Hans Severus Ziegler (13 October 1893 – 1 May 1978) was a German publicist,

theater manager A theater manager, also called a general manager, managing director, or intendant (British English), is the administrator of a theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors ...

, teacher and

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

official. A leading cultural director under the Nazis, he was closely associated with the censorship and cultural co-ordination of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

Early years

Ziegler was born on 13 October 1893 in

Eisenach Eisenach () is a Town#Germany, town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia, and bordering northeastern Hesse, Hessian re ...

. He was the son of a banker and, through his mother, the grandson of Gustav Schirmer. His grandmother, the American-born Mary Francis Schirmer, was a close friend of

Cosima Wagner Francesca Gaetana Cosima Wagner (; 24 December 1837 – 1April 1930) was the daughter of the Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt and Franco-German romantic author Marie d'Agoult. She became the second wife of the German composer Richard ...

and from an early age Ziegler was attracted to the militant

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

in which the Wagner family were steeped. Ziegler studied

German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy ...

at university, completing his education with a PhD. He became a journalist, writing mostly for extreme right organs such as the ''Deutsche Wochen-Zeitung''. In 1924 Ziegler founded and edited a weekly political newspaper called ''Der Völkische''. On 31 March 1925 Ziegler became a member of the Nazi Party, with his membership number being the comparatively low 1317. That year his newspaper expanded to a daily and changed its name to ''Der Nationalsozialist'', becoming the Nazi Party organ of Thuringia. He served as Deputy ''

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...

'' in

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

under Artur Dinter from 1925 to 1927 and under

Fritz Sauckel Ernst Friedrich Christoph Sauckel (27 October 1894 – 16 October 1946) was a German Nazi politician and convicted war criminal. As General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment ('' Arbeitseinsatz'') from March 1942 until the end of the Second Wor ...

from 1927 to 1931. In 1928 he was appointed head of the Militant League for German Culture. It was also Ziegler who in 1926 came up with the name '' Hitler-Jugend'' (Hitler Youth) for the Nazi youth movement. Ziegler was a close friend of the Schirach family and in 1925 he introduced

Baldur von Schirach Baldur Benedikt von Schirach (; 9 May 1907 – 8 August 1974) was a German politician who was the leader of the Hitler Youth from 1931 to 1940. From 1940 to 1945, he was the '' Gauleiter'' (district leader) and '' Reichsstatthalter'' (Reich gov ...

, who would go on to lead the Hitler Youth, to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. Ziegler was associated with the hard-line racialist wing of the Nazi Party, which looked to

Alfred Rosenberg Alfred Ernst Rosenberg ( – 16 October 1946) was a Baltic German Nazi theorist and ideologue. Rosenberg was first introduced to Adolf Hitler by Dietrich Eckart and he held several important posts in the Nazi government. He was the head o ...

as its champion. In keeping with this wing he was particularly staunch in his

anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

Under the Nazis

In 1933 Ziegler was appointed to the Council of State and as a member of the State Government of Thuringia. In addition, he served as President of the and Reich culture Senator. In 1936, he was appointed the general manager of the and state commissioner for the State Theatre in Thuringia. In 1935 he was placed on leave whilst he was investigated for alleged breaches of

Paragraph 175 Paragraph 175, known formally a§175 StGBand also referred to as Section 175 in English language, English, was a provision of the Strafgesetzbuch, German Criminal Code from 15 May 1871 to 10 March 1994. It Criminalization of homosexuality, mad ...

, the anti-homosexual legislation, although the case was dropped. He was long assumed to be homosexual during his lifetime. Ziegler played a leading role in promoting the Nazi vision of culture, particularly with regards to "degenerate" music. He was a strong critic of

atonality Atonality in its broadest sense is music that lacks a tonal center, or key. ''Atonality'', in this sense, usually describes compositions written from about the early 20th-century to the present day, where a hierarchy of harmonies focusing on ...

, dismissing it as decadent "cultural

Bolshevism Bolshevism (derived from Bolshevik) is a revolutionary socialist current of Soviet Leninist and later Marxist–Leninist political thought and political regime associated with the formation of a rigidly centralized, cohesive and disciplined p ...

". In May 1938 he curated the ''Entartete Musik'' exhibition in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, with

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( ; ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

, Walter Braunfels, Karol Rathaus and Wilhelm Grosz amongst those receiving the strongest condemnation in the pamphlet he wrote to accompany the exhibition. Whilst working under Frick, in Thuringia, Ziegler had also overseen the removal of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

pieces from museums and public buildings, and helped to bring about a crackdown on the "glorification of Negroidism" by restricting the performance of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

music. Promulgated in his 1930 edict ''Against Negro Culture'', the Thuringian foreshadowed the co-ordination of culture that was to happen under the Nazi government. ''Entartete Musik'' would continue Ziegler's crusade against jazz, whilst also condemning

Ernst Krenek Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study of Johannes Ock ...

's opera ' as the archetype of

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

decadence and miscegenation.

After the war

In the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

several of Ziegler's writings, as well as a book about him, were placed on the ' (list of banned literature). After the war he worked as a representative for ' and subsequently as a private tutor in

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

. He also directed a private theatre from 1952 to 1954. Politically, he was active in ', an extreme right study group established in 1950. In this role, he became a regular guest of Winifred Wagner, who regularly hosted such other far-right luminaries as

Adolf von Thadden Adolf von Thadden (7 July 1921 – 16 July 1996) was a German far-right politics, far-right politician who led the National Democratic Party of Germany, National Democratic Party. Early life Adolf von Thadden was born at the noble estate of Trzy ...

Edda Göring Edda Carin Wilhelmine Göring (2 June 1938 – 21 December 2018) was the only child of German politician, military leader, and leading member of the Nazi Party Hermann Göring, and his second wife the German actress Emmy Sonnemann. Born the ye ...

, and

Oswald Mosley Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (16 November 1896 – 3 December 1980), was a British aristocrat and politician who rose to fame during the 1920s and 1930s when he, having become disillusioned with mainstream politics, turned to fascism. ...

.Gottfried Wagner, ''Wer nicht mit dem Wolf heult – Autobiographische Aufzeichnungen eines Wagner-Urenkels'' (Cologne, 1997), p. 69 Ziegler died in

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

on 1 May 1978.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziegler, Hans Severus 1893 births 1978 deaths People prosecuted under anti-homosexuality laws Antisemitism in Germany German anti-communists 20th-century German educators German male journalists German male writers German people of American descent German theatre managers and producers German Nazi propagandists Officials of Nazi Germany LGBTQ people in the Nazi Party People from Eisenach Politicians from Thuringia 20th-century German journalists 20th-century German LGBTQ people