Abstract This essay juxtaposes modern German design with cultural politics from 1919 to 1939, demonstrating the interlocking relationship of craft and industry during this pivotal period. Rejecting conventionally opposing categories of “hand” and “machine,” it reveals instead how material properties and technical processes became charged with political meaning. While the Nazis exploited modern handcraft (like the early, earthy ceramics from the Weimar Bauhaus) in service of their populist nationalism, they also deployed “clean,” progressive, industrial design (like Bauhaus-trained Wilhelm Wagenfeld’s sleek, transparent glassware) as visual and material propaganda, creating the illusion of a modern regime deeply invested in providing German citizens with cutting-edge conveniences in the latest style. Why did the Nazis appropriate an aesthetic rhetoric of transparency for their political agenda, which was so dependent on secrecy, hypocrisy, and opacity? The pages that follow explore how and why modern German design – and transparent glass objects in particular – slipped so easily into enemy hands.

中文翻译：

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清洁、清晰和工艺：德国设计中的物质政治，1919-1939

摘要 本文将 1919 年至 1939 年的现代德国设计与文化政治并置，展示了这一关键时期工艺与工业的环环相扣的关系。它拒绝传统上对立的“手”和“机器”的类别，而是揭示了材料属性和技术过程如何被赋予政治意义。虽然纳粹利用现代手工艺（如魏玛包豪斯的早期泥土陶瓷）为他们的民粹主义民族主义服务，但他们也部署了“干净”、进步的工业设计（如包豪斯训练的威廉·瓦根菲尔德（Wilhelm Wagenfeld）光滑透明的玻璃器皿）作为视觉效果和物质宣传，营造出一种现代政权的错觉，它致力于为德国公民提供最新风格的尖端便利。为什么纳粹在他们的政治议程中采用了一种透明的美学修辞，这种政治议程如此依赖于保密、虚伪和不透明？接下来的几页探讨了现代德国设计——尤其是透明玻璃制品——如何以及为何如此轻易地落入敌人手中。