“The Nordic concept” in relation to the arts. Politics and exhibition policy in the Third Reich

Nazi Germany used official cultural cooperation for ideological propaganda purposes. Germany did not enter into any distinct cultural agreements with the Nordic countries, but cooperated in separate projects such as art exhibitions. This article focuses on an exhibition of Finnish art organized in Germany in 1935 and on an exhibition of German art correspondingly organized in Finland in 1936. The article discusses the compilation of an exhibition as a statement of opinion. Compiling an exhibition is always a matter of making choices: decisions have to be made on the theme of the exhibition, any larger entity it is to be linked with, what should be included and what should be left out. An exhibition always represents something; it can thus never be non-aligned or ‘innocent’. An art exhibition that forms part of cultural cooperation organized by a totalitarian system is an example of an enforced display of ideology.