Il Medioevo nella propaganda nazista : artigianato e architettura nel Terzo Reich

In the Nazi era, the myth of the Middle Ages as a golden age in German history is exploited and translated into an unprecedented revival of typically medieval decorative techniques such as mosaics and stained-glass. These two media were particularly vaunted for their close link with architecture, their high-quality craftsmanship, and their "national character". At the same time, monographs, scientific journals, and newspaper campaigns of the 1930s rediscovered the ornamental, expressive, and sensory qualities of works in these media, and presented to the public their past glories and contemporary developments. By examining a selection of writings ranging from Nazi apologists' volumes on medieval stained glass and "German mosaics" to the articles on applied arts that appeared in the journal Die Kunst im Deutschen Reich and other publications of the party, this paper analyses the role of arts and crafts in Nazi ideology and the political dimension of the medieval revival under the aegis of the concept of Volkswerdung (becoming a people).