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THE RARELY ENCOUNTERED HANDBUCH DER REICHSKULTURKAMMER OR HANDBOOK FOR THE STATE CHAMBER OF CULTURE IN NAZI GERMANY

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This is a very good, very rare example of the 5-1/2 x 7 inch Handbuch der Reichskulturkammer as published by Hans Hinkel of Deutscher Verlag für Politik und Wirtschaft GmbH in 1937. Hans Hinkel was the Special Representative of Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Reichsminister für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (State Minister for National Community Clarification and Publicity) and more than anything else we have read, this hardcover provides a perfect understanding of how that very complex and important department of the German government operated.

This book, Handbuch der Reichskulturkammer 1937 is very rare. Naturally, people who were members of the RKK during the Nazi era wanted to continue in their profession after the end of the Third Reich in 1945 and those who owned a copy of this book were anxious to see their example disappear. Finding a copy is not easy!

This rare 87 year old Nazi cultural handbook is complete and in very good used condition. It has the stamp of the Reichsrundfunkkammer of Hamburg on the first title page, but no writing and no odor.

The Introduction states that the first four “organic” years of the RKK organization were now part of the past but proved that a more organized approach to cultural life in Nazi Germany was necessary, expected by art and culture loving citizens. Dr. Goebbels is described as the Creator and President of the RKK, and the trustee of the Führer und Reichskanzler for all art and cultural life of Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler is described as the “Creator of National Socialism” and the “First Artist of the Nation.”

Without exception, anyone and everyone involved in “all forms of artistic creation or activity which are made public, appear in print or are transmitted through the air” were required to be members and carry an identification card from one of the chambers of the Reichskulturkammer. Those chambers included the Chamber of Visual Arts, the Motion Picture Chamber, the Literature Chamber, Press Chamber, Theater Chamber, Music Chamber and Radio Chamber. The Presidents of each chamber formed a National Advisory Committee which was supplemented by a Reich Culture Senate composed of “persons of outstanding cultural attainments”. Along with the Minister of Propaganda Dr. Joseph Goebbels, these people oversaw every aspect of everything that got into print or was performed in Nazi Germany.

This thick, 352-page hardcover book not only describes the duties of everyone involved in the RKK but gives names, addresses, and phone numbers for nearly every functionary right down to the Gau level. There are many diagrams which supplement the text and provide a clarity not found in other literature on the subject.