The Routledge Handbook to Music under German Occupation, 1938-1945

This dictionary provides readers with the conceptual apparatus to understand the often daunting language and terminology of screen studies. It offers beginning students an introductory map of the field and more experienced students and scholars a refresher course on the basic concepts.

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Following their entry into Austria and the Sudetenland in the late 1930s, the Germans attempted to impose a policy of cultural imperialism on the countries they occupied during the Second World War. Almost all music institutions in the occupied lands came under direct German control, or were subject to severe scrutiny and censorship from the occupying forces whose prime objective was to change the musical fabric of these nations and subject them to the strictures of Nazi ideology. This pioneering collection of essays is the first in the English language to look in more detail at the musical consequences of German occupation during such a dark period in European history. It embraces a wide range of issues, presenting case studies involving musical activity in a number of occupied European cities as well as in countries that were part of the Axis or had established close diplomatic relations with Germany. The wartime careers and creative outputs of individual musicians who were faced with the dilemma of complying with, or resisting, the impositions of the occupiers are explored. In addition, there is some reflection on the post-war implications of German occupation on the musical environment in Europe.