Art Propaganda

Glockenspiel

GRAZ, AUSTRIA At the Graz City Museum there's a compelling exhibit of Steiermark artists during the Nazi reign showing how their art morphed into the propaganda machinery of the Third Reich as Graz became a showcase for the Nazi ideology. Just above, on the second floor, is a 1989 exhibit of photographs and quotes from prominant exiled Jews who returned after the war and spoke of the meaning and significance of their Jewish/German identities as survivors of the holocaust. On May 7, 1915, a German U-boat sunk the passenger ship Lusitania carrying 1,959 passengers, killing 1,198. Responsibility for the attack is still being debated. A German movie on TV last night implicated Churchill in his attempt to wrangle the Americans into the war. Juxtapose these images with the Glockenspiel near the center of town where two carved figures at 11 am, 3 pm, and 6 pm dance to the sound of the Glockenspiel - Graz, a beautiful city with a conflicted and troubling history that continues to fester although often nicely packaged in kitsch.