Jan Burzlaff

Post Doctoral Associate in the Program of Jewish Studies

Cornell University expert Jan Burzlaff, a postdoctoral associate in Jewish studies who researches civilian responses to persecution, says this goes beyond an administrative move.

Burzlaff says:

“Authoritarian regimes have long treated culture as a battleground, knowing that seizing the arts means controlling public thought. These were not aesthetic decisions; they were political strategies designed to shape public perception and eliminate independent thought. Governments that seize cultural institutions are not just policing the arts; they are redrawing the boundaries of acceptable discourse.

“In Nazi Germany, the Reichskulturkammer (Reich Chamber of Culture) dictated artistic expression as part of the broader Gleichschaltung (forced synchronization), purging ‘degenerate’ works and enforcing ideological purity. In the Soviet Union, the Zhdanov Doctrine forced artists into conformity, dictating what could be written, painted, or performed.

“The Kennedy Center’s bipartisan governance has historically protected it from such pressures. Reshaping it along partisan lines is not just administrative—it is a tremor in the foundation, a reminder that when power fears culture, it does not seek to nurture it, but to bend it to its will.”