I've always wondered whose twisted idea it was in the upper echelons of the Nazi party to stage an exhibition of "Degenerate" Modern Art in the 1930's which juxtaposed, say, a Cubist portrait with a photograph of a cretin.

(The word "cretin" is obviously used here in the strictly medical sense: a person suffering from physical and mental retardation caused by a thyroid deficiency.)

Like most Nazi propaganda, it appealed crudely to a fear of the challenging, the unknown.

And, on its own terms, it was clumsily effective. The message was, essentially: Picasso and his ilk are degenerate freaks of Nature who should be put out of their misery. That was exactly what early Nazi legislation directed at the inmates of mental hospitals and asylums did- the patients were murdered. Later, of course, they came for the "Degenerate" modern artists themselves.

So what did the Nazis posit as alternative "acceptable" artistic styles?

1. Heroic Naturalism. Square-jawed Aryan supermen and their comely wives- all perfect physical specimens, of course.

2. Crude caricatures of "Enemies of the State": socialists, communists and Jews.

3. Absurd, risible fantasy portaits of Adolf Hitler, say, clad in the armour of a Teutonic knight.

The Exhibition Catalogue.

Look at you Eddie, A* gcse history student! We had to include this little detail in our Hitler's Germany essays. Apparently it had the wrong effect and the German people loved it and queued around the block. they had to shut it down after a few weeks!

I said in my post, they loved it. Hitler wanted to use the exhibition to show how "degenerate" this art was, but in actual fact the German people diden't buy the propaganda and they thought the art was excellent. The whole reason why Hitler did this was because a modern art scene had been prevelant in the Weimar's Berlin, and he wanted to sever all ties with the Weimar Republic.

You quiero WTF?