A black paradox lies in the contention that the dictators of the totalitarian states, while on the one hand so zealous in their censorship and abasement of art, may on the other be regarded as the demiurges of the most grandiose works of art that the world has ever known: namely, the states over which they ruled. Yet, despite the perversity of this conceit, there is reason, precedent and profit in viewing the totalitarian state in such terms. The ambition to create, as it were, a Gesamtkunstwerk in the form of a political entity was, as Hans Günther notes, born of a fundamental urge, inherent in all totalitarian movements, to harmonize every sphere of life under a single ideology.