Hans Severus Ziegler. Entartete Musik: Eine Abrechnung.

Inspired by the Munich exhibition “Entartete Kunst,” and in the context of the Reich-Musiktage in Dusseldorf (celebrating Richard Wagner’s 125th birthday,) Hans Severus Ziegler organized an exhibition entitled”Entartere Musik,” wherein he polemicized against what the Nazis regarded as degenerate music - primarily jazz and of course anything composed by Jewish musicians. The present rare publication accompanied the exhibition. The front cover displays “Negermusiker Johnny,” a character from the popular opera “Jonny spielt auf” that the Nazis disdained, composed by the Czech-Austrian musician Ernst Krenek (1900-91.) The graphic cover features a black musician playing the saxophone, however, the buttonhole on the musician’s tuxedo is replaced with a Star-of David. The artwork personifies what the Nazis defined as degenerate: A primitive “Jewish-Negro” polluting German high-culture. Hans Severus Ziegler was a German publicist, NS-official and theater director. A strong supporter of the Nazi-ideology from its inception, he formulated the Nazi policy of Wider die Negerkultur (“Against Negro Culture.”) After the war, Ziegler continued his work in the theater. He died in 1978 in Bayreuth, the city that is a pantheon to the Nazis most favored composer - Richard Wagner.