Germany's culture minister and a group of art and design institutions voiced support Thursday for the iconic Bauhaus art school, whose modernist legacy has come under attack from the far-right AfD.
Alternative for Germany (AfD) politicians have launched repeated attacks on the hugely influential school of art and design that was founded in 1919 but shut down a bit over a decade later by the Nazis.
Culture Minister Wolfram Weimar published a "Bauhaus Manifesto 2026" together with the leaders of artistic, religious, crafts and architectural institutions to defend the movement as well as the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau.
The manifesto argues that recent attacks from the political fringes echo some of the criticism levelled by the Nazis, who branded much Bauhaus-affiliated work as "degenerate art".
"The Bauhaus and the hostility it faced from the Nazi regime reminds us that a culture of remembrance is not a nostalgic look at the past, but a prerequisite for understanding our history and our democracy," the manifesto argues.
