The Multiple Levels of Cultural Diplomacy: Weimar Germany’s Exhibition Moment, 1927–1928

This article examines the complex dynamics of cultural diplomacy through the prism of two large-scale exhibitions in Weimar Germany: the international music exhibition Musik im Leben der Völker (Frankfurt, 1927) and the international press exhibition Pressa (Cologne, 1928). Both ventures attracted substantial political backing, ample press coverage, and large numbers of visitors. As this article shows, these initiatives reflected a wider development of the interwar period, namely, the creation of new structures and the launching of fresh endeavors in the field of cultural diplomacy, both in Germany and elsewhere. Moreover, by the second half of the 1920s, the political environment was conducive to international events such as the ones in Frankfurt and Cologne: the conception and framing of the displays evoked ideas of reconciliation and cooperation that many contemporaries associated with the Locarno Pact of 1925. The article traces how exhibition schemes served as shells for a variety of—sometimes conflicting—agendas. In doing so, it highlights the role of different actors and agencies, looking beyond protagonists at foreign ministries and embassies. It examines how local leaders pursued ambitious municipal policies through the vehicle of “city diplomacy,” yet it also shows how the representatives of different international organizations—including the League of Nations—sought to link such activities to a particular vision of internationalism.