IN MEIN KAMPF, Hitler complains, among other things, about the demise of culture and the “intellectual degeneration” of art. The “bolshevism of art” is for Hitler the herald of “political collapse” in Germany. In his opinion, it is the duty of the state to prevent “the people from being driven into the arms of intellectual insanity.” According to Hitler, this disease has also affected the theater in general:

Hitler likewise complains about the decline of the classical writers in his time:

Hitler believes that this “filth” is to be found not only in the theater, but in all areas. He therefore made it his own responsibility to lead Germany out of this “filth.” Literature, and not least of all, theater, had to contribute to that effort. For it was the theater in particular that Hitler saw as an instructional institution that had to “be there primarily for the education of the youth” (284). By harking back to the past, Hitler promised Germany a glorious future.

The direction was also set for literature. Accordingly, the critics with a National Socialist bent saw only decline and decay in the theater of the Weimar Republic. Helmut Wanderscheck's comments are quoted here as a paradigm for many others: “The drama was degraded to a play for a political purpose.” Any and all connections to eternal laws of drama and eternally human values were set aside; “the people were intellectually and spiritually sick… . The drama became a plaything in the hands of rootless international literati” (3).