It seems strange to me that even though Nazi ideology was all about how better Germans are compared to everyone else, they didn't do all that much, from what I know, to destroy technology and art that wasn't German. I can understand the Nazis liking Italian stuff because Italy was an ally for them and Hitler really like the Roman Empire, but why didn't he go full out destroying non-German technology and art?
For example, according to my APUSH textbook Hitler suspended atomic physics research because of its cost and that he considered it "Jewish Physics." So if Hitler didn't like atomic physics for not being German, why was he okay with other technology that wasn't German like airplanes or telephones? Also, regarding art, I don't really know anything about Nazi plunder so further reading would be helpful, but they seemed to destroy some, plundered others, and did nothing to others. If my uncle is correct here why did the Nazis want to destroy Tchaikovsky's music but they didn't demolish the Eiffel Tower or burn down the Louvre, national art symbols of France? Was it just because Tchaikovsky was gay and the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre were not gay?
Sorry if my question is kind of ignorant on these topics, but it seems kind of "pick and choosey" on what technology and art Hitler and Nazis were okay with and what they weren't.
Thank You!
PS - So as a followup question, would it be illegal for one in Nazi Germany to read a book or listen to music by a non-German?
Hitler himself had no state opinions on physics that I have ever seen. The "German/Aryan physics" movement (Deutsche Physik) was extremely limited in scope. It was pushed by two Nobel Prize winners (Stark and Lenard), was successful for a very brief period of time (they were allowed to fill basically one professorship and to get the SS to harass Heisenberg) and then collapsed spectacularly (Heisenberg was fully approved by the SS, their efforts were suddenly not supported, and Stark nearly got sent to a concentration camp). Saying that Hitler himself was a fan of it is vastly overstating its popularity and influence, but not uncommon (unfortunately) in textbooks that are oversimplifying things. The only science that they were deeply invested in as a party was biology, where they pushed racial and genetic theories that supported their pseudoscientific idea of the Aryan ideal.
The Germans did have strong feelings about "degenerate art," and did oppose certain forms of modern art as such. They were not opposed to all art, and certainly not all technology (they were not really opposed to technology at all, it should be said, and atomic physics is not technology but a field of science). If you wanted to sum up the Nazi approach to art, it would be that art that was purely representational, had traditional aesthetics, and upheld ideals of the Nazi party (family, work, "Germanness," the Volk, traditional "German values," etc.) was embraced, and work that was highly abstract, subtle, non-representational, made by social critics, etc., was attacked/destroyed/banned.