1867-1956) were recently on display at the Musée Picasso in Paris as part of an exhibition on what the Nazis classified as “degenerate art”. At first glance, his works fit perfectly, but recent research shows that Nolde’s relationship to Nazism is much more nuanced than the exhibition revealed.  
  

##### The German Lesson: a postwar literary classic  

While Nolde was one of the many victims of the Third Reich’s repressive responses to “degenerate art”, he was also one of Nazism’s great admirers. The immense popularity of The German Lesson (1968) by author Siegfried Lenz, however, greatly contributed to creating the legend of Nolde as a martyr of the Nazi regime.  
  
The cover of the French edition, which was on sale in the Musée Picasso bookstore, subtly echoes one of Nolde’s works, Hülltoft Farm, which hung in the exhibition.  
  
Set against the backdrop of Nazi policies on “degenerate art”, the novel is about a conflict between a father and son. It addresses in literary form the central postwar issue of _Vergangenheitsbewältigung_, a term referring to the individual and collective work of German society on coming to terms with its Nazi past.  
  
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→ [Cliquez ici pour lire cet article en français](https://sources.sciencespo.fr/content/MrFAxif6cEOOH8RaJkl6)

**Pour lire l'article complet, cliquez sur le lien ci-dessous :** [https://theconversation.com/how-a-postwar-german-literary-classic-helped-eclipse-painter-emil-noldes-relationship-to-nazism-258310](https://theconversation.com/how-a-postwar-german-literary-classic-helped-eclipse-painter-emil-noldes-relationship-to-nazism-258310)

## Auteur(s)
Ombline Damy

### Date
05/06/2025

### Type(s) de ressource
`#Texte` 

### Discipline(s)
`#Littérature` 

### Thématique(s)
`#Mémoire` `#Culture / arts / sport` 

### Langue(s)
`#Anglais` 

## Crédits photo
Emil Nolde / Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza

**Licence attribuée à l'article :** `#CC-BY-ND (Attribution, Pas de modification)` 

### Famille(s) de contenu
`#Recherche` 

### Type(s) d'accès
`#Accès libre` 

### Partenaire(s)
**[The Conversation](https://sources.sciencespo.fr/structure/the-conversation_QdYqgYnzKVyePLgMp3g8)** 


### Hébergeur(s)
`#The Conversation` 

## Autres crédits
**Sujet de la photographie** : Emil Nolde, _Red Clouds_, aquarelle sur papier fait main, 34,5 x 44,7 cm.  
[Emil Nolde/Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid](https://www.museothyssen.org/), [CC BY-NC-ND](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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