Bauhaus style of modern architecture faces attack

Culture is indeed a legitimate battleground for all right-wing political parties. And it should come as no surprise that Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD), which had recently made gains in the German provincial elections, should have targeted the Bauhaus movement, which symbolises 20th century modernism, especially in architecture, in Germany and in the rest of the Western world.

The Bauhaus movement had merged in the period between the two world wars – World War I (1914-18) and World War II (1939-45) – in Germany. It brought in the modern geometric design to the buildings without any decorative motifs. It was the simple and straight lines of the buildings that defined it. It was the cultural expression of the scientific and industrial civilisation.

This was also reflected in the Abstract Art movement in the early decades of the 20th century, which later transformed into Cubism where only the geometric forms of a cylinder, triangle and circle were used.  Next year – 2025 – marks its centenary, and Dessau, the town where it started, is getting ready to celebrate the event.

The AfD had moved a resolution in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, saying that the Bauhaus movement had suppressed regional styles by imposing a universal design. The resolution was defeated, and there was a public outcry. The AfD resolution read: “The international spread of the Bauhaus style created a porridge-like homogeneity that displaced local architectural traditions” and rejected the “uncritical glorification” of the Bauhaus. The AfD, despite the defeat of its resolution in the Saxony-Anhalt parliament, remained unfazed. AfD legislator Hans-Thomas Tillschneider in Saxony-Anhalt said during the debate “your worship of Bauhaus seems very fragile..if our subjecting it to a little criticism might take your precious Bauhaus away from you.”

Said Jan-Werner Mueller, professor of politics at the Princeton University in the US who studies the right-wing populist political parties: “Culture war is their (the far right political parties like the AfD) business model.” Barbara Steiner, head of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation, said, “The AfD has recognised the importance of the cultural sphere. Because you can use it to touch people’s hearts and emotions.” Stephen Ehrig, lecturer at Glasgow University, commented: “They’re creating noise, showing they are protecting their voters, defending high art and traditional values.”

It has been a common feature of the many right-wing leaders in the Western world to attack the modernist trends and styles, while pretending to defend traditions. Their intention is to generally dominate every sphere of social life, including culture and impose their own crude ideas. Harking back to traditions is their futile attempt to use the façade of the past to hide their own ignorance and lack of aesthetic sense.

One of the aspects of right-wing populism as represented in the 20th century by Nazism in Germany and fascism in Italy was their contempt for anything intellectual. The Bauhaus movement is pre-eminently an intellectual rebellion, and that is what makes it an easy target for parties like AfD. Though the AfD has not succeeded in pushing the resolution against the Bauhaus, it shows clearly which way it would go if it were to come to power.

The same trend in matters of culture can be seen in the politics of Donald Trump in the US and that of nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Both the leaders want to go back to the neo- classical architectural styles of the 18th and 19th centuries. It underscores their undemocratic temperament. Many people may not like modern art or architecture and they may even criticise it. But they will not argue from their disagreement that modernism should be outlawed. That is indeed the intent of the far-right political parties like AfD.