Influence of Jazz Music on German Culture

By Paul Cartmell, eHow Contributor

According to The German Way and More, a German cultural website, the influence of American culture in Germany has grown markedly following the stationing of American soldiers in what was West Germany following World War II. American influences such as jazz music can be traced back even earlier than this, according to the Goethe Institute, with the late 19th century starting an interest in American jazz music in Germany that was interrupted by two world wars.

Roots
The Goethe Institute explains the first jazz style ensemble, called the Fisk Jubilee Singers, reached Germany from the U.S. in 1877 and sparked an immediate interest in American culture and jazz. The popularity of black culture grew in Germany throughout the first decade of the 20th century, only to be interrupted by the outbreak of World War I.

With peace restored in 1918, the Goethe Institute reports the return of the more explicit side of jazz in Berlin of the 1920s with performers such as Josephine Baker providing risqué shows. American performers became popular in the 1920s with German performers finding it difficult to adapt to the improvised styles of U.S. jazz. The Goethe Institute describes only a few German performers becoming popular in this period, including saxophonist Eric Bochard.

Fascism
The rise of the national Socialist Party, or Nazis, in Germany of the 1930s saw jazz music become a symbol of rebellion against the fascist policies of the party. Research published by The University of Michigan Press states that jazz was referred to by Nazi propaganda as overtly sexual and created by unrespectable blacks. Young people in Nazi Germany opposed to Nazi rule are reported by the Goethe Institute to have adopted the fashions and music of U.S. jazz as a symbol of individual freedom scorned upon by the ruling fascist party.


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