Performing the Nation: Sports, Spectacles, and Aesthetics in Germany, 1926–1936

摘要

NATIONAL Socialist propaganda has created an aesthetic legacy that is dif-nficult to shake off. Filmic images ofwell-trained athletes preparing for thenBerlin Olympics or mass scenes from Nazi Party rallies have become fa-nmiliar features in history documentaries.Whilemany of us lack personalmemoriesnof the Third Reich, we think we know what Nazism looked like.n1 In addition,nWalter Benjamin’s concept stressing the use of aesthetics in politics has becomencommonplace in interpretations of Nazi representation.n2 “Gesamtkunstwerk ofnpolitical aesthetics” or “formative aesthetics” are terms used to analyze festivitiesnand spectacles in the Third Reich, suggesting that the Nazis developed a specificnstyle with a focus on aesthetics, symbols, and festive set-up.n3 This allegedly dis-ntinctive Nazi style is emphasized even more by contrasting it favorably with cel-nebrations of the Weimar Republic.n4 Once again, the German republicannexperience is placed in “the antechamber of the Third Reich.”5