WAE26: Hitler's Big Fear - The Trial Against Degenerate Art

When art becomes a threat, who decides what survives?

In 1937, the Nazi regime launched its war on modernity, branding artists like Picasso, Chagall, Van Gogh, and Matisse as “degenerate.” Their works were banned, destroyed, or mocked in grotesque exhibitions, while Aryan ideals were glorified in state-sponsored shows.

Framed by a major new exhibition at the Musée Picasso in Paris, the documentary revisits this ideological assault through rare footage, suppressed artworks, and the voices of curators and survivors. It broadens its scope to music, literature, and architecture, exposing how the Reich targeted all forms of dissenting expression.

But how can art be considered a threat? This documentary leads us to reflect on how art and critical thinking still remain instruments of resistance to single-track thinking and in defense of democracy.

As the German writer Heinrich Heine said, sooner or later, "where you burn books, you end up burning people."

A timely meditation on repression, resistance, and the enduring fight for creative freedom.

Screening Sat-Sun, May 2-3 at Luna Leederville and Luna on SX.