Rainer Schlösser (sometimes anglicized as Schlosser or Schloesser; 28 July 1899 – 9 August 1945) was a German journalist and writer who held (1933–1945) the governmental post of Reichsdramaturg (Reich Drama Adviser) in the Ministry of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels and also (from 1935 to 1938) President of the Reichstheaterkammer or Reich Theatre Chamber, the state governing body for drama.
His father (d.1920) was a professor at the University of Jena who, in 1917, became the director of the Goethe-Schiller Archives at Weimar, a cultural centre of immense importance and now recognized as such by UNESCO.
After the end of the war, Schlösser studied at both Jena and the University of Freiburg, reading History, Philosophy, German Philology and Evangelical [i.e. Protestant] Theology.
He was not one of the real "alte Kämpfer" ("old fighters") whose membership, at latest, could not be positioned after number 100,000, though it seems that he joined the Party prior to its election and takeover of government in 1932–1933.
"[17] Any subject might be suitable for a Thingspiel, so long as "placed in the context of the Nordic concept" and "moved into the light of our genuine and just myth of blood and honour.
[18][16] The effect on an audience of a Thingspiel has been analyzed thus: "It was mainly the working of light and music, combined with the underlying ritual pattern, that triggered quasi-religious feelings and established an emotional bond among all those present.
The basis of Schlosser's view of art and of the Third Reich itself is encapsulated in his words about von Weber's opera, Der Freischütz [The Random Shot, lit.
The Free Shot] in the 1937 edition of the German Music Yearbook:[19]The cultural-political goal of the Third Reich is not to focus upon bureaucratic power, but to create fervor in the service of Holy Art.
"[20] In September 1939, with the coming of war against Poland, France and Great Britain, Schlösser was also appointed chief of the Cultural Office of the Hitler Youth, a uniformed position carrying the rank of Regional Leader [Obergebietsfuhrer].
The "sound and light" shows of the post-1945 era may not owe their existence entirely to the Thingspiele of the 1930s, but those German performances may have been the genesis for part of that current, which would also include the rock music extravaganzas of recent decades (such as those of Rick Wakeman).