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University Microfilm s International 300 N. ZEEB RD„ ANN ARBOR, Ml 48106

8222071

Cuomo, Gleun Raymond

A STUDY OF GUNTER EICH’S LIFE AND WORK BETWEEN 1933 AND 1945

The Ohio State University PH.D. 1982

University Microfilms International 300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, M I 48106

A STUDY OF GUNTER EICH’S LIFE AND WORK

BETWEEN 1933 AND 19^5

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate

School of the Ohio State University

Glenn Raymond Cuomo, B.A., M.A.

*****

The Ohio State University

1982

Reading Committee: Approved By

Prof. Hugo Bekker

Prof. Charles W. Hoffmann

Prof. Henry J. Schmidt Adv# Department of’ German ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to the Graduate

School of the Ohio State University for a fellowship which

enabled me to conduct research in the Federal Republic of

Germany, as well as to U s e Aichinger and to the Deutsches

Literaturarchiv/ Schiller Nationalmuseum in Marbach am

Neckar for permission to quote from Gttnter Eich's unpublished manuscripts. VITA

August 6 , 1952 . . B o m - Freeport, New York

197^ ...... B.A., State University of New York College at New Paltz

1974-1976 .... Teaching Assistant, Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia

1976 ...... M.A., The University of Georgia

1976-1979 Teaching and Research Associate, Depart ment of German, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

1979-1980 Presidential Fellow, The Ohio State Uni versity

1980 . . Teaching Associate, The Ohio State Univer sity

1981-1982 Acting Assistant Professor of German, Department of Foreign Languages and Lit eratures, Rider College, Lawrenceville, New Jersey TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS...... ii

VITA...... lii

Chapter

I. INTRODUCTION ...... 1

II. 1927-19^5: AN OVERVIEW OF EICH'S LIFE AND WORK. 12

III. A LISTING OF EICH'S RADIO TEXTS FROM 1933 TO 194-5 • ...... A 7

IV. NAZISM AND THE RADIO P L A Y ...... 66

V. THE "ACCEPTABLE" ADAPTATIONS ...... 103

VI. THE KONIGSWUSTERHAUSER LANDBOTE AND ITS PROGENY 12A

VII. "WEIZENKANTATE," "FAHRTEN IN DER PRARIE" AND "RADIUM" . 000000.. 0. 00. 0.... 13^

VIII. GUNTER EICH'S POETRY BETWEEN 1933 AND 19^5. ° 207

IX. CONCLUSION...... 2A0

BIBLIOGRAPHY...... 251 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

An author*s popular image is often determined by a sin gle work which gains great acclaim. Such a work is not al ways the author’s best, nor is it necessarily the most repre sentative example of his writing. This holds true for Gttnter

Eich, who became famous for the controversy created by his radio play "Traume," a series of dream scenes of horror and impending doom linked together by narration and verses aimed at disquieting the audience. The premiere broadcast in 1951 elicited a barrage of protest from outraged listeners, which 1 was unprecedented for any radio play. Due to the very mag nitude and the violent nature of this reaction, "Tr&ume" has received the most attention of all Eich’s radio plays, even though critics have pointed out that it lacks the consistency and polish which mark his "classic radio plays" of the same p period. Focussing on the provocative aspects of "Tr&ume,"

Gerhard Prager heralded its broadcast as the "Geburtsstunde des Horspiels," as the start of a new type of radio play which confronts listeners with controversial issues.

There are several ways to understand the essence of the controversy surrounding "Traume." Breuer examines the work and the listeners’ reaction in accordance with reception theory and demonstrates how "TrSume" contravened the prevail

ing expectations of German listeners, who, as was indicated

in a survey conducted in the years 1952-55s wanted to he en

tertained hy light radio plays that dealt with the "problems

of everyday life."^ Discussing the work in its socio-politi

cal context, Krispyn and Schafroth also show how it failed

to conform to prevailing tendencies in postwar German society.

They note that much of Eich's provocation is derived from

abstract, yet unmistakable allusions to Germany's fascist

past, which came in the midst of the country®s "miraculous"

economic recovery when Germans had succeeded in suppressing

their Nazi legacy.-'’

In the first dream in "Traume" ("dreamt" by a German),

there are obvious allusions to Gestapo terror, to deporta

tion and extermination,, One figure recalls how men in

strange uniforms dragged him and his family out of bed in the middle of the night and sent them off in a locked freight £ car (II, 290). Verses following this scene introduce a new concept, that of collective guilts "Denke daran, dafl du

schuld bist an allem Entsetzlichen,/ das sich fern von dir

abspielt" (II, 290).

Eich®s allusions to the Nazi era are more pronounced in

the published version of "TrSume," which came out in 1953* 7 than they had been in the original broadcast. The verses

he added to its conclusion evoke memories of the concentra

tion camp and warn against the imminent revival of totalitar

ianism s 3 Schon lSuft der Strom in den UmzSunungen, und die Posten sind aufgestellt. Nein, schlaft nicht, w&hrend die Ordner der Welt geschkftig sindi Seid miBtrauisch gegen ihre Macht, die sie vorgeben ftlr euch erwerben zu mttssen! (II, 321-22)

"Traume" did not contain Eich®s last warning about the

abuse of political power. The specters of totalitarianism

("die Ordner der Welt" and "die Macht") appear again six years later in his acceptance speech for the Georg-Bflchner-

Preis in 1959» Here he alludes directly to Nazism when voicing his fear that a new form of totalitarianism could

evolve;

Daf3 die Macht die Sprache fttr ihre Zwecke einrichtet, sollten wir wissen, seitdem es ein Reichsministerium fttr VolksaufklSrung und Propaganda gegeben hat, Leider wissen wir es nicht. Goebbels, die harten Zeiten und die harten Herzen, der Endsieg auf Transparenten, das ist alles schon historisch, 19^-5 war es vorbei, 0 . , (IV, 449)

The controversial point of Eich's mention of the dangers of language misuse and cultural manipulation for political pur poses lies in his claim that the threat of manipulation had not ended with Nazism®s defeat, but was still a present dan ger, even in the current democratic regime. He therefore closes his speech with a call for individual resistance, and emphasizes the necessity that writers maintain an antagonis tic relationship to the establishment:

Wenn unsere Arbeit nicht als Kritik verstanden werden kann, als Gegnerschaft und Widerstand, als unbequeme Frage und als Herausforderung der Macht, dann schreiben wir umsonst, dann sind wir positiv und schmttcken das Schlachthaus mit Geranien. , , . (IV, 4-54-) By this time the German Federal Republic had existed as

a flourishing democracy for some ten years, and Eich's warn

ing about the re-emergence of fascism must have seemed out

of place to many and, at the least, highly provocative,,

Like "TrSume," the Bttchner speech was also received unfavor

ably, though this time rejection came in a more subtle form,,

The Frankfurter Allgemeine, which until then had made the practice of publishing all acceptance speeches for the Bttchner

Preis, withdrew its offer to publish Eich's speech and re placed it with an account of the ceremony by Hans Schwab-

Felisch, who downplayed the political implications of Eich's O words. Eich nevertheless continued to practice his form of

"linguistic resistance" until his death in 1972, and works

such as his enigmatic Maulwttrfe (published in 1968) earned him the reputation of an "anarchistic nonconformist„"

The statements just cited represent an important aspect

of Eich's writing, but they are only one side of a multi

faceted oeuvre. It can be argued that by focussing on his postwar preoccupation with the fascist past one overlooks the philosophical essence of Eich's lyrics and radio plays, which 9 frequently treat ontological questions. However, Eich's very emphasis on criticism of the political establishment and his almost self-righteous posturing in "TrSume" about the

suppressed guilt from the Nazi era beg some provocative ques

tions about his own past. While it is common knowledge that

Eich remained active as a writer in Hitler's Germany, the implications of this activity have yet to he investigated,,

To what extent did his writing during the Nazi years corres pond to the principles he stated much later in the BWchner speech? Was it the "Kritik" he demanded, or was it innocuous

"Geranien," which denote passive collaboration? How did Eich come to terms with Goebbels9 total control of artistic expres sion in the Third Reich?

These and other questions are addressed in the present study, which will attempt to shed light on a period in Eich*s life that still lies in obscurity,, This is no easy task, since the exact extent of his writing during the Third Reich is not known and is now impossible to determine,. There is no archive of Eich's Nazi-era letters or diaries from which to gather background material„ And Eich, who was always famous for a reluctance to discuss any aspects of his writing or biography, said little about what he did from 1933 to 19^5°

In his lifetime he managed to suppress almost all details of his work ■under the Nazis*

Eich originally had good reason for doing so* The strin gent licensing procedures instituted by the Allied censorship authorities in the occupied zones after 19^5 made it very difficult for authors who had remained in Nazi Germany to ob tain publication permits* They often found it to their advan tage to deny or downplay what they had written, to exaggerate any problems they had had with Nazi censors, and, if possible, to draw attention to "inner opposition" within their works in order to distinguish themselves from the "Nazi authors*" 6

As SchSfer points out, the efforts of some authors to conceal

their true roles during the Hitler regime have given rise to

"myths" about persecution, clandestine resistance, or self- 10 imposed silence that never occurred. Once Allied controls were lifted and a sufficient number of years had passed after

the end of the Third Reich, very few of those authors who had distorted the truth about their earlier activities took advantage of the opportunity to recant their prior accounts.

As a result of Eich's reticence and because there is little supplementary information available from other sources, there are numerous blank spots in his biography with regard

to the years 1933 to 19^5° The two Eich-monographs written thus far do not do this period justice, since they rely al most exclusively on Eich's own versions of his pre-19^5 bio graphy and therefore provide vague details about the author's 11 personal life and military service. Moreover, both studies underestimate the extent and nature of Eich's writing during the Third Reich. In other accounts of Eich's work under

Hitler,, the problem is not that they give too little infor mation but that they are not based on concrete facts, and are misleading. An extreme example of this is found in the following contrasting views. Eich's contemporary Joachim

Kaiser resorts to oversimplification in his sentimental eulo gy and proclaims Eich's innocence during the Hitler regime:

"Durch die Nazi-Zeit rettete er sich, irgendwie, und makel- 1 2 los." Fritz Raddatz, on the other hand, suggests that Eich not only had been a member of the Nazi Party but also had

supported the S S :

• • .JjflOenn Gtfnter Eich Mitglied der NSDAP war und nach seinem Austritt freiwillige Beitrage an die SS entrichtete, dann mufi irgendwo eine innere Mb'glichkeit zur Ubereinstimmung vorhanden gewesen sein; man be- zahlt nicht, was man hafit013

While Raddatz9 details give his claim an air of truthfulness,

they are not documented. In fact his article does not even

make reference to the source of his information. Only in a

response to it do we learn that he relied on highly dubious

accounts by private individuals who did not want to be quot-

ed. Raddatz9 questionable piece of scholarship contrasts

sharply with SchSfer9s study of Eich9s early period, which

is by far the most objective and revealing to date. Sch&fer9s

research in previously neglected journals and archival ma

terials from the thirties and the early forties has yielded

important insights into Eich9s biography and has revealed

major shortcomings in the allegedly complete bibliographies

of Eich9s oeuvre as published in the author9s Gesammelte 1 *5 Werke in 1973. Schafer, however, does not cover all as

pects of Eich9s professional activity as thoroughly as neces

sary, and while he does change some views about Eich9s Nazi-

era radio writing, he does not succeed in eliminating the ob

scurity still clouding this area.

For this reason the present study will focus primarily

on Eich9s writing for the Nazi radio system, for which he

worked almost exclusively between 1933 and 19^0„ One of the

principal tasks will be to determine with the greatest degree of accuracy now possible the extent and nature of Eich’s broadcasts from these years. Background information contain ed in radio programs and radio journals will be used both to reconstruct the contents of Eich’s radio texts, almost all of which were lost in the course of the war, and to investi gate their reception in order to see whether it is true, as

Eich himself stated in I96I, that he was an insignificant ra dio author under Nazisms "Meine Ho'rspiele wurden damals kaum beachtet.

The preliminary chapters will provide the necessary back ground for a scrutiny of the texts. The next chapter will cover Eich’s biography during the Third Reich and the five years preceding it, when he emerged on the literary scene.

This will be followed by a survey of all documented broad casts of Eich’s works between 1933 and 19^5 • In order to pro vide the context in which he was writing, the radio play’s status as a genre under Nazism will then be discussed in de tail. Eich’s broadcasts will be divided into three categories and examined with emphasis on their relationship both to the cultural trends determined by Nazi politics and to the themes, topoi, and leitmotifs that characterize Eich’s oeuvre. "Ka- thafina" and "Die Schattenschlacht," the two prose works

Eich also wrote during the Third Reich, will be included in the discussion of the radio texts. His lyrics from these years and the question of his lyric productivity under Hitler will comprise the study’s final part. In all these chapters the underlying question will be

about the nature of Eich's professional activity during the

Third Reich. Does this period represent the "dry spell" in his writing career as many critics claim? Or did Eich con tinue to develop as a lyricist and radio author, "unabated by the effects of Nazi rule? NOTES TO CHAPTER I

•i The protests, which listeners made by telephone to the Norddeutscher Rundfunk, were recorded by a radio engineer and are available in the station®s archives* Some excerpts are published by Dieter Breuer, Binftthrung in die pragmatische Texttheorie (Munich: Fink, 1974), PP° 99-101*

^ Cf. Heinz Schwitzke, "Gttnter Eichs 'Trctume,'" in Uber Gttnter Eich. ed. Susanne Mttller-Hanpft (Frankfurt/Main: Suhr- kamp, 1970), pp. 105-11; and Egbert Krispyn, Gttnter Eich (New York: Twayne, 1971), pp. 73-74.

^ Schwitzke, pp. 106-7.

^ Breuer, pp. 98-108.

^ Krispyn, pp. 69-74; and Heinz F. Schafroth, Gttnter Eich (Munich: Beck, 1976), pp. 60-61.

All references in text are to the volume and page num b e r ^ ) in Gttnter Eich, Gesammelte Werke. 4 vols. (Frankfurt/ Main: Suhrkamp, 1973)0

^ In a note to the version of "Tr&ume" in Eich's Gesam melte Werke, Schwitzke reports that the poem "Ich beneide sie alle, die vergessen kttnnen" with the frequently cited verse: "Alles; was geschieht, geht dich an" (II, 296) did not open the original broadcast, which began instead with a narration about nuclear arms development. This poem, together with the verses cited below and Eich®s famous closing verse: "Seid unbequem, seid Sand, nicht das 01 im Getriebe der Welt!" (II, 322), were later additions to the published version in 1953 (HI, 1417-18). O Susanne Mttller-Hanpft, Lyrik und Rezeption: Das Bei- spiel Gttnter Eich (Munich: Hanser, 1972), pp. 77-78. Q 7 Martinson, for example, criticizes the tendency to in terpret "Trttume" solely from the socio-political standpoint and thereby overlook this work's philosophical message— cf. Steven D. Martinson, "The Metaphysical-Religious Dimension of Gttnter Eich's 'Trttume,®" in Orbis Litterarum, 33, No. 4 (1978), 330-31.

10 11

lo Hans Dieter SchSfer, "Zur Periodisierung der deutschen Literatur seit 1930»" in Literaturmagazin. 7* ed. Nicolas Born and Jttrgen Manthey (Reinbeck b. Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1977)* pp. 108-10.

^ Cf. Krispyn, pp. 36-4-1; Schafroth, pp. 7-10. 12 Joachim Kaiser, "Gtinter Eich, der Poet, ist gestorben, " in Gttnter Eich zum GedSchtnis. ed. Siegfried Unseld (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1973)* P • 83.

13 pritz Raddatz, "Wir werden weiterdichten, wenn alles in Scherben fSllt . . .: Der Beginn der deutschen Nachkriegs- literatur," in Die Zeit (US Edition), No. 4-2 (Oct. 19, 1979)* 10 (Dossier section). 14 Walter Jens, "Vom Geist der Zeit: Der Dichter unter dem Diktator - Kritik und Wttrdigung der Inneren Emigration im Nazi-Reich," in Die Zeit (US Edition), No. 4-7 (Nov. 23* 1979)* 19 (Forum section).

Hans Dieter Sch&fer, "Die nichtfaschistische Litera tur der 'jungen Generation' im nationalsozialistischen Deutsch- land," in Die deutsche Literatur im Dritten Reich; Themen - Traditionen - Wirkungen. ed. Horst Denkler and Karl Prttmm (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1976), pp. 4-57-503 passim, especially p. 500, n. 161. 1 f) Quoted in Horst-Gttnther Funke, Die literarische Form des deutschen Hb’rspiels in historischer Entwicklung. Diss. Erlangen-Nttrnberg 19^3 (Erlangen: privately printed, 1963)* p. 108. CHAPTER II

1927-19^5* AN OVERVIEW OF EICH'S LIFE AND WORK

With the exception of Sch&fer's recent studies, Eich's pre-19^5 biography has been largely neglected in favor of his more familiar postwar activities0 The study of his life and work during the Nazi years therefore has to begin with a detailed biographical account of this period and of the five years prior to the Hitler regime, which were Eich's forma tive years as a writer„ While his early essays and other publications will be the primary source of information, ref erence will also be made to accounts by his friends from this period and to hitherto unused biographical information contained in documents Eich submitted to the Reichsschrift- tumskammer.^

While still a beginning student of economics, jurispru dence, and sinology, Eich first gained recognition as a poet.

In response to a call in Die literarische Welt for works by aspiring young writers, he submitted poetry under the pseudonym "Erich Gttnter." Out of 8,000 poems sent in, his lyrics were among the few chosen for publication in Willi Fehse’s and Klaus Mann's Anthologie .ittngster Lyrik (1927), a collec tion which intended to bring attention to new talent and to 3 new lyrical trends. Eich used his pseudonym again for the

12 13 essay "Europa contra China," which appeared the same year in L Die jttngste Dichtung. He first used his proper name for poems appearing in Die neue Rundschau of 1928.^

At the end of 1927 Eich transferred to the University of

Leipzig for one semester and then left for Paris, where he spent the year 1928/29 perfecting his command of French and studying sinology at the ficole des Langues Orientales Vi- & * vanteso During his stay he also pursued his literary ambi tions o As Fehse recollects, Eich was working in Paris

"exclusively with the drama" and had plans to translate a 7 novel by Philippe Soupault (Le Ndgre)B Eich returned to

Berlin in 1929 and began attending the School of Commerce

(Handelshochschule). In this same period he joined a group of young writers in Berlin and Dresden who were known as "Die

Kolonne." They were affiliated with a newly-founded journal, also called Die Kolonne, published in Dresden by Wolfgang

Jess. The "Kolonne" group consisted of the journal!s editors,

Martin Raschke and A. Artur Kuhnert, together with Jtlrgen

Eggebrecht, Horst Lange, Elisabeth Langg&sser, and Oda Schaefer, among others. Eich soon belonged to the core of this group after his fame as a lyricist was established in early 1930 with the publication of his Gedichte by Wolfgang

Jess. His publications in the 1930 volume of Die Kolonne all pertained to aspects of lyric poetrys his programmatic essay "Innere Dialoge," a short piece on Villon’s poems, and 8 six of his own poems (three from Gedichte). Eich also served 9 on the jury for the journal’s annual poetry competition. I k

Eich's involvement with the "Kolonne" was going on when he still had one foot in the business world. Until 1931 be was attending the Commerce School and then he went to work in his father's accounting office for approximately one more year. It was not -until the spring of 1932 that he decided to end his dual existence and take the step from dilettante to 10 professional author. At the time Eich made this important decision the worldwide economic depression was just reaching its peak. He must have been extremely confident in his writ ing ability in order to justify leaving the security of his father's business to embark on the uncertain career of a writer. The publication of his Gedichte. which was a major accomplishment ‘for a young poet, was undoubtedly the prime source of encouragement for him to turn professional. In addition, Eich's publications in 1931 show that he had be come a versatile writer. Die Kolonne of 1931 contains an excerpt from his drama "Der President," a work-which in 11 Eich's lifetime never got beyond the manuscript stage. The prose pieces "Morgen an' der Oder" and "Prosafragment" were also published in Die Kolonne, and a short paragraph, "Eine 12 alte Frau," appeared in Die literarische Welt. These works are clear signs that the emphasis in Eich's writing no longer lay on lyrical poetry alone, which comprised only a small part of his publications in 1931» Only two new poems, "Er- wachen" and "Morgen," appeared in Die Kolonne that year; and there were only two new titles among the six poems Eich pub- 13 lished in Raschke's Neue lyrische Anthologie. 15

A most important step in Eich8s process of diversifica tion was his venture into the radio play genre. Together with

Martin Raschke, he wrote the piece "Das Leben und Sterben des

Sangers Caruso," which was first broadcast on April 9, 1931» 1^4- from the Berlin transmitting station. In Die Kolonne of the next year we learn of two radio plays Eich wrote on his own, "Die Liebenden von Gestern" and "Ein Traum am Edsin- 15 gol." ^ Neither of these, however, reached the air waves.

Not discouraged, Eich continued to produce radio broadcasts and starting on January 26, 1933* succeeded in getting his 16 texts broadcast on a regular basis. As it turned out, for the next seven years Eich8s talents were devoted primarily to the production of radio texts.

In the light of Eich8s later successes in the radio play, his turn to the genre was a decisive step in his career, and his motives for making the shift deserve scrutiny. It is im portant to know why he chose to neglect his work in other genres in order to become a prolific radio writer. We shall see in Chapter VIII of this study that his neglect of lyric poetry as a consequence of his intensive radio writing under 1 7 Nazism has been interpreted as a political gesture. '

Eich8s statements about his turn to the radio play will be surprising to those critics who seek profound motives, since he makes it clear that at the time he was less interested in the new genre8s artistic potential than in the chance it offered him to earn a livelihood. In an interview with Klaus 16

Schoning of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Eich said it was pure

coincidence that, when seeking new sources of income from his writing, he came to the radio play and eventually dis- 18 covered a natural gift for the radio medium. He reiterated

the financial aspect of his new interest in the radio play in

another interview. Here he stated that radio playwrights 19 were simply paid more than lyric poets. The very banality

of such statements lend them an air of truthfulness. They

are laconic, to the point, and typically "Eich,"

The simultaneity of Eich's turn to the radio play and

of his decision to become a professional writer adds much

credibility to the above financial motives® In arriving at

this decision he surely must have weighed the prospects of living on what he earned from his writing. He did not need his background in economics to recognize that he would starve 20 as a poet. Even Gottfried Benn, a poet who enjoyed inter national acclaim, could not live from his writing alone, but had to practice medicine in order to earn a decent living.

In 193^ Benn reminisces!

Ich veroffentlichte zu meinem vierzigsten Geburtstag eine Berechnung darttber, dafi ich bis dahin aus meiner Literatur - 9 aus der gesamten Holz- und Faserindustrie9 - in Durchschnitt monatlich ^,50 Mark verdient hStte, und damit war ich in mehrere europSische Sprachen ttber- setzt, heute wSre der Durchschnitt etwas hcJher, aber zum Leben auch unter den einfachsten Bedingungen zu gering, Ich habe nie ein Gehalt bekommen, aufier im Krieg, nie Pension, ich habe immer aus meiner arzt- lichen Praxis gelebt, , , ,21 One should also not overlook that in this period Eich had a self-perception as a lyricist totally different from » the one he would later have in the postwar years., By no means did he enjoy the status he had as a lyricist in the late forties and fifties. Although it is not true (as

Mttller-Hanpft claims) that Eich was hardly noticed as a pre war poet, he did not gain positive recognition beyond the immediate literary circles represented in Die literarische 22 Welt and Die Kolonne» The support Eich got from Die neue

Rundschau remained subdued. The journal never mentioned

Anthologie jttngster Lyrik, though it did recognize Eich by 23 publishing without commentary two of his poems in 1928„ .

Established journals that did comment on the emerging poet give a less favorable impression0 A reviewer for Die schffne

Literatur expresses disappointment with the Anthologie .ittngster Lyrik, since he does not find in it the "youthful exube rance" expected from young poets. "Erich Gttnter®s" works are considered "average"s

. . . Die gute Mitte dieser Begabungen sind etwa Erich Gttnther (sic] , Mitterer und Hansjtlrgen Wille; man spttrt Stromfall und inneres Rauschen bei ihnen. Das meiste aber ist untere Mitte» verwaschen, ununterscheidbar. Schlecht ist eigentlich nichts; sie alle sind verbunden durch die feinen, nervosen Vibrationen einer spSten Zeit. Aber das eigentlich Jugendliche fehlt ihnen ganz. . . .2^

Two reviews of Eich8s Gedichte provide a good example of how his reception differed with the literary circles involved.

On the one hand his "Kolonne" colleague Martin Raschke uses the superlative to praise the volumes 18

. o e Eichs Yerse sind ein Monolog, stumm spielen FluB und Wolke mit. Einseitig ist er dem AuBen geoffnet, und auch das nur in Erinnerung. Wie eng und begrenzt in den dichterischen Mb’glichkeiten seine panische Welt ist, dessen wird sich Eich allm&hlich bewuBt werden0 Er hat genilgend Eigenleben, um sich ggnzlich aus dem Stimmungskreis Bert Brechts zu losen, der jetzt schwach vernehmbar seinen Ton farbt und ihn gern das Banale streifen laBt„ Noch dichtet Eich 8£gyptische Plas- tik,8 den mtifden Mund von Amarna, Durch die Schleier wird das Gesicht treten. Bis dahin sollen diese Verse uns als Versprechen und dartlber hinaus als schb’nste lyrische Leistung der JUngsten gelten025

But a critic for Die Literatur, discussing the same work, finds significant inadequacies in Eich8s poemss

. . » Beim erstmaligen Lesen sind diese Gedichte in der Tat gewinnend und einschmeichelnd, eine zarte Mttdigkeit liegt ttber den Zeilen, eine feine musikalische Schwe- bung tragt jedes Gedichto 0 « <, Aber bei wiederholtem Lesen sinken diese Versgebilde mehr und mehr zusammen und erloschen ungewohnlich schnell in der Erinnerung, Und dieses Zeichen des Nicht-Haften-Bleibens offenbart an substanzieller Ftllle und sprachma-

Eich therefore had good reason not to feel bound to his role as a lyricist and probably had no qualms about experi menting in other literary genres that promised more lucrative returns or even more success with the reading public„ But with the exception of the radio play Eich proved to be weak in genres outside of lyric poetry. His short story Katharina. which comprised sixty-two pages when published in book form, was to be the most voluminous prose work he ever wrote. His drama "Der President" was never performed, and his adaptation for the stage of Eichendorff8s "Die GlUcksritter" was moderate ly successful, but- was never taken seriously by theater cri tics.27 19

In addition to his experimentation in different genres

of primary literature, Eich wrote numerous essays and re views as a "Kolonne" member. These comments on contemporary works and tendencies are invaluable for the study of his

early period, since they make it possible to ascertain Eich's poetological and ideological stance during the declining years of the Weimar Republic. His views are consistent with

the editorial thrust of Die Kolonne on all major issues, and

at times he even appears in the role of a spokesman for the

journal0s policy. Never again did Eich develop such a close affiliation with a journal or literary group as during his

Kolonne-days. Even after the journal ceased publication in

1932, bonds to fellow "Kolonne" writers continued to be strong and were in fact decisive in shaping the course of his career throughout the duration of Hitler0s regime. For these reasons it is useful to go into some detail about the basic aims of the "Kolonne" and to determine the attitudes of those members who had an important influence on Eich.

Die Kolonne arose out of a time of increased polariza tion within Germany®s artistic circles. Writers were not expected to remain "above" the political and social turmoil resulting from the shockwaves of the Stock Market Crash. In

1929, the "Bund proletarisch-revolutionarer Schriftsteller" founded Die Linkskurve8 a journal which polemicized against those "liberal" and "bourgeois" authors who refused to abandon their "middle-of-the-road" position. According to Trommler, 20

Die Kolonne, first published in December 1929 > was a reac

tion of "liberal" writers to the radical Left.2® Eich

makes his position in this controversy clear in his opening

essay in the second issue of Die Kolonne. With pointed

references to the Left, he firmly defends the lyricist8s

right to remain aloof from political and social problems s

Ich finde es gSnzlich unter meiner Wttrde, mich fttr ' meine Gedichte zu entschuldigen und mich vor Leitarti- keln zu verbeugen, und werde immer darauf verzichten, auf mein ®soziales Empfinden® hinzuweisen, selbst auf die Gefahr hin, die Sympathie von Linksblattern nicht zu erringen und selbst auf die noch furchtbarere Ge fahr hin, nicht fttr ®heutig" gehalten zu werden. Und Verantwortung vor der Zeit? Nicht im geringsten. Nur vor mir selber.29

The "misuse" of poetry by the Left is the central theme

in a Kolonne forum discussion of Johannes R. Becher8s Der

grofle Plan, an epic poem glorifying the premature completion

of the Soviets® most recent five-year plan. The zeal with which "Kolonne" writers attack this work might be explained

by the fact that Becher belonged to the collective editor

ship of Die Linkskurve. Starting with the formal aspects,

Horst Lange denies that Der grofle Plan meets the criteria

to be an epic. Martin Raschke, on the other hand, criticizes

Becher®s use of a "collective hero" instead of a "Ftlhrer-

figure," who could manifest the nation®s ideals. In addition,

Raschke raises the basic question as to whether a non-Russian

such as Becher was even qualified to write an epic about the 30 Russian people. Eich, too, has harsh words for Becher®s work, since in his opinion Becher violates the essence of 21 poetry by utilizing it for propagandists purposes*

. . . Die Forderung der Einheit von Dichtung und politischer Propaganda ist auch hier nicht Wirklichkeit geworden, und sie wird es auch anderswo nie werden. Propaganda, soweit sie nicht auf Eroberung der Dumm- heit berechnet ist, wirkt durch die vorgebrachten Tat- sachen0 Dichtung aber ist in ihrem Wesen indirekt, nie kann ein ’Gedicht® ttber den Fttnfjahresplan konkurrieren mit der Wirkung von Statistiken und ktlhlen Feststellun- gen. a e t. Eine Tendenzdichtung kann ihrem Wesen nach weder genug Tendenz, noch genug Dichtung sein. Und es scheint mir auch im Interesse einer politischen Bewe- gung zu liegen, wenn sie ihre Ideen und ihre Leistungen nicht kompromittieren l&Gt durch naive, als dichterisch drapierte Verhimmelungen0 Eine statistische Darstel- lung des Fttnf jahresplanes scheint mir wichtiger, inte- ressanter und ehrlicher. . 0 .31

The strength of Eich9s convictions against engaged lite rature has been revealed by only recently available informa

tion, which sheds light on a seemingly insignificant editorial comment which followed his review of Der grofle Plan,, This note states that, contrary to an announcement in the pre vious issue, Eich®s review of Becher®s work was printed instead of a contribution by Georg Winter, which did not 32 arrive in time for the press. With the recent discovery that Eich wrote reviews for Die Kolonne under the pseudonym of "Georg Winter," we now know this statement’s true implica tions.-^ Eich had originally intended to hide behind his pseudonym and then changed his mind in the course of a few weeks. Given the harshness of his attack on the tendency

Becher represented, his choice to be publicly associated with this review indicates his conservative ideology. 22

Between 1931 and 1932 five reviews by "Georg Winter" appeared in Die Kolonne. One of them, a commentary about

Hermann Hesse’s Die Morgenlandfahrta is mentioned in corres pondence between Hesse and Eich, and this is what disclosed 3^ that "Georg Winter" was in reality Gttnter Eich. Whether all these reviews can be attributed to Eich is not totally certain, but there are similarities that support the assump tion. For example, Eich5s statement in the Becher review about the superiority of statistics over engaged literature is echoed in "Winter’s" comments on Gottfried Benn’s Fazit der Perspektiven (1930)*

. . . Tendenzdichtung mit ihrer direkten Ideenaussage beraubt sich selbst der Wirkung. . . . Geworben wird . o . nur durch Statistiken und durch kUhle Uberle- gungen0 . » .35

Schlawe designates Die Kolonne as a progressive journal insofar as its support of literature’s autonomy from all poli tical implications represented a new direction. According to him, Die Kolonne rejected influences from the political

Right as steadfastly as it attacked infringements from the

Left. Mallmann shares this opinion and cites Raschke’s essay "Man trSgt wieder Erde" as evidence that Die Kolonne condemned the conservative trend towards Blut-und-Boden lite- 37 rature.^' However, Mallmann’s claim is surprising in light of the role Blut-und-Boden elements play in Raschke’s own writing; ^ and it is therefore necessary to examine his essay more closely to determine whether it indeed contains a clear-cut rejection of this conservative movement. 23

"Man tragt wieder Erde" is a sequel to an earlier essay

Raschke had published under the same title in Die literarische

Welt. He wrote the second version in order to clear up cer tain misunderstandings in his first statement. Both ver sions criticize the current wave of rural idylls glorifying the . agrarian lifestyle and vilifying the metropolis; hut what Raschke really condemns in these works is their method, not their principle. He makes this clear i n ‘the second essayi

Meine Einwande richteten sich nicht gegen die ®Heimat- literatur® schlechthin, sondern gegen ihre programma- tische und ktlnstlerische TTberschEtzung, richteten sich vor allem gegen ein heute beliebtes Denken, das Bauern- romane ohne Einschrankung aus einem 'erdhaften® Ftthlen geboren meint und ihre Yerfasser gegen die sogenannten ®stSdtischen Literaten® auszuspielen beliebt.39

It must be noted that Raschke®s original statement actually supports the "grassroots literature movement" as a legiti mate trend. Raschke agrees with its underlying tenet that modem civilization has lost contact with fundamental lawsi

Aber handelt es sich denn wirklich nur urn eine Zeit- stimmung, um eine billige Mode? Nein. Der Roman hat seinen N&hrboden verloren, die Gesellschaft, und was um uns noch an Gesellschaftskritik getrieben wird, ist nur eine Kritik von Trttmmern. Es ist schon darum zu be- greifen, dafl der Epiker sich tlber die Grenzen der Hei- matliteratur hinaus des Bauern bem&chtigte, eines Lebens- kreises also, der noch bestimmte Ordnungen kennt und eigene Gesetze, alles das somit, das der Epiker in den Resten der Gesellschaft nicht mehr erkennt.^O

It is also significant that Raschke expands his second essay to include the Marxist literary perspective as well. Thus his essay, ostensibly aimed at criticizing a conservative trend, concludes with an obvious reference to the Left: 2k

Ich "bin nicht sentimental genug, um meine politische Meinung durch Gedichte korrigieren zu lassen. Die Berichte des Instituts fttr Konjunkturforschung tlber- treffen an politischer Wirksamkeit die gesamte prole- tarische Literatur, soweit sie auf eine politische Wirkung rechnet.^l

The possibility of literature's abuse by the political

Right is never mentioned directly in Raschke®s and Eich's

essays, although significant gains by the Nazis in the 1930

Reichstag elections had by this time made a right-wing take over a very real threat. At best, the Right is included in general statements asserting literature's autonomy from all political aspects. This can be seen in Eich's response to

Bernhard Diebold's demand that poetry of the "new generation" become relevant to the realities of the modern industrialized h p metropolis. In his rejection of Diebold's thesis, Eich defends the lyricist's subjectivity. There must, he states, be a clear dichotomy between the person as lyricist and one's role as a zoon politikon;

Eine Entscheidung fttr die Zeit, d.h. also fttr eine Teilerscheinung der Zeit, interessiert den Lyriker als Lyriker ttberhaupt nicht. (Was nicht ausschlieflt, dafi er als Privatmann sich z»B. zu einer politischen Partei bekennt.) Der Lyriker entscheidet sich fttr nichts, ihn interessiert nur sein Ich, er schafft keine Du- und Er- Welt wie der Epiker und der Dramatiker, fttr ihn exis- tiert nur das gemeinschaftlose vereinzelte Ich. Und gerade weil er sich fttr nichts entscheidet, fSngt er die Zeit als Ganzes in sich auf und l'afit sie im unge- trtlbten Spiegel seines Ichs wieder sichtbar werden. Denn die Wandlungen des Ichs sind das Wesentliche einer Zeit.^3

In an editorial about the task of Die Kolonne, Raschke uses similar logic in support of the writer's subjectivity and the rejection of literature which interprets experience from a 25 political perspective. Although there is an unmistakable

allusion to Marxist class theory in the opening lines, Nazism

is not necessarily excluded from Raschke's condemnation of

"moods of the crowds and fads of their time":

Diese Beziehung zwischen dem Einzelnen und dem Ganzen, die den Zeitgenossen oft verborgen blieb und noch bleibt, reicht tiefer als die Trennung eines Volkes in Klassen durch wirtschaftliche Gesetze. . . . Zwischen den Massen und dem Einzelnen, der scheinbar' einsiedlerhaft in einer WUste lebt, unberUhrt von den auGerlichen Forderungen seiner Zeit, gibt es keine Scheidung des Schicksals, hochstens der Interessen. . . . Deshalb mufi eine Zeit- schrift, die es wie die 'Kolonne' unternimmt, der Kunst und im besonderen der Dichtung eine allein ordnende Fahigkeit zuzumessen, diesem Glauben an die Unteilbar- keit der Vb'lker wie des Lebens, diesen Gesetzen einer biologischen Metaphysik, immer von neuen Ausdruck geben. Sie wird polemisieren gegen Schreibende, die sich an Stimmungen der Massen und die Moden ihrer Zeit verschen- ken, weil sie nicht mehr im schopferischen Grunde des Lebens verankert genug sind, und die sich Sngstlich mit^. . Auge und Ohr anstatt nach dem Herzen orientieren. . . .

Otto Merz, on the other hand, is a Kolonne-contributor who goes beyond innuendo to refer directly to the National

Socialists; and in retrospect his critique in the essay "Die verratene Dichtung" shows great perception of things to come.

At odds with both ends of the political spectrum, Merz con demns the Nazis because they adapted leftist tactics. As a result, he sees no essential difference between the Nazis and the Left; both ideologies demand that the artist serve the political cause:

. . . Wie Uberall hat auch die Rechte inzwischen von der Linken gelernt, und mehr noch: sie hat kapituliert. Ein Programm der Nationalsozialisten, das sich mit den Aufgaben der Kunst im dritten QsicJ Reiche beschaftigt, unterscheidet sich nur in unwesentlichen Punkten von den Prograramen der linken Front; hier wie dort soil der Schreibende und jeder andere Schaffende nach Moglichkeit 26

zum Reklamefachmann der jeweiligen Staatsideologie werden, nur mit dem Unterschiede, dafi dabei die Rechte immer sich so aufftthrt, als bewahrte sie allein ungemin- dert das klassische oder romantische Bild des Dichters.^5

The Merz essay remains an isolated occurrence in Die Kolonne. however. No discussion of this commentary follows, nor do similar criticisms of National Socialism appear again.

Die Kolonne ceased publication with its fourth issue in

August 1932. Thus it never came to a direct editorial con frontation with the cultural policies of the Third Reich, which would have been the true test of the journal’s efforts to keep literature above politics. Schafroth nevertheless would like to link Die Kolonne with some form of opposition to the fascist regime. He believes the very fact that it did not last into the Third Reich is proof that Eich and the A6 other authors were not in agreement with Nazi policies.

However, there is no support for Schafroth’s implication that

Die Kolonne folded due to political reasons.

In contrast to Schafroth, Mallmann blames the end of h,n Die Kolonne on financial, rather than political difficulties.

Her claim is supported by a survey of the journal’s issues, which reveals that it was plagued by publishing problems from the very beginning: delayed publications and double issues resulting in nine instead of twelve issues from December 1929 to December 1930, characterized the uncertain start of Die

Kolonne; original plans to publish on a monthly basis proved to be overly ambitious; the 1931 issue, which came out bi monthly, was still not on sure footing, and as late as 27

August there were desperate pleas to increase circulation.^®

Above all, however, Die Kolonne apparently was never able to attract a large enough audience of subscribers, upon whom it was totally dependents its appeal was simply too exclusive for it to survive. That Die Kolonne lasted as long as it did might have been due largely to Eich and Raschke, who, accord ing to Oda Schaefer, took out the major portion of the sub-

L q scriptions to their own journal under pseudonyms. 7

The transition from the Weimar Republic to the Third

Reich was apparently smooth and uneventful for Eich. He was not burdened by past political activism and had no problem proving his "Aryan lineage. Nazis certainly would not have considered the conservative views he expressed in his

Kolonne-essays to be "subversive"— if they indeed paid any attention to the journal at all. Political authorities therefore had no reason to want to hinder Eich from pursuing his career.

A survey of all available lists of literature banned from 1935 to 19^2 does not yield Eich's name or any of his

Hermann's original blacklist, which led to the first public bookburnings in 1933.-^ Although the anthology was not marked with an asterisk signifying auto-da-fe as a "particularly dangerous" work, it is quite possible that Eich's— or should 28 we say "Erich Gttnter®s"--poems were also turned by Nazi zealots. The anthology continued to appear in subsequent offical blacklists circulated as secret documents to all libraries and book depositories throughout the Reich, though the poems contained in the collection were not the cause of the ban. Rather, the involvement of two important emigrants from Nazism, Klaus Mann, the anthology®s coeditor, and Stefan Zweig, the author of the foreword, were the rea son for the book®s destruction under Hitler.

Briner notes that the change in Germany®s government actually brought an improvement in Eich®s financial situation, thanks to his involvement with the production of texts for the Nazi radio system.^ 5 Such prosperity is evident in

Schaefer®s account of her wedding to Horst Lange and a sub sequent visit to Eich®s home in July, 1933» At the time she and Lange were leading the typically bohemian life of artists, eking out a miserable existence in a tiny Berlin apartment.

She describes with some resentment the bourgeois comfort

Eich was enjoying:

Damals, 1933» war unser Freund Gttnter Eich Trauzeuge. Er war besser gekleidet als Horst in seinem hellen Sportanzug mit Knickerbocker, seritts und bttrgerlich, so dafi er vom Standesbeamten zuerst fttr den Brttutigam gehalten wurde, was mich sehr belustigte, . „ „ Gttnter Eich hatte uns nicht nur zum Kaffee eingeladen, sondem auch einen Aufenthalt in seinem Haus in Poberow geschenkt. Seine Stiefmutter begrttBte uns freundlich, sie vertrat auf rtthrende Weise Mutterstelle an ihm, das ging bis zu seiner Vorliebe fttr GSnsebraten und Grttnkohl. Wir hor- ten in Gttnters groBem Zimmer die neuesten Platten. Das Grammophon imponierte uns und erschien uns wie man heute sagen wttrde, als Zeichen des “establishment® - und so hatte er es denn auch schon zu einem Auto und einem Haus gebracht,56 29 Although Schaefer's account of Eich's "wealth" is somewhat

exaggerated, since he shared the expenses of the house with 57 his father and stepmother, her basic point is true* Eich was better off than many of his colleagues and remained so throughout almost the entire duration of the Nazi regimee

In the same month that Hitler became chancellor, broad casts written by Eich became a regular feature in the radio program. During the first half of 1933 Eich "worked his way up" in the radio medium by writing children8s broadcasts such as his narration "Ich lerne Chinesisch" and his adaptation of the "Mtlnchhausen" anecdotes, which were broadcast in Berlin in 1933» on January 26 and February 26, respectively0 These children®s works were soon replaced by more pretentious ones such as his "Eine Stunde Lexikon," which was broadcast in late

September of 19339 nine months after Eich's debut in the Nazi radio system,,

Of all the "Kolonne" writers Eich was the first for whom radio writing developed into a lasting routine, but he was joined by some of his colleagues who, in varying degrees, were able to integrate themselves into the broadcasting indus try* By the summer of 1933* not only Eich and Raschke but also Jtlrgen Eggebrecht, Peter Huchel, A. A« Kuhnert, Horst

Lange, Elisabeth Langgasser, and Oda Schaefer were writing occasional broadcast texts* While there were some nationally syndicated broadcasts in the "Stunde der Nation" series among njo the pieces written by these "Kolonne" authors, they worked 30 primarily for the Berlin youth program (Jugendfunk), which was directed by Wilhelm Hoffmann. When Hoffmann married

Elisabeth Langgasser in 1935* be lost his job because she was half Jewishf and this ended the radio careers of many of

Hoffmann8s "Kolonne" friendsAfter 1935 only Eich and

Raschke, and to a lesser extent Kuhnert and Huchel, remained active as radio authors.

As early as July, 1933* Eich considered himself primarily a radio author.^ His decision to specialize in the medium became all the firmer when in the fall of 1933 he was chosen with Raschke to write the monthly episodes of the Konigs- wusterhauser landbote, a radio series lasting from October

1933 until well into 19^0. It was the longest running radio program of its kind during the Third Reich and the mainstay of Eich8s writing in that period. Eich also benefitted from continuing solidarity among "Kolonne" members. Kuhnert solicited his aid for several radio plays, and there were collective broadcasts under Kuhnert8s organization which in- 61 eluded texts by Eich, Lange and Raschke. The result of these efforts was a steady increase in the volume of Eich's radio writing. From 1933 until the outbreak of the Second

World War, he averaged more than one major broadcast per month, with a peak in 1937-39 when he wrote more than two monthly broadcasts. For this reason the study of Eich's

Nazi-era writing is essentially a study of his work for the radio. In Eich's work in other areas there was a gradual de cline proportional to the rise in the extent of his radio writing. This decline, however, was not so drastic as has 6 ? usually heen assumed. Schafer's research reveals that during the Third Reich Eich published almost twice the number of poems and prose pieces as previously reported.^ His pub lications in this period are particularly difficult to trace, since they appeared sporadically in both major and minor literary journals as well as in magazines. It seems as if

Eich deliberately avoided developing a lasting affiliation with any one journal. He published the largest number of lyrics in 1933* among them no doubt poems actually written earlier. One short poem appeared in the last issue of Die literarische Welt (May 5» 1933)?^ four others were published in Die neue Rundschau. Unlike his colleague Walter Bauer, who became a regular contributor to the Rundschau, Eich did not publish anything further in the journal. In 1933 Eich also published a short review, and re-published one of the above poems in Y.O. Stomp*s short-lived literary journal

Der weifle Rabe. ^ His involvement with Das Innere Reich was more extensive but not lasting, although he had been instru mental in establishing the initial link between his friend

Paul Alverdes, who was this journal's coeditor, and "Kolonne" writers. ^ Eich's publications were limited to the poems

"Kindheit" and "Abend im Marz," and to the short story 68 "Katharina" in the 193^-35 volume. An important finding of 32 the present study was the re-discovery of four additional poems Eich published in 193^ in the literary periodical called 69 Der BUcherwurm. 7 Eich also contributed a number of works to

Die Dame, a Berlin ladies' magazine. He submitted two poems,

"Wind tiber der Stadt" and "Weg durch die Dtlnen, " to a poetry 70 competition sponsored by the magazine in 193^J and the 1936 issue features his short story "Die Schattenschlacht," which 71 has only recently been re-discovered by SchSfer. Eich's latest publications during the Third Reich which are known are the poem "Rftbenernte," appearing in 1938 in Die Dame, and the poem "Erstes Eis," which was published in the Decem ber, 1938 issue of Die K o r a H e , ^

Considering the pace of Eich's radio writing in the years- 1933-38, this list of lyrics and prose works he pro duced in addition to the broadcasts proves that contrary to many claims Eich was just as active— or even more active— as an author during the Nazi era as he was during the Weimar era or in the postwar years. In the face, of such evidence the many theories about Eich's "silence" under Hitler lose 73 much of their credibility, J

In late 1937 Eich felt secure enough in his career to marry. The data about his first wife are scantj her first name was Else, she was a singer who had studied under Franz

Trunk in Munich, All indications are that married life was not peaceful for Eich, One can speculate that in the period

1937-39 bis marriage was already turning into the catastrophe 33 Oh, that Schaefer terms his "martyrdom."' Else’s mental stabili

ty deteriorated in the course of the war, when she was a per

former in an entertainment troupe for soldiers at the front.

What was at first apparently an alcohol addiction gave way

to morphine, and Else went into fits of hysterical violence.'-^

By the war's end she was a hopeless morphine addict and,

according to Schwitzke, had even been arrested as a suspected 76 spy. Else finally died of an overdose in 1951» after

having consented in 19^-9 to a divorce which Eich could not 77 afford to process.

One can understand Eich’s reluctance to raise from ob-

rp Q scurity the entire episode of his first marriage.' This

traumatic experience only provided him with an additional

motive for suppressing his biography for the Nazi era. With

the exception of a possible allusion in his radio play from

1937> "Radium," Eich’s marital situation is not mentioned in 79 his works from this period. 7 The most direct references to

Else’s problems are found in two early postwar poems which 80 were first published after Eich’s death.

Another area in Eich’s biography that has long remained

a blank is the span of time from the beginning of the Second

World War, when Eich was drafted into the air force, until his capture by American troops in 19^5» Statements such as

the following from a 19^6 poetry anthology have led to a

general misunderstanding of his wartime activity: . . Er 81 war vom ersten bis zum letzten Tage des Krieges Soldat. . . 3^

While perfectly true, this statement nevertheless leaves too

much unsaid. Unlike some of his close colleagues who expe

rienced the real horrors of war, through luck and the good

offices of friends Eich was able to avoid being assigned to Op the front until the very last months of the war. ' The

limited official data now available on Eich’s military ser

vice list a series of "soft-berth" assignments, all of which were on German s o i l . ^

After Eich’s basic training as a radioman (Funker) and

initial assignment to an air base in MMrkisch-Friedland, a

fellow "Kolonne" writer, JUrgen Eggebrecht, got him trans

ferred to a secure desk job in Berlin. Eggebrecht, a World

War I veteran and doctor of jurisprudence, was made a wartime

administrative adviser (Kriegsverwaltungsrat), given the rank

of major, and assigned to the supreme command of the armed

forces (Oberkommando-Wehrmacht). Once certain of his own position, Eggebrecht sought out friends in the military whom he could save from combat and the front. He succeeded in

getting both Eich and Walter Bauer assigned to his department,

the "Stabsstelle Papier" which recommended publications for distribution throughout the military system.

With Eggebrecht9s help Eich was able to make advances

in the military. He came to the Berlin assignment as a pri vate first class (Gefreiter), was eventually promoted to

sergeant (Unteroffizier), and in his capacity as Eggebrecht*s assistant was also made a quasi-officer (Sonderftlhrer). ^ 35

Thus without any frontline duty Eich was able to attain a

rank and position usually bestowed only upon soldiers who were in the Party— though neither he nor Eggebrecht were 86 ever members of the NSDAP.

Eich and other "Kolonne" writers were able to profit

from Eggebrecht®s position in another way, when in 19^2 the

"Stabsstelle Papier" was made responsible for the development

of special book editions for distribution to soldiers in the

field, the Feldpostausgaben. As Eggebrecht confirmed in an

interview, it was no coincidence that Eich's Katharina, which had been published as a book in 1936 (Leipzig! Paul

List), was among the first front books issued. Editions

of A. A0 Kuhnert°s Die grofle Mutter vom Main (Leipzig! Po

List, 19^3)* Martin Raschke®s Die ungleichen Schwestern

(Leipzig! Po List, 19^3)» and Walter Bauer's Der Gast (Gttters- lohs Bertelsmann, 19^3)* all suggest that Eggebrecht kept in mind his friends® best interests when choosing books to be re-issued in this serieso Eich benefitted considerably from this simple case of opportunisms His Katharina went through three editions as a Feldnostausgabei 8-17,000 copies in 19^2,

18-22,000 in 1 9 ^ 3 * and 23-32,000 in 19^5.88

It is generally believed that Eich ceased all literary 89 activity during the war years. However, the available information on Eich®s pre-19^5 biography— as scant as it is— gives several indications that he continued to write radio texts, poems and very possibly works in other genres during his military service. Eich was apparently involved with the 36

KonigswusterhSuser Landbote series until January 19^0^; and, as will be shown below, the subject matter of "Rebellion in der Goldstadt" (Deutschlandsender; May 8, 19^0), Eich8s last radio play broadcast in the Third Reich, suggests that it 91 was not written until hostilities broke out with England,,

There is an indication that sometime between 1939 and the fall of 19^0 Eich began writing for either the Ufa or Bavaria film companies, though the extent and nature of this work is go not known® And although there are very few poems by Eich that can actually be documented as coming from the war years, there are several poems published in his Abgelegene

Gehofte (19^8) which were almost certainly written while go Eich was in uniform® ^

The bulk of what Eich wrote during the war and during the entire Nazi era was destroyed when his Berlin apartment was bombed in late 19^o In documents pertaining to a com pensation claim Eich filed, it is stated that he lost a variety of works! "Gedichte, Erzahlungen, Ho’rspiele, Schau- spiele und Kurzgeschichten"} but there are no details about 9 A these manuscripts8 dates of origin or contents® Original manuscripts of Eich8s early publications and unpublished works such as his play "Der President" were very likely among g< those destroyed®However, the majority of the works lost were most certainly Eich8s broadcast texts from the previous decade® At the time Eich filed his claim he obviously viewed the destruction of these manuscripts as a financial loss® But following the collapse of the Third Reich less than a year later, this loss became very advantageous for Eich, since with the annihilation of the overwhelming majority of his radio texts from 1933 "to 19^0 almost all evidence of his

Nazi-era writing disappeared. It was thus easy for him to disassociate himself from the role he played for the Nazi radio.^

The final episode in Eich*s Nazi-era biography began after he was transferred from his Berlin post in the spring of 19^(4. Serving in a communications unit, he came to

Dresden and then to Geisenhausen bei Landshut in Bavaria. He was finally sent to the Western Front in the Ruhr area. And it was here, near Remagen, that the Americans took him as prisoner of war in the spring of 19^5* His confinement in

P.O.W. Camp 16 in Sinzig marks the "point zero," when most accounts of Eich*s life and writing begin. NOTES TO CHAPTER II

1 These documents are contained in the Berlin Document Center which is administered by the U.S. Mission in Berlin,, They include informational questionnaires Eich filled out for the Reichsverband Deutscher Schriftsteller and the Reichsschrifttumskammer in 1933 and 1936 respectively. There are also miscellaneous documents pertaining to Eich's in volvement in these organizations (letters, police references), which extend until 19^5#

2 Willi Fehse, "Wie GUnter Eich zum Rundfunk kam," in Literatur und Rundfunk 1923-1933, ed. Gerhard Hay (Hildes- heimi Gerstenberg, 1975). p. 3^1•

^ Cf. Stefan Zweig, Foreword, Antholc^ie .itlngster Lyrik, ed. Willi Fehse and Klaus Mann (Hamburg* Gebrttder Enoch, 1927), pp. 1-7.

^ Reprinted-in Eich's Gesammelte Werke, IV, 311-13°

^ Gtlnter Eich, "Bildnis von Ulalu" and "Der Anfang ktlhlerer Tage" (poems), in Die neue Rundschau, 39 (1928), . 290-91o £ The details about Eich's biography for these years come from a one-page, typewritten curriculum vitae, which he submitted to the Reichsschrifttumskammer on May 20, 1936.

^ Fehse, p. 3^2. Q From Gedichte: "Among my souvenirs," "Agyptische Plastik" and "Tango" in Die Kolonne, 1, No. 1 (Dec., 1929), 3-4;_and "Gegen vier Uhr nachmittags," "Photographie" and "Gedichte im Marz oder Oktober" in Die Kolonne, 1. No. 7/8 (Sept., 1930), 52.

^ According to an announcement in Die Kolonne. 1, No. 3 (1930), 15. i n From Eich's curriculum vitae (note 6).

Published in Eich's Gesammelte Werke, IV, 67-130.

"^2 Die literarische Welt, 7* No. 51/52 (1931)» 3° This piece is erroneously listed as a postwar work in Eich's GW, IV, ^65-66. 38 39

"Manchmal" and "Erster Januar" in Neue lyrische Antho- logie, ed. Martin Raschke (Dresden: Wolfgang Jess, 1932), pp. 21-22.

^ Funke, p. 95« ^ Die Kolonne. 3, No. 1 (1932), stated in a preview of the coming issue for April that Gttnter Eich's "Die Liebenden von Gesterns Ein HSrspiel" was to appear, but it never did (n. pag.). "Ein Traum am Edsin-gol" was published in Die Kolonne. 3, No. 4 (1932), 53-58.

^ See the listing of Eich's radio broadcasts from 1933 to 194-0 in Chapter III below,

^ E.g. Schafroth, p, 26. 1 8 From an excerpt from this interview in Richard DShl, Versuch einer Geschichte und Typologie des HSrspiels in Lek- tionen: Horsipiele der fttnfziger Jahre" (I), "Gttnter Eich als Horspieldichter," dir. Klaus Sch&'ning, December 13, 1976, Ms. Westdeutscher Rundfunk (Cologne), p. 9« 19 7 Peter L. Steiner, "Language and the Dimensions of Reality in Gttnter Eich's Radio Plays," Diss. Pittsburgh 1970, p. 59, n 0 9. on As we shall see in Chapter VII, Eich satiriz.es the lyricist's financial hardships in his figure Chabanais in the radio play "Radium." Chabanais, a "freelance poet," can earn a living only by compromising both himself and his poetry. 21 Gottfried Benn, "Die neue Jugend," in his Kunst und Macht (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 19340« pp. 163- W.

22 Mttller-Hanpft, Lvrik und Reze-ption, p. 20.

2-^ Mttller-Hanpft notes that Eich got help from Rudolf Kaiser of Die neue Rundschau, which led to the publication of Gedichte in 1930 (p. 20). 2li Review of Anthologie jttngster Lvrik by Richard Grande in Die schone Literatur, 29, No. 1 (1928), 35-36.

2^ Martin Raschke, "Gttnter Eich: Die Flttsse entlang," Die literarische Welt, 6 , No. 6 (Feb., 1930), 5° 2 ^ Fritz Diettrich, "Die gegenwartige Lage der deutschen Lyrik," Die Literatur, 33 (1930/31), 4-4-0. 40

^ Cf. the commentary on Eich's work by Joachim Hermann, "Eichendorffs 'Gltlcksritter' als Schauspiel," Aurora. 6 (1936), 127-28. pO Frank Trommler, "Emigration und Nachkriegsliteratur; Zum Problem der geschichtlichen Kontinuit&t," in Exil und Innere Emigration; Third Wisconsin Workshop, ed. Reinhold Grimm and Jost Hermand (Frankfurt/Mains Athen&um, 1972), p. 179®

2^ Die Kolonne» 1, No. 2 (1930), 1; rpt. in GW» IV, 387®

30 In doing so, Raschke reveals a stance that touches upon the regionalistic-racist view propounded in the Blut-und- Boden cult, which he himself would soon champion. See for example Raschke's account of his "Saxon roots" in; "Heimat und Herkunft," Die neue Literatur, 41 (1940), 57-60.

31 Die Kolonne. 2, No. 4 (1931). 70-71; rut. in GW„ IV. 421. “

32 Die Kolonne. 3, No. 1 (1932), 16.

33 Dieter Sulzer, Hildegard Dieke and Ingrid Kuflmaul, Der Georg-Bttchner-Preis 1951-1978; Eine Ausstellung des Deut- schen Literaturarchivs Marbach und der Deutschen Akademie fUr Surache und Dichtung Darmstadt (Marbach/Neckar; Deutsche Schillergesellschaft, 1978), p. 117®

3^ Friedrich Pfafflin, et al,, Hermann Hesse, 1877-1977; Stationen seines Lebens, des Werkes und seiner Wirkung (Mar bach/Neckar: Deutsche Schillergesellschaft, 1977), pp. 234-36o

3-^ Georg Winter, "Die Vermischung der Formen, " Die Kolonne. 2, No. 2 (1931), 23®

3^ Fritz Schlawe, Literarische Zeitschriften. Teil II; 1910-1933 (Stuttgart; Metzler, 1962), p. 20.

3^ Marion Mallmann, 'Das Innere Reich'; Analyse einer konservativen Kulturzeitschrift im Dritten Reich (Bonn; Bou- vier, 1978), p. 92.

3^ In addition to Raschke9s essay "Heimat und Herkunft" (see note 6 above), his affinity with the Blut-und-Boden movement is particularly clear in his radio play "Gespr&ch mit den VStern," which was broadcast in the "Stunde der Na tion" program on May 29, 1933, and. in his story Der Erbe (1935). Both works emphasize the individual's bonds to the previous generations. 41

3 9 Martin Raschke, "Man tr> wieder Erde," Die Kolonne. 2, No. 4 (1931), 47. Ll q "Man tr> wieder Erde," Die literarische Welt. 7. No. 25 (1931), 5. hi "Man trSgt wieder Erde," Die Kolonne, 2, No0 4 (1931), 47-48. 42 Bernhard Diebold, "An die jungen Lyriker," Die Ko lonne , 3 , No. 1 (1932), front and hack cover pages.

^ 3 Die Kolonne, 3, No. 1 (1931), 3; rpt. GW, IV, 388. 44 Martin Raschke, "ttber die Aufgabe der 'Kolonne,'" Die Kolonne, 3 , No. 2 (1932), 32. h < Otto Merz, "Die verratene Dichtung," Die Kolonne. 2, No. 4 (1931), 61. 46 Schafroth, p. 16. 47 ' Mallmann, p. 93»

E.g. one editorial note at the end of an issue, Die Kolonne, 2, No. 4 (1931), 48s "Bitte werben Sie fttr uns, damit wir Die Kolonne auch durch diese schwierige Zeit hin- durchretten konnen."

^ 9 oda Schaefer, Auch wenn Du trMumst, gehen die Uhren (Munich: Piper, 1970), p. 239=

3 ° One of the documents included in Eich's Reichsschrift tumskammer dossier is a genealogy table from November 30, 1936, in which he lists three generations of "Aryan ances tors. "

3^ In light of the journal's limited circulation and size (circa 70 pages per annual volume), it is very possible that the Nazis simply took no notice of it.

3 Z The following lists were consulted: Liste 1 des schttd- lichen und unerwttnschteri Schrifttums (Berlin: Reichsdruckerei, 1935): Nachtrage I-III zur Liste 1: Stand vom 10. Juni 1936 (Berlin: flestaxtR. 1936): the Liste des schgdlichen und uner wttnschten Schrifttums for 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, and 1942; as well as the Liste der fttr Jugendliche und Bttchereien ungeeigneten Druckschriften, hrsg. vom Reichsministerium fttr Volksaufklarung und Propaganda: Abteilung Schrifttum (Leipzig: Verlag des Borsenvereins der Deutschen Buchhandler, 1942). kz

5 5 Wolfgang Hermann, "Prinzipielles zur Sttuberung der 6*ffentlichen BUchereien, " Bo’rsenblatt fttr den Deutschen Buch- handel, 100, No. 112 (1933), 357.

5 ^ Anthologie .ittngster Lyrik is listed on p. 10 of Liste 1 (1935) and p. 35 of the 1938 listing,,

5 5 Heinrich Georg Briner, Naturmystik - Biologischer Pessimismus - Ketzertum! Gttnter Eichs Werk im Soannungsfeld der Theodizee (Bonns Bouvier, 1978), p. 38.

5 ^ Schaefer, pp. 245-^6.

This was learned in an interview on May 1, 1979, with Eich's friend since 1930 and fellow "Kolonne" writer, Dr. Jttrgen Eggebrecht 0 C?Q See page 81 below.

5 9 Cfo Schaefer, p. 256 and J. P. J. Maassen, Die Schrecken der Tiefei Untersuchungen zu Elisabeth Langg&ssers Erztthlungen (Leiden: Universitaire Pers Leiden, 1973), P» 13»

On his membership application for the Reichsverband Deutscher Schriftsteller. which Eich filled out on July 18, 1933> be lists the radio as his primary area of specialization and lyrics as his secondary interest.

^ See entries 22, 27, 30, 37, ^9, and 51 on pages 53-58 below.

^3 P Mttller-Hanpft, Lyrik und Rezeption, underestimates Eich's production drastically! "1932 wurden noch einmal vier Gedichte in dem Sammelband 'Neue lyrische Anthologie' verof- fentlicht. Als Lyriker verstummte Eich danach bis zum Kriegsende" (p. 20). Krispyn, "Gttnter Eichs Lyrik bis 196^," in Uber Gttnter Eich, ed. S. Mttller-Hanpft (Frankfurt/Mains Suhrkamp, 1970), is somewhat more cautious! "Nationale und personliche Tragik mogen dafttr verantwortlich sein, dafi Eich von etwa 1935 bis Kriegsende kaum Gedichte schrieb" (p. 69). Schafroth comes closest to-the true number of Eich's separate poem publications during the Third Reich, but he underesti mates Eich's radio productions "Eich hat in den Jahren 1932- 19^0, in denen ttber zwanzig Funkarbeiten entstanden sind, nicht mehr als zehn Gedichte geschrieben" (p. 26).

Schafer, "Die nichtfaschistische Literatur der 'jungen Generation* im nationalsozialistischen Deutschland," p. 500, n. l6l. 4 3

Gflnter Eich, "Schlaflied am frtlhen Abend," Die literarische Welt, 9° No. 18 (1933)* 4. Schafer was the first to mention this poem, which is not included in Eich’s GW.

^ Gflnter Eich, "Gegenwart," "Yom Zuge aus," "Wald vor dem Tage" and "Gesicht," Die neue Rundschau. 44, Bd0 I (1933)» 409-11 - 66 Gflnter Eich, "Wald vor dem Tage" and a review of Heinrich Hauser8s Noch nicht in Per weifle Rabe» Zeitschrift fttr Vers und Prosa. 2, No. 5/6 (1933)» ^0 and back cover page, respectively. This journal published by Stomps in Berlin appeared sporadically between October, 1932 and March, 1934.

^ Mallmann, p. 93°

^ Gflnter Eich, "Kindheit, " Das Innere Reich (Nov. 1934), 1021; "Abend im M£Lrz," (March, 1935)> 1525; "Katharina," (Nov., 1935), 935-80.

^ Gflnter Eich, "Tag im Herbst," "Nacht," "Mittag" and "Zu einer sehr alten Photographie," Per Bflcherwurm9 19, No. 1 (1934), 23-24. Only "Nacht" is contained in Eich8s GW, where it is listed erroneously as an unpublished poem from the years 1945-1955 (I» 229)°

Published in Almanach der Dame i Ftlnfzig ausgewghlte Gedichte (Berlins Propyl&en-Verlag, 1935)? pp. 26-27 and 12-13 respectively, SchSfer makes note of two discrepancies in the lyrics volume of Eich8s GW. While "Wind fiber der Stadt" is totally absent, "Weg durch die Dtlnen" is included only as a postwar poem in Abgelegene Gehofte (1948).

^ Gdnt?-'* Eich, "Die Schattenschlacht," Die Dame, 63, No. 24 (1936), 10 and 56-61.

^ Gflnter Eich, "Rtlbenernte, " Die Dame, 65, No. 24, (1938), 38 and "Erstes Eis," Die Koralle s Wochenschrift fttr Unterhaltung. Wissen und Lebensfreude, NS 6, No. 50 (1938), 1812.

^ See note 62 above.

^ Schaefer, p. 256.

7 *5 Eggebrecht, Interview.

^ Briner, p. 57° The source of Briner8s biographical insights is the unpublished manuscript of Heinz Schwitzke8s "Gflnter Eichs Eine Biographie." There is, however, no men tion of Else8s arrest in Eich8s. Reichsschrifttumskammer dos sier; nor is her name included in the Nazi criminal records stored at the Berlin Document Center. 44

^ Briner, p. 58®

Eich8s vita "by Mtlller-Hanpft in Uber Gflnter Eich, p. 144, and in his GW, IV, 4-77* makes no mention of his first marriage.

^ It does not seem fortuitous that Eich8s fictitious poet "Chabanais" should have a wife named "Elisa" in this radio play which was written at about the time Eich married Else. 80 In the GW we find the following previously unpublished poems s KRANKENTRANSPORT (194-8) Im Halbschlaf war es ein Ton als wenn eine riesige Wolke von Sperlingen und Staren nSher kame. Auf der feuchten Strafie zischten die Reifen. - Sie hoben meine Frau hinein. Die rtlckw&rtige M r schloB sich wie an einem Lieferwagen hinter den Broten zu. (I, 235) and "Komm fiber den Wiesenweg, " a poem about an adulterous encounter with the stanza: Wenn der Zug fiber die Brficke fahrt, ist es Zeit, letzter Handedruck, letztes Flflstern deiner lieben Stimme mich erwarten die verschimmelten feuchten Wande die Kalte und die betrunken singende Frau. ...oo (I, 237) 81 Gunter Groll, ed., De Profundis: Deutsche Lyrik in dieser Zeit. Eine Anthologie aus zwolf Jahren (Munich: Kurt Desch, 19^-6), p 0 98. 8p Horst Lange, for example, suffered a serious head wound on the Eastern Front, which eventually cost him his left eye. Martin Raschke was assigned to a propaganda com pany on the Eastern Front. He was unable to secure a trans fer to Italy through Eggebrecht after he had had enough of the carnage. In the winter of 194-3» Raschke died an agoniz ing death in the field from an abdominal wound (see Schaefer, p. 258).

The German military archive (Deutsche Dienststelle) states in a letter to me on October 13, 1980, that Eich8s records were presumably destroyed in the war. However, through cross-referencing with other sources it was possible to obtain a partial listing of Eich's duty assignments, and none of them entailed combat duty on any front. 45 8k Eggebrecht, Interview.

^ Eggebrecht, Interview, The American ranks are accord ing to Louis L. Snyder, Encyclopedia of the Third Reich (Lon don: Robert Hale, 1976), p. 280. Krispyn has an entirely different view of Eich9s military service; "Eich assiduously avoided all promotions and advancement, preferring the total anonymity of an ordinary private" (p. 41), In a recent con versation Krispyn stated that the source of his (erroneous) information was Eich himself--see pp. 5-6 above,

Raddatz claims the contrary is true (p. 10). Eich*s dossier at the Berlin Document Center, on the other hand, contains no evidence that he had ever belonged 'to the Nazi Party. On both his Reichsverband and Reichsschrifttumskammer applications, Eich was required to list all previous and cur rent political affiliations, especially any membership in a Nazi-sponsored organization, Eich responded negatively to all these questions, and here— it must be emphasized— to list even a temporary membership in the NSDAP would have been to Eich9s advantage.

Published in 1942 by Paul List.

88 Deutsches Bttcherverzeichnis (1941-1950), XXIII, 1034,

897 E,g. Schafroth: "WShrend der Kriegsjahre schrieb Eich nicht" (p. 16), and Krispyn: "His induction into the army at the outbreak of war in 1939 only confirmed his temporary, if prolonged, retirement from creative writing, and put an end to his less ambitious production of radio texts" (p. 41). 90 Following this date the radio program specifically mentions Raschke as the broadcasts author as if to emphasize Eich9s absence. See Chapter YI for further details. 91 7 For information about this work9s contents see entry 53 on pages 58-59 below. 92 7 Christian HorbUrger, Das Horsniel der Weimarer Reoub- lik: Yersuch einer kritischen Analyse (Stuttgart: Akad. Ver- lag Hans-Dieter Heinz, 1975)* published an SS-document dated October 5, 1940, which complains about the flight of many radio play authors and directors to film companies: . . . Mindestens ebenso schwerwiegend wie dieser Weggang der Spielleiter und Dramaturgen des deutschen Rundfunks ist die Hinwendung der freien Mitarbeiter, d.h. der Hor- spieldichter zur Filmarbeit. Hier sind als die charak- te.ristischsten Beispiele die bekannten Horspielautoren A. Arthur Kuhnert, GUnter Eich und Alfred Prugel zu nennen, die neuerdings samtlich bei der UFA bzw. der Bavaria tatig sind. . . , (pp. 418-19) k6

This document has twofold importance. Not only does it asso ciate Eich with film writing at this late date , hut it also includes him among the "renowned radio play authors." Accor ding to Eich, as cited on p. above, his radio plays were "hardly noticed" during the Nazi era.

9 3 in Eich’s GW, only one poem from Abgelegene Gehb'fte is mentioned as a war poem: "Beim Telegrafenbau (I, 4-05) o But on the basis of vocabulary and themes "Truppenttbungsplatz," "Lazarett" and "Nacht in der Kaserne" should probably also be included as pre-19^5 works. In addition, Schwitzke disclosed an -unpublished poem by Eich about an air raid, which was al most certainly written between 19^2 and 19^» See Chapter VIII below for details,. q Ll 7 This is cited from a carbon copy of a letter contained in Eich's Reichsschrifttumskammer dossier. The letter, dated November 25, 1 9 ^ , was sent to Eich from a Dr. Buhl, who was processing the compensation claim. The dossier does not in clude the original claim Eich filed on November 20, 19^»

9 5 Eich's plays "Der President" and "Die Gltlcksritter" are still extant because soon after he wrote them he submit ted copies to two publisherso Although his works were not accepted for publication, the manuscripts survived the war and were finally published in the Gesammelte Werke— see Schafroth’s note in IV, ^63-6^.

9 ^ Such a disavowal of his Nazi-era works is evident in Eich’s statement to Fehse shortly after the war. Referring to his radio broadcasts from the thirties, Eich remarked: "Sie sind alle uninteressant geworden. Sie existieren nicht mehr, - schon weil die meisten Manuskripte verloren gegangen sind" (Fehse, p. 3^6). CHAPTER III

A LISTING OF EICH'S RADIO TEXTS FROM 1933 TO 19^5

The obscurity clouding Eich's life and work during the

Nazi years has been considerable in the area of his radio writing, where he was the most active. With only one excep

tion his broadcast texts were never published but remained

in the form of typed manuscripts from which mimeograph copies were made in the number necessary for, broadcasting purposes.

Eich's personal copies of these manuscripts were destroyed; and with the destruction of the major German transmitting sta tions, in particular in Berlin, almost all traces of the stu dio copies disappeared as well. And in his apparent efforts to suppress the details of his professional activity during the Third Reich, Eich never made the true extent of his loss known.

As a consequence, the basic question of how much Eich actually wrote for the Nazi radio system has thus far remain

ed open. The three major listings of his prewar broadcasts 2 compiled so far yield conflicting findings. Their unrelia bility became evident when Nazi-era commentaries were discov

ered which discussed radio plays by Eich not included in any of the listings.^ The present study therefore turned to the most objective source now available, the daily schedule of *+7 48 radio broadcasts which was published in the weekly radio magazine Die Sendung. And scrutiny of all broadcasts in the

Third Reich from January 1933 until May 31, 1941 (when radio programs ceased to be published), resulted in a listing of

Eich's Nazi-era texts with more than twice the number of titles that Schwitzke published in his "comprehensive listing" for 4 the Gesammelte Werke. The listing below documents all radio plays mentioned by Fehse and also shows that Mtlller-Hanpft was partially successful in her attempt to attach dates of origin to Eich's nonextant works

Since the goal of this study is to define both the ex tent and nature of Eich’s work for the Nazi radio, all broad casts containing his material are cited, including those works that are on the fringe of the radio play genre* narrations, literary recitations, montages, and documentaries<> Though these broadcast texts might not deserve a place in Eich's literary oeuvre, they are obviously important if one is to get an accurate view of his radio writing under Nazism0

There is no guarantee that all texts mentioned in issues of Die Sendung did in fact reach the airwaves; unforeseen schedule changes and cancellations often occurred after the publication of radio programs, especially following the out break of the war. Nevertheless, mention of a broadcast in the program schedule is sufficient reason to believe a fin ished text did existB It is also possible that Eich wrote more broadcasts than can now be established from published programs, and it is very likely that he had a part in the Zj<9 creation of broadcasts which were listed anonymously,. Such a presumption is founded by a vague statement Eich made on a

Reichsschrifttumskammer questionnaire which required him to list all his broadcasts.. Eich wrote— and this was still only

1936— the followings "Es waren an die hundert Sendungen aufzu- £ fuhren, wofttr der Platz nicht ausreicht."

At any rate, the following listing includes all scheduled radio broadcasts that were attributed in part or totally to

Gtinter Eich. Where there is no extant text, all information from Die Sendung is given about the work's contents, charac- 7 ters, and form.

1) January 26, 1933; Berlin (20 minso): "Ich lerne Chinesisch" (not previously listed as a prewar work) This broadcast, which Eich read over the air in the af ternoon, is mentioned in Oskar Loerke's diary.° Eich’s radio text, considered until now to be from the fifties, is published in his Gesammelte Werke (IV, 317-23)® 2) February 15s 1933', Berlin (25 mins. )! "Gtinter Eich liest eigene Prosa" (not previously listed) The program does not give any details about Eich's read ing. Likely material for the broadcast would have been his prose pieces from Die Kolonne. 3) February 26, 1933; Berlin (M-5 mins.): "Aus dem Leben des Abenteurers Mtlnchhausen" (not previously listed) Eich's adaptation for adolescents of the famous "Mtlnch hausen" anecdotes was rebroadcast twice within the next two years. No text is extant. H-) February 27, 1933; Konigsberg (65 mins.): "Das Leben und Sterben des gro(3en Sangers Enrico Caruso" This was a rebroadcast of Eich's and Raschke*s radio play, which had premiered in 1931® Although there is no extant text, there is a listing of the characters: "der Sprecher, Enrico Caruso, Doro Caruso, der SekretSr, Zirato, Meister Gatti, der Major, Vergine, der Lehrer, der Reporter, der italienische Botschafter, der Tenor und die Sopranistin, Stimmen." 50

5) April 10, 1933; Berlin (125 mins.): "Till Eulenspiegel" (not previously listed) The Till Eulenspiegel Volksbuch was the source of Eich's radio adaptation for children and adolescents. It was rehroadcast five times in the next two years under the titles: "Till Eulenspiegel und sein Diener," "Till Eulen- spiegels lustige Streiche" and "Till Eulenspiegel: Ein Spaziergang in einem deutschen Volkshuch." Since the length of the rebroadcasts varied between 125 and 30 min utes, it is likely that Eich or studio directors made considerable alterations in the basic text. One broad cast's list of characters suggests that Eich chose the least offensive episodes in the Till Eulenspiegel story: "Till Eulenspiegel, Kaspar, sein Diener; der Rektor, 1. und 2, Professoren; der Landgraf und die Landgrafin von Hessen; der Wirt; der Bauer; ^ Ausrufer und 3 Schneider." No text is available. 6 ) May 5» 1933; Deutschlandsender (60 mins.): "Die Glttcksrit- ter" Eich's radio play was an adaptation of Eichendorff0s novella of the same name. The premiere broadcast was a disc recording made under Ottoheinz Jahn's direction. Between 1933 and 19^0 this work was rebroadcast seven times both in recorded form and as -an original perfor mance. The radio text is not extant, but Eich's stage version of "Die Glftcksritter" is published in his Gesam- melte Werke (IV, 131-8^). 7) May 31 > 1933; Deutschlandsender (15 mins.): "Dinkelmann und sein Glttck" (not previously listed) Other than the fact that Eich read the text of his short broadcast over the air, nothing is known about the form or contents-. The afternoon broadcast time indicates that it was probably oriented towards a young audience. 8 ) June 22, 1933; Berlin (30 mins.): "In den Staub mit alien Feinden BrandenburgsI Das Werk des Grofien KurfUrsten" (Not previously listed) No text of Eich's historical adaptation for adolescents is available. 9) September 7, 1933; Berlin (30 mins.): "Museum ftlr schwarze Kunst und Zauberei" (not previously listed) The program states that Eich wrote the "guide" for this "museum" and lists as characters: "Des Teufels Grofimut- ter und andere finstere Gestalten." Another broadcast of the same length entitled "Vom Teufel und seiner Grofi- mutter: Ein merkwttrdiges und doch freudiges Spiel" (Bres lau; Nov. 5, 1933) was apparently a rebroadcast. No text or further information is available. 51

10) September 21, 1933; Berlin (55 mins.): "Eine Stunde Lexi- kon" A fragment from Eich's radio play is published in his Gesammelte Werke (II, 27-45). 11) September 26, 1933; Berlin (35 mins,): "Brandenburgs Adler ttber Afrika: GroBfriedrichsburg - des Gro(3en Kur- fttrsten preuBische Kolonie: Eine Ho’rfolge" No text is available of this broadcast. However, the title and accompanying program information indicate that it was an historical adaptation written for adolescents. 12) October 4, 1933; Deutschlandsender (60 mins.)! "Deutscher Kalender: Oktober. Ein Monatsbild vom KSnigswusterhSuser Landboten" This was the first broadcast of what became a regular monthly series of sixty minute episodes, which lasted until May 9, 194-0. Eich wrote the series in cooperation with Martin Raschke. No complete radio manuscripts are available, but excerpts from the broadcasts are published in Die Literatur and in an anthology from 1936.9 13) December 3, 1933; Berlin (45 mins.): "Reise ins Schlaraf-• fenland" (not previously listed) Eich’s broadcast was written for children from 8 to 14 years old. The piece was rebroadcast twice from different stations (Mfthlacker/Freiburg and Mitteldeutscher Rund- funks Leipzig/Dresden) within the same month. No text or further information is available. 14) December 14, 1933; Deutschlandsender (90 mins.): "Lustiges Lumpenpack" Eich based his radio play on anecdotes from Hebei's Rheinlandischer Hausfreund. The Marbach literary archive contains two manuscripts of the broadcast; one is a mimeo graphed copy from the Deutschlandsender studio and the other is a version typed verbatim from the former text during the early postwar years. Eich’s radio play was rebroadcast twice in 1937® 15) January 28, 1934; Westdeutscher Rundfunk Langenberg (60 mins.): "Das RaritSten-Kabinett: Ein Spiel urn ein paar schone Schallplatten" The characters in this broadcast ("der alte Mann, Eduard, Erika und die AntiquitStenhSndlerin") correspond exactly to those in a broadcast entitled "Antiquitgten" (Stutt gart; Oct. 15, 1934). The latter broadcast was there fore almost certainly one of four repeat broadcasts within the next three years and not a separate piece, as has been previously reported (cf. Ill, 1410). No text or further information is available. 52

16) February 6 , 193^; Deutschlandsender (6o mins.): "Ich traumt' in seinem Schatten: Szenen um deutsche Volks- lieder" Eich collaborated with Sigmund Graff and August Hinrichs to write this work which was broadcast nationwide in the "Stunde der Nation" program. No text or detailed infor mation is available. 17) April 2 8, 193^» Berlin (^0 mins,)! "Taugenichts - Tage- diebe: Die bunte Welt der Landstrafie nach alten Schwanken und Erzahlungen von Eichendorff, Hebei und Hamsun" From the subtitle and list of characters ("die Land- streicher! Kasimir und Paul, ein dicker Mann, ein Bauer- lein, ein Pilger, Till Eulenspiegel und sein Diener Kas- par, eine freigiebige Wirtin, eine hUbsche Magd"), it is apparent that Eich used material from his previous adap tations of Till Eulenspiegel and from Hebei’s anecdotes in addition to Eichendorff5s works and possibly material from Knut Hamsun’s Landstrykere. No text is extant. 18) August 1, 193^; Breslau (20 mins.): "Gesprache am Strande: Ein kleiner Ostseeftlhrer" (not previously listed) Other than the fact that the broadcast uses two voices, nothing is known about the nonextant text. 19) September 26, 193^; Berlin (80 mins.): "Weg Uber die Heides Zum heutigen 20. Todestag von Herrmann Lo‘ns" (not previously listed) Eich wrote the first part of this commemorative. As the scenes indicate, it apparently consisted of adaptations of pieces by Lons interspersed with narrations "1. Auf- bruch am Gedenkstein; 2. Was da kreucht und fleugt; 3° In der Jagdstube; 4. Begegnung mit einem Bauernmadchen; 5. Aus dem Nebel steigen die Gestalten der Geschichte; 6 . Die Geister der Heide; 7. Die Dammerung fSllt ein." No text is available. Ernst L6*nse reminiscences about his brother make up the second half of the broadcast. 20) December 27 > 193^, Deutschlandsender (80 mins.)j "Yon einem, der auszog, das Gruseln zu lernen... Ein frohlicher Abend mit guten und bftsen Geistern" (not previously listed) The broadcast was a collection of spooky sceness "Ein Mtihlenkobold, sieben Kartoffeln und fttnf Loffel Quark; der rote Kaspar und der Werwolf; Flucht tfber Gfaber; Die erste Nacht: von einer Katze, die Schneider friftt, und einem Bett, das die Treppen hinunterfShrt; Die zweite Nacht: Kegelspiel mit Totenkopfen; Die dritte Nacht: Oswin als Gespenst; Der Spruch unterm Galgen; Frohlicher SchluB mit Hochzeit und Spharenklang." No further information is available besides the list of 53 characters: "Andreas, der auszog, das Gruseln zu lernen; Oswin, der Schneider; Sebald, ein Mttllerbursche; Jorinde im Gartenhauslein; Anna Margarete anno domini 1500 bis 1565." 21) January 28, 1935; Leipzig (50 mins.): "Des Lebens Uber- fluG " Tieck’s novella of the same name was the source for this radio play, which was rebroadcast twice. No text is .extant. 22) January 31s 1935; Munich (90 mins.): "Ballade von Whis ky und Gin" (not previously listed) "Ballade" was the first in a series of cooperative broad casts by Eich and A. Artur Kuhnert. Eich supplied the songs for the radio play written by Kuhnert. Although no text is extant, a separate broadcast of works by Ludwig Kusche, who wrote the musical scores, provides the titles of some (or all) songs by Eich: "Der Whisky- song," "Der Song vom reinen Leben," "Der Song von den weiflen Frauen," "Der Song vom Gras," "Das Auswanderer- lied."10 23) February 5, 1935; Berlin (30 mins.): "Schritte zu Andreas" The text of this radio play which Eich wrote for Harald Braun's experimental series "Der Horchposten" is pub lished in the Gesammelte Werke (II, k-8-57)<> 2k-) February 10, 1935; Berlin (k-5 mins.): "Der Fischer und seine Frau" The Grimm fairy tale of the same name was the source of Eich’s adaptation. Its three subsequent rebroadcasts were in the evening and in the afternoon for adults and children respectively. No text of Eich’s work is extant. 25) March 2k-, 1935; Deutschlandsender (k-0 mins.): "Das kalte Herz: Marchenoper fttr den Funk" Wilhelm Hauff’s fairy tale in Wirtshaus im Snessart was adapted for this "radio opera." Eich wrote the text and Mark Lothar supplied the musical score, which is extant. The work’s single rebroadcast within the same year was a disc recording. 26) May 12, 1935; Berlin (k-5 mins.): "Mutter und Kind: H & r - folge" (not previously listed) Nothing is known about the nonextant text of Eich’s Mother’s Day broadcast other than the fact that three female and one' child’s voice are heard. 5^

27) June 26, 1935} Munich (75 mins.): "Gebt Acht auf MacDown" (not previously listed) Eich and Kuhnert also cooperated on this radio play. Only the songs written by Eich have survived and these only as titles: "Das Lied vom schonen Wunder," "Tango des MacDown," "Matrosenchor," "Das Lied von Frau und Kind," "Das Lied von der Ehrlichkeit." 28) September 21, 1935} Berlin (50 mins.): "Straflen hin und Strafien her... Ein herbstlicher Bilderbogen" The text of this broadcast is nonextant, but the program lists the following scenes: "Nikolaus findet einen Wan- derkameraden; Zwei braten sich eine Gans; Das Herz in der Waldhtttte; Vagabunden bauen Kohl,- Abschied von der Landstrafie." The listing of soprano and baritone voices as well as a radio orchestra indicates that songs played a central role in the broadcast. A broadcast entitled "Landstra(3en im Herbst: Hdrfolge von G. Eich" (Kdnigs- berg; Oct. 26, 1938) was apparently one of three rebroad casts of this work. 29) September 30, 1935; Leipzig (90 mins.): "Nanuks Glttck und Ende: Eine Moralitat in 8 Kapiteln" (not previously listed) There is no extant text, but the characters listed sug gest that the broadcast treated the "Nanuk of the North" story: "der Erklarer; Nanuk, der Eskimo; Mister Watson, Miss Bidwill, Orulo, Sprecher und Sprecherinnen." 30) October 20, 1935; Cologne (70 mins.): "Sprung nach Is land: Eine kleine unterhaltsame Feise mit H&’rspielern des Reichssenders Koln" (not previously listed) The extent of Eich’s role in the creation of this text is problematic. The original broadcast lists him with Kuhnert as a co-author of the "Reiseplan." However, Kuhnert is listed as the sole author of a later broad cast entitled "Seitensprung nach Island" (Munich; Nov. 30, 1938) and another called "Sprung nach Island" (Leip zig; April 4, 1939)* both of which have the same charac ters as the above work (Nick, Gustav, Margot, Rose, Rita, and four speakers) and could therefore be variations of the earliest broadcast. No text is available. 31) January 26, 1936; Berlin (55 mins.): "Die Tasche des LandbrieftrSgers Ddderlein" The manuscript of this radio play is available in the Norddeutscher Rundfunk archives. It was rebroadcast once in the same year. 32) May 11, 1936; Deutschlandsender (60 mins.): "Die Weizen- kantate" 55

Eich's radio play was rebroadcast once in 1939» The program indicates that there were three parts: "Vom Glttck und Untergang eines Menschen, Vom Uberflufi, Von der Schuld." A fragment of the text is published in the Gesammelte Werke (II, 59-63)0 33) July 11, 1936; Berlin (65 mins.): "FShrten in der PrSrie: Ein Spiel aus der untergehenden Welt Old Shatterhands und Winnetous" This radio play was rebroadcast with the new title "Die letzte Spur" on March 30, 1937, the twenty-fifth anni versary of Karl May's death. Schwitzke believes this occasion was the reason Eich was contracted to write the work (III, 1412). The Marbach archive contains four dif ferent versions of this radio play, none of which corres ponds exactly to the original broadcast. The most' re cent version, which was used for a rebroadcast in 1959, is published in the Gesammelte Werke (II, 65-95) 34) November 22, 1936; Leipzig (70 mins.): "Der seltsame Gast: Ein neuer Totentanz in 6 Bildem" No text of this radio play is available. The program indicates that it was a collection of short pieces: "Vor- spiel; Der Mann neben Edith; Nachtflug; Das Gold des Vagabunden; Der Mann vom Kap Horn; Nachspiel." There is also a listing of the characters: "der Tod, die Bar- besucherin, der Pilot, die Filmschauspielerin, der Fa- brikherr, der Bauer, der SchiffskapitSn, die alte Frau." 35) November 23, 1936; Berlin (40 mins.): "Ein Mann kstmpft mit seinem Traum: Ein Hb'rspiel aus dem Schwedischen" Eich's hand in this work was limited to his reworking of Robert Dinesen's translation of a radio play by Ove Ekelund. The Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv has a recording of the original broadcast.12 36) March 14, 1937; Deutschlandsender (40 mins.): "Krflsemann: Ein Querschnitt durch den Roman von H. Ceinrich] W. £0Ifgang] Seidel" (not previously listed) The broadcast was an adaptation of Seidel's novel pub lished in 1935. No text of Eich's work is extant. 37) June 4, 1937; Deutschlandsender (110 mins.): "Die Welt auf Schienen! Eine Funkfantasie Uber die Eisenbahn" (not previously listed) A. A. Kuhnert was the main author of this broadcast, to which Eich, P. Althaus and Horst Lange also contributed texts. No detailed information or text is available. 38) July 14, 1937; Berlin (30 mins.): "Der gro(3e Krebs im Mohriner See und andere Geschichten um markische Gewas- ser" (not previously listed) 56

Eich put together a collection of short pieces for this broadcast, which has no extant text. It appears to be a predecessor of the Markischer Kalendermann series be low. 39) August 3> 1937; Berlin (30 mins.): "Der Markische Kaleh- dermann sagt den neuen Monat an" (not previously listed) This was the first broadcast in a monthly series of thir ty minute episodes, which lasted until July 31, 1939= Eich was given sole credit for all these broadcasts. There are no extant texts of any of the series’ twenty- four episodes. 40) September 22, 1937; Berlin (70 mins.): "Radium: Ein Ho’r- spiel nach Motiven des Romans von Rudolf Brunngraber" The text of this radio play is published in the Gesam melte Werke (II, 97-133)= Schwitzke speculates that Harald Braun directed this single broadcast (III, 1412). However, the program lists Gerd Fricke as the director. 41) October 4, 1937; Leipzig (110 mins.): "Rfthrende und tolldreiste Geschichten urn Liebe: Ftlr den Funk umgedichtet" (not previously listed) The first in a series of adaptations of medieval themes, Eich’s broadcast treats four tales: "Der Falke," "K8ni- gin Isabeau," "Sylvabel," and "Die geheimnisvoile Tttr." In the fall of 1938* "Die geheimnisvoile Tttr" was re broadcast three times within four weeks. The characters listed in these later broadcasts ("Alain de Maletroit, Blanche, seine Nichte, and Denis de Beaulieu") make it clear that Eich adapted "The Sire de Maletroit’s Door" from Robert Louis Stevenson’s New Arabian Nights. A single rebroadcast of "Der Falke" (Leipzig; May 31 o 1940) includes the information "Spiel nach Boccaccio," indicating that Eich adapted Boccaccio’s famous novella. None of Eich’s texts are extant. 42) January 21, 1938; Leipzig (80 mins.): "Altdeutsche Ge schichten von Liebe und Tod: Szenen, Erzahlungen, Balla- den und Lieder aus ’Des Knaben Wunderhorn® mit alter deutscher Musik" (not previously listed) There is no extant text of this adaptation. It is pos sible that the work resembled Eich's earlier dramatiza tion of folksongs "Ich tr&umt’ in seinem Schatten." 43) March 9, 1938; Leipzig (110 mins.): "Altdeutsche Geschich ten und Lieder von Liebe: Fttr den Rundfunk neu geschrieben" (not previously listed) Eich’s radio play appears to be a separate work from the above, since it has characters who do not correspond to any pieces in Des Knaben Wunderhorn. The broadcast con sisted of two parts: "Konigin Theodelind," which had the 57

characters: "Agilulf, K6*nig der Langoharden; Theodelind, seine Gemahlin; Diener am Hofe; Wache; Audoin; Gerberga, Theodelindens Kammerlein;" and the second part "Rhynsolt," with the characters: "Karl der Ktthne; Rhynsolt, sein Statthalter in Geldern; Saphira Danvelt; Schreiber; Die ner; Kerkermeister; Magd." While the origin of this last part is unclear, the story of King Agiluph and his wife Theudelin is told both in Boccaccio’s Decamerone and in Grimm's Deutsche Sagem The program also indi cates that Der Madrigalkreis Leioziger Studenten played a role in Eich’s broadcast. No text is extant. 4^) September 30, 1938; Berlin (30 mins.): "Wenn die Kartof- felfeuer rauchen: Ernsthaftes und Spafiiges urn ein Kncl- lengewachs" (not previously listed) No text or detailed information about this work is avail able other than the program note that Eich narrated the broadcast himself. k 5 ) December 29, 1938; Berlin (30 mins.): "Geliebte Heimat, Havelland: Eine Fontanesenduing" (not previously listed) Material from Fontane’s Wanderungen durch die Mark Bran denburg was very likely the source of this adaptation, which is not extant. ^6 ) January 5, 1939; Leipzig (110 mins.): "Das Kuriositaten- Kabinett: Sechs lebende Bilder gestellt von G, Eich mit Musik von Schallplatten" (not previously listed) Eich's broadcast was a series of humorous sketches with the titles: "Das Konterfei des toten GroBvaters; GesprSch mit einem Generaldirektor; Besuch im Parlament; Mister Hammond und die Wolkenkratzer; EuropSische FttBe; Eine Dichterin spricht." This broadcast, which has no extant text, was repeated twice. ^7) January 6, 1939; Deutschlandsender (60 mins.): "Der Tod an den Handen" This radio play depicted scenes from the life of Dr. Philipp Ignaz Semmelweis, the Hungarian physician who initiated the antiseptic delivery procedure to prevent puerperal infections. Eich’s characters are listed in the program: "Dr. Semmelweis, Dr. Kolletschka, Prof. Klein, Prof. Skoda, Kamenek, Faktotum und Frau Schttl- lern." There is no evidence to support Schwitzke*s as sumption of an earlier broadcast date (III, 1^13)° No text is extant. 4-8) February 15, 1939; Leipzig (60 mins.): "Alles dreht sich, alles bewegt sich: Karussell in bunten Szenen" The text of Eich’s collection of humorous sketches, ex tant until 1962, has since been lost. A short summary of the seenes: "Malerei auf amerikanisch; Der unglttckliche 58

Radfahrer; Ein Wildragout; Hotel Continental; Eine bis- sige Geschichte," is given by Schwitzke in the Gesam- melte Werke (III, 1414). ^9) May 28, 1939; Leipzig: "Der vielbeschrieene Kuckuck" (not previously listed) Eich’s piece was part of a collective broadcast called "Im Rausch der schcSnen Maizeit," in which Kuhnert and Raschke also participated* No text is extant, but there is a listing of Eich’s characters: "Wirt, Gast, Anna, Gustav, Sprecher, Mann, Frau, 1. und 2. Gerichtsvoll- zieher und Kind," 50) June 18, 1939; Deutschlandsender (30 mins*): "Balthasar Neumann: Hb’rszenen um den bedeutenden deutschen Baumei- ster" (not previously listed as a Nazi-era broadcast) Broadcast in the "GroCe Deutsche" series, this radio play was rebroadcast once (Bohmen; Feb, 26, 19^0), and no doubt was the basis for Eich’s later Schulfunkhorspiel with the same title, which he wrote for the Bayerischer Rundfunk in 1950 (cf. Ill, 1^17). No text of the original broadcast is extant0 51) June 28, 1939; Leipzig: "Junger Rhabarber" (not previous ly listed) Eich contributed this short piece to a collective broad cast with the title "Jetzt, wo alle Rosen bltthn: Lustige Momentaufnahmen im Sonnenschein," Kuhnert and Raschke were also among the contributors, The list of Eich’s characters gives an idea of the nonextant text, since it includes Alexander Dumas’ three Musketeers, "Athos, Por- thos and Aramis." 52) August 21, 1939; Berlin (30 mins,): "Sternschnuppen und Wunschtraume: Improvisationen im August" (not previously listed) No details about this nonextant broadcast are given in the program. There is, however, a poem entitled "Stern schnuppen" which Eich published in 19^7 and whose con tents indicate that it very likely was part of the 1939 broadcast (cf. I, 186-87)0 53) May 8 , 19^0; Deutschlandsender (60 mins.): "Rebellion in der Goldstadt," also referred to as "Aufstand in der Gold- stadt" "Rebellion" was Eich’s last original radio play that is documented for the Nazi years. Schwitzke claimed that no information was available on the contents of the non extant manuscript (III, 1^14). But with the help of pro gram information, an idea of the broadcast’s theme can be gained. The program lists the following characters: "Pieter, Bergarbeiter in Johannisburg £ s i c j ; Nelly, 59

seine Frau; Meke, Bergarbeiter in Johannisburg; Mary, seine Frau; Lord Pembroke, Grofi-Aktionar der Goldminen- Ges.; Lillian, seine Tochter; Thompson, Agent der Minen- besitzer; Smuts, MinisterprSsident der stldafrikanischen Union; Bergarbeiter, Abgeordnete, Soldaten." The year of the play's action is set in 1922. In addition there is a summary of the work in Westfunk (15, No. 19 [1946]» 2) : "Das Horspiel, das in Johannesburg in Stidafrika spielt, zeigt den Kampf der unterbezahlten weiflen Arbeiter gegen die unmenschlichen Methoden der englischen Minenbesitzer. Die einzelnen Charaktere der im HUrspiel auftretenden Personen und die ausgezeichneten Milieuschilderungen lassen diese beiden Welten des Arbeiters und des Pluto- kraten deutlich hervortret'en. " In light of this information it seems certain that Eich based "Rebellion in der Goldstadt" on the following inci dent in South Africa's history. In 1922 the South Afri can Chamber of Mines attempted to relax the job color bar, a labor restriction which until then had protected white workers at certain jobs from being replaced by lower-paid black migrants. This move by the mineowners caused a wave of strikes, ending in a five-day battle at the Wit- watersrand Mines between white workers and troops sent in by Prime Minister Smuts to subdue the strikers. Over 200 persons died in the confrontation.13 #

The above findings provide a number of new insights into Eich's Nazi-era radio writing. They demonstrate that he produced broadcast texts at a pace that actually surpassed his postwar radio writing and refute any theory that he play ed a "peripheral" role in the Nazi radio system. The evidence of a peak in his activity in the years 1937-39* when he was writing two monthly series in addition to separate broadcasts, is particularly significant, since critics have alleged that 14 Eich wrote no or hardly any radio plays after 193°.

These findings also make it possible to determine with a considerable degree of accuracy the number of texts lost in the course of the war. If the monthly episodes in the two 6o

series are counted as separate units, one arrives at a total

of over 150 broadcast texts with which Eich's involvement is 1 documented m the published program, Of these only six

full texts (14, 23, 31» 33» 35, 40), two fragments (10, 32), *1 ^ and excerpts from two works (2, 25), are available. Thus

some 9 5 ? ° of Eich's radio texts from the Third Reich are non-

extant.

This fact severely limits a study such as the present

one, which focuses specifically on Eich's work during the

Hitler regime. Yet several important observations are possi

ble on the basis of the information we do have at our dispo

sal,- First, the titles and characters listed in the program

suffice to establish the prevailing tendencies in Eich's ra

dio writing between 1933 and 1940, The most striking feature

is the banality of most of these broadcasts, especially of

the children's radio plays. Adaptations of literary works

at least a century old constitute a major portion, and it be

comes obvious that Eich adhered more closely to ideological

tendencies (e.g,, Blut-und-Boden, nationalism and racial chau- 17 vinism) than has ever before been assumed.

In light of these tendencies, those prewar texts published

in Eich's Gesammelte Werke ("Eine Stunde Lexikon," "Schritte

zu Andreas," "Weizenkantate," "Fahrten in der Prarie," and

"Radium") prove to be atypical for the overwhelming majority

of his broadcasts in this period. The latter three, in par

ticular, are important exceptions to the tendencies otherwise prevailing in Eich's writing during the Nazi years; and they 61 will be treated as a separate category in Chapter VII of this study. That these extant manuscripts were the only ones cho sen for publication and are therefore Eich's most available

Nazi-era radio plays has in fact contributed to, rather than diminished the general misconception of his writing after

1933.18 The exceptional nature of the above works is also appa rent when Eich's prewar radio plays are ranked according to their "popularity" in terms of rebroadcasts and new perform ances. Only the two series cannot be rated in this manner, since their monthly episodes were intended to be single broadcasts. 1 9 However, with all other radio texts from this peri od the number of rebroadcasts indicated in the program can serve as an effective barometer of their reception and can supplement the scant details provided in Nazi-era commentaries.

Using this number as a popularity gauge, we find that Eich’s most successful works were his less pretentious broadcasts; they were all adaptations of some kind: "Die Gltlcksritter"

(seven broadcasts), "Till Eulenspiegel" (five broadcasts), and "Das Raritaten-Kabinett," "Der Fischer und seine Frau," 20 and "Die geheimnisvolle Tttr" (all with four broadcasts).

It is telling that the radio plays published in Eich’s Gesam melte Werke were among his least frequent broadcasts: "Radium" and "Eine Stunde Lexikon" were broadcast only once, "Schritte zu Andreas," "Weizenkantate" and "Fahrten in der Prarie" twice each. 62

Eich's "popular" and "unpopular" radio plays not only differed in terms of their themes and styles and with regard to his creative role, which was apparently greater in the lat ter plays. We must also consider that within the strictly- controlled Nazi radio system a major criterion for determin ing a work's success was its compatibility with Nazi ideology

As will be shown in the following chapters, the "popularity" of many of Eich's broadcasts was directly related to their ability to promote Nazi cultural policies» An important ob jective of these chapters will be, first, to delineate these policies and then to show how their influence on the radio play was reflected in Eich's broadcasts. And here the ques tion will be raised as to the extent of Eich's willingness to accommodate such policies in his plays in order to remain the prolific writer he actually was during the Third Reich. NOTES TO CHAPTER III •i This refers, of course, to radio manuscripts published during the Third Reich. At that time only a collection of excerpts from Eich’s and Raschke*s Konigswusterhauser Land- bote series was published as a book (see note 9 below). 2 Eich’s prewar radio plays are listed by Funke (p. 95)» by Mtiller-Hanpft (Uber Gtinter Eich, p. 148), and by Schwitzke at the end of Vol. Ill of the Gesammelte Werke.

^ Such was the case with Eich’s radio play "Die geheimnisvolle Ttir" (entry 41 on page 56), which has never been listed before. It is mentioned by Gerd Eckert, "Neues vom Horspiel," Die Literatur, 41 (1938/39)* in reference to a 1939 radio play competition (p. 173)°

^ This discrepancy causes Schwitzke’s list to fall very short of the claims he made in the introductions "Hier werden alle noch feststellbaren, bekannten und unbekannten, erhal- tenen und verlorengegangenen Rundfunktitel Eichs, wird seine gesamte Rundfunkarbeit zwischen 1928 und 1972 tiberschaubar gemacht" (III, 1405)°

^ Fehse mentions several of Eich’s prewar radio plays, among them "Balthasar Neumann" (p. 346), which Schwitzke lists only as a postwar work (III, 1417)» and to which Mtiller- Hanpft assigns the date 1936 (p° 148)0

This is cited from the third page of an informational questionnaire which Eich filled out, signed and dated May 20, 1936. It is noteworthy that Eich wrote his response in a place where the questionnaire also asked for the number of rebroad casts ("wie oft gesendet"). He therefore could have been considering this number in his vague calculation. That would add approximately 25 more broadcasts to the total of 36 ori ginal broadcasts that are documented up to May, 1936. The number of broadcasts would come close to 100 if the 32 epi sodes of the Landbote series, which had been broadcast by then, were also added to the sum.

^ Unless otherwise indicated, the following program in formation is cited from Die Sendung. As this magazine's ra dio schedule is unpaginated, the references are to the rele vant day and broadcasting station. During the Third Reich

63 64 the daily listing "began with the Deutschlandsender broadcasts and then proceeded in alphabetical order to all regional and metropolitan transmitting stations within Germany. 0 Cf. Oskar Loerke, Tagebticher. 190 3-1939 (Heidelberg/ Darmstadt: Lampert Schneider, 1955) ’• Donnerstag GJan. 26, 1933D unausgeruht. Nachmittag Hermann Kasack. Im Rundfunk Gtinter Eichs ’Ich lerne chinesisch [sic],' einfach, schdn und rund. Abends kam Eich. Er las Gedichte und den Briefwechsel mit Hermann Hesse tiber dessen Morgenlandfahrt. Ein ergiebiges Ge- sprach daran anschliefiend. . . . (p. 261) a Gtinter Eich and Martin Raschke, Das festliche Jahr (Oldenburg: Gerhard Stalling, 1936), and "Aus dem 'Deutschen Kalender,’" Die Literatur. 41 ( 1 9 3 8 / 3 9 ) , 549-50. 1 0 "Ein Querschnitt durch alte und neue Horspielmusiken von Ludwig Kusche" (Munich; July 17» 1936). 11 See the detailed discussion of these different ver sions on pages 172-74 below. 12 H. Joachim Schauss, ed. Tondokumente des deutsch- sprachigen Horspiels 1928-1945 (Frankfurt/Main: Alfred Hufi & . Co., 1975), P» ^3, entry No. 73<>

^ Leslie P. Green and Louis Hotz, "History of South Afrika," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1973 ed., XX, 974.

Cf. Horst-Walter Krautkramer, Das deutsche Ho'rspiel 1945-1961; Grundthemen, ktlnstlerische Struktur und soziologische Funktion, Piss. Heidelberg 1962 (Heidelberg: privately printed, 1962) : "Gilnter Eich hielt sich noch einige Zeit, er wich aus, indem er unverfangliche Stoffe wShlte, Lebensbilder von Semmelweis und Marie Curie und 1936 nach einem Karl-May- Extrakt 'FShrten in der Prarie® ganz verstummte" (pp. 27-28). In their discussions of Eich's Landbote series which lasted until 1940, Krispyn claims it ended in 1936 (Gttnter Eich, p. 37), and Schwitzke gives 1937 as the final year (iii, l4l0). 15 This remains a conservative estimate, since it does not include the special Christmas Eve broadcasts in the Land bote series or the commemorative broadcasts of this series' highlights. See page 126 and page 154, note 34 below. 1 6 The numbers refer to the entries in the above listing. Whereas the recording of "Ein Mann kSmpft mit seinem Traum" was considered as an extant text, the stage text of "Die Glttcksritter" was not, since this version would not have been identical to the radio play manuscript. The extant text of 65

"Ich lerne Chinesisch" is also not included, since it was "broadcast on January 26, 1933» four days before Hitler was named Chancellor, and is therefore not one of Eich's Nazi-era broadcasts.

^ This will be discussed in detail in Chapters Y-VII. 1 ft The selective publication of Eich's radio plays from the thirties is one of several questionable editorial deci sions that have affected the presentation of his work during the Third Reich. One had good reason to wonder why the ex tant texts of "Lustiges Lumpenpack" (193*0 and "Die Tasche des LandbrieftrSgers Doderlein" (1936) were not included, while several relatively unimportant fairy tale adaptations from the postwar years were deemed worthy of publications "Dornroschen" (19*+8), "Kinderhorspiel fUr einen Schalttag" (19^8), and "Die Gliicksschuhe" (19^8). Eich’s professional activity under Nazism is consistently minimized in the infor mation provided by the critical apparatus of his Gesammelte Werke. This is done either through deletions of pertinent texts, as in the above case, or through misinformation, of which the most blatant example is the totally inadequate list ing of his pre-19^5 radio plays. As will be discussed in Chapter VIII, the incorrect dating of many of Eich's lyrics from the Nazi years has also served to reinforce the commonly- held theory that he did not write poetry during the Third Reich. 19 7 There were, however,, several instances where monthly episodes of both the Landbote and the MSrkischer Kalendermann series were repeated within the same month. 20 Here it must be noted that Eich's and Raschke's Konigs- wusterhauser Landbote series was by far the most popular broad cast which Eich wrote during the Nazi years. This was shown in a number of ways: first, by the series' duration until 19^0; second, by the publication of Das festliche Jahr; and third, by the special commemorative broadcasts. The details of this series', reception will be discussed in Chapter VI below. CHAPTER IV

NAZISM AND THE RADIO PLAY

Before proceeding with an analysis of Eich's Nazi-era broadcasts, it is important to know the context in which they were produced, for as a radio writer Eich was working in pro bably the most tightly controlled medium of artistic expres sion under the Nazi regime. This control affected all forms of broadcasting, including the radio play, which actually underwent an evolution as a vehicle for Nazi ideology,, Con- trary to Schwitzke's claim, there was a "Nazi radio play" with its own distinguishing features and it had a visible in fluence on Eich's writing. In addition, many of the themes in Eich's broadcasts can only be explained by tendencies re flecting Nazi programming policies. For all these reasons we shall go into some detail about the overall goals of the

Nazi radio system and the role the radio play had as a propa ganda instrument. Here recent historical and literary studies provide many insights. The prime source of information, how ever, will be statements made about the genre during the

Third Reich, as well as program records in magazines such as

Die Sendung and Europastunde.

66 The Gleichschaltung of the media "by Goebbels' Reichsmini-

sterium ftir Volksaufklarung und Propaganda put the radio play

under the control of two chambers* the Reichsrundfunkkammer 2 and the Reichstheaterkammern The Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesell-

schaft (RRG), a relatively autonomous institution during the

Weimar Republic, was now under the direct control of the re

gime. Reacting with a vengeance for the years that radio

* authorities had denied them access to the microphone, the

Nazis systematically purged the broadcasting industry of

those they considered opponents and replaced them with loyal 3 party members in all key positions. In August of 1933* for

mer RRG-director Dr. Kurt Magnus, Ministerial Advisor Giesecke

and the radio commentator Alfred Braun were temporarily de

tained in Oranienburg Concentration Camp.^ Former radio com

missioner Dr. Hans Bredow and other RRG-officials were later

tried on trumped-up charges of radio fee misappropriation in

an attempt to expose the "corruption" of the Weimar Republic.

The radio industry's new priorities were outlined in

Goebbels' lengthy speech to the remaining members of the RRG

on March 25* 1933* As he states, artistic freedom would now

be eliminated in favor of a "return to the people":

Die neue Zeit nennt sich nicht umsonst Volkisches Zeital- ter. Das Einzelindividuum wird ersetzt durch die Gemein- schaft des Volkes. . . . Ich glaube nicht, daf3 es dem Rundfunk schaden wird, wenn wir ihn in diese neue Volks- bewegung einschalten. , . „ Wir sahen in den letzten Jahren nur noch die fast grotesk anmutenden Orgien des Liberalismus, eine Kunst, die mit dem Volk eigentlich nichts mehr zu tun hat, gekauft und hingenommen ledig- lich von einer ganz kleinen Oberschicht. . . . So wie die Kunst das Volk verlie(3, so hat das Volk die Kunst verlassen.° 68

According to Goebbels, a primary goal was to use the radio to win over the remaining 52^ of Germans who voted for parties other than the Nazi coalition (NSDAP-DNVP) in the March

1933 election, the last in which multiple parties were allow ed. To the Nazis’ dismay they received only 43,9fo o f the votes— and this after +wo months of nearly total controls

Der Rundfunk muG uns diese hundert Prozent [der Volks- stimmen] zusammentrommeln. Und haben wir sie einmal, muG der Rundfunk uns diese hundert Prozent halten, mu[3 sie verteidigen, muG sie so innerlich durchtranken mit dem geistigen Inhalt unserer Zeit, da(3 ilberhaupt niemand mehr ausbrechen kann.7

In order to guarantee the totally political orientation of the radio medium, Goebbels Was not merely satisfied with the expulsion of non-party members at the top; he demanded ideo logical homogeneity within the rank and file of all persons working for the industry:

Ich mochte nicht Menschen im Rundfunk beschaftigt wissen, die nur geduckt und mit Widerwillen, ohne Freude an der Arbeit ihren Dienst versehen0 . . . Ll"]ch weiG, daG unter Ihnen Manner sitzen, die nicht meiner Partei angehbren. Das geniert mich nicht„ Ich muG nur verlangen, daG Sie sich auf demselben weltanschaulichen Boden bewegen, auf dem wir uns b e w e g e n8 .

The Nazis were quick to implement a new plan of operation for the radio system, and it had an immediate effect on the types of radio plays that were broadcast. The genre took on a pronounced political tone, since it was used in the cam paign to promote the goals of the Party. Goebbels' people in control of the radio were in fact willing to employ the radio play in their propaganda plans to the extent that the Q genre enjoyed a "blossoming" in 1933* Shortly after January 30, 1933, radio plays written by S. A. men and other party

hardliners filled the airwaves with Nazi doctrine. As Hay

points out, party writers capitalized on the advances made

in the radio play prior to 1933* "Generell kann gelten, daft

formal, technisch und dramaturgisch alle Moglichkeiten des

Horspiels, die Ende der zwanziger Jahre gefunden worden waren, 10 benutzt wurden." Yet these often fanatic plays shared the

characteristics of most Nazi art: they were more adaptation

and cliche than creative.

Hay traces the theoretical foundation for the National

Socialist radio plays to two pre-Third Reich works presenting

divergent views: Hermann Pongs' Das Hdrsniel (1930) and

Richard Kolb’s Das Horoskop des HSrsniels ( 1 9 3 2 ) Pongs

sees the radio play's function in promoting the collective

experience and the new technical age:

Eine Erziehung zur Kollektivitat geht von ihm [dem H6'r- werkj aus, die den Blick schSrft ftlr kollektive Stoffe, die das Geftthl weitet ftlr kollektive Ideen und Probleme, die den mannigfalten individualistischen Formwillen ban- digt fUr die zu alien sprechende Gestalt. Es ist das technische Zeitalter, das Bewaltigung fordert, es ist das soziale und politische Ethos, das zur Wirkung kommen will, es ist das Leben des Mitmenschen, des Volksmenschen, des Ftthrers der Gruppen und Massen, das Gestalt verlangt und im Funk ein breites Medium findet.l^

Kolb, in contrast, stresses the radio play's appeal to the

individual.^ He believes the genre's use of acoustical

rather than visual communication gives it unique properties which writers should exploit. While on the one hand the genre's acoustical essence hinders the presentation of realis

tic scenes, on the other it allows allegory to be used much more 70 14 convincingly than on the stage. The reliance on the spoken

word alone and the necessity for the radio play to utilize

the listener's imagination set the genre as a consequence in

a limbo between reality and illusion, where disembodied

voices can be used effectively. Abstract subject matter is

thus most appropriate for radio plays, in Kolb's opinion.

The radio writer should strive to portray the psychic, not

the physical realm:

Die szenische Handlung im Horspiel wird infolge der Nicht- sichtbarkeit durch die Illusion des Hbrers ersetzt. Die- ser kann sich aber nur einfache Situationen vergegenwSr- tigen. Das geht so weit, daf3 selbst lange Dialogpartien die Szene aus dem Ged&chtnis verschwinden und die Anwe- senheit des Partners oder gar mehrerer Personen in Ver- gessenheit geraten lassen. Deshalb ist die Szene und die Erinnerung geradezu primitiv zu gestalten. Um so mehr kann uns der Funk das Immaterielle, das Uberpers&'n- liche, das Seelische im Menschen in abstrakter Form oder in Gestalt korperloser Wesenheiten nSherbringen.15

The two stances— as different as they are— were both com patible with Nazi propaganda goals. Pongs® thesis of collec

tivity corresponded to the attempt to fuse the individual

egos of the German people into one mass entity, "ein Yolk."

And Kolb's tenet that the radio play should treat timeless, metaphysical themes were appropriate for Nazi rhetoricians, who were now busy formulating new myths about the "Master

Race" and creating cult heroes out of the "martyrs of the

Nazi Revolution." It was in reference to two such "martyr- plays" (Hanns Johst's "Albert Leo Schlageter" and Paul Beyer's

"Horst Wessel") that Gerd Fricke, a prominent director under

Nazism, speaks of the radio plays effectiveness for political

indoctrination due to its appeal to the listener's fantasy: 71

Nach den Erfahrungen dieses Jahres glaube ich: die besondere Wirkung eines politischen Themas im Rund funk besteht darin, da/3 im Gegensatz zu Theater und Film hier alles Zeitnahe und Zeitgebundene selbst bei wirklichkeitsnaher Darstellung ins Symbolische, Mysti- sche w&chst. . - . Im Rundfunk bleibt allies der Fantasie ttberlassen; zu einer Stimme denkt sich jeder Horer den K6*rper, der ihm lebendig wieder erscheint als Vorbild und Ziel.l6

The application of PongS" and Kolb's views was most ap parent in plays frequently broadcast in the series called

"Stunde der Nation" because the programs were transmitted

simultaneously by all German stations- These were the Fest-

and Weihesuiele and Chorwerke using techniques adapted from both the medieval mystery play and classical drama9 as well

as elements from recent radio play innovations- Allegorical

in content, the plays sought to legitimize the Nazi regime by

drawing mystical parallels to historical and even religious

events from the legacy of "Germanic" culture- Music, spoken verse and exchanges between individual voices and mass choru- 17 ses were combined in acoustical pageants.

Pongs’ "collective experience" is clearly evident in one of the first "Stunde der Nation" broadcasts, "Wir bauen eine

Stral3e" by Peter Hagen and Hans Jttrgen Nierentz (nationally broadcast on August 5> 1933)- This work glorifying Hitler’s

Autobahn project is written almost entirely in the collective form "wir." The project is depicted as a common goal which unifies unemployed Germans from all regions and all social groups- The collective spirit is emphasized through sticho- mythic exchanges such as the following, where multiple voices share syntactic units in the verses: 72

Sprecher: 'Aus hundert St£dten und Db'rfem, aus hundert Stuhen und Kammem sind wir gekommen. Wir haben im Schlamm der Schtltzengrhben gelegen, wir haben in den Horsalen der Schulen gesessen, wir haben in Fabriken und Werkstatten gestanden, wir haben vor den Stempelstellen gelarmt!'

• •0OB Zweite Stimme: 'Wir haben den schwarzen Teer gebrannt, den kochenden Asphalt ausgefahren, wir haben die krei- schenden Betonmischer bedient!' Dritte Stimme: 'Wir haben gesprengt... Erste Stimme: *.. geschlagen ... Zweite Stimme: ... geschaufelt... Dritte Stimme: ... gestampft... Erste Stimme: ... gegossen... Zweite Stimme: ... geschottert.. . Dritte Stimme: .». gewalztl' Alle zusammen: 'Wir bauen eine StraBe!'!^

Another radio play of the same type, "Nacht der Toten"

(also called "Geburt des Reichs")» was written by an anonymous

S.A. man and broadcast nationally at midnight on November 9»

1933, the tenth anniversary of the Munich Coup attempt. The

twenty minute work begins with a montage: a hornmotif and marchsteps develop into the "Deutschlandlied" melody, which

is then followed by passages from the "Marseillaise" and the

"Workers' International Hymn." After a series of gunshot

sound effects and epitaphs dramatizing the"Nazi Revolution,"

an exchange between a solo voice and a mass chorus has a litur

gical character:

. . . Plotzlich eine gellende Stimme: 'Verrat!' Der Chor: 'Aus dem Blut der Gefallenen steigt Kraft zur Ver- geltung.' Stimme: 'Gold!® Der Chorus: 'Es werden die Schwerter aus Stahl geschmiedet.® Stimme: 'Ketten!® Der Chor: 'Sie binden den Knecht, doch niemals den Mann.® Stimme: ®Mord!® Der Chor: 'Der Trager fallt, die Fackel leuchtet.® . . .19 The rest of the broadcast is structured around Dietrich

Eckart's poem "Geduld." The poem begins with the opening lines from the Nibelungenlied, which evoke the heroic pathos of the Germanic pasts "Uns ist in alten maeren, wunders viel geseit,/ Yon helden lobebaeren, von grozer arebeit . . „ "

These verses are repeated and elaborated upon in an operatic exchange between alto, tenor, baritone and bass voices, and the chorus. Germany's defeat in World War I by the "stab in the back" is then mentioned, and from all this arises a call for revenge and salvation through a "nameless hero®" (For

Nazis such as Eckart, this "hero" was of course Adolf Hitler).

"Nacht der Toten" ends with an organ crescendo of strains from the "Horst-Wessel-Lied" and the crys "In dieser Nacht 21 wacht Deutschlands bestes Blut!"

As can be seen, the play lacks plot substance or develop ment. There is no real dialogue between the voices, since there is little or no causal linking between the catch- phrases and Nazi slogans exchanged. The lack of rational structure in conjunction with the suggestive power of fami liar melodies used to heighten the listeners9 emotional re sponse creates an overall effect reminiscent of a religious ritual. Indeed the liturgical quality of the exchange between music and the spoken word is exactly what one critic found praiseworthy, because it represented his concept of the German national character (Volkst-Umlichkeit) ;

Das Hdrspiel ist gebaut auf dem Wechsel von Sprache und Musik. Eine Form, die wir in derjenigen kultischen 7^

Handlung besitzen, die ohne Zweifel den groGten Ansprueh auf Volksttfrnlichkeit machen kann, in der kirchlichen Handlung. Sowohl in der katholischen Messe, mit ihrem Wechsel von Musik und Sprache, als auch im protestanti- schen Gottesdienst, mit zwischen ChorSlen eingebauter Predigt, Bibeltext und Gebet,22

Another "Stunde der Nation" radio play with more expli

cit religious allusions is Richard Euringer's "Deutsche Pas

sion 1933>" nationally broadcast on Maundy Thursday, April 13 p

1933. With its messianic theme, its use of types such as

"die Mutter," "der Arbeitslose," and its ecstatic outbursts

— all remnants of the Expressionist Verkttndigungsdrama— the

play demonstrates the eclectic nature of the Nazi radio .play.

"Deutsche Passion" treats the conflict between Good and Evil

in the light' of Germany's "dilemma" in the period following

the end of World War I„ Bizarre jazz music underscores the words of the evil spirit who represents the Antichrist as a

union of Communism, defeatism, petty intellectualism and nihil

ism. The good spirit is embodied by a fallen, nameless sol

dier who rises from the dead in emulation of Christ to suffer

the passion that will redeem Germany: "Ob Stacheldraht, ob oh. Dornenkron: ich will sie leiden, die Passion." The resur

rected soldier proclaims a "new Gospel" of Nazism, which he 23 addresses to all social classes:

So fordre zum ersten ich den Verzicht auf Gier und Rachsucht. Sie l6°st euch nicht. Im Schweifie eurer Zahren will ich euch ackern lehren. Zucht, Armut, Demut, diese drei entfesseln ein Volk nicht; sie machen es frei. Du Bauer, fluch nicht auf die Stadt, weil sie dich ausgeraubert hatl 75 Fltlcht nicht ins Elendsparadies! Die Erde ktiss, die dich verstiefl! Dem Adel sag ich’s ins Gesicht: Veracht du deine Herkunft nicht! Der Htffling war die welsche Schando Dein Stand ist auch ein Bauernstand. 99900 26

Euringer's radio play was so successful that it was converted

into a "Thing-Spiel" for live performance, and the published manuscript was awarded the Stefan-George-Preis for the best book of the year in 1933»

The mention of a few titles included in "Stunde der Na tion" suffices to demonstrate that the series presented many aspects of the Nazi doctrine: Blut-und-Boden in Richard

Schneider-Edenkoben9s "Blut und Scholle" (September 11, 1933); racism in Konrad Dttrre's "Erbkrank - erbgesund" (September 7,

1933); rearmament and militarism in "Die deutsche Reichs- marine" (August 2, 1933)» "Mobilmachung 191^" (August 5* 1933)» and "Volk, flieg Du wieder" (August 19, 1933); colonialism in

Gerhard Menzel's "Johann ohne Land" (June 23, 1933); and pan-

Germanism's concern for German-speaking minorities in foreign countries in "Volk auf fremder Erde" (July 16 , 193^)

Two pre-1933 radio play forms particularly suitable for use as Nazi propaganda were the radio ballad and the cantata, both of which were more epic in character than the Festsoiele.

These forms, again, stress the use of choral responses» In the radio ballad, which is the more narrative form as its name indicates, the plot develops in a dialogue where even the 28 epic narrator can become an active participant,, Radio 76

cantatas were prevalent in Hitler Youth broadcasts, since the

form's use of choral refrains and its repetition of key phrases

served to increase its effectiveness for indoctrinating the

audience. Choral refrains also played an important role in

Nazi radio ballads as "echoes" interspersed throughout works to highlight symbolically the (generally political) plot 29 content, ^

Gerd Eckert hailed a broadcast of this type, Ottoheinz

Jahn's Funkkantate called "Flug zum Niederwald," as the "high- 30 point in the radio play's development since 1933» This cantata, first broadcast by Deutschlandsender on the evening of Hitler's birthday on April 19» 1936, is particularly inter esting because it shows the influence on the Nazi radio play of a person certainly not associated with the fascists,

Bertolt Brecht. "Flug zum Niederwald" is a blatant corrup tion of Brecht's didactic radio play for boys and girls: "Flug der Lindberghs" ( 1 9 2 0 Jahn apparently had no compunctions in basing the form of his commemoration of Hitler*9s marathon speaking tour from the Tannenberg memorial to Niederwald on a work written by a notorious Volksverrater. (Which shows just how much flexibility there was in the eclectic nature of Nazi art!) Eckert's comparison of Jahn's work with "Flug der

Lindberghs" reveals (not -unsurprisingly) that the "improve ments" made upon the original go counter to Brecht's aims:

. , , Jahn gibt einem aus dem Alltag und seinen Notwen- digkeiten herauswachsenden Stoff die Tiefe des Symbols, Brecht arbeitete mit artistisch aufgebauten Songs, , , , Jahn fiber hb'ht die Geschehnisse in einer hymnischen 77 Sprache und ISflt aus dem Flug die ewigen Dinge Gestalt gewinnen. Bei Brecht entsteht ein beinahe kindlicher Dia log zwischen 'Charly' (sic3 ^ den bedrSngenden Na- turgewalten. Aus Jahns Kantate klingt in den Stimmen der Landschaft und der Wetterm&chte ein ewiger Mythos auf - es ist kein ZwischengesprSch, sondern das unauf- hb’rliche Widerspiel zwischen Mensch und Natur, das der Horer erlebt. . . .32

Jahn's symbolic description of Hitler's plane in the heavens is a clear example of the new myth he wished to create:

Ein Kreuz, an die Wolken gelehnt9 in schimmernden Blitzen verlorens so stttrzt du aus Himmelsemporen [sic-], und die grofle Windorgel drohnt. Schon beugen im Gewitter vor seinem Hohen Thron die Wolken sich wie Mtttter zum ungebetenen Sohn033

The works by party writers such as Jahn and Euringer set

the trends in Nazi broadcasting which are evident in several aspects of Eich's writing from this periodo It is not fortu

itous that under Nazism he wrote his only radio cantata and

employed massed voices more than he did in later plays. Nor were Eich's treatments of heroic figures, which will be dis

cussed in detail in the following chapters, without precedent

in Nazi works. However, it can be said on Eich's behalf that

the survey of all scheduled broadcasting in the Third Reich proves that he never went so far as to glorify Adolf Hitler

or National Socialism as do the examples above. It was not necessary for him to do so in order to remain an active wri

ter in these years. As it was, the Nazi radio policy operated on a broad basis that could accommodate the works of a Hanns

Johst or a Richard Euringer as well as the more than 150 sepa rate broadcasts Eich produced during the Third Reich. An 78 overview of this policy can explain how Eich's works, too, were able to serve Goebbels* purposes, though in a more subtle way than works such as "Nacht der Toten." And Hay’s claim that the "non-political" radio plays by Eich and others were

"political" simply because the regime permitted them to be broadcast will also become clears

Die Autoren des Horchpostens und des Deutschen Kalen- ders schrieben keine Propaganda - und ihre BeitrSge waren mehr als Unterhaltung; und doch erwiesen sich die Texte, ganz unabhSngig von ihrer literarischen Qualit&t, im unfreien Freiraum der Diktatur als politisch, wie alles, was mit Billigung gesendet wurde®3^

During the Third Reich propagandists gradually increased the strength of German radio signals in a campaign to expand the medium's internal and external reception®-^ Part of this campaign included the radio's "democratization," as one of

National Socialism's first consumer products was a simple, mass-produced radio receiver whose relatively low price of

76 Reichsmark was aimed at making it possible for millions of

Germans on small budgets to own a set. This was the so-called

Volksemofanger-301» whose number commemorated Hitler's take over on January 30, 1933» Between 1933 and 1935 alone, over

1.3 million units were produced, and this contributed to a national increase in listener numbers from ^,300,000 in 1932 to 6,700,000 as of May 1935 The development of cheaper receivers continued until the outbreak of war changed produc tion priorities® In 1937 an improved version of the VE-301 came on the market, the VE-301 Dyn for 65 RM, and in 1938 the

Deutscher Kleinempfanger (DKE) was developed® The latter was 79 a set for 35 RM appropriate for areas of high radio station concentration. To guarantee that even people who could not afford these low prices would be able to acquire a radio, all of the above receivers were for sale on a monthly install- 37 ment plan with very modest interest rates.

Hitler's regime had several motives for the Yolksempfsin- ger-project, the most ostensible of which was that making a radio available to the humblest of German households would be a concrete sign of the "new prosperity" that was supposed to have come with Nazism. (The other dream of the "Volks wagen" was never fully realized.) The radio was viewed as a means to brighten up the life of the average German worker; and as stated in Goebbels’ programming policy, the popula tion's desire for entertainment and distraction was to be given serious considerations

Das Programm des Rundfunks mufi so gestaltet werden, dafl es den verwohnteren Geschmack noch interessiert und dem anspruchslosen noch gefallig und verstandlich erscheinto . . . Dabei soil besonderer Bedacht gerade auf die Ent- spannung und Unterhaltung gelegt werden, weil die weit- aus (iberwiegende Mehrzahl aller Rundfunkteilnehmner meistens vom Leben sehr hart und unerbittlich angefafit wird, in einem nerven- und kraftverzehrenden Tageskampf steht und Anspruch darauf hat, in den wenigen Ruhe- und MuBestunden auch wirkliche Entspannung und Erholung zu finden.3°

In view of this aim to appeal to the largest possible group of listeners, it is not surprising that light entertain ment in the form of dance, folk, and march music took up over half the broadcasting hours in the early years of the Third 39 Reich. As the need to distract the people increased during 80

the war, the percentage of music in the program rose propor

tionally.^0 When it came to "broadcast material of a less

universal appeal than music, such as the radio play, writers were expected to cater to the tastes of the largest listener

group, the unsophisticated masses for whom the radio played

a prominent role in leisure-time activities. That is, the

new trend was characterized by anti-intellectualism and anti

elitism. ' Plebian entertainment and popular "enlightenment" were given priority over the more cultured interests of the middle and upper classes. According to the director of Nazi

Germany’s model radio station Deutschlandsender, Goetz Otto

Stoffregen, these were the programming principles!

Was der Kommerzienrat in seiner Villa wfinscht, ist mir ziemlich nebensSchlich; denn er hat ein Auto mit dessen Hilfe er sich in die Philharmonie bewegen kann, um sich fttr zehn Mark eine Konzertkarte zu erstehen, falls er im Rundfunkprogramm keine Befriedigung findet. Wichtig hin- gegen ist mir der Wunschzettel des Mannes von der Strafie, des Laubenkolonisten, des kleinen Bflroanges tell ten, des Arbeiters, des Bauern und nicht zuletzt der Erwerbslosen, deren einzige unter allmonatlichen Opfern neu erkaufte Unterhaltungsmoglichkeit der Rundfunk bildet. Von diesen Volksgenossen gibt es Millionen - KommerzienrSte gibt es nur Tausend. Man mufl eben den Mut zum Einfachen haben, auch auf die Gefahr, dafi es dem Intellektuellen mifi- faiit.^i One can attribute the banality of the great majority of radio plays, especially the Deutschlandsender broadcasts, directly

to these principles, since there was little room in such a policy for esoteric, artistic works suited to the tastes of

the literary critic. Stoffregen states elsewhere in plain language s 81

Ich bek&mpfe . , . auf das entschiedenste alle Experi ments, die den fttr das Volk im besten Sinne des Wortes hestimmten Rundfunk mit einer Ssthetischen Anstalt ver- wechseln, die der Genufisucht von kttnstlerischen Snobs Befriedigung gewShren s o i l.^2

Radio play writing was thus supposed to be aimed at the A 3 "man on the street" and the rural citizen. For these peo ple the radio was practically the sole access to German cul tures their theater, library and concerthall all in one— the

"theater of the hundred thousands, as it was put. And m its capacity as cultural vehicle the radio play served a pur pose in the Nazis' campaign of popular "enlightenment0"

Aside from the more blatantly propagandists works such as

"Deutsche Passion 1933," the "Stunde der Nation" included another category of broadcasts with more subtle political purposes. These works were generally didactic pieces glori fying aspects of "Germanic" culture and history. There are some familiar names among the authors of such broadcasts s

"Der Fischerzug, Netzwurf in Meeren, Mythen und BrSucheni ein naturkundlicher und volkskundlicher Aufrifi" by Jttrgen Egge- brecht (June 12, 1933; originating in Berlin); "Eichendorffs ein deutscher Dichter aus Schlesien" by Hermann Gaupp (July

31, 1933; originating in Breslau); "Wilhelm Busch," a Hor- folge by Heinz Schwitzke (Deutschlandsender; September 29,

1933); and finally Gttnter Eich, S. Graff and A. Hinrich's

"Ich traumt® in seinem Schatten," scenes from German folk songs (Deutschlandsender; February 6, 193^)° While broad casts of this type did not stand out in the program as did 82 the more fanatic pieces, they in fact comprised the majority of all radio plays broadcast during the Third Reich.

Goebbels and his men in charge of the Nazi radio were, of course, not interested solely in entertaining the German people. There were ulterior motives behind the Yolksempfanger- project which reflected the Nazis' cunning as propagandists.

On the one hand, the production of cheap receivers insured a wide distribution of radio sets and greater listener numbers

--and this was certainly what the regime emphasized in public statements. On the other hand, this project was also designed to eliminate shortwave reception in the Reich, since the sim ply-constructed VolksempfSnger could only receive long and 45 middle-wave transmissions. Thus much of Germany's popula tion would have limited access to foreign broadcasts and be dependent on Nazi radio for their information.

Having increased the size of the radio audience with the help of abundant receivers, Goebbels realized that German lis teners still had to be made receptive to propaganda. And here, in its capacity to entertain, the radio play served as part of the Nazi propaganda machinery. Mindful of the axiom docere et delectare, Goebbels perceived that non-political, entertaining broadcasts were just as important as political ones, since the former broadcasts were what would encourage

Germans to form the habit of radio listening:

Man wird dabei berttcksichtigen rndssen, dafi politische Sendungen immer nur einen kleinen Teil der Sendezeit beanspruchen, dafl sie ihren Wert aber erst durch das Vor- handensein unterhaltender und kUnstlerischer Sendungen gewinnen, weil diese die H&’rer an den EmpfSnger ftthren.^6 83

Entertaining broadcasts, then, were looked upon as "bait" that would lure more people to the radio and thereby expose them to political indoctrination. This is apparently the

"purpose" which Eckert found behind every radio broadcast, regardless of its form, content or artistic merit:

Manche Sendungen werden mehrere Absichten gemeinsam verfolgen. Aber schon die Tatsache, dafl eine Sendung erfolgt, lafit einen dahinterliegenden Zweck erkennen. Wir wollen hier auch den Begriff der Kunst nicht vergessen. SelbstverstSndlich besteht ein erheblicher Teil der Rundfunksendungen aus ktlnstlerischen Darbie- tungen. Aber das bedeutet nicht, dafi sie ohne Zweck, ohne Absicht w§ren.^7

The plays Eich wrote for children and adolescents in the years 1933 to 1935 provide a good example of how the lis tening audience could be led to hear political programs. In the usual time slot for the generally didactic but basically entertaining works by Eich and others, broadcasts of a more indoctrinating nature appear now and then such as: "Jugend- stunde: Korvettenkapitan a. D„ Lietzmann erzahlt der Jugend seine Erlebnisse in der Skagerrakschlacht" (Deutschlandsender;

May 31» 1933), "Ziele und Wege des BDM in Ostpreuflen" (Ko'nigs- berg; April 8, 193^)$ and "Hitlerjugend an der Arbeit"

(Deutschlandsender; February 5» 1935)• There is also evi dence that scheduled programs were "pre-empted" by political broadcasts which were guaranteed a large listening audience because they took the place of popular series during radio’s /lO "prime time," weekdays from 8 to 10 p.m. 84

"Non-political" radio plays could also serve in the external propaganda campaign in which German language broad casts were used by the Nazis to establish contact with the

German minorities beyond the borders of the Reich, the so- called Volksdeutsche living in the Sudetenland, the areas settled by the Teutonic Order, and in the West. A statisti cal study of all types of broadcasts from border stations to these minorities indicates that the portion of the total pro gramming taken up by literary programs, radio plays, and se quels increased from 183 out of a combined total of 440 broad casts in 1934/35 to 309 out of a combined total of 755 in

1935/36. Musical broadcasts, in contrast, increased only 49 from 138 to 191 of the total broadcasts in this same period.

The director of the Breslau transmitting station and later president of the Reichsrundfunkkammer, Hans Kriegler, explains why the radio play was more important than music to the Ger man settlements in the Easts

. . ..p/jer Reichssender Breslau [hatj immer eine besondere Vorliebe fttr das gehaltvolle, dichterische Horspiel gehabt. Diese Vorliebe ist nicht etwa aus dem Wunsch heraus entstanden, im groflen Chor der deutschen Reichs sender durch eine besonders geartete Klangfarbe aufzu- falien, s o n d e m geographische Lage und Einflufibereich haben die Bevorzugung von Wortsendungen, und vornehmlich von Horspielen, gerade beim Reichssender Breslau bedingt. Auf seinen Wellen wurden die Sendungen bis zu den letzten Siedlerdorfem im Osten und Sttdostens Europas aus- gestrahlt, zu den deutschen Volksgenossen in Mahren, Bohmen, in den Zips, im Banat, in der Gotschee, in Sie- benbttrgern, in der Ukraine, in Galizien und Wolhynien. . . . Es war zunSchst nicht so sehr der Inhalt der Wort- sendung, der sie fesselte, als vielmehr der Klang, das Gefithls der Sprecher, der diese Worte spricht, steht drttben jenseits der Grenzen in unserer grofien Heimat: Deutschland!-5° 85 Given the ways in which the radio play could serve both

Germany's internal and external politics, it is surprising that— apparently— the genre's percentage of the total broad casting time declined steadily during the Third Reich. This is indicated in a table compiled by Eckert, which gives the 5l radio play's percentage in programming as follows:

1925 2.5# 1930 2.2# 1935 1.5# 1926 2.3# 1931 2.1# 1936 1. 3# 1927 2.1# 1932 2.0# 1937 1.2# 1928 2; 2# 1933 2.2# 1938 0.9# 1929 1.9# 193^ 2.0# 1939 0 .7#

The decline from 1933 to 1939 has been used to substantiate

5 9 claims that the Nazis "stifled" the radio play. However, before giving too much significance to Eckert's table, we must consider several factors which are unrelated but never theless did affect the percentage of air time taken up by the Horspielo Eckert's statistics cover a period of great change. Not only was there an expansion of the transmitting capacity of Germany's internal stations, but the return of the Saarland in 1935 and the annexation of Austria and the

Sudetenland in 1938 also meant an important expansion of the

"greater German" radio system. Major transmitting stations

(the new Reichssender: Saarbrttcken, Vienna, and Graz) and medium stations (Bregenz, Innsbruck, Linz, and Salzburg) were added to the network.The consequent increase in broad casting hours coupled with the absence of a proportional growth in radio play production (the important radio play centers still remained Berlin, Leipzig, Breslau, Munich and

Hamburg in that order), led necessarily to a decrease in the 86 radio play's percentage in the total programming. Although there is no denying that the genre suffered a decline in quantity and quality during the Third Reich, these factors indicate that it is difficult, if not impossible, to deter mine with statistics the exact extent of the genre's drop in programming. They leave the possibility open that the decline 54 was not so drastic as has been claimed,

Pohle theorizes that the radio play's diminishing pre sence in programming between 1935 and 1939 was due to a shift from blatantly political to more artistic and entertaining plays with broader audience appeal. Whereas there were enough

Party devotees capable of turning out the ideological mate rial for the highlights of the Nazi calendar (January 30»

April 20, November 9* etc,), Hitler's Germany did not have at its disposal the talent to create in any quantity entertain ing radio dramas with a propagandists undertoneIt should be remembered that the wave of emigres in 1933 and

1934 contained many of the established radio writers, Fehse recounts the fate of the "Kreis der ZwSlf," a group of radio play innovators during the Weimar era whom the Nazis barred from the radio one after the other for political, religious and racist motives, ^ Writers like Eich, whose background was "untainted," were clearly in the minority, and the fact that his radio play production peaked between 1937 and 1939 lends support to Pohle®s theory of an increased demand for less fanatic broadcast material after 1935, As late as 1938-39 there were concrete signs of a cam paign to increase radio play productivity and to attract new writers to the genre. This was the purpose of Hans Kriegler's

Das Horsnielbuch (1938), a collection of plays with commen taries which intended to demonstrate to new writers the genre*s great versatility. That Kriegler, a member of the

NSDAP®s "Old Guard" and in the late thirties head of the CJQ Reichsrundfunkkammer, compiled such a book helps to dispel any notion that Nazis deliberately sought to stifle the radio play. It is also significant to note that among the seven plays published in the anthology— which include an historical piece, comedies, and a fairy tale— only two present pronounced political messages! Roland E. Strunk®s "Alcazar," a dramati zation of the Spanish fascists® stand against a socialist siege, and Leonhard Hora®s radio ballad "Bergmann und Bauer."

In the book Kriegler also recommended an improved royalty system for radio plays, whereby writers would receive fixed 59 residuals for all rebroadcasts of their works. Plans for . such a system were seconded at the time by Reichsrundfunkin- tendant Dr. Glasmeier, who believed that the lack of uniform ity in the amounts stations paid for radio plays was keeping away many potential authors.^0

Eckert, too, expressed concern about the worsening state of the radio play and the need to appeal to new wri ters s '

Yon der Losung dieses Problems wird es abhangen, in welchem Mafi' der Rundfunk neue KrSfte fttr das Ho'rspiel zu gewinnen vermag. . , . Es mufi den Dichtern und 88 .

Schriftstellem immer wieder verdeutlicht werden, welche einzigartigen Einwirkungsmbglichkeiten das Hb'rspiel in ktfnstlerischer und politischer Hinsicht bietet, um sie fttr die neue Form zu gewinnen,6l

For Eckert the genre was of particular importance, since he was convinced that it was one of the most important forms in 6 2 which radio could serve political leadership. He came to this conclusion on the basis of the findings of a listener survey conducted in the summer of 1939 "by the radio journal

Deutsche Radio-Illustrierteo Listeners were asked to choose their favorite program type(s) from a list of seventeen choices. An eighteenth slot was left open for special wishes,^

To the surprise of many, the radio play made a very strong showing in the overall ratingss it was among the top 33$ of favorite programs,^ And a breakdown of the listeners® pro gramming tastes according to their occupations showed that radio dramas appealed to one out of every two listeners.

Among fourteen professional categories ranging from manual laborer to merchant, the rating remained fairly constant.

Popularity fluctuated from a high of 61,3$ with housewives to a low of ^0.2$ with servicemen and members of the compulsory labor service (Reichsarbeitsdienst), ^ The average preference for the Horsniel in all professions came within hundredths of a percent of exactly 50$, Such broad appeal was sure to im press propagandists, for within the ten most frequently chosen program types, which were almost all musical, the radio play lent itself particularly well to the manipulation of public opinion. Those categories presenting the Nazis' distorted 89 view of news and current events, the Aktuelle Kurzberichte and Gestaltete Horberichte, were chosen less than half as often as the radio play.

The preparations for war brought forth a series of H6‘r- spiele that corresponded to Eckert's concept of "political leadership," "Der Krieg im Dunkeln" was a series broadcast from Berlin depicting the fate of individuals caught spying against the Reichs Karl Unselt's "Ein tapferer Junge" (April

26, 1939), Alfred Prugel's "Der Schleusenmeister" (May 17,

1939)j and Werner E, Hintz4 "Bei der Baumblttte in Werder"

(May 3, 1939), "Saboteure" (May 10, 1939) and "Die Sache mit

Bertram" (May.24, 1939)= The plots, which include the tale of a son who has the "courage" to denounce his traitorous father and brother (."Ein tapferer Junge"), usually end with the execution of the convicted spies and saboteurs. As the following commentary states, the broadcasts" propagandists purpose was made perfectly clear— Germany meant business with its "traitors":

Immer wieder finden wir an den LitfaflsSulen und in den Zeitungen Mitteilungen ttber die Hinrichtung von Landes- verr&tern. . . , Spione, VerrSter und Saboteure sind die gemeinsten Verbrecher, die die Welt kennt. Fttr sie gibt es nur eine Belohnung, und das ist die Todesstrafel Das ist der Sinn der H6*rspiele, die der Reichssender Berlin bringt.66

As could be expected, the outbreak of war on September 1,

1939 completely upset radio programming. The system went through four stages reflecting major war developments. For the first weeks, bulletins with the latest reports from the front in languages of countries hostile and friendly to the Reich took up most of the broadcast timea Several major stations were restricted to daytime broadcasting, and even at this early stage there is mention of radio black-outs to keep enemy pilots from using German broadcasts to gain a bear-

Z 'n ing on their targets. Programming in general was cut back, and regional stations resorted to re-transmitting the Deutsch landsender program. Many regular broadcasts for the Berlin area— including Eich’s Der MSrkische Kalendermann series— were eliminated when the Berlin station was consolidated with

Deutschlandsender after September 2^, 1939» These circum stances contributed to an initial setback for the radio play, but its return on the program was promised; and following the close of the Polish Blitzkrieg there was a resurgence of broadcasts. Although fewer in number than during the 1936-

1938 period, new Horsniele, rebroadcasts of some old ones, and fairy tale adaptations appeared in the program.

Propaganda radio plays in particular were prevalent during the first months of the war. A most prominent example was the series of three works by Hans Rehberg "Suez, Faschoda,

Kapstadt," which were broadcast by Deutschlandsender respec tively on October 6 , 13 and 27 in 1939* (During the Western

Offensive they were later rebroadcast in French from Stutt- 69 gart.) Rehberg’s plays treat episodes from the nineteenth century that were sure to strike a sour note in the relation ship between the French and English allies. "Suez" drama tizes France’s humiliation, when the French were forced by

British diplomatic chicanery and military threats to give up control of the Suez Canal, which they had just completed,

"Faschoda" treats the showdown in the Sudan, where a British

military force was deployed to make a French expedition re

nounce its rightful claims to a strategic land area0 "Kap-

stadt" depicts the atrocities committed against the Boers,

whose wives and children were imprisoned in British concen

tration camps while France and the rest of the outraged inter

national community were helpless to protest. In all three

episodes Rehberg stresses that France had ignored the possi

bility of a pact with Bismarck which would have guaranteed

the necessary military backing' to face up to England8s "af-

• fronts."

Rehberg9s works were the first in a series of propagan

dists radio plays which aimed at the isolation of Great Bri

tain from the other allies. "Exposes" of the darker side of

British imperialism became a regular program feature. They

had an international scope of themes ranging from Rudolf

Brunngraber's "Opium," a treatment of Britain9s opium traf

ficking in China between 1839 and 1842 (Deutschlandsender;

December 21, 1939), to Dr, E. Maxi9s "Deutsche im Kampf gegen

England urn Nordamerikas Freiheit" (Breslau; April 26, 1940),

Peter Huchel9s "Die Greuel von Denshawai" (Danzig; January 23»

1940),^° A. Artur Kuhnert9s "Erika, ganz grofi!" (Deutschland

sender; February 14, 1940) and "Die Mission des Dr0 Mackenzie" 71 Deutschlandsender; April 2, 1940), and last but not least,

Gtinter Eich9 s "Rebellion in der Goldstadt" (Deutschlandsender;

May 8, 1940) all indicate that these former members of the 92 allegedly "apolitical" "Kolonne" group were willing to apply 72 their talents in a propaganda campaign.,

The escalation of the Western Offensive in the spring of 19^0 ended this brief resurgence as well as the overall variety of broadcasting offered by the individual stations.

Starting June 9« 19^0, all radio programming for the Third

Reich was consolidated into a single listing of Reichssendun- gen consisting almost exclusively of musical broadcasts inter spersed with news bulletinso Civilian listeners were called upon to sacrifice their "peacetime radio" for the duration of 73 the war.Great emphasis was placed on the radio’s task to provide entertainment for the soldiers along the Westwall; and if we recall the 1939 survey cited above, it should not be surprising to note that the radio play was not included in the entertainment. The genre had had the least appeal for soldiers and RAD-members (who were involved in the construc tion of the fortifications).

In late October of 19^0 the program situation was relax ed slightly, and minor deviations from the master program were instituted by individual stations. But save for some isolated Hb'rfolgen. no radio plays appeared in the listings.

Instead one finds that the entire air time is taken up by news bulletins, front reports and musical broadcasts such as the military Wunschkonzert. This was offered until the ap parent end of scheduled programming, which was indicated by the discontinuation of the publication of all German radio magazines after the twenty-second week of 19^1 (May 25-30). 93

The absence of even rebroadcasts of recorded radio plays after the spring of 1940 indicates that there was a deliber ate change in programming policy. The nature of this change is made clear in the notes of Goebbels9 ministerial confer ences from the period. They show that he did not share the opinion of radio play enthusiasts such as Eckert and Kriegler, but had strong misgivings about the genre8s effectiveness in a propaganda campaign— though as we saw above, this had not affected the genre for the previous eight years. Now, how ever, at the time the radio play was being used in the cam paign against England, Goebbels is reported to have reacted as follows on March 18, 1940:

Herr Hadamovsky (then the head of the radio system]] soil darauf achten, dafi die Horspiele mehr zurttckgedrSngt werden. Der Minister benutzt das Beispiel einer Reportage ■fiber den “Tag der Wehrmacht,8 urn klarzumachen, dafl sach- liche Darstellung nicht durch falsche Schauspieler- Hysterie ersetzt werden kann,75

Goebbels also had other reasons for wanting to change things at this stage in the war. As Boelcke reports, he was faced with the embarassing situation that despite a ban on listening to foreign broadcasts many servicemen, in particu lar pilots returning from bombing raids over England, were tuning into the BBC because of the "schmissige Musik" it of-

r p fered. As a consequence, Goebbels issued this directive on May 21, 1941: "... von heute ab soil im Rundfunk nach

20.15 Uhr nur noch leichte Unterhaltungsmusik gesendet werden.",'7,':7 Later, on June 15, he defended this programming change as the result of the radio8s increased orientation to 9k the tastes of the men in service. Listeners were told that the "sacrifice" of diversified programming would only be temporary, until Germany had won the wari

Wir werden nicht in den Geruch kommen, dem Hochstand der deutschen Musikkultur irgendwie Abbruch tun zu wollen. Auch wir wissen ein ernstes Konzert oder gar eine grofie Oper zu schatzen. Dafi wir sie im Kriege aus Mangel an Zeit, Ruhe und Mu/3e entbehren mtissen, ist auch fftr uns ein Verzicht. Nach dem Kriege soil wieder beides, Ernst und Tiefe und Entspannung und Unterhaltung in ausreichen- dem MaOe im deutschen Rundfunk zu Worte k o m m e n .78

Goebbels' directives brought about the demise of the radio play in the Third Reich. After the spring of 19^0 the genre was for all intents and purposes non-existent in the program, and the only broadcasts resembling radio plays were some five- to ten-minute political Hffrszenen by Rudolf

Stache. It was reported that broadcasts of this type were transmitted by German occupation forces from Norwegian, Czech 79 and Yugoslavian stations. ' In addition, a collection was published by Stache, Rothstein & Co. (Filiale London); Sati- rische Horszenen aus dem Deutschen Rundfunk urn Agitatoren und

Borsen.iobber (Erfurt; U„ Bodung, 19^3)® Stache9 s scenes were viciously anti-Semitic and anti-English "exposes" of alleged deception by British officials and by Andras Rothstein, the

Jewish representative of the Soviet Tass News Agency.

The fact that the radio play ceased to be part of Nazi radio programming after the spring of 19^-0 has important im*- plications for the study of Eich's pre-19^-5 writing. The end of the genre's presence on the radio coincided exactly with

Eich's last broadcast, "Rebellion in der Goldstadt." Thus any claim, such as WWrffel's, that Eich made a late decision to deny Nazi propagandists the use of his talents does not 80 hold up.. On the contrary, it is evident that Eich managed to "adjust" his radio texts to the tendencies in the Third

Reich -until the last possible moment. NOTES TO CHAPTER IV

A Cf. Heinz Schwitzke, Das Hors-piel: Dramaturgie und Geschichte (Cologne & Berlin: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1963)* o . es ist immer viel zu wenig bekannt, daB es ein nazi- stisches Horspiel nicht gab und wohl auch nicht geben konnte, daB es ein komnunistisches nicht gibt" (p„ 107)» Schwitzke arrives at this conclusion by using his own definition of the radio play as an artwork that is oriented to the indivi dual and not to the collective. What he does not mention is that the individual-oriented radio play, too, could be used effectively for political propaganda— see below, 2 Joseph Wulf, ed. Presse und Funk im Dritten Reich: Eine Dokumentation (Gfttersloh: Sigbert Mohn, 1964), pp. 290 and 300.

^ Heinz Pohle, Der Rundfunk als Instrument der Politik: Zur Geschichte des deutschen Rundfunks von 1923/38 (Hamburg: Verlag Hans-Bredow-Institut, 1955)? makes note ofthe 1930 general election in Germany, where all major parties were given the opportunity to make one radio broadcast. The NSDAP and the KPD were excluded due to their "anti-constitutional" platforms (pp. 98-99) <> The RRG institutionalized this apoli tical policy in its 1932 guidelines, as documented in: E. Kurt Fischer, Dokumente zur Geschichte des deutschen Rund funks und Fernsehens (Gottingen: Musterschmitt, 1957) * Der Rundfunk dient keiner Partei. Politische Gegen- stande sind sachlich zu behandeln. Werbung fttr Par- teien und Bekairrofung von Parteien sind nicht zugelassen. Bestrebungen, die den Bestand des Staates gefShrden konnen, sind vom Rundfunk ausgeschlossen (pp. 85-86).

^ Fischer, p. 255.

Pohle, p. 181,

^ Joseph Goebbels, Reden: Band I 1932-1939. ed0 Helmut Heiber (Dtisseldorf: Droste Verlagl 1971), pp. 82-83° 7 Goebbels-Reden, p. 93® 8 Goebbels-Reden, pp. 86 and 98.

96 9 Cf. Gerd Eckert, "Berechtigungsnachweis des Hbrspiels, Die Literatur. 40 (1937/38), 234. This claim is supported by the statistics cited on page 85 below, which show a slight in crease {2t 2»2%) in the percentage of broadcasting taken up by the radio play.

Gerhard Hay, "Rundfunk und Hb'rspiel als 'Ftthrungs- mittel* des Nationalsozialismus," in Die Deutsche Literatur im Dritten Reich, p. 3^9«

^ Hay, pp. 370-71 <> 1 9 Hermann Pongs, Das Horspiel. Zeichen der Zeit 1 (Stuttgart: Frommanns Verlag, 1930), p« 48.

^ Richard Kolb, Horoskon des Horsuiels (Berlins Max Hesse Verlag, 1932), p. 32.

^ Kolb, pp. 5 5 - 5 7 o

15 Kolb, pp. 50-51o *1 & Gerd Fricke, "Das politische Hftrspiel," Die Sendung; Rundfunkwoche, 10, No. 51 (1933), 1110.

^ Hay, p. 3710 1 R Peter Hagen and Hans JfJrgen Nierentz, Wir bauen eine Stra(3e (Berlin; Paul Steegemann Verlag, 1933), pp« 5-7o 19 Ferdinand Eckhardt, "Grunds&tzliches zu einem H6‘r- spiel des Deutschlandsenders," Rufer und Horer, 3, No. 9 (1933), 423. 90 Cf. Margaret Plewnia, Auf dem Weg zu Hitler; Der "volkische" Publizist Dietrich Eckart (Bremen; Schttnemann UniversitStsverlag, 1970), pp. 81-82.

2^ Eckhardt, p. 425°

22 Eckhardt, p. 425«

2^ For a detailed interpretation of this work see Stefan Bodo Wttrffel, "Horspiel im Dritten Reich," in Kunst und Kul- tur im deutschen Faschismus, ed. Ralf Schnell (Stuttgart; Metzler, 1978), pp. 132-42.

o Ll Richard Euringer, Deutsche Passion 1933; Hbrwerk in sechs Satzen (Oldenburg; Gerhard Stalling, 1933), p° 16.

y One wonders whether the uncanny parallels to Johannes R. Becher's Der groBe Plan (1931) were coincidental. In Becher's epic poem, France's Unknown Soldier rises from his 98 tomb to proclaim the beginning of the class war to his fellow proletarians s Ich glaube, nicht falsch zu verstehen, Wenn ich sage, daf3 wieder ein Krieg im Gang ist Und daf3 der Unbekannte Soldat Dabei nicht fehlen darf. o e o o e Ich habe eine Botschaft zu bringen Meinen vielen Britdern. Moge die Botschaft, Die ich zu bringen habe, Aufgenommen werden Von alien, die es angeht, Da(3 sie darnach handeln. (J. R. Becher, Gesammelte Werke; Berlin & Weimar: Aufbau Ver lag, 1971; VIII, 263-64)0 p A Euringer, pp. 3^-35 =

27 Pohle, pp. 297-98o

27> Funke, p. 85o 29 7 Gerd Eckert, "Formen des H6‘rspiels," Die Literatur. ^0 (1937/38), 751.

70 Gerd Eckert, "Ein funkisches Kunstwerk," Das Deutsche Wort und die gro(3e Ubersicht, 12, No. 9 (1938), ^92.

7 ^ In 1950 Brecht changed the title to "Der Ozeanflug" and eliminated all references to Charles Lindbergh as a reac tion to this aviator's fascist sympathies and ties to the Hitler regime. However, since Brecht's work is being consi dered for its prewar influences, the original title will be used in this study.

7)2 "Ein funkisches Kunstwerk," p. ^92.

77 Evmari (pseud.), "Flug zum Niederwald," Die Sendung, 13, No. 16 (1938), ^55. There is a striking similarity be tween Jahn's verses and the opening of Leni Riefenstahl's film Triumph des Willens. which was released to the public in 1938. In the film, Hitler's plane "descends from the heavens" to bring him to the 193^ Nuremberg Party rally. Jahn could very well have been influenced by this scene.

7k Hay, p. 379=

77 Pohle, pp. 2^7-^-8. 99

3^ Joseph Goebbels, National-Sozialistischer Rundfunk (Munich: Eher, 1935), pp» 7-8.

37 Pohle, p. 257o oQ D Goebbels, "Rede zur ErSffnung der Rundfunkausstellung 1936," in: Pohle, pp. 281-82.

39 Pohle, p. 327.

Wulf cites a siirvey in Das Reich of November 12, 1944, which shows that music took up almost 70% of the total air time in a broadcasting week (p. 359)» h 1 Goetz Otto Stoffregen, "Wie kommt ein Programm zustande?" in Rundfunk im Aufbruch: Handbuch des deutschen Rund- funks 1934 mit Funkkalender (Baden: Verlag Moritz Schauenberg K. G. Lahr, 193*0 > PP« 112-13. h p Goetz Otto Stoffregen, "Rundfunk und Horer," Die Sen- dung. 10, No. 35 (1933)» 749° Despite such hardline atti tudes, Harald Braun's experimental radio play series "Der Horchposten" did manage to get on the Berlin airwaves from 1934 to 1938. The genre's status at the individual stations often varied with the personalities of the managers. For example, see the remarks by Hans Kriegler, the director of the Breslau station on pages 84 and 87 below.

^3 Radio play proponents often used the concept of a "return to the people" to support the genre. Opponents of increased radio play broadcasting were accused of being "in tellectual snobs" or "spoiled metropolitans." Cf. Gerd Eckert, "Berechtigungsnachweis des HSrspiels," p. 234. 44 Cf» "Das Theater der Hunderttausend," Die Sendung, 11, No. 6 (1934), 102.

This information was gained from an American intelli gence study of Nazi communications systems— Research and Anal ysis Branch, Office of Strategic Services, Army Service Forces Manual M 356-12 Civil Affairs Handbook Germany Section 12: Communications and Control of Public Opinion (Headquarters Army Service Forces~4 April 1944), pp. 36-37°

Goebbels, "Rede zur Eroffnung der 15* grofideutschen Rundfunkausstellung," in Gerhard (i.e., Gerd) Eckert, Der Rundfunk als Ftthrungsmittel (Heidelberg: Kurt Vowinckel, 1941), p. 179. 47 Fuhrungsmittel, p. 28. 100

^ Stoffregen, "Rundfunk und H'drer, " p. 749.

^ Pohle, p. 400.

Hans Kriegler, ed. with assistance from Kurt Paque, Das HSrsnielbuch (Breslau: Ostdeutsche Yerlagsanstalt, 1938), pp. 5-6.

Fffhrungsmittel, p. 134.

•^2 Cf. Krautkramer, p. 28.

The following information was gained from a map of the Third Reich's radio system: "Das Sender-Netz des Gro/3- deutschen Rundfunks," Eu'ropastunde. 11, No. 44 (1939), 12. Kh J Cf. for example the stark contrast between Schwitzke's statement: ", . . in den Jahren nach 1936/37 war das H6*rspiel in dem deutschen Rundfunkprogramm sowieso nicht mehr existent . . . ." (Das Horsniel. p. 107), and Eckert's more positive assessment of the radio play's situation in the same period: "Allabendlich ist heute Gelegenheit, mindestens ein HSrspiel an einem der Reichssender zu horen, und ohne Zweifel liegt das eigenschopferische kUnstlerische Gewicht des Rundfunks auf diesem Gebiete" ("Wo steht das Hdrspiel?" Die Literatur, 39, p-936/37], 298). Here we should not forget that Eckert compiled the above statistics.

^ Pohle, pp. 304-5.

Cf. Willi Pehse, "Zw6*lf, die den Rundfunk poetisieren wollten," Rufer und H6*rer. 5 (1951), 283-84. cn Das Horspielbuch, p. 9»

^ Wulf, p. 290. Die Sendung. 13, No. 52 (1936), has a photo of Kriegler in -uniform which clearly shows the golden party badge of honor that could be worn only by those Nazis who had joined the Party before 1930 or had been singled out for special honors (p. 1480).

Das Hors-pielbuch, p. 9»

^ Gerd Eckert, "Ho’rspielmanie und H6‘rspielpflege, " Die Literatur, 41 (1938/39), 495.

^ Fiihrungsmittel, p. 135 = & O Ftthrungsmittel, p. 136.

^ Filhrungsmittel, pp. 192-93. 101

^ Ftthrungsmittel, p. 195*

^ "Die Wttnsche der verschiedenen Berufsgruppen an das Rundfunkprogramm," in Ftthrungsmittel. n. pag. 66 Weh. (pseudo), "Der Krieg im Dunkeln," Die Sendung, 16, No. 20 (1939), 458.

^ Dr. Kurt Wagenftthr, "Deutscher Rundfunk als deutsche Waffe," Europastunde, 11, No. 38 (1939), 4. 68 Cf. "Das Ho'rspiel kommt wieder," Die Sendung. 16, No. 42 (1930), 873.

^ Ftihrungsmittel. p. 137, n. 118. Rehberg's trilogy was published in 1940 by S. Fischer in Berlin as Suez. Faschoda. Kapstadt.

While the plot of Huchel's broadcast is not given in the program listing, a subsequent radio play by R. Kurtz with the same title and the subtitle "Ein Gesprach mit Bernard Shaw" (Deutschlandsender; March 13, 1940) makes it clear that both works are based on an account by Shaw called "The Denshawai Horror," which was first published in his "Preface for Politicians" in the 1906 edition of John Bull8s Other Island. Shaw reports on an incident in Egypt, where British colonial forces overreacted to a minor scuffle with some pea sants. The incident ended with the execution of several Egyptians. Nazi propagandists exploited Shaw's criticism of British imperialism and went so far as to publish Shaw's Die Greuel von Denshawai s Und andere britische Greuel (Leipzig! Liihe & Co., 194o) as volume 7 in their "England ohne Maske" series. Not unsurprisingly, Huchel's broadcast is not listed in any postwar studies about him. As with Eich, Huchel's Nazi-era activities should be subjected to more thorough scru tiny. 71 ‘ The propagandistic content of Kuhnert's plays is not obvious from the titles. "Erika, ganz grofil" is a comedy about British diplomats, troops and gold speculators in Per sia. "Die Mission des Dr. Mackenzie" dramatized the alleged malpractice of a British doctor who was sent to treat the fu ture Kaiser, Crownprince Friedrich, for cancer of the larynx. Rather than curing the Crownprince, Mackenzie allegedly ag gravated his patient's condition and hastened his death. As a result, the Crownprince lived only long enough to reign for 99 days as Kaiser Friedrich III.

^ For the details of Eich’s plot see pages 58-59 above.

^ "Hier sind alle deutschen Sender!" Die Sendung. 17, No. 26 (1940), n. pag. 102

Data in Das deutsche Bttcherverzeichnis indicate that not only Die Sendung (Berlin), but also the Bayerischer Funk- Echo (Munich), Funk-Illustrierte fttr Sttddeutschland (Stutt- gart), and H&'r mit mir: Deutsche Funkzeitschrift (Bochum) all ceased publication with issue number 22 in 194l»

7^ Willi A. Boelcke, Kriegsnro-paganda 1939-1941: Geheime Ministerkonferenzen im Reichsoronagandaministerium (Stutt- gart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 19d6), p. 299*

"^Boelcke, p. 748„

77 Boelcke, p. 747.

7® Goebbels, "Der Rundfunk im Kriege," in his Die Zeit ohne Beisoiel (Munich: Eher, 1941), Pa 507a

7 ^ This is according to a Rundfunkkammer document from November 8, 1941, published in Hdrbtlrger, p 0 421 „ Rn This is the implication of Wtlrffel*s statement in his "Hb’rspiel im Dritten Reich": . . . Der totalen Manipulation im und durch den Rund funk konnte sich nur entziehen, wer sich konsequent der Mitarbeit verweigertea Als es Gtlnter Eich nach 1940 tat, war es indessen lSngst zu sp&t0 (p0 151) CHAPTER V

THE "ACCEPTABLE" ADAPTATIONS

The previous two chapters established the extent of

Eich’s writing for the Nazi radio and the context in which his works were produced and broadcast. In this chapter some of his works will be discussed in detail. We will start with the largest and most important category: Eich’s literary and historical adaptations. This category encompasses over half the broadcasts he wrote in the Nazi years and includes works in other genres, such as his stage version of Eichendorff's

"Die Glttcksritter. " This is also the category in which there are the fewest extant texts, and it is tempting to follow the route of previous Eich research which dismisses his rework ings of other people’s material as "routine" broadcast texts

(Auftragsarbeiten). To do so, however, would be to ignore that during the Third Reich these adaptations, together with the jointly-written Konigswusterh£Luser Landbote series, re ceived the most attention of all Eich’s broadcasts and earned him his reputation as a successful radio author. Even with the scant information that is available about most of them

(often only their titles and characters), it is still possi ble to view them within the context of Nazi cultural

103 104 politics, to note where Eich accommodated these politics, and to show where he deviated.

Eich's reasons for concentrating on adaptations under the

Nazis are clear enough, since such writing was particularly suitable for his situation. Adaptations required a minimum of creative effort on his part, making them quick and easy to produce. They were therefore the natural choice for an au thor such as Eich who never was a prolific writer and, at least at the onset of his radio career, was above all inter ested in turning out broadcast texts on a regular basis. One should also remember that the first two radio plays Eich wrote on his own, "Ein Traum am Edsin-gol" and "Die Liebenden von gestem," were not accepted for broadcasting. These early failures could very well have made Eich reluctant to use his own material, which like his lyrics from this period had on ly a limited appeal. He was more certain of a text’s chance for acceptance by a radio station and the listening audience if it were based on such popular material as the Mfinchhausen anecdotes or the story of Till Eulenspiegel, which he adapt ed in his first broadcasts during the Third Reich. Eich’s success with this tactic is indicated by the many rebroad casts and new performances of his adaptations (see page 61 above) and by their critical reviews. His earliest radio play to gain acclaim during the Nazi years was in fact a work of this type, his "Lustiges Lumpenpack," which he adapted 2 from material in Hebei’s Schatzkastlein. Perhaps the most important factor which motivated Eich to write adaptations rather than original radio plays, how ever, was the dangerous ideological atmosphere under the Nazi regime, which is often cited as the sole reason for Eich’s 3 "trivial" works. By choosing the correct pieces for adapta tion, he was able to avoid unnecessary friction with censors, and this made it easier for his friends in managerial posi- L tions to get the plays broadcast. Such precaution is evi dent in the type of literature Eich selected. Among the di verse works he treated, which range in German literature from

Till Eulenspiegel to Heinrich Wolfgang Seidel and in world literature from Boccaccio to Robert Louis Stevenson, there is very little that could be considered at all questionable."*

The overwhelming majority of the works chosen are conspicu ously unproblematic in nature; they do not deal with issues antagonistic to Nazi doctrine. From a censor’s point of view they are all "acceptable."

When Eich’s sources in German literature are viewed from the perspective of Nazi cultural politics, his selections appear to have been anything but arbitrary. He selected works by authors who were not merely "tolerated" due to their lack of political relevance, but who were actively exploited by proponents of ethnic/racial chauvinism. In Nazi literary histories, authors such as Eichendorff, Hamsun, Hauff, Hebei and Lons, all of whose works were used by Eich in this period, were depicted as model writers and as representatives of "Ger- £ manic traditions." Even Eich’s seemingly minor adaptations, 106

such as those of fairy tales or pieces from Des Knaben Wun-

derhorn. harmonized with the nationalistic tendencies foster

ed hy the Hitler regime„ The introduction "Das deutsche

Volksspiel" or the subtitle "Ein Spaziergang in einem deut

schen Volksbuch," both added by the Berlin station to Eich's

Till Eulenspiegel radio play, could make such adaptations part of Goebbels8 campaign to return the radio to the common peopleo Eich9s version of the Grimm fairy tale "Yom Fischer und seiner Frau" was in fact cited as an example of this cam paign's successa an observer describes in dramatic terms the

"spell" Eich9s work casts over the Sunday afternoon crowd in a village inn. The radio play's ability to captivate this audience is seen as proof of the effectiveness of programming oriented to the common people s

Auf die angegebene Weise geschah es, dalB der Laut- sprecher in der Wirtschaft eines Dorfes der Mark am letzten Sonntag vor alien GSsten plb'tzlich nicht mehr die unbeachtete Unterhaltungsmusik herunterleierte, sondern das deutsche Volksspiel des Berliner Senders ’Der Fischer und seine Frau9 ankttndigte. Es war das nieder- deutsche Grimmsche MSrchen 'Von dem Fischer un syner Fru,' das Gftnter Eich ftlr den Funk bearbeitet hatte. . . . Die Stimmung war unzerstSrbar und der Lautsprecher bezwang alien Widerstand. . . . das Bier wurde schal, der Kaffee kalt, die Kochin vergaB die Kttche, und was der- gleichen mehr ist, , . ° Der Rundfunk hat sich einmal als Volksrundfunk und das 'Publikum' als Volk bewiesen. Stimmung ist das, was der Rundfunk hier erreicht, ein aktives Mitgehen und eine Stellungnahme wie hier. DaB eine solche Gelegenheit ein Sonntag-Nachmittag in der Dorfschenke ist, bedeutet eine BewShrung des volkstttm- lichen Horers und des deutschen Kulturgutes.7

The degree to which the adaptations could be manipulated

to support political aims differed as much as the sources from which Eich drew his material. Therefore it is 107 unfortunate that we have no records or statements hy the au thor which explain how he made his selections. We cannot usually distinguish between works Eich was commissioned to adapt for a specific occasion (which is obvious in the

Hermann Lons memorial) and subject matter he chose on his own. However fine this distinction might seem in retrospect, it nevertheless would be a valuable indication of the lengths to which Eich went in order to produce "acceptable" broad casts for the Nazi radio. Any speculation at the present about his motives for choosing specific material is hindered by the great diversity of works he adapted in the Nazi years and by the fact that there are only three extant texts of his Q radio adaptations available for close scrutiny.

There have been attempts to demonstrate affinities be tween Eich's own writing and the sources he drew upon for his literary adaptations. But here one runs the risk of attri buting profound motives to selections which might have been made for banal reasons. For one thing, some works, such as

"Vom Fischer und seiner Frau" and Hauff's "Das kalte Herz," appear to have been chosen simply because they had already proved their effectiveness as radio adaptations: Eich was neither the first nor the last to write radio plays based on them.^

In the case of "Die geheimnisvolle Tttr" one can specu late that Eich chose Stevenson's "The Sire de Maletroit's

Door" not only because it fit in thematically with the other medieval stories of love in his "Rtthrende und tolldreiste 108

Geschichten um Liebe" (1938)» but also because Stevenson's narrative technique made this tale a proto-radio play* The tale's protagonist, the cavalier Denis de Beaulieu, is lost in a strange town in pitch darkness and therefore in the same situation as the listening audience sitting in a darkened 10 room. In his attempt to elude a rowdy patrol which he hears but cannot see, de Beaulieu blunders into the trick door set by the Sire de Mal£troit for another party. Trapped in a black void, de Beaulieu can only orient himself by ear

— just like the radio listener:

. . . The darkness began to weigh upon him. He gave ear; all was silence without, but within and close by he seemed to catch a faint sighing, a faint sobbing rustle, a little stealthy creak— as though many persons were at his side, holding themselves quite still, and governing even their respiration with the extreme of slyness.H

Even in the lit interior of Mal^troit's house where de

Beaulieu confronts the Sire and his niece Blanche, acoustical devices (the Sire's sinister chuckle and the clattering armor of his retainers) create dramatic atmosphere. Eich surely recognized that Stevenson's tale had great potential as a radio play; and as it turned out, his "Die geheimnisvolle

Tttr" was among his most successful broadcasts during the

Third Reich.^

There is, however, one work among Eich's "acceptable" adaptations which shows a clear affinity between his writing and the source material. This is his stage version of

Eichendorff' s "Die Gliicksritter, " where he alludes to a na ture motif that plays an important role in his own writing: 109 13 the theme of man's alienation from the natural realm.

Eich takes the following lines word for word from Eichendorff's novella where one of the protagonists, the student Suppius, meditates about the possibility of man's re-integration into nature's totality. Suppius sees night as a magical period when one can re-establish contact with the organic realms of existence via one's dreams

'. . , Der Schlaf probiert heimlich den Tod, und der Traum die Ewigkeit. Da hab ich immer meine sch6*nsten . . . Gedanken! . . . In der Nacht, wo Laub und Fleder- m£use und Igel und litis verworren miteinander flttstem . . . und der Mensch im Traume - ihre Sprache versteht,' (IV, 155)1^

In Eich's "Glttcksritter" these lines are foreshadowed in com ments which suggest the possibility that Suppius can commune with the other realm, that he is indeed part of it. From a distance, two women discuss Suppius® mysterious appearance:

Sinka: ®. . „ Ich sehe nur eine groGe LSwenmShne. Ich stelle mir vor, da.G ein Kerl dazu gehb'rt, der als Spa- zierstock einen jungen Eichbaum benutzt,® Cordelias 'Und ich stelle mir vor, dafi er aus dem Walde kommt und die Sprache der Tiere und der B&ume versteht. . . . Ja, es wird Zeit. . . . Da ist ttbrigens niemand mehr auf dem Balkon. Wahrscheinlich . . . gibt es den Mann gar nicht, der aus dem Wald gekommen ist und die Sprache der V6*gel versteht!® (IV, 137-38)

Significantly, Eich's addition makes specific mention of the "language of birds," for starting with his lyrics from

1933 on, the bird emerges as his favorite symbol for the realm of the Infinite, the totality of all things from which humans 13 have become alienated as a result of reflection. Human ali enation is a central theme in Eich's writing in all genres 110 16 from both the prewar and the postwar eras; and, as will be

shown in the following pages and in the next chapter, his

preoccupation with this concept helped him to conform to cer

tain aspects of the Nazi Blut-und-Boden ideology,, Figures

such as Suppius, who were depicted as intermediaries between

the human and natural realms, corresponded to this ideology’s

emphasis on the naive, "organic" lifestyle of the country

peasant.

Turning to the other group of Eich’s "acceptable" adapta

tions, his treatments of historical themes, one is faced with

the problem of having no extant texts and few clues as to the

specific sources that might have been used. Program notes

indicate that Eich’s creative role and the broadcasts® form varied considerably,, The earliest ones were didactic broad

casts for children, which are designated Horfolgen (serials, montages) or simply Zusammenstellungen (arrangements) and could have been narrations or minor dramatizations of ency clopedia-like entries. His treatments of the Balthasar

Neumann and Dr. Semmelweis biographies, on the other hand, were apparently full-fledged radio plays.

There is a significant contrast between the literary and historical adaptations in the matter of political relevance.

Whereas many of Eich’s literary adaptations were "acceptable" from the standpoint of Nazi ideology due to their noncontroversial material, his historical broadcasts addressed issues that were directly related to the political goals of Hitler’s regime. Eich’s historical themes— to the extent this is Ill apparent from his broadcasts' titles and characters— reflect the heroic and nationalistic tendencies in both films and radio dramas during the Third Reich„

Eich's first historical adaptation was a broadcast for young people entitled "In den Staub mit alien Feinden Branden burgs! Das Werk des Grofien Kurfttrsten," an arrangement of material about Friedrich Wilhelm of Brandenburg, the ruler who built Prussia into an economic and military power. That

Friedrich's victory against the Swedes at Fehrbellin was the major theme of Eich's piece is indicated both by the broad cast date of June 22, 1933 (the anniversary of Brandenburg's surprise attack in 1675) and by the use as title of the final line from Kleist's Prinz Friedrich von Homburg.

The "Great Elector's" accomplishments are also the issue in Rich's second historical broadcast, "Brandenburgs Adler ttber Afrikas GroBfriedrichsburg - des GroBen Kurfttrsten preuBische Kolonie." Fort GroBfriedrichsburg was established in 1683 on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) as part of Friedrich’s plan to gain Prussia's share of colonies. Eich's broadcast about such subject matter has several precedents, such as A.

Artur Kuhnert's "Aus deutschen Kolonien" (Berlin; May, 1933) and Hermann Schreiber's "Deutschland braucht Kolonien" (Bres lau; May 8, 1933)» which all reflect the general wave of na tionalism and expansionism that followed the Nazi victory and

Hitler's scrapping of the Versailles Treaty. "Brandenburgs

Adler tfber Afrika" is especially interesting, since its theme encompasses two aspects of the nostalgic trend in the Third 112

Reichi not only nostalgia about Germany®s lost colonies "but also nostalgia about Prussia's former greatness., The latter aspect was most visible in the series of so-called Fridericus films glorifying the reign of Frederick the Great, which in cluded such works as Der Choral von Leuthen (1933) s Der Alte und der Junge Konig (1935), and Fridericus (1936)°^

It is no coincidence that Eich's broadcasts should deal with the history of Mark Brandenburgo Born and raised in this part of Prussia, Eich later expressed deep ties to his homeland and to fellow Prussian authors Fontane and Kleist in the poem "Oder, mein Flufi" (II, ^33), which he read as the preface to a postwar radio play adaptation of Fontane®s Unterm

B i m b a u m „ In the prewar years his preoccupation with Branden burg's culture is most evident in the Mgrkischer Kalender- mann series which ran from 1937 to 1939 and which was dedi cated exclusively to stories, songs and poems about this re gion. While there are no extant texts from this series of broadcasts, we do have the entire text of a short story about

Mark Brandenburg, "Die Schattenschlacht" (1936). This work demonstrates that Eich had no qualms about glorifying Prus sian history in ■unambiguous manner during the Nazi years-

"Die Schattenschlacht" plays in the present and is set in the area where the Fehrbellin battle took place 250 years earlier. Herber, a Berlin factory owner, and his wife are passing through the region when their car breaks down. They have to stay overnight at the village blacksmith's, and here

Herber learns that this smith, who is repairing the car, owns a piece of land where plunder from the retreating Swedes is supposed to lie buried,. Aided by the smith's greedy wife,

Herber succeeds in convincing his host to go digging for trea sure that very evening. They do this despite a family taboo against disturbing the ground, which until then had been strictly enforced by the smith's brother Martin, a shepherd.

Martin warrants special attention, since in him Eich achieves a 'unique synthesis of his nature symbolism and Prus sian chauvinism. The idea of gaining wealth from the battle field is foreign to the hermit-like shepherd whose Blut-und-

Boden consciousness, which Eich expresses quite literally, instills him with the utmost reverence for the site of the historical struggles

o o , Ihm schien dieser Boden noch heute durchsickert von Blut, der Wind enthielt die Seufzer der Sterbenden, und der SchweiB der pfltigenden Bauern mischte sich mit dem von KSmpferno Er war in seinen meisten Stunden so fern dem Leben der Menschen, daB er es nicht begriff, wie man einen solchen Ort betreten konnte mit dem Ge- danken, Reichtum und billiges GlUck daraus zu ziehen, wie es sein Bruder sich trSumte.18

Eich associates Martin's intuitive awareness of the battle- field's sanctity with the ability to conduct a dialogue with the natural realm, as if the shepherd's respect for Prussia's glory derived from nature's signs. Eich's bird symbolism is also part of the enigmatic hieroglyphics of nature, which the shepherd alone can comprehend:

. . . Er wollte keine Hand nach dem Golde ausstrecken, was aber besa/3 er, was ihn auf andere Weise reich gemacht hStte? Was hatte er gegen den Glanz und die Buntheit der Welt eingetauscht? War es genug, daB er Freund mit alien Schatten und allem Vergangenen war? DaB ihm unter den 114

Hufen der Herde, zwischen den Halmen von Gras und Kraut, im Fluge der Vogel die drb'hnenden Stimmen wuchsen, die er allein h&'rte, und mit denen er Zwiesprache hielt? (p. 57) Despite these ties to the non-human realm, Martin is led astray by a momentary impulse to join the hopeful treasure hunters in their excavation,. The fruits of their efforts, however, are limited to a rusted saber grip taken from the common grave of a cavalryman whose bones lie in a heap with those of his horse, another allusion to a "re-integration" with nature, Oblivious to Martin's reverence for the battle field, Herber and the blacksmith begin haggling over the price of this "souveniro" Back in his shepherd's hut, Martin is unable to sleep with the knowledge of the "desecration" he has helped’to commit„ In this eerie November night he wan ders in a trance back to the grave and "re-experiences" the battleo Eich describes what amounts to a mystical revelation with a nationalistic fervor that is not found in any other of his extant works. Indeed the use of archaic forms (". . „ sein Herz voll ward von feuriger Lust") and the chorus cres cendo evoke a pathos reminiscent of Nazi choral pieces and

S.A. poetry:

. . „ Dem SchSfer war es gewi/3, da/3 die Schlacht noch ging, mitten durch seine Kammer und fiber das Feld, er selber stand im Getflmmel. „ „ . Die Nacht enthielt mancherlei Laute, es schienen auch klopfende Hufe und ge- d&mpfte Stimmen lebendig geworden, der Windmonat entliefi die Toten aus ihrer Haft, und der Schafer ging mitten unter sie und war einer von ihnen. . „ . und fib e rail be- gleitete ihn der Aufruhr der Schlacht, da/3 ihm das Blut brausend in den A d e m kreiste und sein Herz voll ward von feuriger Lust. Unversehens befand er sich wieder auf der Bo sc hung fiber dem Reitergrab. Eine schwere Schicht von Nebel lag noch fiber dem feuchteren Grund, 115

wo der Wind nicht hinlangte. Doch war es ihm, als stimm- te in diesem Augenblick die bewegte Luft das Siegeslied an, die Standarten stiegen und wehten kb’niglich, die Stimmen schwollen zum Chor und verhallten. . . . (ppo 59-60)

In order to reconcile himself with these spirits, Martin steals the saher grip 'from his brother®s house and returns it to the grave. Herber, who through some mysterious instinct follows Martin back to the site, is edified by the concilia tory gesture; and he now perceives that the sanctity of the soldier®s grave is the only rightful resting place for the battle relic.

As if the story’s exaggerated piety towards dead mili tary heroes is not enough, Eich also emphasizes the relevance of Prussia’s historic triumph for the future, thus placing the work in total conformity with nationalistic tendencies. He, too, has pride in Prussia’s past greatness, as he sums up

Herber’s experience:

Das sichtbare Andenken an diesen besonderen Tag - das in seinen HSnden ein Spielzeug war, dort aber im Grabe, wo es jetzt ruhte, von ehrfurchtgebietender Wtirde - so nahm er es also nicht mit, das er kindisch prahlend hStte herumzeigen konnen. Dennoch sollte mehr von die sen Stunden bleiben als nur rttckgewandte Erinnerung: Ein lebendiges Gedenken, heimlich nachwirkend in die zuktlnftige Zeit. (p. 61)

There is not a hint of irony in this serious tone to indicate that Eich sought to distance himself from the story’s pro foundly patriotic message.

To say the least, "Die Schattenschlacht" has important ramifications for the study of Eich’s prewar writing. If Eich wrote like this for Die Dame, a journal which managed to stay 116 relatively aloof from Nazism, what were his broadcasts like for the Berlin and Deutschlandsender stations, which were part of a radio system whose declared programming principle was to promote Nazi ideology? Eich’s nonextant historical broadcasts might very well have been blatant examples of his conformity to the Nazi doctrineB Moreover, the passages from

"Die Schattenschlacht" cited above lend strong support to the thesis of this study that there were affinities between Eich’s personal philosophy and aspects of Nazi ideology. If his theme of nature alienation can coalesce with obvious tenets of the Blut-und-Boden cult in this short story, it probably does so elsewhere too.

The influence of the prevailing ideological climate is also evident in "Der Tod an den H&nden" (1939)> a radio play which Eich based on the biography of the famous Hungarian physician Dr. Philipp Ignaz Semmelweis. The play came in the wake of other tributes to this scientist called "the Savior of Mothers," such as Anton Bretzner’s radio play "Semmelweis, der Retter der Mtttter" (Saarbrftcken; Jan. 19? 1937) and

Sftftenbach®s syndicated broadcast on Semmelweis® 120th birth day in 1938.^ Given Semmelweis® Germanic name and his con tribution to the welfare of mothers and newborn babies, it was logical enough that he was commemorated in the Third

Reich and made a hero in the Nazi "Mother-cult." His biogra phy was particularly appropriate for Nazi propagandists aims, because it conformed to the FUhrer-ideal of a self-sacrificing hero who solitarily pursues his just cause in the face of I\ I 117 20 stiff opposition and disbelief,, After making the connec

tion between an epidemic of fatal puerperal infections at his

obstetric clinic and the germs carried by doctors who had

dissected cadavers of previous victims of the disease,

Semmelweis became a pioneer in the use of antiseptic proce

dures. Despite a sharp drop in deaths following the imple

mentation of his methods, his theory was not immediately

adopted by his colleagues; on the contrary, their opposition

to his "fanatical" advocacy of disinfection drove him from

his position in Vienna., The wearying fight to gain acceptance

of his discovery eventually brought Semmelweis into an asylum,

where he died at the age of forty-seven. History, of course,

proved him to be right.

Although there is no text of "Der Tod an den Handen,"

the program listing indicates that Eich adhered to biographi

cal facts. His characters include Semmelweis’ mentor at the

University of Vienna, Professor Skoda, as well as Professor

Klein, the head of the clinic who, out of ignorance or jeal

ousy, persecuted Semmelweis. A further important figure in

the play is Dr. Kolletschka, the pathologist whose death from

working with infected cadavers led Semmelweis to his break

through. Eich’s treatment of the Semmelweis biography represents

a departure from earlier works dealing with more problematic

and open-ended stories about scientific research: those of the real-life figure of Mark Alfred Carleton in "Weizenkantate" 118

and of the fictitious Dr. George Purvis in "Radium," which

both will be discussed in detail in Chapter VII. This change

did not go unnoticed on the Nazi radio scenei "Weizenkantate"

was criticized for its inappropriate treatment of a self-

sacrificing hero, and "Radium" was ignored; but "Der Tod an

den Handen" was chosen as one of the runner-up pieces for the 21 radio play of the year in the 1939 competition.

By far the most significant radio play among Eich’s

"acceptable" adaptations is his last documented broadcast in

the Third Reich, "Rebellion in der Goldstadt" (Deutschland-

sender; May 8, 19^0). Surprisingly, this provocatively titled

work has not yet been examined in the detail it deserves.

Even Wtlrffel takes an oblique approach to the drama, although

his study of Eich attempts to reveal conformity to Nazi ideol

ogy in some of the early radio plays. Rather than utilizing

program information to reconstruct the plot or, for that mat

ter, to obtain the correct broadcast date, Wttrffel simply

cites a commentary in Westfunk (see page 59 above) as evi

dence that the play's anti-capitalist and anti-English thrust 22 left it open to propagandists exploitation. Wttrffel*s

implication is that Eich did not intend his radio play to

serve in any propaganda campaign.

The context in which "Rebellion in der Goldstadt" was

broadcast, however, strongly suggests that Eich was very

aware that he was writing propaganda. As stated in the pre

vious chapter (pages 90-92 above), the parallels between Eich's play and the wave of anti-English broadcasts between the fall 119

of 1939 and the spring of 19^0 are perfectly obvious and are

a likely indication that all these works were part of an or

ganized campaign.2-^ Like Huchel's and Kurtz' treatments of

Shaw's "The Denshawai Horror," "Rebellion in der Goldstadt"

is based on an actual historical event,, In Eich's play this

is the 1922 labor uprising in Witwatersrand, which was a par

ticularly bloody episode in English colonial (mis-)administra

tion, just as the Denshawai incident had been. From the list

of Eich's characters— which includes Prime Minister Smuts of

South Africa, the British principal shareholder in the gold

mines, an agent of the mineowners, and politicians— it can

be assumed that the radio play's central issue was the collu

sion between the colonial government and the capitalists,

which led to brutal suppression of the strike.

Knowing nothing more than the broadcast's title, Schwitzke

speculates that "Rebellion" probably showed the influence of

Brecht's early plays. He also claims, as Schafroth does, nh that it was Eich's last prewar radio play. Neither of these

claims, however, is supported by more detailed information

about the work. As stated above, Eich's "Rebellion" premiered

on May 8, 19^0, over eight months after Germany invaded

Poland; and this was in a period when the Nazis were not re

cycling earlier radio plays but using the genre in a propa

ganda campaign against the Allies. And furthermore, Eich's

choice of South African history for his theme suggests that

if he indeed was influenced by another work— and there is no way to determine this from the limited data about "Rebellion" — his model was not Brecht. The two most likely possibili

ties are works that were far more "acceptable" in the Third

Reich than Brecht’s, namely Hans Grimm's Yolk ohne Raum, 25 where the Witwatersrand strike plays a minor role, or

Hans Rehberg's radio play "Kapstadt," which like Eich's play

depicts an "atrocity" in British colonial history.

Thus Eich's "Rebellion" gives all indications that it was the most politically compromising broadcast he wrote

during the Third Reich. And this is significant, since it

draws attention once again to the continuous process of "ad

justing" to ideological tendencies which characterizes Eich's

seven-year collaboration with the Nazi radio system. In his

efforts to produce texts that were "acceptable" to the Nazi management, Eich was willing to write what was apparently a piece.of anti-English propaganda. NOTES TO CHAPTER V

^ Cf. Mttller-Hanpft, Uber Gttnter Eich, p. 144; Kraut- krSmer, pp. 27-28; Krispyn, Gflnter Eich. p. 38. 2 Cf. the following commentary that appeared after Eich's broadcast premiered on December 14, 1933* Mit verbltiffender Einftthlungskraft hat Gttnther Eich aus dem noch funkelndem 'Schatzk&stlein* Johann Peter Hebels sein neues H6*rspiel 'Lustiges Lumpenpack' gehoben und damit dem deutschen Rundfunk ein wahrhaft ideales Werk geschenkt. . . . Der Deutschlandsender hat mit dieser Au-fftfhrung einen absoluten HShepunkt erreicht ("Lusti ges Lumpenpack," Die Sendung, 10, No. 52 £l933j» 1139) <»

J This, however, overlooks Eich's rash of radio adapta tions in the postwar era, especially in the years•1948-54. See Schwitzke's listing in III, 1414-25« 4 In a letter to me dated February 19, 1979» Heinz Schwitzke maintains that Eich purposely wrote in the style of Matthias Claudius or J. P. Hebei to facilitate the broad casting of his works during the Third Reich.

^ Chapter VII will show that not only "Radium" and "F&hrten in der Prarie," but also "Weizenkantate" could be consi dered adaptations, though of far more controversial subject matter than treated in the above works.

Typical examples can be found in Hellmuth Langenbucher, Volkhafte Dichtung der Zeit (Berlins Junker & Dttnnhaupt, 1941) or in Norbert Langer, Die deutsche Dichtung seit dem Welt- krieg: Voh Paul Ernst bis Hans Baumann (Karlsbad & Leipzig: Adam Kraft, 1940).

^ Kurt Willimczik, "Rundfunk in der Dorfwirtschaft," Rufer und HSrer. 3* No. lo/ll (1935). 443-44. O And only two of them are complete texts from the Nazi years: "Lustiges Lumpenpack" and "Radium." o 7 Among other predecessors and successors to Eich's plays are: Eduard Reinacher's "Vom Fischer und seiner Frau" (Schlesien; Jan. 7» 1934); Friedrich Klose's "Ilsebill: Das

121 122

M&rchen vom Fischer und seiner Frau" (Berlin; Jan. 9* 1936); Hans Werner's "Fischke, Fischke, Timpetel" (Danzig; Feb. 21, 193k); Otto Wollmann's "Das kalte Herz" (Deutschlandsender; March 29* 1933); and Georg Sauer's "Das kalte Herz" (Deutsch landsender; Jan. 20, 193^)« 10 Gerd Eckert advises German listeners not only to shut off all lights, but also to disconnect the telephone and door bell in order to eliminate outside disturbances. These mea sures were supposed to help simulate the atmosphere of the concert hall. Cf. "Der ideale Rundfunkhftrer," Die Literatur, ko (1937/38), ^26. 11 The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson (Londons William HeinemannT 1922), III, 387. 12 Eich's work not only had three rebroadcasts over the Nazi airwaves, but was also mentioned by Eckert as one of the noteworthy one-act radio plays for 1938 ("Neues vom H6*r- spiel," p. 173)»

^ This affinity was first mentioned by Klaus Dieter Post, Gtinter Eichs Zwischen Angst und EinverstSndnis (Bonns Bouvier, 1976), pp. 232-^1. Post also posits a similar af finity between Eich and Tieck on the basis of the radio play version of Des Lebens tfberflufi (pp. 2k2-kk)a l k Just how closely Eich approximates Eichendorff's con cept of night is shown in a poem from Botschaften des Regens (1955). Here, too, night is associated with the possibility that one can comprehend signs from a realm which is other wise beyond human cognizance: NACHTS Nachts horen, was nie gehb’rt wurde« den hundertsten Namen Allahs, ■ den nicht mehr aufgeschriebenen Paukenton, als Mozart starb, im Mutterleib vernommene GesprSche. (I, 102) 1 3 J Egbert Krispyn, "Gtinter Eich and the Birds," German Quarterly. 27* No. 3 (196^), 246-56,

1 f i See Krispyn, Gtinter Eich. passim, and Briner, pp. 5- kl, for overall surveys of Eich’s oeuvre, which show the role played by this theme.

^ Julian Petley, Capital and Culture: German Cinema 1933-^3 (London: British Film institute, 1979)* pp. 106-11.

Gtlnter Eich, "Die Schattenschlacht, " Die Dame, 63, No. 2k (1936), 57; page numbers hereafter in text. 123

^ F. Sttfienbach, "Retter der Mtttter. Zum 120. Geburts- tag von I. Ph. Semmelweis" (Breslau/Danzig? July 1, 1938). 20 There is here another important parallel to films of the Nazi era, a number of which depicted similar figures, such as Robert Koch (1939)> Diesel (1942), and Paracelsus (19^3)* In all these works emphasis is placed on the re searcher^ relentless struggle against reactionary forces which seek to thwart his plans to better the lot of the com mon man (Petley, pp. 142-49).

^ Gerd Eckert, "Horspielmanie und Httrspielpflege," Die Literatur. 41 (1938/39)s 495-97®

^ Wttrffel, "Hb’rspiel im Dritten Reich," p. 1 5 0 . 22 J Boelcke’s notes of Goebbels’ ministry conferences make no specific mention of a campaign of this type. But Horbttrger published a number of Sicherheitsdienst reports from early 1940 pertaining to these broadcasts and their pro pagandists function. One such report about Kuhnert’s "Die Mission des Dr. Mackenzie" (Deutschlandsender; April 2, 1940) ends with the following statements . . . In diesem Zusammenhang ist immer wieder die AuOerung zu httren, solche Hftrspiele 6’fter zu bringen, da sie einmal sehr unterhaltend und lehrreich sind, zum andern fttr eine der besten Propagandawaffen gegen Eng land gehalten werden (p. 409)® Moreover, in reference to one of the earliest of these anti- English broadcasts, Rudolf Brunngraber8s "Opium" Deutschland sender; Dec, 2 1 , 1939)» Thomas Lange states that at the war's onset writers in the Third Reich were now "advised" to choose "appropriate" themes for their works, such as the negative side of British colonialism--Thomas Lange, Pref., Karl und das 2 0 . Jahrhundert, by Rudolf Brunngraber (Kronberg/Ts,s Scriptor, 1978), pp. 3-4® 24 Cf. Schwitzke8s commentary to Eich’s radio plays (III, 1414), and Schafroth, p. 16.

^ This strike is mentioned in the final part of Grimm’s epic novel. It is reported that Martin Wessel, a friend of the work’s protagonist Cornelius Freibott, was killed in the confrontation with the troops sent in to subdue the strikers. Cf. Hans Grimm, Volk ohne Raum (Lippoldsberg; Klosterhaus- Verlag, 1956), pp. 1310-11. CHAPTER VI

THE KONIGSWUSTERHgUSER LANDBOTE AND ITS PROGENY

The monthly series entitled Die Monatshilder des KSnigs- wusterhguser Landhoten (hereafter referred to as the KWL), which Eich wrote together with Martin Raschke, proved to he the authors' most popular and successful radio work during the Third Reich. The series' long run on the Deutschlandsen der program from October 1933 to May 1940 was unparalleled for a work of its type- This amounted to over eighty monthly episodes, each at least sixty minutes in duration. Even if

Eich's authorship is limited to less than half of the mate rial, therefore, the KWL is his major work during the Nazi years; and, in terms of sheer quantity, it is his most volu minous work ever.

The estimation of Eich's role in the series should re main conservative, since the joint authorship does not allow an exact distinction between his and Raschke's work. Only in the last two broadcasts, which were written while Eich was away for basic military training, does the program listing indicate that Raschke alone was responsible for the text.

Otherwise the broadcasts ran anonymously with the figure of the Landbote as Eich's and Raschke's collective pseudonym.

Occasionally one can distinguish between the two authors in 124 125

the available excerpts from the KWL. which consist of poems

and prose pieces published in Die Literatur and in the an

thology Das festliche Jahr. Eich once indicated sixteen poems

in the anthology as his, six of which were later re-published

-1 in his Gesammelte Werke (I, 206-10). In two instances it is

also possible to determine Raschke’s contributions by cross-

referencing KWL material with other broadcasts. But for the

most part, the matter of authorship remains undecided: Eich

and Raschke share too many stylistic devices and motifs.

Both the "problem" of this joint authorship and the

scarcity of available texts have caused widespread neglect

of the KWL in Eich research."^ It has not been treated in proportion to its significance for Eich’s pre-19^-5 writing;

and in fact the tendency has been just the opposite: the se

ries' duration has been consistently underestimated and its

role in Nazi cultural politics minimized. Final broadcast h, dates as early as 1936 have been given, and few critics go beyond superficialities. They emphasize the series® harmless ness and the similarity between the title K6‘nigswusterhSuser

Landbote and that of Matthias Claudius' Wandsbecker Bote, which, as we shall see, betrays an ignorance of both works'

essential features.'’

There are no extant studio manuscripts of any of the monthly broadcasts in the KWL, but their format can be clear ly determined on the basis of the published excerpts and £ Eckert's commentary about the series. Originally, the broad casts consisted of poems, songs, anecdotes and other prose, 126 which treated seasonal themes or the characteristics of a

specific German region; and the narrative role of the "coun

try mailman" was restricted to his reciting four lines that

closed every episode (see page 131 "below). The mailman play

ed an increasingly greater role in later broadcasts, where he became the protagonist in monologue and dialogue scenes.

Published excerpts from these scenes show that every attempt was made to recreate the atmosphere of rural Germany in the pre-industrial age. From Pomerania to the Rhineland, the country mailman wandered throughout Germany sometime in the late eighteenth century, preaching the virtues of the simple life and sharing an inexhaustible knowledge of folk remedies, quaint superstitions, and anecdotes0

The series' archaic atmosphere, together with its title, seems to support the claim that it was modeled after Claudius'

Wandsbecker Bote (1771-75); and, according to Eckert, Eich and 7 Raschke indeed believed they were imitating Claudius. Never theless, the parallels between the KWL and the Wandsbecker

Bote do not go beyond external features; in essence they are as different as night and day. In all likelihood, neither

Eich, Raschke, nor Werner Pleister, who conceived the KWL

series, had any first-hand knowledge of the Wandsbecker Bote,

for had they consulted the original, they would have found not the naively written folk almanach, which Claudius' period

ical is still held to be, but a sophisticated journal cover ing world events from Constantinople to the American colc-

Q nies. Claudius solicited reports on the latest political, 127 economic and intellectual developments of his time; and dis cussions of works by Klopstock, Voltaire, Goethe and other contemporary figures were a regular feature* The folk-type poems and anecdotes usually associated with the Wandsbecker

Bote comprised but a fraction of the contents and were rele gated to the last page of each issue.

In contrast to the Wandsbecker Bote, the KWL avoids con frontation with contemporary developments in any form, to say nothing of controversial issues. Save for a quaint account about an army horse, the series” extant texts lack all con- Q crete historical references, and the illusion of the "good old days" is not marred by the mention of wars, oppression and all the other miseries which plagued the Germany of the eighteenth century. To be sure, the figures depicted in the.

KWL*s extant scenes live primitively; but they are complete ly content, and their small communities are trouble-free and harmonious.

The KWL is much more similar to J. P. Hebei's Der rhein- ische Hausfreund (1806-15), which had the same folk almanach structure with loosely related anecdotes and poems. In Hebei’s work one finds a romantic estrangement from reality, and there is as well a striking similarity between the narrative figure of the Hausfreund and the country mailman. Both figures are jolly old men with a weakness for alcohol and good company.

Since Hebei’s work was clearly the source of material for 128

Eich's "Lustiges Lumpenpack" and "Taugenichts— Tagediebe," it would be logical to assume that it might well have influ enced the KWL too.

As quaint as the KWL was, it had great success on the

Nazi radio scene. The constant praise the series received from contemporary observers indicates that the broadcasts were by no means merely "tolerated" as innocuous. On the con trary, it appears that the KWL was singled out as the model radio program in the Third Reich. Within two years it had become such a fixed feature that its anniversary was celebrat ed in a special broadcast of highlights from previous epi- 10 sodes. The series' third year was marked by the publica tion of Das festliche Jahr, whose significance is underscored by the fact that separate publications of radio plays were rare in this period. The KWL shared this prestige with such radio plays as Richard Euringer's Deutsche Passion (also pub lished by Gerhard Stalling), Peter Hagen's and Hans Nierentz'

Wir bauen eine Strafie and Hans Rehberg's Suez, Faschoda, Kao- stadt. This association suggests that only plays found to be ideologically favorable were accorded the honor of publica tion. Further evidence of the series' popularity in politi- 11 cal circles was its inclusion in the 1937 radio exhibition.

In addition, broadcasts commemorated the series' fourth and fifth "birthdays" in 1937 and 1938.^

A noteworthy phenomenon in regard to the reception of the KWL is that, despite all the recognition it gained, its creators themselves were largely neglected until 1937-38^ It was not Eich or Raschke, but Helmut Hansen, the broadcasts® director (Snielleiter) and voice of the "country mailman," who was the personality most frequently associated with the series. As the "country mailman personified," he was the main subject of publicity photos. Eich and Raschke, in con trast, appear in none. To a certain extent such practice was typical for the broadcasting industry, which, like present- day television programming, tended to focus on a prograin's immediate aspects? its plot and the well-known performers involved. However, there are indications that politics also played a role, for unlike the series® authors, Hansen was a 1 ^ prominent Nazi and a celebrated "S.A. poet." Thus he would have provided the Nazis with a more appropriate figure to con nect with the series— a kind of "front man," as it were, for

Eich and Raschke. Hansen's involvement with the KWL could very well have been one key to its long survival. Even if he did not supply his own texts (and there is nothing to indi cate that he had any hand in the writing), one can assume he saw to it that the broadcasts adhered to Party principles.

As with Eich's "Rebellion in der Goldstadt," the context in which the KWL was created reveals the function it could serve in Nazi propaganda. It is not fortuitous that the series premiered on October k, 1933> just three days after the Nazi regime had begun celebrating October 1 as the Ernte- dankfest (harvest thanksgiving festival), a new official holi day which honored the German peasant as May Day did the worker. 130

On the first observation Alfred Rosenberg gave a speech ex plaining the significance of the new holiday,, He stressed that under Nazism German peasants would have a new, positive image and would gain the respect which had been denied them under the "city-oriented" Weimar Republic :

. . . Eine weltfremde Gelehrsamkeit und ein hochgezftch- teter Intellektualismus in den letzten Jahrzehnten haben ihrerseits diesen deutschen Bauern immer wieder belSchelt und ihn zum Objekt ihres Spottes erniedrigt. In den Zeitungen und in den Theatem wurde der Bauernstand niemals in einer Weise dargestellt, wie es ihm gebtthrt hatte. Wenn wir aber heute den Kampf der letzten Ik Jahre tiberblicken, dann kb'nnen und mtissen wir mit Stolz feststellen, daft die Ehre des deutschen Bauerfx durch die . nationalsozialistische Bewegung wiederhergestellt worden ist. . B .16

Rosenberg went on to claim that the Nazi Revolution had suc ceeded in overcoming the rift between Germany's urban workers and country peasants:

o o . Wir konnen mit Stolz und Freude feststellen, daft, wenn frtther die Stadt gegen das Land und das Land gegen die Stadt aufgepeitscht wurden, heute umgekehrt der StSdter und der Landmann sich die HSnde gereicht haben in dem Bewufttsein, daft einer ohne den anderen ni’cht leben kann. . . .17

He then proclaimed the central role Germany's peasant culture would have in the Third Reich: "cosmopolitan elitism" would be abandoned in preference to a return to Blut und Boden:

Wir mochten heute bekennen, daft die Auffassung von Kultur auch durch die nationalsozialistische Bewegung in unseren Tagen eine ganz andere geworden ist als in frtiheren Jahrzehnten. . „ „ Wir glauben, daft die Zeit der Weltstadthypnose politisch und sozial und kulturell zu Ende ist, und daft wir wieder zurttckkehren zu Blut und Boden, weil wir es mttssen0 Wenn aber heute ein symbo- lisches Bild der Kultur vor unseren Augen entstanden ist, so ist es das Bild des deutschen Bauernhauses.18 131 All these different aspects of the Blut-und-Boden ideolo gy are reflected in excerpts from the KWL. In their portray al of country life Eich and Raschke give German peasants precisely that "respectable image" which Rosenberg promised would come in the Third Reich. The rural lifestyle is de picted as one rich in folklore and long-standing traditions, and great emphasis is placed on the peasants' intuitive wis- 19 dom derived from their nature-bound existence. ^ In addi tion, the KWL series addressed the problem of the "gap" be tween the agrarian and urban segments of German society.

The importance of this problem is apparent in the fact that the following lines closed every KWL broadcast:

Du zarter StSdter, spotte nicht der schwielenvollen Hand. Sie nShret, was dein Stolz auch spricht, Dich -und das ganze L a n d . 20 and a later variation:

Verachtet, liebe Freunde, nicht des B a u e m Herz und Handl Er nShrt, was euer Stolz auch spricht, euch und das ganze Land.21

These lines not only reflect the message in Rosenberg's Ernte- dankfest speech; they correspond as well to an earlier state ment Hitler made to German agriculturalists:

. . . Dafi ein Yolk ohne StSdter bestehen konnte, zeigt uns die Geschichte, da/3 es nicht ohne Bauern zu leben vermag, hStte die Geschichte einst bewiesen, wenn das alte System geblieben w&re. . . .22

The reconciliation between Germany's industrial and agri cultural workers was also a frequent theme in Nazi radio plays. We have seen it in the passage cited above from 132

Euringer's "Deutsche Passion" (see pages 7^-75 above); and it is the overall message of Leonhard Hora's "Bauer und Berg- mann" and a major issue in Hagen's and Nierentz' "Wir bauen eine Strafie."^ The latter work emphasizes that the Auto bahn under construction will be a vital artery lining farms with the cities dependent on agricultural productions

Die Strafle ist Ader, ist Puls, der drSngt Und das fruchtbare Blut zum Herzen zw£ngt0 Das Blut des Landes, Bauer, bist du, Dein Werk, dein Acker, dein Pflug, deine KuhJ Und unsere Strafie aus Teer und Stein Reifit dich mitten ins Leben des Volkes hinein0 Unsre A d e m sind schlaff und wir brauchen das Blut, Das in Acker und Scholle und Krume ruht!2^

There are several reasons why so much attention was focussed on the importance of the peasantry and of the agri cultural sector in general0 Discussing Deutschlandsender series which had a peasant orientation similar to the KWL9 s,

Pohle notes the most ostensible reason, the Nazis' concern about Germany's dependence on food importso These radio series about Germany's agrarian past and present were supposed to promote a better understanding between the urban/industri al and the rural/agrarian spheres, which— in some modest way— would help improve agricultural productivity,, J Zimmermann, on the other hand, finds important political motives behind the campaign to increase the population's awareness of its

"agrarian roots" and its concern about the food supply„ In his analysis of typical examples of Blut-und-Boden- and

Kolonialliteratur, such as Grimm's Volk ohne Raum, he demon strates how the myth that Germany's agrarian past was an ideal situation could "be exploited by Nazi propagandists„

Like many works of its kind, Grimm*s novel presents a simplis

tic view of Germany® s social and economic problems„ The

crises facing the Weimar Republic (inflation, unemployment

and growing tensions between the different social classes)

are blamed on the shift from an agrarian to an industrial cul

ture and on the loss of territories at home and abroad due to

the stipulations of the Treaty of Versailles,. Germany had become dependent on external trade for its basic foodstuffs,

and the result was a nation of merchants where one’s gain was another’s loss0 Those most affeoted by this imbalance were

the members of the "disinherited class," the factory workers and unemployed agricultural laborers. Alienated from a na

ture-bound existence, they were susceptible to the "evil in

fluence of Marxism,, " One way out of this crisis, according

to the preachings of Grimm’s protagonist Cornelius Freibott, was to reverse Germany’s developmental process, to return to ar agrarian culture. Such a return, however, required consi

derably more land per capita than Germany possessed in order

to be accomplished, and thus arose Grimm’s central themes

"Volk ohne Raum,

The argument for more German territory was adapted to serve Nazi propagandistic aims by changing its focuss whereas

Grimm and other advocates of colonialism saw the •undeveloped continents as the source of new German land, Nazi Blut-und-

Boden propaganda stressed the need for German expansion within

Europe. The most fervent proponent of this policy was the 13^

Reichsbauernftihrer and ReichsernShrungsminister R. Walther

Darre, who called for an autarkic German Kontinentalhlock which incorporated territories in Poland, the Baltic States and Russia. Reasoning along lines similar to Freibott®s doctrine, Darre legitimized the colonialization of the East as being the German nation8s "moral right" ("sittliches Recht") to achieve a better balance between its population and land 27 area and to secure its agricultural autonomy,, In this way

Blut-und-Boden propaganda could provide the ideological under pinning for the war of conquest the Nazis waged in Europe„

In view of these political implications of the longing to return to the "good old days," one must question Schwitzke*s designation of the KWL broadcasts as innocuous ("harmlos- pQ htibsch"). One needs to ask whether it was mere coincidence that Eich and Raschke depicted their peasant idyll as they did. True to Darre®s ideal of Nazi agrarian culture, the

KWL scenes present farm communities that are homogeneously

Germanic. Eich8s and Raschke8s figures exist in a harmonious society where modem technology and industry have not yet created a "disinherited class" of proletarians. Since the majority of the KWL scenes depict holiday celebrations and pleasant tavern gatherings after the day's work has been ac complished, the actual drudgery in the fields and a host of related hardships that characterized life in the pre-indus trial age are not there to cloud the joys of the "nature- 135 bound" existence on the land8 In short, the essential as pects of the Blut-und-Boden utopia are represented in the ex tant excerpts from the KWL«

There are also significant parallels between the ana chronistic, idyllic scenes in the KWL and the trend promoted by the Nazis in graphic art8 Brenner describes an exhibi tion of paintings at the Haus der Deutschen Kunst in 1937 which consisted almost exclusively of Blut-und-Boden-style works8 Even projects involving advanced technology were por trayed in an anachronistic manner:

Was man vergeblich suchte « 0 0 waren Maschinen, Motoren, und, von zwei Ausnahmen abgesehen, Fabriken. Als Ar- beitsgerSte fungierten Handpflug, Handwaage, Spinnrocken; selbst der Donaubrftckenbau der Reichsautobahn, in zeich- nerischer Grofiaufnahme detailgetreu wiedergegeben, wurde demnach mit blofier Muskelkraft bewerkstelligt0 Augen- scheinlich waren es tlberhaupt nur Schultern starker Man ner, Hand- und Ochsenkarren, die in diesem neuen Deutsch land Material und GerSt transportierten. Die Menschen bewegten sich zu Fu/3, oder, die Manner, auf Pferden0 Das Motif Stadt gab es nur als 9Altes Stadtchen® . 0 0 Ebenso wie die moderne Grofistadt und ihre Arbeitswelt fehlten, fehlte die ganze daraus resultierende Proble- matik. , . «29

As with the KWL scenes, these artworks totally ignored the current problems facing German society,, Brenner points out that there was only one unpleasant aspect of life which was evident in these depictions of an otherwise problem-free world, namely the "sacrifice made necessary by war":

. . 8 Die ausgestellten Werke zeigten ausnahmslos eine heile Welt und entsprechend intakte Lebenseinheiten0 . o s Nur in zwei Fallen deutete sich eine Art Lebens- problematik an.: und zwar in dem ’Opfer,® das ’der Kampf' forderte.30 136

As demonstrated in a published excerpt from the KWL,

Eich's and Raschke's peasant idyll was also flawed by the

mention of the "sacrifice for the Fatherland,," This excerpt

is of particular importance, since it also shows clear attri

butes of the Nazi mother-cult in the analogy the country mail

man makes between the soldier's risk of death on the battle

field and the mother's risk of death in bearing children*.

This analogy is the mailman's reproach for those who wish on

ly for male offspring and have forgotten the mother's count- 31 less sacrifices

Warum denkt ihr denn immer daran, daf3 es ein M&dchen ist, das geboren wurde, ein MSdchen, das einmal heiratet ■und in ein^ fremdes Haus zieht, um es zu mehren, und be- denkt nicht, dafB es eine Mutter ist, die in dem Kinde uns alien heranw^chst, eine Mutter von der viele S6*hne und viele Tochter zu ihrer Zeit ausgehen werden, eine Mutter, in der ein gutes Teil unserer Zukunft beschlos- sen ist?! - S6*hne, wer liebt sie nicht! Wer freut sich nicht ihrer kraftvollen Schar, und wer ist nicht stolz, sie zum Schutze unserer Heimat mit ihrem Blute bereit zu sehen?! Aber wollt ihr darffber die Millionen Stunden vergessen, wo MUtter mit wunden Augen am Bett ihrer Sohne wachten, um sie uns zu erhalten? Keiner sSfie hier an diesem Tische, keiner, dem eben noch der Wein schmeck- te und das Fleisch, keiner, der sich vielleicht eben noch in seiner poltemden Kraft fiber die stilleren Frauen er- haben dfinkte, wenn nicht eine Mutter einmal ftlr ihn fast ihr Leben dahingegeben hatte, ohne daf3 die Zeitungen davon schrieben und jeder davon gesprochen h&tte. . . -32

While it is not certain who wrote this text, the treatment of

similar aspects in Eich's Mother's Day tribute "Mutter und

Kind" and his Semmelweis radio play indicate that the prose

(awful as it is) could very well have come from Eich„

Lest the country idyll lack one essential element of

simple folk piety, the KWL series has a vague but fundamen

tally Christian tone with which both Protestant and Catholic •Germans could identify.Church scenes, which could have destroyed the delicate confessional neutrality are absent from what is known of the broadcasts; but dates are consist ently referred to by the Saint's feastday in the traditional

Christian calender. By the end of 1935 adherence to tradi tions led to an additional December broadcast,; in which the mailman celebrated the lighting of the Christmas-tree can- dies. In general, however, religion remained on the sur face, and the underlying religious significance of festival scenes was neglected in deference to more secular aspects which reflected the indigenous culture.. In nearly every gathering depicted in Das festliche Jahr, the mailman shares his knowledge of some quaint local practice, such as fore casting the weather from the bones of the St. Martin's Day goose or shaking all money purses on Shrove Tuesday so they 35 will not be empty during the year. More pagan— or should one say "Germanic"— traditions are also part of the annual events; and it is significant that they include the summer solstice bonfire (FJ, 41-4-3) , which soon became a prominent, annual ritual for the S.A. and the Hitler Youth during the

Third Reich. ^

It is in reference to one religious holiday, the Nacht- lStare (Fourth Sunday of Lent or Rose Sunday), that Krispyn believes there is hidden criticism of the Nazis. While con ceding that the authors by and large adhered to Blut-und-

Boden principles, he finds more to the KWL below the surface 138

. . . [V]ew opponents of their regime will have failed to appreciate the barbs hidden deep— but not too deep for the sharpened sensibilities of the oppressed— in the rather mushy substance of the 9Monthly Observationso' There is a constant element of subdued encouragement to hope patiently for better times to come, and throughout the pieces and poems there are repeated references to the “Night Laetare9— the fourth Sunday of Lent— when winter and frost will have passed and the dead will thaw out,37

That such opposition is allegedly present in a series which was so well received in the Third Reich and whose main charac ter was played by an S.A. man makes Krispyn9s statement pro vocative and worthy of a closer look. The search for

Eich9s "hidden barbs," however, is hindered by the fact that

Krispyn does not provide his reader with the passages on which he bases his claim; nor does he explain how he deter mined that the material in question was written by Eich and not Raschke.

Das festliche Jahr, the only relevant source cited in

Krispyn9s study, contains but a single direct reference to the Night Laetare. In a monologue the country mailman dis cusses the superstition that on this night the dead "thaw out" from their "winter sleep" and go wandering. This leads the mailman, a pensioneer of advanced years, to meditate on his own pending deaths

In der Nacht LStare Den ganzen Tag schallt mir Musik in die hammer, Es ist als hStten die Burschen nicht das Fallen der Dunkelheit gesptirt, die ihre Netze aufgehangt hat zwischen den Bau- men und alles beschwert, ihre frohlichen Fttfie ausgenommen, Obwohl es mich fr&'stelt hier am offenen Fenster, ftthle ich doch, dafi der Leib der Erde vom Schlafe erwacht unterm Eise, geweckt von den tanzenden Ftlfien. Ich glaube die Erde vor mir zu sehen bis in ihre Tiefen und sehe 139

auch die guten TJoten darin ruhen nehen Wurzel und Tier, alle noch starr vom Winter. Die Toten tauen nun auf, sagte heute Wilhelm zu mir, und gehen gerne um in dieser Nacht der ErwSrmung und freuen sich ein wenig an der Lau- heit der gemilderten Luft. Sollte euch, liebe Tote, der Weg durch meine Kammer ftthren, bitte weckt mich nicht, dafi ich nicht erschrecke. Ich bin mtlde und alt und kehre ohnedies bald bei euch ein. Dann will ich mir euer Gesicht genauer betrachten, als es sein k&'nnte im Erschrecken dieser Nacht LStare. (P\J, 18)

Although this piece is not among the material in the antholo gy that Eich identified as his work, he is almost certainly the author, for the vocabulary and the nature images are those of his lyrics and prose from the period. There is the same triadic- arrangement of the human, vegetable and animal realms that were discussed above in "Die Glttcksritter" and

"Die Schattenschlacht": . die. guten Toten darin ruhen neben Wurzel und Tier. . « Moreover, the country mailman's fear that the dead might wander through his room is reminiscent of Eich's description of the shepherd's mystical expe rience where the dead from Fehrbellin are freed from the grave to continue their battle right through his hut: "...

Dem Schafer war es gewifi, da/3 die Schlacht noch ging, mitten durch seine Kammer. . . . Der Windmonat entlie/3 die Toten aus ihrer Haft. . . .

What is not apparent in the Night Laetare piece is any

"subdued encouragement" or "hidden barbs against the Nazis."

On the contrary, the mailman's awareness of mortality and of the "presence" of his deceased predecessors tends to go in the opposite direction: it reflects the reverence for past generations which characterizes the KWL series as a whole, 140

and which in other scenes shows affinities to aspects of the

Blut-und-Boden ideology. This can be seen with particular

clarity in a short piece called "Die Mithochzeiter," which,

like "In der Nacht Latare," has parallels to "Die Schatten-

schlacht" and can therefore be attributed to Eich. "Die Mit

hochzeiter" describes a local ritual where a soon-to-be-wed-

ded couple visits the graves of their ancestors to gain their

"blessing" for the union. The emphasis on the rural dwellers'

instinctive awareness of invisible bonds to the soil and their

debt to previous generations is vintage Blut-und-Boden, and

it recalls the shepherd-figure Martin and the historical per

spective in "Die Schattenschlacht"s

Die Mithochzeiter o o . Zwingt sie auch Brauch und Sitte der Hochzeiter zum Besuch an diesen sonst schon vergessenen GrSbern, so wissen sie doch in ihrem landlichen Geftthl ehrfttrchtiger Verbundenheit, warum sie es tun, und ihr Wissen ist von jener schonen Art, da.G sie es schon verloren hStten, konnte es sich der Worte bedienen. Blickt nicht das Auge des Ahnen sie wirklich an? Sind sie nicht vor ihn getreten, da(3 er ihren Bund segne? . » . Denn nicht sie allein sind es, die sich verbinden. Ihrer beider Sippen vereinigen sich in Gegenwart, Vergangenheit und Zukunft. (FJ, 63-6^)39

Those critics who know Eich primarily for his postwar works and who are unfamiliar with the text of "Die Schatten

schlacht," an unambiguous example of his conformity to ideo

logical tendencies during the Third Reich, might very well

question Eich's creative role in the KWL and attribute the

series' Blut-und-Boden character to its coauthor Martin

Raschke, whose own writing from this period is informed by a Aq preoccupation with the legacy of the Germanic past. To do 141

so, however, not only would he to ignore "Die Schattenschlacht"

and the hulk of Eich’s historical radio plays discussed in

the previous chapter; this would also overlook the fact that

even one of Eich's better known works from the Nazi years,

the story "Katharina," has features that are characteristic

of Blut-und-Boden literature.

Some of these features are discussed in Mallmann's anal ysis of the prose works in Das Innere Reich, where Eich's

"Katharina" was first published in 1935* Like all the prose

appearing in this journal, "Katharina" has neither an indus

trial or metropolitan setting and treats no relevant social,

intellectual or political issues. Eich retreats instead to more intimate spheres: to village life, the family and to 41 individual fates.

Admittedly, "Katharina" is no country idyll, since it

ends with a suicide caused by unrequited love. Nevertheless,

the story has a strongly provincial, even anachronistic char acter, despite the fact that it is set in Southern Germany Ilo during the early 1920’s. The protagonist, a youth on a visit to his grandparents' inn, enters a quaint old town which appears to have escaped the influences of the twentieth century. His description contains many of the Blut-und-Boden 43 motifs that were prevalent elsewhere m Nazi art: ^

. . . Der Handwagen hinter uns ratterte verrtlckt, am lautesten, als wir ein Tor durchfuhren, ein altes Stadt- tor mit einem winzigen Glockenturm darauf. 0. stellte sich als ein httbsches, altertttmliches StSdtchen dar. Die HSuser, mit dem Giebel zur Stra!3e gekehrt, zeigten geraniengeschmtickte Fenster, und in der hellen 1^2

Nachmittagssonne sah die Stra(3e, mit vielen leuchtenden Farben unter dem blauweiflen Himmel, heiter und beinahe festlich aus, so da(3 ich mich im stillen verwunderte, wie menschenleer sie war, Ein Ochsengespann zog einen Wagen voll Ziegel gemachlich an uns vorttber, irgendwo schrillte eine Ladentttr0 Die Ger&usche der kleinen Stadt verstarkten den Eindruck von Verschlafenheit mehr, als es eine vollkommene Stille getan hStte. (IV, 211)

Eich's reader is thus transferred— just as the KWL listener was— to a world far removed from the reality of the. Third

Moreover, the longing to return to the soil and to an uncomplicated life on the land has a direct relationship to

the central topos in Eich's lyrics and radio plays: man's

alienation from nature and his attempt to re-establish a

"paradisiac" unity with all existence. In his treatment of

this topos, Eich builds upon a tradition which goes back to

German Romanticism and earlier, and out of which the Blut-und-

Boden movement also originated. Like advocates of this move ment, Eich views modem civilization and technological pro gress as negative, since they have destroyed the link to or

ganic totality. The following lines from Gedichte (1930), which express pre-reflective, instinctive states of existence

in an elegiac tone, provide an especially clear example:

Es gentfgte, ein Tier zu sein Ach du ertrinkst im Regen der Menschlichkeit. Manchmal glfckt dir ein vergefllicher Tag.

• « o • « Kannst du dich erinnern? Einmal warst du nur ein Boot in einem grttnen Flusse, einmal hattest du die FttGe eines Baumes und du warst im Hafen der Erde verankert. 1^3

Du muGt wieder dorthin zurttckkehren, den alten Regen trinken Deine Schritte sind zu hastig, deine Worte, dein Gesicht macht dich gemein. Du mufit wieder stumm werden, unbeschwert, eine Mttcke, ein WindstoG, eine Lilie sein. (I, 9-10)

This type of "nature-eonsciousness" is an essential part

of the KWL„ A similar meditation on regression appears, for

example, in "Vor dem Regen" j

Es kommen auch gr&'Gere Wolken auf am Horizont, eine dunk- le Herde. Sie ziehen mir entgegen. Es kann sein, daG sie mir mitten im Wald begegnen, aber ich werde nicht schneller ausschreiten. Ich will mir einbilden, ich sei ein knorzlicher Baum, der nun so ein wenig auf die Wan- derschaft gegangen ist, und der einen sommerlichen Regen wohl brauchen kann, (FJ, 59-60)

Such complacency in the fact of the elements characterizes

the figures in the KWL, They exist-on an instinctive level where communication with nature is still intact„ The coun

try mailman and people of his kind play an integral role in

the life cycle of plants and beasts, according to the spring rituals described in "Wie man die Baume im Garten weckt"

(FJ, 26) and in "Der Landbote als Pfingstvater" (FJ, 35-37)®

In the first of these two texts the mailman visits the or chards to rouse the trees and in the second the stalls to wake the animals from their winter slumber through the mys tical powers of a stroke of a hazel branch, which was an an cient fertility motif. The harmonious existence with nature is reflected in particularly clear fashion in his closing address of the second, where he alludes to "Heaven open to both man and beast": 144

. . . Wir danken euch, Tiere im Stall und Tiere im wei- ten Feld, daI3 ihr uns gedient habt ohne viel Murren, und bitten euch, gern an uns zurttckzudenken, wenn ihr einmal in dem groflen Himmel angekommen seid, der Menschen und Tieren offen steht. (FJ, 37)

The harmonious relationship between the KWL figures and

their natural environment is unique within Eich’s oeuvre.

Indeed, this almost perfect harmony would be totally incon

sistent with Eich’s otherwise pessimistic Weltanschauung, were it not for the nostalgic essence of the KWL serieso

Such idyllic scenes are from a "golden age" that has passed and has yet to return,, In Eich's other works the human con dition becomes more alienated from nature and consequently more problematic the closer the theme approaches the modern era. For Andreas in "Schritte zu Andreas" re-integration with nature occurs only upon his death. In "FShrten in der Prarie" the Indians8 naive lifestyle is destroyed by the forces of progress, and these forces take on diabolic dimensions in the urban setting of "Radium," as we shall see in the following chapter.

* * *

Since there is no detailed information about the con tents of Eich’s separate series, Der MSrkische Kalendermann sagt den neuen Monat an, it is not possible to determine the degree to which these broadcasts adhered to the idyllic ten dencies in the K W L . ^ It is stated that this potpourri of

Mark Brandenburg folklore was another of Pleister’s concepts 46 and inspired by the success of the KWL series. Program listings indicate that it had a looser format, and no narra tive figure equivalent to the country mailman is apparent.

The frequent listing of singers in the individual "broadcasts shows that songs played an important role in the series, and it is probable that Eich re-used some material from his ear lier broadcasts for Der Markische Kalendermann. as he did for other works (e.g. "Taugenichts— Tagediebe" and "Die Tasche des LandbrieftrSgers D6‘derlein"). However, there could not have been too much duplication between this series and the

KWL because their monthly episodes were broadcast to over lapping listening audiences within the space of a few days.

The conjecture that Der Markische Kalendermann had an anachronistic, or at the least a totally noncontroversial charac ter is supported by the series® twenty-four month duration on the Berlin program. Its demise came only with the beginning of the war, when the Berlin station was consolidated with

Deutschlandsender on September 24, 1939° The fact that in the postwar period Eich never mentioned the existence of this independent series also arouses the suspicion that Der Marki sche Kalendermann shared the KWL® s ideological acceptability.

# it *

Eich's radio play of 1936, "Die Tasche des LandbrieftrS- gers D&’derlein," was another direct offspring from the KWL. as its title suggests. The play owes its main character,

Doderlein, a retired country mailman, as well as much of its material to the KWL. At the same time, however, "Dbderlein" contrasts with what is known of both the KWL and Der MSrkische 146

Kalendermann. since it strays away from idyllic themes. This

might he one reason that "DSderlein" was relatively unsuccess

ful during the Third Reich, having only one rebroadcast.

"Doderlein" is still an idyll in several regards, for

it also depicts a pre-industrial community in an historical

limbo somewhere in the late nineteenth century. The basic

plot, a sentimental y a m about village romance, shows the

greatest affinity to the KWL. The story is simple and unori

ginal, and Post rightfully speaks of it in terms of "shallow hn characters and cliches." D&'derlein implicates himself in

the personal affairs of his successor, Mailman Voigt. The

latter has fallen in love with the industrious housemaid

Anna, who accompanies him on his delivery route. Anna, in

contrast, is waiting for her fianc6 Henning to return from

Berlin. Aware of Anna's previous commitment, DSderlein dis

courages Voigt from pursuing his plans with Anna until he

discovers that Henning has forsaken her for a Berlin bride who will bring a bakery with her into the marriage. But as

fairy tales will be, it turns out that Anna, an orphan be

lieved to be penniless, is to inherit the farm where she works and therefore would be a far better "prize" for the un

scrupulous Henning. Doderlein, however, succeeds in manipula

ting matters so that Henning departs forever to Berlin, and

Voigt and Anna come together.

As is the case in the KWL. Eich's sympathies lie complete

ly with the peasant figures, here Anna and DSderlein. The

play's negative figures (Henning and his bride-to-be Emilie) Ik-7 are depicted as "city snobs" who consider it below their dig nity to associate with "simple folk." They express their contempt of the local inns

Hennings 8 So ein Wirtshaus wie das, meine Liebe, wSre natttrlich in Berlin eine Kutscherkneipe besten- falls. Aber was kann man vom Dorfe verlangenl8 Emilies 8Na ja, wir werden ja auch nicht lange in diesem Kaff bleiben.8 Hennings 8Du hast rechts Nichts als wieder fort. Nir- gends laflt es sich leben als in der Metro- pole.8 4*8

The simple plot is given another dimension by lyrical interludes that precede each of the six scenes. "Db’derlein"

thus has some similarities with the radio ballad, though

Eich does not integrate his lyrics into the plot. Instead they are spoken or sung independently by two "singers," one male and one female, who are not characters' in the story.

The three poems assigned to the male speaker were also used in the KWL broadcasts, as indicated by their inclusion in Das festliche Jahr. All rather trite, they deal with the trials and tribulations in a country mailman0s life. For example, these lines at the beginning of "Db'derlein" praise the mail man8 s remedy against the winters alcohols

Nichts verleidet mir die Strafie, nicht das Eis und nicht der Schnee, friert mir manchmal auch die Nase, grimmt mir manchmal auch die Zeh. Dafttr steht am Weg der Adler, lie gen BSr und Lo*we auch, Grog und Korn darin zu trinken, ist ein alter Winterbrauchl (p. 1; FJ, 97)

A similar motif is found in a poem appropriately entitled

"Noch eins" (p. 18; FJ, 98). The third poem from the KWL. "Auch der Landbrieftr&ger Apfelst&dt w&re g e m der liebe Gott, is the one most consistent with the story, since it expresses

Doderlein*s desire to be more than just a courier of good and bad news. By manipulating the messages between Anna and

Henning, he fulfills this wish to "help shape destiny"*

Gerne m6*cht ich jedem bringen, was er sich erhofft, doch es will mir schlecht gelingen, denn das Glttck vertut sich oft.

• see Und es will mir nicht gefalien, daf3 ich nur ein Bote bin, lieber k£me ich zu alien wie der Herr des Schicksals hin. (p. 13; I> 207)

In general, these KWL poems fit unobtrusively into the atmo sphere of "Doderlein®s" basic story due to their quaintness and their unproblematic character.

The three poems assigned to the female voice, on the other hand, create an entirely different mood. In contrast to the KWL lyrics, they have more serious themes which are similar to those of Eich's postwar lyrics. The naive idyllic state depicted in the KWL is conspicuously absent; instead the human condition is characterized by isolation and aliena tion. The persona is no longer part of nature, as the fol lowing stanza demonstrates. The winter landscape reinforces a sense of isolation; and the.elements appear foreign and hos tile :

Wenn du durch den Winter gehst auf verschneiten Wegen, siehst du keine Menschenseele und der Frost blSst dir entgegen. Wer ging hier und wer ging dort, wo im Schnee die Spuren sind? 1^9 Morgen, wenn du wiederkommst,. hat sie zugeweht der Wind. (p. 9)

In a most profound manner Eich conveys the sense of hu man alienation in another poem, which is perhaps the most interesting thing in the play:

Durch die blinden Scheiben sehn sie im Dorf hinaus, es weht von den kahlen B&umen ein Hauch bis in das Haus. Sie sehn, wie der Wind die Flocken treibt und horchen, als k&me wer, und warten, dai3 jemand ihnen schreibt von irgendwoher. In den blinden Scheiben hangt ein Gespinst von Eis, der Winter wird lange bleiben so einsam und so weifi. Sie sehn, wie der Wind die Flocken treibt und horchen, als kSme wer, und warten, dafl jemand ihnen schreibt von irgendwoher0 Durch die blinden Scheiben spttrt man den Nebelduft, die Kr&hen am Himmel nur schreiben Zeichen in die Luft. Sie treiben im weiflen Winde fort mit FlttgelschlSgen schwer, - - undeutlich das schwarze Zauberwort - und dann ist der Himmel leer. (p. 22; I, 211)

Man9s detachment from the natural realm and his conse quent inability to sustain a rapport with it are emphasized by the repetition of key images. The ®fogged windowpanes'

("die blinden Scheiben") which open every stanza are surely to be equated with the human perception of the universe, which — like vision through clouded glass— is seriously limit ed . It should be noted that the word blind, meaning *fogged' or 'cloudy' in association with window, also has its other connotation of blindness in relation to the sensory verbs that predominate: sehen, horchen, snttren. 1 5o

Equally important is the four-line refrain in the first two stanzas, for here Eich makes it clear that man has an intimation that communication is going on. But as if it stems from some sublimated instinct, this awareness remains totally vagues "they listen, as if someone were coming; and wait for someone to write them from somewhere." The communication from this other realm goes unheeded, even though the signs become more and more substantial. In the first stanza con tact from the other realm comes in the subtle form of a

"breeze" that penetrates the house. In the second, nature communicates in a more tangible way, through an "icy web," but this, too, is not comprehended.

In the final stanza the message becomes most obvious, and its relevancy for the people within the house is under scored by a link between their anticipation of a written mes sage and the "crows writing in the heavens." Yet this sign, this "black magic word," remains “illegible® ("undeutlich") for man. Post follows the traditional symbolism of the attri bute 'black' and interprets the birds® message as a warning.^

But one should not overlook the contrast that Eich creates in the image of the crows® black wings beating in the sky. It seems as if he wants to emphasize the distinctness of this final message, which is "black on white," and in doing so, to bring the human lack of perception into relief. Even such a clear sign from the natural realm cannot be comprehended.-^0 151

The "bleak message of human alienation expressed in these poems recited "by the female voice is incompatible with "D6‘- derlein's" sentimental plot and the trite poems from the KWL,

While Eich attempts to create some cohesiveness "between the above lyrics and the plot by imbedding a sense of alienation into the play's dialogue, he meets with little success.

Voigt’s and Anna's statements about eternity and loneliness neither integrate well into the story of their romance nor come to any development in the plot. However, their occa sional references to human isolation do inject a melancholic ci note that destroys "Db'derlein® s" idyllic atmosphereand this is important since it marks the beginning of a series of radio plays in which Eich departs from the "heile Welt" of the peasant idyll to treat more controversial themes. NOTES TO CHAPTER VI

^ Cf, the notes to Eich’s lyrics (I, ^21),

Cf. pages 22-2^ above, where the similarity between Eich's and Raschke's Kolonne essays is discussed.

^ Funke, for example, believes that the joint authorship is an unsurmountable obstacle for the study of the KWL (p, 141, n. 526). He therefore does not treat this series in his chap ter on Eich's radio plays.

^ Krispyn, Gtinter Eich. p. 37«

^ Cf. Schwitzke, Das Horspiel, pp. 181-82; Fehse, pp. 3^3-^; Krispyn, p. 37 =

^ Gerd Eckert, "'Deutscher Kalender,8" Die Literatur. kl (1938/39), 560-6lo ^ Eckert, "'Deutscher Kalender,®" p 0 560. 0 In the introduction to a recent reproduction of Claudius' journal, the editors note that, prior to their new edition, complete issues of the journal were extremely scarce and that this had led to false speculations about its contents even among eighteenth-century scholars. Cf. Heinrich Rengstorf and Hans-Albrecht Koch, ed., Der Wandsbecker Bothes redigiert von Matthias Claudius (Hildesheim, New Yorks Georg 01ms, 1978), I, i-xvii.

^ The piece "Kleines Denkmal fttr ein Pferd" is an eulogy for an army horse that survived World War I and was honored as a veteran by an artillery regiment until its death in 1935 (Das festliche Jahr, pp. 91-92). All further references to material in the anthology will be cited in the text as FJ with page number. 1 0 Die Sendung lists the following broadcasts "Deutscher Kalenders Zwei Jahre KWL. Wir bringen seine schftnsten Lieder, Szenen und Geschichten" (Deutschlandsender; Oct. 16, 1935)= 11 This is evident from the broadcast "Aus der Zwischen- halles Der KWL auf der Rundfunk-Ausstellung" (Deutschland- sender; July 30, 1937). 152 153 1 2 The birthday broadcasts were: "Vier Jahre KWL - Ge- burtstagsfeier des Deutschen Kalenders Oktober" (Deutschland- sender; Oct. 7, 1937) and "Ftlnf Jahre KWL - Jubil&umsfest- spiel" (Deutschlandsender; Oct. 20, 1938). See also Eckert*s continuous praise of the series in "'Deutscher Kalender,'" pp. 560-61, and "Hb’rspieldichter," Die Literatur, 41 (194o), 31. The earliest commentary, which came on the KWL's second anniversary, discusses the series without mentioning anyone but Dr. Werner Pleister, who managed the department where it originated— Evmari (pseud.), "Zwei Jahre KWL," Die Sendung. 12, No. 42 (1935), 848. In the credits on the last page of Das festliche Jahr (p. 109), Eich and Raschke are listed below Pleister and Helmut Hansen. Not until the se ries® fourth anniversary did a commentary draw the public's attention to the authors in an interview with the "country mailman's right and left feet": Eich and Raschke. Cf. Evmari (pseud.), "Vier Jahre KWL: Ein JubilSum im Deutschlandsender," Die Sendung. 14 (1937), 912. 14 Previews for several of Eich's radio plays ("Das kalte Herz," "Die Glftcksritter," and "Rebellion in der. Gold- stadt") feature the performers® photos and broadcast data without mentioning the author. In one instance the glamorous speaker in one of Eich's MSrkischer Kalendermann episodes was made the cover girl of an issue of Europastunde, 11, No. 27 (1939)» But here, too, Eich's name was not included in the caption.

^ A photo in Hor mit m i r . 9, No. 10 (1938), n. pag., on the occasion of an S.A. cultural meeting helps to overcome the obscurity surrounding Hansen's biography. He is shown in S.A. uniform with other "S.A. poets" such as Herybert Menzel. A notable work by Hansen is the radio cantata "Die Fahne besiegt den Tod," which was among the nationwide Reichssendungen commemorating the sixth anniversary of the Nazi takeover, January 30, 1939® 1 f) Alfred Rosenberg, "Bauemtum und Kultur, " in his Blut und Ehre: Ein Kampf fttr deutsche Wiedergeburt: Reden und Aufsatze von 1919-1933, ed. Thilo von Trotha (Munich: Zen- tralverlag der NSDAP, Franz Eher-Nachf., 1934), p. 185. 1 7 Rosenberg, p. 186. 1 A Rosenberg, p. 187. 19 As Petley points out, the Nazi tendency to stress nature as the "best teacher" is also evident in the films of the Third Reich. In G. W. Pabst's Paracelsus (1943), the 154

figure portraying the famous Swiss physician emphasizes re peatedly the fact that he learned "more from nature than from all the universities'.' (p. 144).

20 Evmari, "Zwei Jahre KWL," p. 848.

2^ Eckert, '"Deutscher Kalender,'" p. 561°

22 Adolf Hitler, "Rede vor der deutschen Landwirtschaft" (April 5» 1933) > in Die Reden Hitlers als Kanzler: Das .iunge Deutschland will Arbeit und Frieden (Munich: Franz Eher Nachf., 1934), p. 2&1

2^ Leonhard Hora, "Bauer und Bergmanns Rundfunkhallade," in Das Horsoielbuch, ed. Hans Kriegler, pp. 79-105-

Peter Hagen and Hans-Jttrgen Nierentz, Wir hauen eine Strafie. p. 28.

2-^ Pohle, p. 318; Cf. also the Nazi doctrine for the Reichsarheitsdienst as stated in Paul Seipp and Wolfgang Scheibe, Suaten und Ahre: Das Handbuch der deutschen Jugend im Reichsarbeitsdienst, ed. Ralf von Gftnner (Heidelbergs Kurt Vowinckel, 1938): Ein Grundpfeiler der nationalsozialistischen Weltan- schauung ist die Erkenntnis, dafi der deutsche Boden und das deutsche Bauerntum Grundlagen unseres Volkes und Staates sindo Adolf Hitler hat gesagt, dafi Deutschland wieder ein Agrarstaat werden soil- Das bedeutet nun nicht etwa, dafi die Industrieanlagen zerstb'rt und die ■ StSdte dem Erdboden gleichgemacht werden sollen. Es bedeutet, dafi mit alien Mitteln das deutsche Bauerntum gest&rkt und ausgebaut werden soli, so dafi es wieder in der Lage ist, das deutsche Volk ohne erhebliche zusStz- liche Einfuhr von Fleisch, Fett und Getreide zu emShren. Aus den KrAften seines Bodens soil Deutschland wieder gesunden. Mit diesem Willen knttpft der Nationalsozia- lismus wieder an die geschichtlichen Zeiten an, in denen der Acker und das bSuerliche Menschentum die gesunde und nattirliche Grundlage des Volkes bildeten (p. 153)- p ^ Peter Zimmermann, "Kampf urn den Lebensraum: Ein My- thos der Kolonial- und der Blut-und-Boden-Literatur," in Die deutsche Lit era tur im Dritten Reich, ed. Denkler and Prtimm, pp. 165-67. 27 Zimmermann, pp. 170-71.

2^ Schwitzke, Das Horsoiel, p. 182.

2^ Hildegard Brenner, Die Kunstpolitik des Nationalso- zialismus (Hamburg: Rowohltl 1963)» p. 113. 155

Brenner, p. 113-

^ Cf. this analogy with the following lines from Adolf Hitler's speech at the 193^ Reichsoarteitag in Nuremberg: Was der Mann an Opfern bringt im Ringen seines Volkes, bringt die Frau an Opfern im Ringen urn die Erhaltung die ses Volkes in den einzelnen Zellen. Was der Mann ein- setzt an Heldenmut auf dem Schlachtfeld, setzt die Frau ein in ewig geduldiger Hingabe, in ewig geduldigem Lei den und Ertragen. Jedes Kind, das sie zur Welt bringt, ist eine Schlacht, die sie besteht ftfr Sein oder Nichtsein ihres Volkes. ("Der Ftthrer an die deutschen Frauen!" in Reden an die deutsche Frau; Berlin: "Schadenverhtttung" Verlagsgesell- schaft, 193^7 p. ^).

"Aus dem 'Deutschen Kalender,'" pp. 5^9-50. 33 The tactful ambiguity is reminiscent of Goebbels' declaration that the new radio campaign is to reach all of the people, all of the time. He advises radio directors: Sie, meine Herren, sprechen zum Volk. Sie k6*nnen nicht sagen: Heute abend reden wir zu den Arbeitern und morgen reden wir zu den B a u e m und ttbermorgen reden wir zu den Katholiken und am nSchsten Tage zu den Protestanten, - wenn Sie sprechen, sitzt das Volk am Lautsprecher. Und deshalb dttrfen Sie auch immer nur zum Volk sprechen, zum Volk in seiner Gesamtheit (Goebbels-Reden. p. 93)«

This Christmas Eve broadcast, "Der KWL zttndet die Lichter an," was repeated in the program from 1935 to 1938.

Cf. "Gelegentlich der Martinsgans" (FJ, 81-82) and "Fastnachtspflichten" (FJ, 10-11).

^ The Nazi celebration of the summer solstice plays a key role in the film Hitler.iunge Quex (1933)® Watching from the woods while a Hitler Youth leader holds a patriotic speech in front of the bonfire, the film's protagonist Heine VUlker becomes a "convert" to the Nazi cause. Cf. Erwin Leiser, Nazi Cinema, trans. Gertrud Mander and David Wilson (New York: Collier Books, 1975)» p. 38.

^ Krispyn, p. 37. Leroy Richardson supports Krispyn's theory by citing him as evidence of Eich's "passive resist ance" to Nazism ("The Function of Lyric Poetry: A Study of Gttnter Eich's Poetic Theory and Practice," Diss,. Univ. of Washington 1976, p. 15). But he, like Krispyn, fails to document his claim with textual examples.

^ GUnter Eich, "Die Schattenschlacht," p. 59. 156

3 9 Cf. this piece with the following statement hy the arch-proponent of the Blut-und-Boden ideology, R. W. Darre, in his Neuordnung unseres Denkens TReichsbauemstadt Goslari Verlag Blut und Boden, 1941)« Auf diesem Wege wird das Deutsche Volk auch eines Tages die Weltherrschaft des Judenturns hrechen konnenj weil die Herrschaft des Juden turns so lange mb'glich ist, wie der Nichtjude seine Blutgesetze vergiflt. Die Bejahung der Lehensgesetze unseres Blutes, die Verehrung der Ahnen, welchen wir unser Blut verdanken, und die in ahnenverantworteter Zucht geborenen Kinder aus unserem Blut sind die neuen Tafeln zu einem neuen deutschen Zeitalter (p. 27; italics added).

Cf. for example Raschke's radio play "Gespr&ch mit den Vatern," which premiered on "Stunde der Nation" on May 29, 1933» and was published in Das Innere Reich. 2, No. 6 (1935), 83^-56. hi Mallmann, p. 102. h p One reason for this anachronistic style, to which both Schafroth (pp. 29-30) and SchSfer ("Die nichtfaschistische Literatur der 'jungen Generation,9" p. 474) draw atten tion, is that several motifs as well as certain aspects of "Katharina's" plot were obviously adapted from Gottfried Keller's novella Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe (1856).

^ 3 See the citation from Brenner on page 135 above.

^ It is in this context that Mallmann stresses that works such as "Katharina" served the Nazis whether or not the authors intended them to, since they distracted the Ger man public from the crimes of the fascist regime (p. 103)°

^ The sole "commentary" on this series, Helmut GStzelt's "M&rkischer Herbsts Zu den Sendungen des Reichssenders Berlin, 'Markischer Bilderbogen® und ®Der MSrkische Kalendermann,9" Die Sendung, 15, No. 48 (1938), 1048-49, proves to be a poetic work on its own and sheds no light whatsoever on Eich's se ries. The only thing certain about this series it that Eich was the sole author. With few exceptions, the broadcasts have the subtitle "Horfolge von G. Eich."

Ll& Cf. Eckert, "'Deutscher Kalender,'" p. 560, and an anonymous caption to Pleister's photo in Die Sendung, 15, No. 14 (1938), 305.

^ Post, pp. 18-20. 157

jjO Gttnter Eich, "Die Tasche des Landbrieftr&gers DSder- lein: Ein winterlicher Bilderbogen," MS. Norddeutscher Rund- funk (Hamburg), p. 7. All further citations from this manu script will follow with the page number(s) in text. In the case of poems that were published in either Das festliche Jahr or in Eich’s Gesammelte Werke. the page number will be given after the manuscript reference.

Post, pp. 31-32.

The close affinity between this poem and Eich's post war lyrics is clearest in his use of bird symbolism. His poem "Angst," which was first published in Botschaften des Regens (1955), employs the image of crows "writing in the Heavens" to convey the same message of human alienation from the na tural realms Wie, wenn es noch weiter dauert, da die Stille wSchst, mich mit Krahenflug umlauert und mit Flttgelschrift behext? In den leeren Himmel starrend weifl ich ihn doch voll, regungslos des Grauens harrend, das ich lesen soli. (I, 71)

See Post (pp. 19-20), where he criticizes Claude R. Owen ("RealitSts- und Selbstbestimmung in den Hb'rspielen von Gttnter Eich," Diss. Univ. of Kansas 1964, p. Ill), for believ ing that this discrepancy in the idyll can be overlooked. CHAPTER VII

"WEIZENKANTATE, " "FSHRTEN IN DER PRiSRIE" AND "RADIUM"

In this final chapter on Eich's Nazi-era radio texts we

come to three plays— "Weizenkantate," "Fahrten in der Pr&rie"

and "Radium"— that do not belong in any of the categories

discussed thus far. These works, first broadcast in a six

teen-month period between 1936 and 1937, share a common mes

sage and stylistic features which separate them from the rest

of Eich's prewar writing. They are among the few H6‘rsniele

from the Nazi years in which Eich departed from the pre-indus

trial idyll, the "heile Welt" of the KWL-seriesa and addressed

issues relevant to the modern age. Complete with the misery

and social injustice that was missing in the other works,

the more contemporary settings of the above plays brought

out the controversial side of Eich's philosophy. In all three works there is an omnipresent tone of negativism, one which

does not harmonize with Nazi ideology but approaches the pro vocation in Eich's writing from the fifties.

At the same time, however, these works also exhibit fea

tures that demonstrate Eich was influenced by trends on the

Nazi radio scene as well as by the general ideological cli mate within the Third Reich. "Weizenkantate" and "Radium"

have strong formal affinities with Nazi choral works. In

158 159 addition, "Weizenkantate" and "FShrten in der PrSrie" contain numerous allusions to themes and topoi that were part and parcel of Nazi art and literature.

This apparent contradiction makes it no easy task to

determine the ideological "acceptability" of the works. As we shall see below, critics who discussed them at the time of their premiere broadcasts believed they stood in conflict with Nazi ideology. The fact that "Radium" had no rebroad cast over the Nazi airwaves and "Weizenkantate" and "F&hrten" only one each, is further indication that the trio was "un popular" during the Third Reich; and there can be little doubt that this was due to ideological ambiguity.

A prime example of such ambiguity is found in the earli

est and most important of the three, 'Weizenkantate." Al

though there are only three pages of extant text from the ori ginal three-part, sixty-minute broadcast, plot summaries and other outside information provide sufficient background for an in-depth discussion of the play. It is possible to recon struct its development and to demonstrate how "Weizenkantate" set the stage for the later works.

Fortunately, the key introductory address, where Eich states the message of "Weizenkantate," is part of the extant fragment:

*Lieber Horer, erlaube, dai3 wir vor dem Beginn unseres Spieles dir einige kurze Sprtlche aufsagen, auf die du achten mogest, ohne vorlSufig allzuviel dardber nachzu- denken. Sie sollen zun&chst nur dazu dienen, dein Herz l6o

bereit zu machen und deine Aufmerksamkeit auf jene Dinge hinzulenken, von denen in unserm Spiel die Rede ist, Der erste Spruch heifits Was httlfe es dem Menschen, so er die ganze Welt gew6‘nne und nShme doch Schaden an seiner Seele? Der zweite Spruch heifits Dem Menschen zu helfen, das nenne ich Stinde, so man allein dem Leihe hilft0 Der dritte Spruch hei(3ts Wer sich unterf&ngt, unser Da- sein zu verbessem und die Schmerzen des menschlichen Leibes zu lindern Oder gar aufzuheben, muG sich notwendig dabei im Gegensatz zu den MSchten der Natur befinden, denn diesen ist ebenso selbstverstgndlich das Bltthen und die Kraft des gesunden Lebens wie das Verwelken, das gleichgfJltige Vergessen und der mitleidlose Untergang, ja, das eine bedingt das andere, und wem es gelingt, das Leben triumphieren zu lassen, muG gewSrtig sein, diesen Gewinn einmal mit einer umso grb'Geren Summe Todes zu bezahlen. Der vierte Spruch heiGt: Unserm Fortschritt fehlt es an Religion. Er 16*st die Materie aus ihrer innigen Verbin- dung mit dem Ganzen des Lebens und ahnt nicht, daG diese Abtrennimg alle seine Segnungen zum Fluche machen kann0 * (II, 61)

The manner in which Eich turns directly to his listening audi ence is reminiscent of Brecht; but the stress on metaphysical issues and the negative view of human progress are decidedly un-Brechtian in nature. Indeed, the direct quote from the

Bible in the opening statement (Mark 8s36), in conjunction with the mention of Seele, Sttnde and Religion, create the impression that in the play to come Eich has taken a reli gious stance. The fourth statement, however, suggests that his Religion is no conventional one, but the same concept of nature alienation which informs most of his writing. In the place of God he speaks of the "Entirety of Life" ("das Ganze des Lebens"). This notion in the final part of the statement is of particular importance, since it introduces the central theme not only of "Weizenkantate," but also of "Fahrten" and of "Radium." In all three plays the present course of human 161 civilization is viewed as a negative development, as an in crease in man's alienation from a "paradisiac" unity of exist ence; and the modern age is depicted as a metaphysical void in which society, industry and technology have developed independent of the fundamental laws of nature.

Eich's statement on human progress is, of course, not new or unique. Such "Zivilisationskritik" was a major theme with the Expressionists two decades before. And as SchSfer* indicates, there are thematic parallels between "Weizenkan tate" and the essay "Gebtthrt Carleton ein Denkmal?" which

Gottfried Benn published in 1932. Both authors treat the obscure biography of the American agricultural researcher

Mark Alfred Carleton (1875-1926), and both come to very sim ilar conclusions about the tragic outcome of Carleton's work.

There seem to be more than just coincidental affinities be tween the statements about human progress we saw in Eich's introduction and the questions Benn raises at the conclusion of his essay about the modern-day concept of technological progress. An especially strong parallel is evident between

Eich's third statement about the "ambivalence of nature" and

Benn's mention of "life’s tragic dialectic":

Wie steht es also mit Carleton? Gebtthrt ihm ein Denkmal oder nicht? Das ist die Frage. Es ist die Frage des technischen Fortschritts ttberhaupt. Hat die Erleichte- rung der Lebensbedingungen den groGen menschlichen Sinn, den das vergangene Jahrhundert ihr zusprach? Welche Seite enthttllt mehr des Menschen speziellen Rang: Erfolg und Genu(3 oder Opfer und MiGlingen? , . . Die . . . Ant- wort kommt mehr aus dem ErkenntnismaGigen und geht dahin daG alle Dinge ihren Widerspruch in sich tragen, daG auch der Weizen umschlagen kann vom Vorteil in die 162

Vernichtung, da(3 auch die Komfrucht nicht losgelost ist aus dem Lehensgesetz tragischer Dialektik, . .2

Without the complete text of "Weizenkantate," we cannot positively determine whether it was again an adaptation, as many of Eich's radio plays from the Nazi years were, But a comparison of the fragmentary information about the play with

Benn's essay shows there is good reason to believe that much 3 of the broadcast was based on Benn,

Benn wrote "Gebtthrt Carleton ein Denkmal?" after reading the biography of Mark Alfred Carleton in Paul de Kruif's The

Hunger Fighters (1928; German translation* Bezwinger des Hun gers, 1929)• According to de Kruif's account, which is para phrased in the first half of Benn's piece, Carleton was a somewhat eccentric, but fanatically dedicated cerealist, who revolutionized North American wheat farming by introducing the hardier Kharkov strain from the Russian Caucasus, At great personal sacrifice Carleton had journeyed to Russia to find this strain and then fought an uphill battle to convince recalcitrant farmers and millers of its benefits. He was successful, and by 1914- over half the North American wheat crop came from the Kharkov type, which brought consistently abundant harvests worth millions of dollars, Carleton, how ever, did not share in the prosperity he had helped to create.

He lost his job due to political machinations; and financial hardships forced him to leave his family and seek work in

South America, where he died of malaria, heartbroken and forgotten. De Kruif's biography ends on this ironic note. 163

Benn, on the other hand, writing at the height of the

Great Depression, focussed on what he considered to he the long-term side effects of Carleton*s innovation,, First, the increase in large-scale, mechanized farming financed by wheat profits caused massive unemployment among farmhands,. The abundant harvests eventually glutted the wheat markets, caus ing prices to plummet. And when the wheat commodities market collapsed in the wake of the stock market crash, the "farmer- businessmen," a new breed of wheat farmers which had evolved during the agricultural boom, were far worse off than in the days when they had worked smaller, self-sufficient farms.

Accordingly, Benn raises the questions about Carleton®s ac complishments and technological progress, which were cited above.

The plot summary of "Weizenkantate" indicates that its first two parts followed the sequence of events described in

Benn’s essay, "Vom Glftck und Untergang eines Menschen," the part from which there is an extant fragment, was clearly made up from the facts of Carleton®s life and work which Benn got from de Kruif; and Eich’s second part, "Vom Uberflufi," appar ently depicted how Carleton’s "good deed" had turned into a technological catastrophe:

Im Mittelpunkt der Handlung steht der amerikanische Ge- treideforscher Mark Alfred Carleton, der Kubankaweizen aus Ru b land holte, urn ihn in den Staaten Kansas und Oregon anzubauen, wodurch die Misere der amerikanischen Weizenfarmer behoben wurde, Der neue Wohlstand zeitigte aber auch neue Probleme, zumal durch die Einftlhrung von Maschinen, die Tausende von Landarbeitern ersetzen soil- ten. Durch eine betrSchtliche Uberproduktion entstand 164

zugleich ein erheblicher Preissturz, so dafi sich riesige Emten in den Lagerh&usern anh&uften, und mit den Emten entweder Lokomotiven geheizt wurden oder die Emten ins Meer geschttttet wurden, weil sich Transport, Lagerung und Verarbeitung nicht mehr lohnten. . . .4

Eich, however, did not limit "Weizenkantate" to a mere

restatement of Benn’s thoughts0 As we shall see below, both

the play’s third part, "Von der Schuld," and the extant frag ment of Eich’s depiction of Carleton®s preparations for the

journey to Russia show signs of a transformation that sets

the radio cantata apart from the earlier versions of the

Kharkov story.

An especially important departure from Benn and de Kruif

is evident in the extant dialogue between Carleton and his wife Elisabeth. Here Eich emphasizes the heroic aspects of

Carleton’s undertaking in a manner which reflects not Benn’s cynicism but the glorification by Nazi writers of historical

scientists and inventors. The sort of conflict Eich depicts between Elisabeth, who pleads with her husband to forego the

trip to Russia out of consideration for their impoverished family, and Carleton, who is willing to sacrifice everything for his "higher calling," soon became a stock feature in

Third Reich films which portrayed "archetypal heroes.And it is telling that Carleton’s statement of his goal should combine a profusion of Blut-und-Boden motifs with the same warlike metaphors that were such an essential element of Nazi rhetoric 165 Elisabeth; '. . . Denke doch an uns, an unsere Kinder und michl Sind wir denn reich? Willst du Schulden machen, damit jene paar Unzufriedenen da in Kansas ein besseres Leben haben, wahrend wir darttber ins Elend kom men?' Carleton: 'Es ist nicht um ihretwillen, sondern weil ich im geheimen einen grofien Krieg ftthre. , . 0 Mein Herz hSngt an den Schollen der Erde in wunderlicher lust, an dem schwarzen Grund voll Fruchtbarkeit. Es ist HaJ3, was mich erftlllt gegen Wind und Frost und Dttrre, gegen alles, was dem Acker und dem Menschen das Leben schwer macht. Mein Kampf geht um das Glttck, und mein Sieg Uber alle Unbill der Erde ist jene Ahre, die die Felder von Kansas fruchtbar macht0 * Eo : ®Und unser GlUck? Deines und meines?' C .: 'Einen Preis mufi man immer zahlen.® E.s 'Wir kommen also zuletzt?® C»! ®Ja, wir kommen zuletzt0® (II, 62)

Following this dialogue is a song which emphasizes Carleton®s altruistic ideals0 Sung in true cantata fashion by massed voices, its lines elevate the researcher into the realm of myth. Warlike metaphors again play a role in the comparison between his journey to Russia and the heroic battles immor talized in ancient sagasj

Es erz&hlen der Menschheit alte Sagen von Helden, die ausgezogen sind, Taten zu wagen und Schlachten zu schlagen, - ihre Spuren verwehten im Wind. Uns aber lafit sagen von anderer Beschwerde, und von einem, der ruhmlos blieb, dessen GedSchtnis aber die Erde in Feldern von Weizen schrieb. Er zog aus gegen Hunger und Not, er suchte nach dem ewigen Brot, nach Brot fttr uns alle. (II, 63)

Wttrffel draws attention to the parallel between the treat ment of Carleton®s self-sacrifice in this fragment and verses by the Nazi poet Herybert Menzel which glorify the dissolu-

7 tion of the individual ego into the collective. One can 166

also find further parallels to a feature of Nazi-era artworks

which might be called the "Ffthrer-topos®" The mention of the

anonymous, unsung hero and the evocation of Germanic heroic

traditions in "Weizenkantate" are strongly reminiscent not

only of "Die Nacht der Toten," where the opening of the Nibe-

lungenlied was cited, but also of a story by Helmut Stellrecht

which makes a direct connection between Hitler and the heroic

sagas:

. . . In dem grofien Heere unter den tapferen Namenlosen, die so viele Jahre gekSmpft hatten, war ein unbekannter Soldat, Er gehSrte zu den Armsten und hatte fast nie- manden in der Welt als seine Kameraden, die neben ihm standen. . . . Kameraden, — alle Kinder, die so weit gehort haben, werden einmal sagen! 'Mutter, du erz&hlst von Adolf Hitler.0 Aber sagt selbst, klingt es nicht wie ein MSrchen, wie eine Sage aus alten Heldenzeiten? . . .8

This topos was realized graphically in Hubert Lanzinger’s

famous painting "Bannertr&ger Hitler," which portrayed the

Fuhrer on horseback, in crusader's armor, and carrying the

swastika banner.^

Having established that Eich imbues Carleton with such heroic traits and indeed emphasizes the researcher's mystical

attachment to the soil,.we arrive at an impasse caused by the lack of extant text from the radio play's other parts. To

say the least, the above parallels to Nazi cultural trends

raise important questions about "Weizenkantate"--questions, however, which cannot be adequately answered with the infor mation available. We know nothing, for example, about the

conclusion of "Vom Glttck und Untergang eines Menschen," where

Eich must have treated the ironic circumstances of Carleton's 167 death. Did the same heroic pathos evident in the above frag ment play a significant role here as well? This would be im portant for determining how Eich made the transition to the broadcast's subsequent parts which deal with the negative side of Carleton8s innovation. The plot summary, which is cited above (pages 163-6^), indicates only that in "Vom Uber- flui3," the second part of the entire broadcast, Eich adhered to Benn's version of the disastrous side effects caused by the Kharkov wheat boom.

"Weizenkantate®s" third and final part, "Von der

Schuld," was apparently its most original and imaginative portion, since the summary shows that Eich went beyond the scope of Benn's essay. Whereas Benn does not render any final judgment-on Carleton, Eich uses the radio medium's ability to transcend time and space to depict Carleton's "super terrestrial trial." In an "afterworld court," which might have been similar to the setting in Brecht's Verhor des Lu- kullus (1938), jobless farmhands and ruined wheat farmers, all victims of the short-lived Kharkov boom, come back to testify against Carleton for his having made them "superflu ous in the world." But it is not these people who condemn the dedicated researcher; Carleton finds himself guilty after 10 reflecting on the broader implications of his project.

It seems very likely that Carleton's "trial" constituted the heart of "Weizenkantate," that in this part Eich evalu ated Carleton's work and the entire Kharkov phenomenon ac cording to the principles he stated in the introduction. 168

Obviously the manner in which Carleton, who appears in the fragment of part I as a kind of Blut-und-Boden crusader, was transformed into a transgressor of the natural order could have serious ideological implications.

Although there are no further details about the nonextant conclusion of "Weizenkantate," we are fortunate to have some indications of how Eich's condemnation of Carleton was received in Nazi' circles. One commentator, who views matters strictly from an ideological standpoint, takes great offense at the guilty verdict. He believes that the wrong party has been damned, that the inadequacies of the American capitalist system and not Carleton should be blamed for the misery that came from the wheat overproduction. Apparently influenced by Carleton8s "noble" image in the first part, the commenta tor sympathizes completely with the Faustian striving of this selfless idealist:

Dieser Schlu/3 ist inhaltlich leider durchaus unbefrie- digend. Ein Mensch, der wie Carleton uneigenntitzig das Beste fttr seine Mitmenschen gewollt hat, kann auch dann nicht schuldig gesprochen werden, wenn sein Schaffen zum Unsegen ausschlSgt, und zwar infolge der Unvollkommen- heit eines Wirtschaftssystems, das in seiner grofikapita- listischen Einseitigkeit der Lage nicht gewachsen ist. Und Gott werden wir in diesem Fall auf der Seite dessen suchen, der sich strebend bemtlht hatill

Such support for Carleton8 s altruism causes Wtirffel to venture the cautious speculation that Nazi critics might have been sensitive to the discrepancy between the heroic depic tion of Carleton at the radio play's onset and the condemna tion of the researcher's efforts at the conclusion. Was Eich putting Nazism's collective-oriented ideals in question? And 169 in a .similar vein, Wttrffel believes that Eich's first two statements against material progress in the introduction could have been criticism of Nazi programs to combat unemployment and to revitalize the German economy. But at the same time he claims that Eich's nature mysticism, which is quite evi dent in the fragment, was in keeping with Nazi ideology and 12 therefore counterbalanced the play's critical aspects.

Without the complete text of "Weizenkantate" it is impossible to weigh the work's various aspects according to their compatibility with Nazism and to determine its overall

"acceptability" in the eyes of Nazi critics. Wttrffel none theless assumes, with justification, that Eich's play was not intended to be overtly critical of the regime and was 13 purposely ambiguous in its message. That the work was allowed to be broadcast ovqr Nazi Germany's strictly control led airwaves in the first place lends support to his assump tion. Moreover, there was a single rebroadcast of "Weizenkan tate" (Deutschlandsender; July 7, 1939), which— although not an indication of the play's success— was at a significant moment, namely in the crucial weeks preceding World War II,

Had there been any obvious criticism of Nazi ideals in Eich's work, this second broadcast would not have occurred.

While it is apparent that "Weizenkantate" was not con troversial enough to warrant an outright ban, one can ascer tain from its text fragment and from the commentary cited above why Eich's basic approach to Carleton's story would have disturbed many Nazis. Rather than portraying Carleton as a "martyr of America's unjust capitalist system," which this first commentator obviously would have preferred, Eich uses the negative consequences of Carleton's work to rein force a pessimistic view of modern civilization as a whole„

He makes this clear in his play's introductory statements which emphasize the universal implications of Carleton®s biography: "„ . . Wer sich unterfangt, unser Dasein zu verbessern . . . mufl sich dabei im Gegensatz zu den MSchten der

Natur befinden. . . . Unserm Fortschritt fehlt es an Reli gion. Er lost die Materie aus ihrer innigen Verbindung mit dem Ganzen des Lebens. . . (II, 6l; italics added)0

Wttrffel singles out precisely these statements as the ones most compatible with the Blut-und-Boden ideology, but they j_k are actually much more controversial. While on the surface

Eich's statements do reflect the "anti-civilization," ana chronistic tendency promoted by Nazi art, they also introduce a metaphysical element which has implications that run counter to the Blut-und-Boden ideology's function in Nazi propaganda.

The pronounced sense of hopelessness in Eich's message of the futility and misdirection of human progress could only have been disquieting to those who believed that National

Socialism was the solution to all of Germany's problems.

It seems very likely that this sense of despair was what prompted the nebulous term Problematik, with which an other commentator describes the most objectionable aspects of

"Weizenkantate" and especially of the subsequent "F&hrten in 171 der Pr&rie." Published in the Volkischer Beobachter, this commentary gives an important perspective on Eich's broad casts, and one must therefore take notice of the manner in which these two radio, plays are criticizedo "Weizenkantate," which is summarily rejected due to its Problematik, apparent ly began a "deviant" trend in Eich's writing that continued in "FShrten in der PrSrie":

Gttnther CsicU Eich ist ein guter Dichter, der zugleich mit den Voraussetzungen eines funkgerechten H6*r- spiels vertraut ist. Seine Sendungen sind kleine Funk- ereignisse, die sich aus dem ttblichen Tagesprogramm herausheben. Wenn wir seine Dichtungen besonders kri- tisch werten, so tun wir das in der Erwartung, dafi Gttnther Eich mit noch mehr Sorgfalt an seine Arbeit geht und der Htfrerschaft eines Tages ein Werk hinsetzt, das nicht nur dichterisch, sondern auch problematisch abge- rundet ist. Auf das Problematische legen wir die Betonung. Wir mufiten sein letztes Httrspiel (Weizenkantate, Deutschland- sender), das dichterisch hervorragend war, wegen der Problematik ablehnen. Obgleich die Problematik in der neuesten Sendung von Gttnther Eich einleuchtet und die tieferen Grttnde des Unterganges der roten Rasse aufzeigt, hort man doch, al- lerdings nach sehr kritischen Erwggungen, dafi hier die SchwSche des Dichters liegt. Gttnther Eich versteht es ausgezeichnet, Milieu und Atmosphere einzufangen, Figuren in sie hineinzustellen, die in Sprache und Handeln echt, wirklich echt sind. Alles ist kristallisierte Dichtung. Sobald aber die Figuren mit den Problemen in Bertthrung kommen, leben sie nicht mehr„ Nein, sie beginnen zu reflektieren, und mit dem organischen Wachstum der Dich tung ist es aus. Sie wirkt auf einmal gewollt und er- starrt trotz kleiner als Auflockerung hinzugegebener Lyrismen. , . .15

This positive reception of Eich's earlier broadcasts, in particular the KWL series, vouches for the sincerity of this commentator's opening compliments about Eich's talent as a radio writer,, Despite the diplomatic wording, however, the "helpful suggestions" as to how Eich could improve his 172 radio plays appear to be a warning that he seek more suitable subject matter. And as indicated by the criticism of Eich's figures' "reflection" and their confrontation with "problems," such "suitable subject matter" is the pre-industrial idyll from which Eich departed in "Weizenkantate" and "F&hrten in der PrSrie."

As is the case with most of Eich's broadcasts from the

Nazi years, textual difficulties complicate an investigation of the "problematical tendencies" in "FShrten in der PrSrie," the second in his trio of controversial radio plays. Here, though, the problem is not too little extant text, but too many versions of the same work, none of which can be authenti cated as the text of the 1936 and 1937 broadcasts. There are four versions of "F&hrten" in the Marbach Archive. The old est, which shall be referred to as Ms. A, is a forty-one page typed manuscript which can be traced back to the immediate post war years, since its type and format are identical with those of another manuscript, Eich's "Lustiges Lumpenpack," which has the notation "Geisenhausen 19^6." This postwar manu script of "Fahrten" was revised extensively for a rebroadcast by the NDR in 1959. Schwitzke's version was then edited once more before the broadcast; and this edited version, to gether with some minor changes that Eich added after the re broadcast, comprises the text which was published in his Ge- 1 f) sammelte Werke. 173 One must be very hesitant about relying on the published version of "Fahrten," since it is at least the third revision of the original broadcast. Furthermore, there is no way to determine with certainty whether Ms. A corresponds exactly to the original Nazi-era radio play. There is a precedent for such repetition in Eich's extant manuscripts (i.e. the two versions of "Lustiges Lumpenpack" in Marbach: the one mimeographed by the Deutschlandsender studio for the original performance in 1934, and the Geisenhausen manuscript, which 17 was typed verbatim from the former version). But in the case of "FShrten" the 1936 program listing does not contain enough information to make a positive confirmation. While listing all the main characters who appear later in Ms. A, it shows variations in the scenes' number, sequence, and con-■ tents:

Beim Bau der Kansas-Nevada-Railways; Das Reich der roten Manner; Feuerwasser; Der gefesselte Old Shatterhand; Ein Dichter sieht in den Flu 13; Die Bruderschaft vom roten Tomahawk: Brtfcke ■fiber den Swallow-River; Zukttnftige Gotter.18

Schwitzke contributes further to the controversy about the original version of "F&hrten" by implying that Eich did not write Ms. A (III, 1413). Schwitzke nevertheless consi ders poems in Ms. A, which are' not in any of the other ver sions, to be from the original broadcast text (I, 421-22).

Because of the obscurity surrounding the original text, the discussion of "FShrten" as a Nazi-era broadcast remains tentative. With due reservations, Ms. A will be considered to be the text closest to the original radio play and will 174 be the prime source for all quotes, since it is the extant version which was reworked the least in the postwar years.

"FShrten" is derived from material by Karl May, but Eich did not work from any one May title. Using characters and cliches from May’s conception of the American Wild West, he wrote his broadcast in May’s style. His figures are bigger than life, as May’s had been, and the line is clearly drawn between the good and evil parties. The radio play’s vil lain is the engineer Shirwood, a brutally rational and unscru pulous strategist, who is willing to employ any means to com plete the construction of a railroad bridge that will bring the tracks and white civilization into Indian lands. He is opposed by May’s noble Apache chief Winnetou, who, together with his loyal companion Old Shatterhand, embodies positive, heroic values. They have to content not only with Shirwood, but also with the Apaches’ traditional enemies, the Comanches, whom Shirwood bribes with rifles and whiskey to defend the railroad's interests. Ultimately, the effect of "firewater" on the Indians and the traditional animosities between the tribes work in Shirwood®s favor. Although Winnetou and a few select Apache braves do manage to dynamite the bridge, they kill themselves in the act, and their "victory" is brief.

A new bridge is built and white settlers take over the Indian territories.

The fact that Eich adapted "FShrten" from Karl May's works is in itself one of the radio play's controversial as pects. On the one hand, May was one of Hitler's favorite 175 19 authors and, as Speer recollects, he remained so to the end.

On the other hand, May was officially classified as an "unac ceptable" author and many of his works were attacked by Nazi critics, since his concept of the "noble savage" did not jibe 20 with Nazi racist policies. One of the most outspoken cri tics of works such as May’s was Will Vesper, who edited Die neue Literatur, a journal which reflected the Nazi doctrine0

According to Vesper, the glorification of "non-Aryans" in literature had a detrimental effect on Germans’ "racial con sciousness" :

. o . Als Schwachung unseres eigenen Rasseninstinktes, unserer Rassengesundheit . . . mitssen wir jede senti- mentale gedankenlose oder masochistische Verherrlichung farbiger Rassen empfinden, ob es sich nun urn den ’armen Schwarzen8 oder den ’armen Indio8 oder den ’edlen In- dianer8 handelt. Schlufi machen mttssen wir mit aller weichlichen literarischen FarbigenschwSrmerei, ob es sich urn wissen- schaftliche, halbdichterische Werke, Unterhaltungslite- - ratur oder die langst tfberstSndige Indianerpoesie der Jugendbttcher handelt. Wir sind ein weifles Volk0 Wir sind das Kern- und Hauptvolk der weil3en Rasse. . . .21

Thus there is some justification for Wttrffel’s skepticism about Schwitzke8s claim that Eich had been contracted to write "Ftthrten" for the twenty-fifth anniversary of May’s 22 death on March 30, 1937, when the play was rebroadcast.

Had "FShrten" been written specifically as a tribute to May, it seems likely that original material by May would have been incorporated into the broadcast and that its premiere would have coincided with the anniversary of his death. Eich’s

"FShrten," however, was first broadcast on July 11, 1937» 23 some nine months earlier. 176

The problematical aspects of this radio play are by no means limited to May’s questionable status in the Third Reich.

The tendency Eich began in "Weizenkantate" is continued in

"F&hrten." Here, too, aspects of Nazi ideology are treated in a contradictory manner; and again it is possible that he consciously built in parallels to the situation within Nazi

Germany.

The broadcast’s ideological ambivalence is most striking in the clash between Shirwood and Winnetou, for both parties espouse philosophies that are compatible with Nazism. We see this in the adversaries® sole confrontation when the Comanches take Winnetou as prisoner. In his taunts to Winnetou,

Shirwood expresses his belief in racial/cultural Darwinism and in the notion that "might makes right." The emphasis on racism is particularly pronounced in the earliest extant ver sion of the broadcast, Ms. As

Shirwood; ®. . . Ihnen also geh&'rt dieses Land, meinen Sie? Sie sehen, es wird nicht mehr lange dauern und es gehort mir, es gehb'rt der Kansas-Nevada-Eisenbahn-Gesell- schaft, kurz und gut; Es gehb'rt der weissen Rasse. t o * ® 2^-

Winnetou then takes a heroic stance, which he backs up with nationalistic arguments that resemble tenets of the Blut-und-

Boden ideology:

Winnetou; ’Wir werden kgmpfen bis zum Untergang. . . . Immer wird die Sache siegen, die gerecht ist. . . . Wir kgmpfen ffir unsere Jagdgrunde, ftlr unsere WSlder, unsere Steppen.® (p. 18)25

The nobility of Winnetou®s cause is underscored by Shirwood®s cynical response. And here we have a good indication of the 177 play’s "problematical side," since Shirwood's racism is now

coupled with a materialistic attitude devoid of all senti ment, which could only have been interpreted negatively by

the listenersi

Shirwood; 'Und das nennen Sie Gerechtigkeit? Nein, das einzige Recht, was gilt, ist der Fortschritt. Eine Eisen- bahnschiene ist mehr wert als ein altes Geftthl.® (p. 18)

In reply to Winnetou®s question about what brought the white man to his lands, Shirwood formulates his "philosophy of material progress" in grandiose style. His speech of course bears a close semblance to the nineteenth-century be lief in "Manifest Destiny" which was used to justify the deci mation of American Indian tribes, but it also echoes the Nazi concept of the destiny of the "Master Race";

Shirwood; 'Nichts, Mister Winnetou, aber ich kb’nnte auch sagen; Die Geschichte, die Macht, die die Tempel von Ninive zerstb’rte, die tausendj&hrigen. Sie sehen ihren schwarzen Mantel ttber Karakorum und Babylon - die Macht, die V&'lker wegwischt wie Staub. Sie hat, Mister Winne tou, diesmal den Schatten ftlr Sie, fttr uns aber hellere Fahnen und brausende Musik. Im Krachen der Gewehre, im Rauschen der Lokomotiven sind schon die Instrumente ge? stimmt fttr die Feier unseres Sieges!® (p. 18; II, 79)

In Ms. A this was followed by further emphasis on racial

Darwinism and by Shirwood's self-righteousness: . Die

Zeit der pfeiltragenden Rassen ist vorttber. Dafl aber wir da sind, das allein bedeutet unser Recht. . . . (p. 19)•

Shirwood is right; he and the railroad do prevail. The

Apaches, and the Comanches as well, are killed off or driven from their lands. Such an outcome accords well with the Nazi ideology that the Caucasian race should triumph over the in ferior "redskins." But the entire concept of racial Darwinism 178 is put in question by the fact that it is championed by the radio play*s chief representative of the "superior race0" He is a despicable figure with no redeeming qualities, and the whites seem to win out for all the wrong reasons,

Winnetou, in contrast, is a flawless figure. In fact, one of "F£hrten9s" "problems" in the eyes of the commentator for the V&'lkischer Beobachter might have been that Eich de picts this "savage" too positively, gives him— as May had done in the novels— too many "Germanic" qualities. It ap pears that Eich went so far as to make Winnetou into a type of Fflhrer figure, by having this Indian chief exhibit many of the leadership qualities the Nazis admired. The most in triguing example of this is found in the following passage from Ms. A, Winnetou9s call for the divided Indian tribes to unite as one nation against the "palefaces" has a resem blance to the famous Nazi slogan "ein Volk, ein Reich, ein

Ftthrer" and seems to be more than accidental;

Winnetou: 9„ , . Die Macht der Bleichgesichter ist gross geworden, aber es gibt keine Macht, vor der die roten MSnner Furcht haben k&'nnen, wenn sie zusammenstehen, Geht also ihr meine GefShrten, wie ich selbst, in die WSlder zu den Wigwams der H&uptlinge, das Calumet zu rauchen und sagt, dafl alle Rothaute ein Volk sein wollen und eine Schar von Kriegern, Hugh, ich habe gesprochen.9 (p. 8; the italics are contained in the manuscript.)

Just before embarking on the suicide mission to blow up

Shirwood9s bridge, Winnetou reiterates his call for unity among the warring tribes, and here he acts as the ideal 27 leader. He is aware that he will probably die in the ini tial attack but is prepared to do so, since he believes that 179

his "martyrdom" might be the catalyst which will unify the

Indian Nation against the invasion by white settlers:

Winnetou: *Auch wir werden einmal alle zusammen sein: Comanchen und Navajos, Delawaren und Apachen - vergessen alle Fehden und alle Rache, vereint sind wir dann im gleichen Kriegsgeschrei und gegen den einzigen Feind. . . . Winnetou vielleicht ist dann schon tot. Aber es konnte sein, daG sein Sterben die roten Brttder geweckt hat wie die brennende Mauer die Schlttfer. In jeder Schlacht wird er mit seinen Getreuen sein. „ . „9 (p. 3^; II, 87)

Winnetou concludes his second speech with a fanatical descrip

tion of how this battle between the races will continue even

after death

'Noch nach dem Tod werden sie nicht Ruhe finden. Schat- ten um Schatten werden sie in das Brausen der Schlachten eilen, die Lebenden anzufeuern mit dem m&chtigen Kriegs- ruf der Toten. Wir werden unztthlbar, wenn wir uns vereinen.9 (p. 3^1 H » 87)

Wttrffel observes that Winnetou9s glorification of his

own death was completely in keeping with the heroic cult pro- 29 moted during the Third Reich. Indeed Winnetou9s belief

that the dead from the first battle with Shirwood will remain

as a "living inspiration" for future warriors is quite remi

niscent of the Nazis9 "deification" of their fallen comrades

from the early days of the National Socialist "Revolution."-^0

Nazi critics were most likely displeased by these fea

tures in Winnetou9s characterization, since tney made the

Indian chief into a paradoxical figure from the perspective

of Nazi ideology. On the one hand, it was not appropriate

that a member of an inferior race should prove to be such an

impeccable hero. On the other, it was just as inappropriate

that a cause espoused by anyone so noble and valorous as 180

Winnetou should he defeated hy such an unworthy opponent as the treacherous Shirwood, even though the concept of racial

Darwinism dictates that the Indians he vanquished hy the wave of European emigration.

Eich raises further questions ahout the concept of ra cial superiority and the benefits of modern civilization in the observations made hy one of his play’s most interesting characters, "the poet" Patt, a dejected drunk in Shirwood®s employ. Between shots of whiskey, Patt laments the destruc tion of the Indian culture, one which existed in harmony with the natural realm. The white man's culture, in contrast, is characterized by the interest in exploiting nature for the sake of profit. Eich’s nature lyrics are clearly the source of Patt’s sentiments, and there are many similarities to what we found in the KWL seriess

Patt s 9. . . Die Schienen fressen sich weiter in die Wilder und in die Savannen. Wo jetzt die Wigwams der Roten stehen, kann man Eislimonade kaufen. Aus den Ber gen zieht man Erze und aus den WSldern Holz. Die Jagd- grttnde Manitus werden ein Posten in der Bilanz Mister Vanderbilts. Bahnhofe, Gruhen und Schornsteines erste Wahrzeichen der Kultur. Ach, . . . die Welt wird lang- weilig. Sie sterhen aus, die DSmonen der WSlder, der Rausch der wilden Fltfsse verehbt im gefassten Bett, Siegestanze und Orgien von Blut - alles hin, alles vergessen, alle RSusche der V6alker und es bleibt nichts als ein Whisky fftr den Einzelnen, Prostl9 (p. 21; II, 79-80)

In addition to Patt’s pessimistic view of modern civili zation, it is possible to find a more general aspect of

"FShrten’s" Problematik. One wonders to what extent the play’s American setting prevented the German audience from associating the negative consequences of Shirwood’s railroad with Hitler's massive technological undertaking at the times

the Reichsautobahn. Since the onset of actual road construc

tion on September 23» 1933* this project was accompanied by

a large-scale propaganda campaign which emphasized that the

Autobahn's practical purpose as a transportation network was

outweighed by its significance as a symbol of the "new Ger- 31 many" and as an "Ausdruck deutschen Wesens. Nierentz and

Hagen celebrated the early stages of the Autobahn in their

"Stunde der Nation" broadcast "Wir bauen eine Strafie" (1933);

and Reichsautobahn construction scenes were frequent themes 32 of Nazi artworks until the war. It is therefore signifi

cant that "FShrten" had its premiere broadcast just at the

time Autobahn bridges constructed in the monumental style of

Nazi architecture were being completed, such as the one at

Rohrbachtal near Stuttgart (1936), or nearing completion,

such as the Danube bridge near Ulm and the Saale bridge near

Jena. 33 ^ As a consequence, "F&hrten" appears to be similar

to "Weizenkantate," since there is more to the play than its

Karl May story. While the broadcast's ostensible focus is on a negative aspect of America's development, Eich touches on broader issues which could as easily be pertinent to his im mediate environment. The parallel between Shirwood's rail road and the Autobahn could only be a subtle one— one which

Germans might have made only subconsciously— but it neverthe less could have contributed to the general sense of dissatis faction which Nazi critics expressed about "FShrten." It is also possible to find in this play pertinence not only to general developments in Hitler's Germany, but to

Eich's personal situation as well. "F&hrten" was first in terpreted in light of Eich's biography by Schafroth, who sug gests a parallel between the dejected poet Patt and Eich during his alleged "lyrical crisis in the 1930*s."^ This hypo- 3^ thesis is developed further in D&’hl's observations. Both critics believe that Eich depicted this figure of the "Dichter in a satirical light to make a poetological statement, to reject the mode of existence Patt represents. Such satire is evident in a scene where Patt's "lyrics" are being, per formed by Kitty, a saloon whore, while Shirwood’s laborers taunt the inebriated "poet"!

1. Arbeiter! ®- Der Dichter -® 2. Arbeiter! 'Hast wohl schon wieder 'n neuen Song, geschrieben, den du Kitty ins O'hr fltlstem willstl ' 3. Arbeiter! 'Was ihr euch von Patt denkt! Kann auch weiter nichts als Schnaps saufen.* Patti 'Vor 20 Jahr-en, meine Herren, war ich die Hoff- nung der amerikanischen Literatur, ein neuer Longfellow, - aber davon versteht ihr ja nichts, ihr SSue. Kitty, gib mir 'n Whisky.® 1. Arbeiter! 'Lasst ihn doch, er ist schon besoffen.' 2. Arbeiter! 'Der Schnaps hat die Hoffnung Amerikas vernichtet.® (p. 9; II, 73)

Viewing Patt as a caricature of a poet and, by implication, of Eich's perception of himself as a lyric poet, Schafroth and Dohl believe that Eich was implying that Patt's verse

— and thus by extension— his own too were no longer relevant to the times. They find a connection between Shirwood®s bru tal destruction of the Indian culture and the brutality which prevailed under the Nazi regime. And Patt, who as a response to this brutality has degenerated to alcoholism, consorts with prostitutes, and now composes verse for an un appreciative audience, suggests that barbaric societies have no place for lyric poets. This negative depiction of a wri ter is interpreted by Schafroth and D6*hl as Eich's explana tion— in lieu of any formal statement— of why he wrote very few lyrics during the Third Reich.

As we shall see in the following chapter, recent re search has refuted the notion that Eich was completely unpro ductive as a lyric poet during the Nazi years, and this puts part of Schafroth's and D6*hl's interpretation into question.

But their assumption that Patt was a type of self-portrait is supported by this figure's role. Ms. A, in particular, contains several indications of a parallel between Patt's relationship to Shirwood and what might well have been Eich' perception of his own working relationship with the Nazi re gime. In the play Patt and Kitty function as intermediary figures in the conflict between good and evil. Their com ments show that they are clearly aware of Shirwood's treach erous intentions, and yet they make no active attempt to thwart his plans to destroy the Indian culture. Instead, however reluctantly, they work to further Shirwood's ends.

Did Eich not have a similar role as an allegedly "apolitical writer who rejected the Nazi ideology but nevertheless con tinued to work for the Nazi radio system? One wonders whe ther the following ambivalent statement by Patt about his 184

"Boss" might not also reflect Eich's own attitude towards

Hitler and the Nazi regime: "'Feldherr Shirwoodl Ich bewun- dere ihn, ohwohl ich ihn verahscheue! Schachspieler Shirwoodl

. . (p. 21)

Another aspect in Patt's characterization which has a possible parallel to Eich's situation under Nazism is the despair pervading Patt's every statement. He is the charac ter most aware of the sinister nature of Shirwood*s undertak ing; but in accordance with his fatalistic view of the con frontation between Winnetou and the railroad, he is resigned to Shirwood*s victory. For Patt, the extinction of the In dians' way of life has been pre-determined, and nothing can alter it. It therefore makes no difference that for the sake of convenience he is working on. Shirwood®s side. As the "Dichter," Patt assumes the role of passive observer.

Impotent to change matters, as he believes he is, Patt com poses melancholy lyrics which praise the dying Indian culture.

What remains is the question of guilt, one of the major components of Patt's despair. This is expressed most clearly in a song he wrote for Kitty, which appears only in Ms. A where it opens a saloon scene:

Kitty singt: 'Sie sagen mir, dafi ich schb'n bin, sie sagen mir, was ich ftlr Augen habe, • sie sagen mir, wie ich ISchle, sie sagen mir, daf3 ich die einzige bin. Und sie bitten und sie drohen und sie schwdren und sie sagen auch, sie schenken mir die Welt. Und sie sagen mir, ich mttfite sie erhoren und wenn nicht aus Liebe, dann urn Geld. 185

Wie soli ich mich bewahren, - die Welt ist zu gemein. Es welkt in kurzen Jahren der Glanz in Aug und Haaren und das Herz bleibt nicht ewig rein. Ich sage ihnen, dal3 ich nicht s c h d n sein will, ich sage ihnen, daft meine Augen hSftlich sind, ich sage ihnen, daft ich nicht mehr IMcheln will, ich sage ihnen, daft viele Frauen auf der Welt sind. Und sie kftnnten, wenn sie wollten, gehen nur zwei Schritte weit, da w3r die TUr. Und ich kann mich selber nicht verstehen und kann nichts dafttr. Wie soil ich mich bewahren, - die Welt ist zu gemein. Es welkt in kurzen Jahren der Glanz in Aug und Haaren und das Herz bleibt nicht ewig rein.' (p. 9; I» 214-15)

The refrain of this "whore's lament" has possible relevance beyond Kitty's and Patt's relationship to Shirwood; for these lines sum up the underlying message of pessimism, despair and resignation in the trio of radio plays treated in this chap ter: "Wie soil ich mich bewahren, -/ die Welt ist zu gemein./

. . ./ und das Herz bleibt nicht ewig rein." There is not only a sense of guilt implicit in the song, but also an apol ogy for the compromises necessary for survival; and it is pos sible to see here a correspondence between Eich's perception of his own role during the Nazi era and Patt's and Kitty's resignation in the face of an evil larger than themselves.

After all, the basic tenet of the author's philosophy is the unchangeability of mankind's alienation from nature. And as we saw in "Weizenkantate," the evils and injustices in modern civilization were attributed directly to this alienation.

Would Nazism not appear in this context as another— perhaps 186 inevitable— outgrowth of this development? If Eich in fact viewed the Nazi regime from this perspective, it would give us some insight into why Eich behaved as he did during Hitler’s

reign, why he decided to work for the Nazi-controlled radio

system, despite his alleged opposition to the Nazi regime®

We should not forget, however, that in addition to the

apologetic tone of Kitty’s song there is an element of bitter

self-criticism, since the words come . *. and not by accident

from the mouth of a saloon whore. Eich’s association of

Patt's— and by extension his own— role with Kitty's profes

sion seems to be quite deliberate, as an allusion to the poet’s

"prostitution." And this allusion to the concept of the poet as prostitute in a barbaric society then provides a link between "FShrten" and the next play "Radium," in which Eich’s criticism of the "collaborator-poet" is even more pointed.

The poet’s role in the context of modern civilization is a central theme in "Radium," the final broadcast in Eich’s

trio of ambivalent works. Questions raised in the preceding radio plays about individual heroism and resistance are again

taken up and treated in such a way that "Radium" appears

to have been Eich's most controversial broadcast over the

Nazi airwaves.

As with "Fahrten," source material Eich used for "Ra dium" contributed to the play's "unacceptability." The

source in this case was the novel Radium by Rudolf Brunngraber, an author whom the Nazis did not consider to be "desirable." 187

While the novel was not banned in the Third Reich, an earlier novel by Brunngraber about post-World War I economic prob lems, Karl und das zwanzigste Jahrhundert (1933) appeared on the Yerbotsliste; and in 1937 the writer was given a negative rating in Alfred Rosenberg's political evaluation of the oQ year's publications (Jahresgutachtenanzeiger).D For the duration of Hitler's rule Brunngraber remained in a precari ous situation, falling in and out of grace with Nazi cultural politicians.-^ The lukewarm reception of Eich's broadcast, as well as its single performance during the Third Reich, might well have resulted, at least in part, from Brunngraber's 2^0 questionable status.

As "Radium's" subtitles "Nach Motiven des Romans von

Rudolf Brunngraber" indicates, Eich's play is not simply a dramatization of Brunngraber's novel, but a reworking of the material. Not only did Eich manage to distill into a sixty- minute broadcast the essence of Brunngraber's 350-page epic treating four family histories, but he also added his own perspective, emphasizing and developing those themes that would convey his philosophical views.

One important variation upon the original is Eich's characterization of the novel's main protagonists: the ideal istic English physician and cancer researcher George Purvis and his adversary Pierre Cynac, a Belgian tycoon whose ambi tion is to control the world radium market. In the novel there is depth to their personalities. Fluctuating between 188 alcoholism and morphine addiction, Purvis has a darker side which puts his noble intentions in question. Similarly,

Cynac is not a totally reprehensible figure; there is a hu mane side to him, which comes out at the end of the novel.

The antagonistic relationship between these figures is fur ther complicated by ties between their brothers! Francis

Purvis and Gaston Cynac. Eich eliminates the latter figures entirely and simplifies the relationship between the main protagonists to the point that there is the same, clear-cut conflict between representatives of "good" and "evil" as we saw in "F&hrten."

In the radio play, Cynac"s goal is clear; radium is his means of realizing dreams of economic power, as he states:

"'Weltherrschaft, Weltherrschaft. Sinn meines Lebens.0"

(II, 104). These words are immediately followed by lines re cited by a chorus of "radium prospectors" in the choric style of "Weizenkantate" (or "Die Nacht der Toten"!). They empha size that radium producers such as Cynac are only interested in profits, not in the medical benefits of radiation therapy:

'Damit du es nur genau weifit: Uns sind die Krankheiten der Menschen gleichgtiltig. Wichtig dagegen ist, dai3 uns das Radium eine Masse Geld einbringt. Darum hungem und dttrsten und graben wir in Queensland und Turkestan, in den Talern von Colorado, in Cornwall und Madagaskar.8 (II, 105)

Purvis represents the opposite type of person. He uses his entire inherited wealth to establish a research clinic for treating cancer with radium. But his efforts are 189 severely limited "by the astronomical prices set by the radium producers, and in order to maintain his clinic, he has to charge so much for treatments that only the rich can afford to be cured.

The manner in- which Purvis expresses his frustration at the tactics of the radium producers is familiar. He uses the same belligerent vocabulary found in "Weizenkantate." Like

Carleton, he wants to do battle— this time against the "plague of the twentieth century," cancer:

’Mit grofien Hoffnungen begann ich, der letzten Seuche der Menschheit wollte ich Kampf an- sagen, - aber wie weit geht in Wahrheit meine Macht? Einigen Reichen kann ich Linderung schaffen,

• 0 0 0 0 Die Armen mttssen sterben, weil sonst die Produzenten ihre Kosten nicht decken. Das ist es, was mich bedrflckt. Mich interessiert nicht Lord Blackpool und Lady Riverside, auch bin ich kein tr&nenseliger Apostel des soziali- stischen Mitleids, aber mein Ehrgeiz ist es, den Radiumwucherem aus den HSnden die Macht zu entreiflen, den Kaufleuten, die den Kampf sabotieren, den Kampf gegen die Seuche unseres Jahrhunderts. . . . (II, 115)

The narrator’s attitude towards Purvis’ simultaneous bat tle against cancer and the radium speculators who hinder him also shows an affinity to the treatment of Carleton’s ambi tious project in the earlier radio play. Just as "Weizenkan- tate’s" introductory statements stressed that nature was against Carleton, at the beginning of "Radium" a narrator ex presses doubt that Purvis will succeed with his idealistic plan: 190

8 Ich bin skeptisch gegen solche Plane. Der idealistische Herr Purvis scheint mir etwas zu hoch zu greifen, sowohl was die Menge des Radiums wie die Beglttckung der Menschheit betrifft. Wir wollen, ehe wir den Lorbeer pflftcken und den Marmor ftlr das Denkmal bestellen, abwarten, ob sich die Welt durch Herrn Purvis wesentlich vergndert.9 (II, 107)

The narrator8s skepticism is warranted, for Purvis suffers a fate similar to that of all the positive heroes in Eich8s ambivalent radio plays. His project does not turn into the catastrophe that Carleton9s did, nor does he die a wholly fu tile death as does Winnetou, but just when he is at the peak of his research to replace expensive radium therapy with cheaper X-ray treatments, he is murdered by one of Cynac8s employees. Although there is a glint of hope that Purvis8 work will be continued and will eventually prevail, the capi talist power structure is still intact at the radio play8s end. As in "Fahrten," the forces of evil retain the upper hand.

A further similarity to "FShrten" is found in the figure of Chabanais, one of Eich8s additions to the original story and one of the play8s most interesting characters. Chabanais is an unemployed poet who is desperately trying to earn enough money with his writing that he can pay for his wife8s cancer treatment, and in his efforts to get ahead he becomes impli cated in the conflict between Purvis and Cynac. There is thus a parallel to Patt, Eich9s other "poet." Critics have 191 interpreted both these fictional poets as Eich's means of conveying a poetological statement. There remains, however, considerable disagreement about the interpretation of Eich's message.

Richardson interprets Chabanais as Eich's reaffirmation of the principles stated in his response to Diebold ("Bemer- kungen tiber Lyrik" 1932): through the characterization of

Chabanais Eich rejects the concept that lyric poetry should have utilitarian purposes or relevance,, Schafroth and

Dohl have a different interpretation,, They believe that

Chabanais indicates a transition in Eich's stand on the pur pose and relevance of the type of poetry he was writing in the thirties.^2 Their claim is supported by a close analysis of Chabanais' role in the play, for here it is evident that

Eich is moving away from earlier views.

In his depiction of Chabanais, Eich again brings up an issue discussed in his earliest essays: the poet's accounta bility to the times in which he lives. In 1930 he had de clared the poet's right to remain aloof from the historical context: "... Und Verantwortung vor der Zeit? Nicht im geringsten. Nur vor mir selber" (IV, 387)° And again in

1932 he had stated the poet's right to autonomy: "... Der

Lyriker entscheidet sich fttr nichts, ihn interessiert nur sein Ich. . «" (IV, 389). In "Radium," he asks the question once more, but now— in 1937--it is apparent that he is no longer certain of his earlier stance. 192

We see such questioning of the poet's role in two scenes involving Chabanais, where Eich emphasizes the discrepancy between the poet's lyrics and his immediate environment.,

In the first, Chabanais approaches a newspaper editor with a new poem he hopes to sell. His "Hymnus an den Frfthling" is an obvious caricature of traditional nature lyrics and is rejected by the editor as irrelevant to his readers: "Wir konnen unsern Lesem nicht schon wieder Verse zumuten. . . 0

Ein Wahnsinn wSre es. Kein Mensch interessiert sich ftlr den

Fruhling" (II, 101). The editor points out the discrepancy between such "odes to eternal nature" and Chabanais9 own un fortunate situation, when the latter explains that he needs the money for his wife's medical expenses:

Chabanais: 'Meine Frau ist krank. Ich kann den Arzt nicht bezahlen.' Redakteur: “Sehen Sie, und dann besingen Sie den Frtth- ling!' (II, 101)

In the second scene Chabanais confronts another poet, a dilettante who is the receptionist in a private cancer clinic.

Totally oblivious to the death and suffering that surrounds him at his workplace, he flirts with the nurses and composes trite verses about his unrequited love. By juxtaposing the receptionist's work and dilettantism, Eich creates a grotesque effect; and there can be no question that he means to cast the dilettante's indifference to the tragic reality of the clinic in an absurd light:

Pfortner singt vor sich hin: 'Ihr Hemd ist isabellfarben sie sprach zu mir: Ich liebe dich! 193

Doch jener Sommer ist vergangen, wo es nur uns gabs dich und mich. — Er notiert. Nr. 7 gestorben. Brustkrebs. . .' (II, 109) Chabanais arrives at the clinic hoping to secure radia tion treatments for his wife, but is turned away by the astro nomical fees. The receptionist offers him a cynical explana tion of the economics of radium production and its conse quences for the treatment of cancer victims: for Chabanais* wife, her family's poverty means her death sentence. Unmoved by Chabanais* desperate situation, the receptionist then re

turns to his sentimental lyrics. The coincidence that he

should now fantasize, about his lover's "snow-white bosom" after having just noted a fatality due to breast cancer illus

trates the callousness of this dilettante's "detachment":

PfSrtner: 'Ich will es nochmal versuchen, Ihnen zu er- klSren. Sehen Sie, es gibt Kranke mit Geld und ohne Geld. ..o' Er summt vor sich„ 'Ihr Hemd war isabellfarben doch ihre Brust, die war schneeweifl, - lafit mich gedenken jener Tage und unsrer Ktfsse viel und hei/3 -' (II, 110-11)

In his frantic efforts to earn enough money to save his wife, Chabanais changes his attitude about his "nature lyrics," and here Eich treats the question of the poet's accountabili ty to society in profound manner. To make his poems more marketable, Chabanais follows the editor's advice and abandons his odes to "eternal nature" in favor of lyrics about rele vant subjects, such as radium: 19^

Redakteur: *. . . wenn Sie mir eine Hymne auf das Radium brSchten, wSren Ihre Chancen griJBer. Der Griff in die Zeit, das ist es, was wir brauchen. Was geht uns die Ewigkeit an?' (II, 101)^3

Chabanais writes an optimistic "Hymn to Radium" which is published, and this encourages him to go further in the process of "adapting" his lyrics to suit others„ The ulti mate step is taken when he applies for a position as one of

Cynac's Propagandaleute„ He is willing to comply with all the conditions of employment, even though Cynac makes it clear that he will be expected to compromise his artistic in tegrity in order to promote the Belgian radium industry:

Cynac: 9. „ . Ich habe Ihre Radiumhymnen gelesen, sie sind brauchbar0 Freilich mttoten Sie aus dem Allgemeinen mehr ins Einzelne gehen„ Yokabeln wie Antwerpen ko'nnten vorsichtig angewendet werden. „ . „ Denken Sie schon jetzt darWber nach, wie Sie unsere Werkanlagen eindrucks- voll besingen kb’nnen, die zum Wohl der leidenden Mensch- heit geschaffen wurden. . » .9 Chabanais: BIch verstehe vollkommen,9 (II, 112)

In German the term Propaganda is, of course, more ambi guous than it is in English,, It means commercial advertis ing as well as political propaganda, and Cynac9s people obvi ously serve the former purpose. Yet in a land with an offi cial Reichsministerium fffr Volksaufklgrung und Propaganda it seems impossible that one could use the term without also implying its political connotation. It is therefore likely that Eich intended a not so subtle parallel between Chabanais9 situation and that of authors under Nazism who also "adapted" their writing to serve "propagandists" purposes. And in view of what we know about Eich9s own writing during the 195

Third Reich, this parallel introduces the possibility that

this desperate young poet actually has some autobiographical

features. It seems to be more than coincidental that there

is a great similarity in the names of Chabanais® terminally

ill wife Elisa, who is another of Eich®s additions to the

original plot, and of Eich's first wife Else, whom he married

sometime in 1937 during the conception of "Radium."

In "FShrten" we found suggestions of a parallel between

the poet Patt and Eich®s own situation under the Nazis, and in many respects Chabanais serves as a restatement of what

Patt signified. The important difference is that in "Radium" there is more emphasis on the artist’s collaboration. Unlike

Patt, who served Shirwood in some undefined but non-literary capacity, Chabanais actively devotes his writing talents to

Cynac®s "propaganda department," and serves as this capital ist's "Hausdichter" (II, 126). The gravity of this "crime" in Eich's eyes might be implicit in the name he gives his characters in everyday French the word Chabanais means ®bor- h-h- dello' or 'scandal.' Either word would be a fitting commen tary on what Chabanais has to do to earn his money. We al ready noted the allusion to the poet's "prostitution" in

"FShrten"; here it is even more immediate. What Patt and

Kitty symbolized as two persons is now encompassed in Chabanais alone.

During the Third Reich there were of course many. German authors who in varying degrees played a role like that of

Chabanais. The list would include notorious figures such as Hanns Johst, the senile Gerhart Hauptmann, as well as Martin

Raschke and Gttnter Eich. This final association has impor

tant implications for the interpretation of "Radium," since

several features in Eich's characterization of poet-figures in this play support the conjecture that he was again engag ing in self-criticism similar to what we found in "F£hrten0"

One needs only to turn to the KWL, to his "acceptable" adap tations or to "Die Schattenschlacht" for evidence that Eich too "adapted" his writing, emphasized Blut-und-Boden elements and chose "appropriate" themes in order to make his material more marketable during the Hitler regime„ And like the in- i different receptionist in the clinic, Eich wrote "innocuous" adaptations and radio plays about country idylls in the midst of all the brutality of the Nazi dictatorship,, Could these poet-figures in "Radium" then be Eich's cynical commentary about his own professional activity during the Third Reich?

This is certainly an intriguing question about Eich's past, but it must remain speculative, since it is now impossible to confirm whether Eich had indeed viewed his role in terms of these characterso Here one can only draw attention once again to the great discrepancy between Eich scant remarks in the postwar years about his Nazi-era biography, which contain no admission of wrongdoing, and the facts of his radio writing, which point to his complicity in Nazi cultural politics. Moreover, there is a limitation to the parallels between

Eich and Chabanais, for Chabanais' final transformation in his role as a poet has very few similarities with Eich's bio graphy,, Chabanais does not stagnate in his job for Cynac, but gains insight into the misdirection of his writing for the "propaganda department" and discovers the poet°s "true task." This occurs after a tragic accident in Cynac9s lumi nous dial factory, where seventeen young female employees unknowingly ingest a fatal dose of radium paint through their habit of sticking the brush in the mouth to form a fine tip.

All these teenage girls succumb to radium poisoning, and their deaths cause a national scandal. Their corpses, which will continue to glow for a thousand years due to the radium content, appear as a "divine message" to Chabanais, who now changes his mode of writing for Cynac*s publication.

Chabanais writes about the event "Die siebzehn leuchtenden

MSdchen," a poem combining elements from Brunngraber*s novel with Eich's own lyrical themes. Its statement of the message of human alienation and impending doom for modern civiliza tion is the strongest yet in this trio of radio plays:

2. Sprecher; Eines Tages, mitten im zwangzigsten Jahrhundert, da niemand mehr an ihn glaubte, offenbarte sich Gott in der belgischen Stadt Antwerpen. Ohne daB sein Name genannt wurde, las man von ihm in den Zeitungen und einige sagten, daB es um eine himmlische Mahnung sich handle. Denkt an die siebzehn leuchtenden M&dchen! 198

Mehrere Stimmeni Denkt an sie, damit keiner vergiflt, wie die Welt voll Sttnde und Bosheit istl

0 0 9 0 2. Sprecher: Schlecht verwalten wir, was die Erde uns gab, und geringe ist, denke ich, die Frist vor dem Untergango Schon gewahre ich den gleichen apokalyptischen Glanz in vielen Gesichtern und werde des himmlischen Z o m e s inne aus mancherlei Zeichen. Denkt an die siebzehn leuchtenden MSdchen! Mehrere Stimmen: Denkt an sie, damit keiner vergiftt, wie die Welt voll Sftnde und Bosheit isti (II, 123-2*0

"Die siebzehn ieuchtenden MSdchen" is a key poem in

several respects, since it sheds important light on Eich's ambivalent radio plays and their impact oh the Nazi radio sceneo The type of transition this poem marks in Chabanais® writing is similar to Eich's own brief departure from his mode of writing for the Nazi radio, which prevailed from 1933 to 19*1-0• This departure began with "Weizenkantate" and ended with "Radium." It does not seem fortuitous that Chabanais® verses reflect aspects of the preceding radio plays, such as

the pessimistic tone of Kitty's lament or "Weizenkantate®s" basic theme of man's inability to manage nature’s resources.

Nor does it seem coincidental that the poem is received in

Cynac®s propaganda department in much the same way Nazi cri tics received the premieres "of "Weizenkantate" and "FShrten," as discussed above (page 171). The editor of Cynac®s journal states that Chabanais® latest work represents a change for the worse: 199

Bauville: 'Sie waren bisher ein brauchbarer Propaganda- mann. Ihre freien Rhythmen ttber den Krebs, Ihre Sonette von den Uranbergwerken vervollstSndigen unsere Reklame nach dem Literarischen hin. Jetzt aber sind Ihre Nerven ttberreizt. . . . ' (II, 12^)

This affinity between Chabanais' and Eich's situations leads one to question whether the author is making a state ment through his character about making the perilous shift from "brauchbarer" to "unerwftnschter Autor" in the Third

Reich— a shift which Eich himself never dared to make0 Un like Chabanais, Eich never went so far as to oppose the goals of his "employer" in the works he made public. He came clo sest to "unacceptability" in this trio of radio plays, but in the broadcasts that followed he returned to more harmless themes, to medieval adaptations, and to light comedies, not to mention the KWL and MSrkischer Kalendermann series for which he continued to write throughout this periodo All in dications are that after "Radium's" sole performance in 1937

Eich worked even more diligently to fulfill the Nazis' expec- Ll< tations of a "good" radio author.

Eich's depiction of events after Chabanais wrote "Die siebzehn leuchtenden Madchen" might explain why the author did not go the route of his character, i.e., why Eich's own writing never crossed the threshold from ambivalence to overt antagonism towards the Nazi regime. In the first place, as biting as the social commentary in Chabanais' poem is, it has absolutely no effect on the unjust situation because it never reaches the public. Cynac*s censors eliminate the text from 200

their journal, replacing it with an advertisement: "SchSn- heit durch Radium" (II, 125). Their action could be inter preted as an allusion to Nazi Germany's notorious censorship system which made the attempt to publish any direct attack on the Hitler regime a futile, if not suicidal act, resulting only in brutal persecution of both the author and the pub lisher.^ The incid >.nt with Chabanais8 poem, then, might be interpreted as Eich's commentary on the futility of becoming an oppositional writer within the Third Reich0

Furthermore, Eich emphasizes here, as he did in "F£hrten," the apparent hopelessness of the struggle against a ruthless adversary such as Cynac. Like the poet Patt,

Chabanais undertakes no practical plan of resistance once the death of the seventeen girls makes him aware of the evils of the radium industry and once his poem is suppressed. Instead he chooses flight into the African jungle as an act of con trition for his collaboration. This form of escape is more effective than Patt8s alcoholism insofar as it ends Chabanais' work in Cynac's propaganda department. But in the discussion of his plans with Cynac's editor, Bauville, it becomes ap-

.parent that Chabanais' flight is also an act of desperation.

It is the poet's attempt to reverse the progress of technolo gy! Chabanais: 'In Antwerpen liegen jetzt Schiffe in der Dunkelheit. Vielleicht kSme man auf einem von ihnen ans Ziel.' Bauville: 'Ziel ist ein hochtrabendes Wort, da ftir uns alle nichts bleibt als die Flucht oder die verzweifelte Tat.' 201

Chabanais; 'Afrika, sage ich mir, wo man den Mantel ab- wirft und im Lendenschurz tanzt. Man ftthre den trSgen Kongo hinauf - UrwSlder und Steppen und die Berge, wo das Radium ruht. Ihm nahe zu sein, wo es noch unschul- dig ist, unbertthrt von menschlicher Hand. - 9 Bauvillet 'Ich bin darauf angewiesen, einige tausend Jahre menschlicher Geschichte zu berticksichtigen. 9 Chabanais; 'Vielleicht gentfgt es, ftlnfzig oder hundert Jahre zu leugnen,9 (II, 125)

"Radium" ends with Chabanais9 disappearance in the jungle in

terior of the Congo, and there is no indication whether he 1±7 will live or die.

Chabanais is, then, the final figure in this trio of ra dio plays who presents a way of responding to the evils of modern civilization,, Here, as in the previous plays, Eich's pessimistic attitude is most pronounced. Winnetou's futile death, Patt's resignation, and Chabanais9 "escape" with its

suicidal overtones are all founded on the premise that the situation is not to be changed and the individual is unable to have any meaningful effect. In each case the end result is despair. NOTES TO CHAPTER VII

•i SchSfer, "Die nichtfaschistische Literatur der 'jungen Generation,'" p, ^99# n. 129°

Gottfried Benn, Gesammelte Werke, ed. Dieter Wellers- - hoff (Wiesbadens Limes, 1959) > 1» 209-10.

^ Although the fact is not documented anywhere, Eich most certainly knew "Gebflhrt Carleton ein Denkmal?" since he, like many "Kolonne" writers, belonged to Benn8s following dur ing the late twenties and early thirties. In this period Eich and Raschke had frequent contact with Benn, according to Schafer; and Die Kolonne published several reviews of Benn's works, including one of his essay collection Fazit der Per- spektiven (1931)» which Eich wrote under the pseudonym Georg Winter, "Die Vermischung der Formen," Die Kolonne, 2, No. 2 (1931)i 23. Sch&fer gives a detailed overview of Benn's relationship to the "Kolonne" ins Horst Lange, Tagebttcher aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, ed. and notes by Hans Dieter Schgfer (Mainz: v. Hase & Koehler, 1979)» PP» 2^8-49, n, 136.

^ "'Die Weizenkantate®: Dichtung von Gtlnther Eich," Europastunde, 11, No. 27 (1939)? 13°

One finds a figure similar to Carleton in his almost ruthless dedication in Veit Harlan's film Das unsterbliche Herz (1938), which portrayed Peter Henlein, the inventor of the first pocket watch. As Henlein states in his motto, he too is ready to sacrifice loved ones for the sake of his work: "Der Mensch, der sein Leben einer hb'heren Pflicht weiht, hat das Recht, dieser alles zu opfem, auch das, was er liebt. " — quoted in Francis Courtade and Pierre Cadars, Geschichte des Films im Dritten Reich (Munich and Vienna! Hanser, 1975)» p. 106. £ A further similarity is evident between Eich's depic tion of Carleton and Hans Steinhoff's film Robert Koch, der BekSmpfer des Todes (1939). Here, too, the protagonist "wages war" for the good of humanity. The "enemy" Koch refers to in his monologue is actually the tuberculosis bacillus: ®Wo steckt der Feind . . . Wie sieht er aus? Mit welchen’Waffen kann ich ihn bek&mpfen? . . . Nun kenne ich den Feind. Nun kann ich die Waffe schmieden, dieihn

2 02 203

vernichten wird, und wenn ich dereinst fallen werde, werde ich meine Waffe weitergeben in die HSnde derer, die nach mir kommen. Der Kampf beginnt und wird nicht enden, bevor der Feind besiegt ist.® (quoted in Courtade and Cadars, p. 86)

^ Wttrffel, "Htfrspiel im Dritten Reich," p 0 145.

® Helmut Stellrecht, "Vom Ftihrer Adolf Hitler," in Das Deutsche Hausbuch (Berlins Zentralverlag der NSDAP, Franz Eher Nachfolge, 1943)» p. 122. 9 Brenner, lllus. 20, n„p. 10 ■ "Segen wurde zum Fluche! 'Die Weizenkantate®: ein neuartiger Hftrspielversuch des Deutschlandsenders," h6‘r mit m i r , 7, No. 21 (1936), 9. 11 "Segen wurde zum Fluche," p. 9°

12 Wttrffel, p. 146o

13 Wttrffel, p B 146o

^ Wttrffel, p. 143o 1 *5 Leu. (pseud.), "Funk in der Kritik: 'FShrten in der PrSrie,'" VSlkischer Beobachter (Berliner Ausgabe: Ausgabe A), No. 200 (July 18, 1936), p. 11. ^ Cf. Schwitzke's notes (III, 1413).

^ One could also cite Eich®s radio play(s) "Balthasar Neumann" (1939/1950) as a further example of his "recycling" Nazi-era texts in the postwar years.

18 Die Sendung. 13, No. 27 (1936), n.p.

^ Albert Speer, Snandauer Tagebttcher (Frankfurt, Berlin, Vienna: PropylSen, 1975), p. 523°

20 Strothmann, pp. 238-39; 340-41.

2^ Will Vesper, "Unsere Meinung," Die neue Literatur, 40 (1939), 102.

22 Wttrffel, p. 147. Cf. also (III, 1413).

23 Additional support for the assumption that "FShrten" was not originally conceived as memorial to Karl May is found in the striking differences between this play and Eich's Hermann Lons commemorative broadcast, "Weg ttber die Heide," 204 which was adapted from specific works "by Lons, included a part about the author's biography, and was first broadcast on the twentieth anniversary of Lons death in 193^«

GiXnter Eich, "FShrten in der PrSrie," Typescript in his literary legacy at the Deutsches Literaturarchiv/ Schiller- National -Museum in Marbach, p, 180 Hereafters page number cited in text0 References will also be made for the sake of comparison to parallel lines in the final version,

^ In the final version Eich relativizes Winnetou's heroic stance by having Shirwood anticipate his adversary's arguments s Shirwoods "Nein, Mister Winnetou, es ist gar nicht n&*tig» Sie mttssen nicht antworten, ich weifi, was Sie sagen wollen: 'Uns geh&’rt dieses Land, Wir werden k&npfen bis zum Untergang . . . Wir kSmpfen ftlr unsere Walder, ■ ■unsere Steppen, unsere Jagdgrftnde!9 Hab ichs erraten?" (II, 78-79) O A Cf, Shirwood's statement with the following histori cal declaration of the Caucasian race's "Manifest Destiny": The rich and beautiful valleys of Wyoming are destined for the occupancy and sustenance of the Anglo-Saxon race. The wealth that for untold ages has lain hidden beneath the snow-capped summits of our mountains has been placed there by Providence to reward the brave spirits whose lot it is to comprise the advance-guard of civilization. The Indians must stand aside or be overwhelmed by the ever advancing and ever increasing tide of emigration. The destiny of the aborigines is written in characters not to be mistaken. The same inscrutable Arbiter that decreed the downfall of Rome has -pronounced the doom of extinction upon the red men of America, (Cheyenne Daily Leader [Wyoming!, March 3. 1870, cited in Dee Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee; New York, Chicago, San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1975; p° 189; italics added). 27 Although this is surely coincidental, it is interest ing to note that according to Speer, Hitler was so impressed by the nobility and leadership qualities May gave his creation that he considered Winnetou to be the "model company leader" (p. 523). pO Not surprisingly, Winnetou's vision closely resembles Martin's mystical experience of the "eternal battle" of the spirits at Fehrbellin, since both "FShrten" and "Die Schatten- schlacht" were apparently conceived in the same period. Eich published the story in 1938, the same year in which the radio play premiered. 205

29 Wttrffel, pp. 148-49.

3® The broadcast "Die Nacht der Toten," which was dis cussed in Ch. IV (pages 72-74 above), is a good example of the Nazis’ annual ritual on November 9 to honor their "mar tyrs" from the failed coup attempt in Munich in 1923° Cf. also the second half of the refrain of Nazi Germany’s second national anthem, the "Horst-Wessel-Lied": "Kameraden, die Rotfront und Reaktion erschossen/ Marschieren im Geist in unsern Reihen mit." 31 J Christina Uslular-Thiele, "Autobahnen," in Kunst im 3. Reich: Dokumente der Unterwerfung, ed. Georg Bussmann (Frankfurt/Main: Zweitausendeins, 1981), pp. 151-61.

-^2 Uslular-Thiele, pp. 171-76; cf. also Brenner, p. 113.

33 Uslular-Thiele, p. 166.

3^ Schafroth, p. 26.

3$ Dohl, "Gtfnter Eich als Hb'rspieldichter, " pp. 44-46.

3^ Schafroth refers to Winnetou’s heroic, but futile act of blowing up Shirwood’s bridge as Eich’s comment on the end of the "age of the heroic individual" (p. 25). As we shall see below, the roles played by Patt and Kitty in the conflict are even more profound statements on heroism— or the lack o*f it.

37 This attitude would reflect the pessimism we found in Eich’s third statement in the introduction to "Weizenkantate": "Wer sich unterf&ngt, unser Dasein zu verbessern . . . mufi sich notwendig dabei im Gegensatz zu den M&chten der Natur befinden. ..." (II, 61).

3® Liste des schsidlichen und unerwflnschten Schrifttums (Berlin: Reichsdruckerei, 1935)» p. 2ll Strothmann, p. 247.

39 Cf. Thomas Lange, Introd., Karl und das 20. Jahrhun- dert by Rudolf Brunngraber (Kronberg/ Ts.: Scriptor, 1978), pp. 1-6.

Interestingly, "Radium’s" premiere did not receive any critical reviews in the Volkischer Beobachter or in the radio journals Die Sendung and hb*r mit mir. The only mention of this play at the time of its performance was found in Die Literatur, where Gerd Eckert gives a subdued report. Normal ly enthusiastic about Eich’s broadcasts, Eckert makes it ob vious that he is not pleased with this, the author’s most recent work: 206

In jeder Weise tfberraschend war Gttnther Eichs beim Reichssender Berlin gebrachtes H&'rspiel 'Radium' nach dem Roman von Brunngraber, Die Mehrzahl der H6*rer wird eine mehr an Tatsachen haftende Gestaltung erwartet haben, aber Eich stellt die Wirkung des Radiums auf die Gesinnung vor. Das geschieht in teilweise bizarren Szenen, von denen einzelnes nur schwer verstSndlich war, Eine durchlaufende Handlung gab es eigentlich nicht, und so war es mehr eine Phantasie ttber das Radium, die zu teilweise eindrucksvollen Formulierungen ftthrte. . . . (Gerd Eckert, "Berechtigungsnachweis des H6*rspiels," Die Literatur. 4o [1937/383* 235-36.)

ji A Larry Leroy Richardson, "The Function of Lyric Poetry* A Study of Gilnter Eich's Poetic Theory and Practice," Diss. Univ. of Washington 1976, pp. 40-42. ho Schafroth, p. 2 6 ; D6*hl, p p 0 46-48. 42 J Richardson points out that there is a definite allu sion to Diebold in these lines (p. 41)0 However, his claim that Eich alludes to Diebold here in order to attack the con cept of "relevant poetry" is not supported by the development Chabanais undergoes, as we shall see below. 44 Grand Larousse de la langue franoaise (Paris: Larousse. 197D, p r ^ i : ------— ------— ^ Eich's later radio plays, "Der Tod an den Handen" (1939), "Balthasar Neumann" (1939), and "Rebellion in der Goldstadt" (1940), are the most prominent examples of his conformity to Nazi trends following "Radium" and the other ambivalent broadcasts.

^ Cf. Charles W. Hoffmann, "Opposition und Innere Emi gration: Zwei Aspekte des 'anderen Deutschlands,'" in Exil und Innere Emigration: Third Wisconsin Workshop, ed. Reinhold Grimm and Jost Hermand (Frankfurt/Main: AthenSum, 1972), p. 135. 47 ' While Chabanais® fate is left open at the conclusion of Eich's play, it is obvious in Brunngraber®s novel that this flight to the jungle, which is taken by George Purvis, is an elaborate fora of suicide. In the novel Francis Purvis is the scientist who is murdered by the sabotage of the re search clinic set up by George Purvis. And after his broth er's death, George Purvis reconciles himself with Cynac and then embarks on an expedition to the Congo with the express purpose of losing himself in the jungle. CHAPTER VIII

GUNTER EICH’S POETRY BETWEEN 1933 AND 19^5

The commentary on the poet's status in modern society, which Schafroth and D6‘hl believe is implicit in Eich's characterization of Patt and Chabanais, raises some fundamental questions about Eich’s own role as a poet during the Third

Reich. As the two critics have pointed out, there seems to be a link between Eich's satirizing Patt and Chabanais as down-and-out poets and the widely-held notion that between

1933 and 19^5 Eich himself suffered a "lyrical crisis," that circumstances under Hitler's regime caused him to interrupt his lyrical productivity,, Such a link is problematic at best, and in the light of recently uncovered information about Eich's pre-19^-5 writing the very concept of a "crisis" under Nazism becomes in fact highly questionable. The poet- figures in "Fahrten" and "Radium" suggest that he had come to question the relevance of lyric poetry; but it remains to be determined whether this questioning and its effect, if any, on the poems Eich did write in these years point to a

"lyrical crisis."

The first step in such a discussion is to re-examine the premises of the original theories of Eich's "lyrical crisis." These were formulated almost simultaneously in the 20 7 208

late sixties by Mtfller-Hanpft and Krispyn, and their claim

that the Third Reich represented a caesura in Eich's lyrical productivity has greatly influenced the general perception of

Eich's literary activity after 1933°^

MCtller-Hanpft' s theory stems from the escapist, roman

tic tendency of Eich's early poetry, which she considers to be a major weakness. She illustrates her thesis by contrast

ing his verses about the harmonious natural realm with the macabre subject matter common to the poetry of such Expres

sionists as Benn, Trakl and Heyms decaying corpses, insanity, and apocalyptic visions. Compared with these depictions of

the ugly reality of modern existence, Eich's preoccupation with the lost "heile Welt" was anachronistic and inappropri-; ate according to Miller-Hanpft; and she suspects it was

Eich's awareness of this "weakness" that caused him to stop writing poetry after 1932:

Es ist denkbar, da(3 Gttnter Eich diesen Mangel selbst versptfrt hat. Denn trotz seines Entschlusses, 1932 das Studium endgttltig aufzugeben und Berufsschriftsteller zu werden, schrieb er von diesem Zeitpunkt an bis zum E-nde des Krieges keine Gedichte mehr. . . .2

Mttller-Hanpft does not see the onset of Hitler's regime as the initial cause of Eich's turn from lyrics, but she does, believe that the dangerous ideological situation under the

Nazis prevented Eich's poetry from evolving and thus prolong

ed the interruption in his production of lyrics. She is, however, careful to emphasize that this lull should not be

interpreted as a gesture of opposition against the regime, 209 since Eich was willing to write for the Nazi radio system*

Die Vorstellung eines aktiven oder auch passiven Widerstandes hat sich filr Eich nicht ahgezeichnet0 Mit den Emigranten unter den Schriftstellern hatte er keinen Kontakt, als innere Emigration lSfit sich seine Haltung nur schwer bezeichnen, da er, obwohl er die nationalsozialistische Herrschaft miflachtete, am Berliner Rund- funk arbeitete und erste H6*rspiele verfaGte. (p. 31)

And although Mtlller-Hanpft dismisses Eich's Third Reich broad casts as "reine Routinearbeiten ohne perso’nliches Engagement" and claims that their subject matter was characterized by

"extreme Harmlosigkeit," she does not overlook the political implications of such writings

. . . In ihrer Harmlosigkeit hatten sie jEichs Hb'rspiele] jedoch einen politischen Stellenwert, insofern zumin- dest, als sie von relevanten Fragen ablenkten und eine ungetrttbte Natur darstellten, die nahelegte, auch die Gesellschaft als 'natttrlich' und damit ungetrtibt zu be- greifen, bzw. zu empfinden. . . . (p. 3 1 )

Here it must be noted that Mtlller-Hanpft had only a limited knowledge of Eich's radio work under Hitler. Her study

(which focusses primarily on the reception of Eich's post war lyrics) mentions only one Nazi-era text, Das festliche

Jahr, the 1936 anthology of excerpts from Eich's and Raschke's

KonigswusterhSuser Landbote series. Nevertheless, the point she makes above is well taken, even though she does not dis cuss it in further detail. As has been demonstrated in Chap ter IV, one cannot ignore the fact that by providing the Nazi radio with material which helped to distract Germans from the reality of fascist rule Eich was lending support to Hitler's 3 regime. 210

While Krispyn shares the notion that in the thirties

Eich "became aware of the "inappropriateness" of his works, he explains the lack of lyrical composition differently and presents a view of Eich's professional activity under Nazism which is almost diametrically opposed to that of Mtlller-Hanpft.

Rather than finding fault with Eich's early poetry, he cites the political situation in Nazi Germany as the sole reason for an apparent interruption in Eich’s lyric productivity.

He also differs with Mttller-Hanpft as to when Eich stopped writing poetry:

The year 1935 marks, in fact, the beginning of a decade during which Eich wrote virtually no poetry at all. As the emergence of his favorite theme in a radio play C'Schritte zu Andreas"] and a short story E'Katha- rina'O written at that time indicates, the suspension of his lyric productivity was not directly caused by a waning of the expressive impulse that hitherto motivated it. It might, therefore, be possible to interpret the renunciation.of his major creative medium as a voluntary gesture. . . . As a demonstration against the prevailing state of affairs, in which a preoccupation with anything other than the disastrous realities of everyday life and death could be regarded as irresponsible, Eich's aban donment of lyric work was, of course, politically inef fective. It therefore bears all the more impressive testimony to his personal and creative integrity if in acknowledgement of the prevailing brutality and tragedy he made the poet's supreme sacrifice of self-imposed silence.^

Krispyn does not mention "inner emigration" by name, but his emphasis on Eich's "renunciation" and on the "supreme sacri fice of self-imposed silence" indicates that he j.s thinking in such terms. Contrary to Mflller-Hanpft's observation, he implies that Eich's alleged "silence" as a poet after 1935 constituted a form of protest against the Hitler regime. j 211

Krispyn* s and Mttller-Hanpft’ s disagreement on such sub

stantial matters as the cause of the "crisis" and even on the

date when Eich supposedly stopped writing poetry draws atten

tion to their lack of definitive biographical information,,''’

Neither critic takes into account that as early as 1932 Eich

had turned to radio writing out of financial considerations,

and that his neglect of other genres would have been a logi

cal consequence of his intensive work for the Nazi radio be

tween 1933 and 19^0o On the contrary, though for different

reasons, both Krispyn and Mttller-Hanpft create the impression

that Eich was a "frustrated poet" during the Third Reich, and

they have therefore fostered the tendency among critics to

focus more on the poetry Eich allegedly did not write than

on the copious broadcast texts he did produce in this period.^

Only in the last five years have other critics begun to

subject Eich’s activity during the Nazi era to closer scru

tiny and to challenge the idea of a "lyrical crisis." This

was first done by SchSfer, whose research about Eich's early

years has brought to light many new facts which are a much

needed supplement for the scant and often inaccurate back

ground information provided in the critical apparatus of

Eich's Gesammelte Werke. One of Schafer's most significant

findings is his discovery that up until 1938 Eich had contin

ued to publish individual poems, several of which were pre

viously considered to be postwar compositions appearing for

the first time in Eich's anthology Abgelegene Gehofte (19^8).^

Similar observations are made in Briner's study, where an 212 entire chapter is devoted to refuting the idea that the Nazi years constituted a gap in Eich's lyric writing,, According to Briner, the lack of any clear division hetween the nature lyrics Eich published in the early thirties and those from 8 the postwar years does not indicates as Krispyn states, that 9 following the end of the Third Reich Eich resumed his poetic activity where he left off in 1935. Briner views this simi larity instead as "evidence" that much of the poetry Eich published in the immediate postwar period was in fact written Q before 1945. To support his claim Briner cites passages from two letters Eich wrote shortly after the war. In one, written in December of 1945 to his friend Hermann Kasack,

Eich mentions that he was re-using earlier material*

Sie raten mir, nicht auf vergangene Produktion zurttck- zugreifen. Ich tue es nur insoweit, als ich das Zer- streute und Ungedruckte sammle und manches aus dem Ge- dSchtnis ergSnze. 0 „ ol0

And in the other, written in March of 1946 to Jttrgen Egge- brecht, Eich alludes to the practice of writing lyrics "from memory"*

. o * Die Verse fliefien ungehemmt aus Erinnerung und Blick durch das Fenster. Manchmal mufi ich schon die Augen schliefien, dafi mir nichts Neues dazuw&chst und ich mich im Dickicht verirre0 „ „

The findings of the present study have confirmed that there is a sound basis for SchSfer's and Briner's challenging of the "crisis." In the documents contained in Eich's Reichs- schrifttumskammer dossier, which neither Briner nor SchSfer consulted, we find further evidence of Eich's poetic activity during the Third Reich. In an informational questionnaire 213

Eich submitted in 1936, he refers to additional poems pub

lished in 193^s four appearing in Der Bttcherwurm, and four

others included in a publication called "Das Leben," which 12 have yet to be located. Such a discovery of hitherto un

known publications suggests the likelihood that in the future

even more poems by Eich may be found in obscure periodicals

from the Nazi years.

Sch&fer and Briner also do not consider an aspect of

Eich's Nazi-era writing that would have provided further sup

port for their arguments: the body of poems Eich wrote spe

cifically for his broadcasts„ With the exception of sixteen

poems included in Das festliche Jahr. these were not published

at the time. They include such lyrics as Eich's poems in

"D6‘derlein," "FShrten," and "Radium," his songs and ballads

in Kuhnert's "Ballade von Whisky und Gin" and "Tango des

MacDown," as well as his writing for the two radio series.

To be sure, many of these pieces bear little semblance to the

type of poetry one usually associates with Gtlnter Eich. Tai lored to the broadcast's contents, they are often trite and

occasionally border on doggerel, as do some of the lines re- 13 cited by .the "country mailman." J On the other hand, the nature lyrics in "Doderlein" and some of the poems in "F&hr-

ten" and "Radium" are comparable to the best of Eich's poems.

Regardless of their aesthetic merit, all these pieces— banal

as some of them are— must be classified as poetry, and they

therefore give an added dimension to his productivity under

the Hitler regime 21b

Since most of Eich's Nazi-era radio manuscripts have been lost, it is impossible to determine precisely how many poems were incorporated into his broadcasts. At the present, thirty-one extant poems are known, and the programs which tell us something about Eich's cooperation with Kuhnert indi cate that ten more lyrical works existed. These figures, however, pertain to only a portion of the radio texts con taining Eich's material and do not take into account either the KWL episodes from 1937 to 19^0 or the twenty-four broad casts in his MSrkischer Kalendermann series. We know that poems played an important role in both; it is therefore like ly that he wrote at the very least some twenty or so addi tional poems, which have either disappeared along with the radio manuscripts or which— as is apparent in one case— have survived in another form and are now mistakenly identified as postwar works.^

The uncertainty about the last group does not allow one to include them in the assessment of Eich's poetic activity during the Third Reich. But even without these unconfirmed works, the thirty-one poems actually published between 1933 and 1938, together with the twenty-five poems whose presence can be documented in his broadcasts from 1933 to 1939* give 17 a total of fifty-six separate poems. This may not seem much for a five or six year period, but such things are rela tive to the poet in question, and Eich was never a prolific 215 writer. He published only twenty-eight poems in the five years from 1927 to 1932, the time which some critics consider his "pre-crisis" and productive period.

The evidence that Eich wrote poetry under the Hitler

regime in far greater quantity and for much longer than pre viously assumed refutes, of course, all theories of a "lyri

cal crisis," since these are "based on the existence of some

cutoff date in the early thirties when he supposedly stopped working in the genre. The most recent details about Eich's biography have shown that the contrary is true, that for all

intents and purposes it is now impossible to state that Eich

ever decided to abstain from lyrics between 1933 and 19^5.

Nevertheless, Mtlller-Hanpft®s and Krispyn®s discussions of

Eich's poetry do raise some issues that warrant further ex ploration in light of those poems that are available from the

Nazi years. And in the following survey, questions will be asked regarding three key aspects: the relevance of the type of lyrics Eich wrote in this period, what these poems reveal about his "artistic integrity," and what inferences we can make about Eich®s political views— as Krispyn does— on the basis of his poetic activity during the Third Reich.

In many ways, the results of a survey of Eich's poetry from the Nazi years are anticlimactic. Those of us who seek signs of the future author of "TrSume" will be disappointed, since none of these poems show evidence of a confrontation with the Nazi establishment that could be viewed as a prece dent for the later radio play's provocation of postwar German 216 society. Almost all of these poems reflect instead the con servative mode of writing which Eich and other "Kolonne" mem' bers practiced during the Weimar Republic. They show how tenaciously Eich adhered to the principle he stated in 1929s that the lyric poet had the "right" to remain aloof from 1 R contemporary social and political issues. Rather than fo cussing on the tragic consequences of the Nazi takeover in his homeland, Eich chose to remain with the same "timeless" themes he had been treating since he emerged on the literary scene in 1927.

These themes, too, reveal much about Eich's conserva- tism. For, while he would gain renown in the postwar era for his innovative lyrics and radio plays, there is nothing new about the earlier poetry. Firmly rooted in literary tra^ ditions of the previous century, Eich's poems show many af finities with lyrics by writers such as Hermann Hesse, Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Ina Seidel; and the fundamental theme in most of them— man's relationship to the eternal realm of nature— can be traced back to the Romantics and earlier.

Eich, then, was working with a subject that poets had been treating for over a hundred years, and one is not surprised to find that in many respects his nature lyrics seem anti quated, full of poetic cliches and hackneyed phrases. And it was probably this anachronistic aspect of Eich's early work which Mftller-Hanpft criticized as a major "weakness." 217

The unoriginality of Eich's treatment of nature themes

is evident in a group of lyrics which for the most part were written and/or published between 1933 and 1935 and which have

as a central theme the mystification of the woods, the object

of the persona's longing* Although there are no indications

that Eich had indeed worked from models, his poems nonethe

less prove to be restatements of sentiments expressed earlier

by the poetess Ina Seidel in lyrics such as "Heimkehr" from her 191^ anthology:

So hat der Wald noch nie gerauscht, Als nun, da ich gekommen bin, Noch keiner hat ihm so gelauscht, Und keinem gab er so sich hin„ So atmete die Erde nie Die frflhlingsfeuchten Dtffte aus„ Denn keiner kam und spffrte sie Und trug sie am Gewand nach Haus« Die Fohrenwipfel, dunkelgrttn, MSrzwolken blaugrau, schwer geballt, Der HaselstrSucher keusches Blfthn, — Wem sang das so im Blute, Wald? Du riefst nach mir, du harrtest mein, Wie ich nach dir verging in Schmerz, — Ich kam zu dir, bin da, bin dein: Schlag deine Wurzeln in mein Herzll9

As we can see in the following lines from Eich's "Wiederkehr,"

the parallels to Seidel's work go beyond the title:

In den alten WSldern waren Augenblick und Ewigkeit Ring um Ring wuchs in den Jahren, doch wie wenig ist die ZeitJ

• o • • Und sie glanzen auch, die Btfsche, tau- und trSnenna(3. Da(3 ihr Atem mich erfrische, lehn ich mich in Laub und Graso 218

Hingebttckt zu feuchten Halmen, nah auch, Freunde, bin ich euch. .... (I, 61)20

The poem "Wind ttber der Stadt," which Eich entered in the

193^ poetry competition sponsored by Die Dame, also echoes the tone and imagery of Seidel's "Heimkehr, " in particular its last stanza:

Wenn ich jetzt im Walde w&re, rauschten Kiefer oder Buche. Steinpilz w&chst und Heidelbeere, die ich gerne suche. Dieser Wind trSgt mich nicht hin, doch Gedanken haben Flttgel, und wo ich auf einmal bin, gibt es Strauch und Baum und Httgel.

Und es weht in ihn hinein Klang der Glocken, Duft der Felder. Wollte ich verlassen sein, ginge ich in diese Wilder. Sie bewachsen auch den Schmerz; glttcklich £>in ich, wenn ich denke, daf3 ins kummervolle Herz sanft ihr Wurzelwerk sich senke.

« o a e21

To be sure, "Wiederkehr" and "Wind Uber der Stadt" are extreme examples of the anachronistic essence of Eich's nature lyrics in the thirties; but the same can be said to a lesser degree Op about "Der Beerenwald" and "Wald vor dem Tage" (1933)> where the woods are depicted as a "timeless reserve." Here, too, we find a series of stock images and cliches used to convey the idea of "der ewige Wald."

The recently-uncovered Eich poems in Der BUcherwurm also do not hold any great surprises, although they are auite different from the above lyrics. On the one hand, their 219

compact and esoteric style point ahead to Eich's more mature works. On the other, close scrutiny reveals them to he just

as derivative as Eich's earlier nature poems. The most bla

tant example is his melancholic "Tag im Herbst," which could

very well have been adapted from Hofmannsthal's "Ballade des

SuBeren Lebens," as we see below. First Hofmannsthal:

• 900 Und s^Be FrUchte werden aus den herben Und fallen nachts wie tote Vogel nieder Und liegen wenige Tage und verderben. Und immer weht der Wind, und immer wieder Vernehmen wir und reden viele Worte Und spttren Lust und Mttdigkeit der Glieder.

0 0 0 0 Wozu sind diese aufgebaut? und gleichen Einander nie? und sind unzShlig viele? Was wechselt Lachen, Weinen und Erbleichen?

o o o o23

Now Eich:

Wind, du scMIttest das gelbe Weinlaub ins Fenster. Regen, ach immer derselbe Schritt der Gespenster. Gespenster: Baum und Gestime, Fenster, Spiegel, Tapete. An Zweigen fault Apfel und Bime, Wind weht, der damals wehte. Damals: Alle Jahre. Weinlaub, Schritte und Regen. Die ich noch immer bewahre, Bitternis - : Weswegen - ?2^

The parallels between "Tag im Herbst" and its predecessor in

overall tone, choice of imagery, and ontological questioning

appear to be too close to be coincidental, and they indicate

the strong possibility that Eich was relying on poets before him. 220

Eich's lyrics from the early Nazi years express a pre

occupation with man's relationship to infinite nature, which

is far removed from the "Zivilisationskritik" of the Expres

sionists and just as distant from the "Tendenzdichtung" of

the political Left, which he himself condemns in his first

essaysSch&fer nevertheless attempts to find an element

of "Zeitkritik" in these lyrics* Focussing on one of Eich's

better poems from these years, "Weg durch die Dttnen" (1935),

SchSfer claims there is a correspondence between Eich's ima

gery and the historical context„ He cites the poem as a typ

ical example for a category of Nazi-era lyrics in which Gttnter

Eich and other poets such as Paul Celan, Peter Huchel and

Horst Lange integrated into the natural realm the "problem

of existential guilt and of the terrors of the time," as a 26 reaction to developments under the Hitler regime,, SchSfer writes about "Weg durch die Dttnen":

. . « Der Text zeigt, dafi nicht das Kriegserlebnis, sondern vielmehr die Krisenphilosophie fttr die Umwertung der Naturzeichen zur negativen Signatur verantwortlich zu machen ist0 In den Kreisen des Strandhafers und den Spuren der V6*gel im Sand entziffert das lyrische Ich er- schreckt die 'tbdliche Unendlichkeito ® « „ „27

Sch&fer is the first to consider "Weg durch die Dttnen"

as a Nazi-era poem, and the point he raises about the possi

ble influence of the historical context is important* How

ever, there are substantial weaknesses in his interpretation*

For one thing, it is difficult to understand how Schafer can

speak of "das Kriegserlebnis" with reference to "Weg durch

die Dttnen," which could not have been written any later than 221

193^ when Eich submitted it along with "Wind tiber der Stadt" to the annual poetry competition in Die Dame. Moreover,

SchSfer's interpretation does not take into account either

Eich's use of nature symbols within "Weg durch die Dttnen" itself or their role in his writing as a whole0

Sch&fer bases his claim almost exclusively on the poem's final stanza, which reads:

Ich ftfhle eine fremde N&he und eine Last von vieler Zeit, als ob ich sie mit Augen sShe, die todliche Unendlichkeit. (I, 59)

He gives Eich's concluding reference to "die t6*dliche Unend lichkeit" a totally negative connotation and apparently de duces from it the persona's "terror,," This is otherwise ab sent in the poem, however? and in assigning negative values to Eich's nature symbols, Sch&fer overlooks the poem's under lying message about man's limited comprehension of infinite natures What we see in this conclusion is a summation of the persona's impressions from his environment described in the preceding eight stanzas* Here, as in "Durch die blinden

Scheiben" discussed earlier (see pages 14-9-50 above), nature communicates to man through "signs," and from them the per sona gains final insight. To be sure, this insight is an in timation of death, but it is not the traditional concept of death. Rather, Eich alludes here to a fundamental concept in his philosophy of nature alienation in which death plays a positive role as the moment when man is reintegrated into 28 the totality of all existence„ 222

We see this concept with particular clarity in Eich's

short radio play "Schritte zu Andreas," which was "broadcast

in 1935» the same year "Weg durch die Dffnen" was first pub

lished. Fatally injured by a falling tree, the play's pro

tagonist, a woodcutter named Andreas, experiences a reinte

gration into infinite nature as he is dying. Andreas® ecsta

tic monologue, which is laden with nature motifs, expresses what Eich's poem distilled into the two words "tb’dliche Unend- lichkeit"s

®. . . Ich lebe weiter, mein Leben schweigt nur, ich lebe weiter, ich stehe auf mit neuen Jahren, steh wieder auf mit BISttem und Knospenwuchs, steh auf mit Frtlh- lingswind und ewigem Duft der Erde, einmal schiefit wie der der Saft ins Gezweig, rauscht Regen und Yogelflug fiber mich, es hat kein Ende.® (II, 56)

And as the final stanza in Eich's "Ende eines Sommers" from

Botschaften des Regens (1955) illustrates, such thinking was not restricted to his prewar writing. In the later poem, which employs some of the same symbols as "Weg durch die Dfl- nen," death— evident in the allusion to "der Totenpfennig,"

Charon's payment for passage over the River Styx— is the time when nature's "signs" become decipherables

Es heifit Geduld haben. Bald wird die Vogelschrift entsiegelt, unter der Zunge ist der Pfennig zu schmecken. (I, 79)

"Weg durch die Dflnen” thus turns out to be a good example of thematic consistency in Eich's prewar and postwar writing, and it draws attention once again to his adherence even in

the Nazi years to the "timeless" theme of nature alienation. 223 The only way we can examine Eich's Nazi-era poems from

the perspective used in SchSfer's essay is ex negativo. that

is, we have to consider the implications of these poems*

lack of criticism and their lack of historical relevance0

Such aloofness from the times was apparent in Eich's nature lyrics from the early years of the Third Reich, and it is

especially pronounced in the poems he published and/or broad

cast between 1938 and 1939° That Eich could continue to pre

sent such poetry to the public at a time when even the most naive German could no longer close his eyes to the abuses of

the Nazi regime demonstrates a disturbing indifference to his

surroundingso Indeed these later poems seem to be exactly what Brecht condemns in "An die Nachgeborenen" where he

states:

Was sind das fttr Zeiten, wo Ein GesprSch fiber B&ume fast ein Verbrechen ist Weil es ein Schweigen fiber so viele Untaten einschliefit!

The year 1938 was full of decisive events for the Third

Reich, On March 12th, Hitler forced the annexation of Aus

tria, and on September 30th his diplomatic victory at Munich

gained him the Sudetenlando And on November 9th, during the infamous "Kristallnacht," the Nazis committed the first overt acts of violence on a mass scale against Jewish communities

throughout the Reich. Shortly thereafter, in the second half of November, Die Dame published Eich's "Rflbenemte," a har vest poem with Blut-und-Boden setting that could not be more removed from his present reality: 22k

Bleich ward des Herbstes roter Prunk an Hecken und Gemauer, zu Asche brannten Blatt und Strunk, der Wind zerblies die Feuer. Die Loren rollen ihre Fracht im Nebellicht, im trtlben: Die letzte Fracht wird eingebracht, die gelben prallen Rttben. Noch gr&bt der Heber das Gewicht aus z£her, feuchter Erde. Als Schatten im Novemberlicht steht das Gespann der Pferde. Bald kommt ein letzter Trupp daher, das Rttbenkraut zu kappen. Bald h6*rt man Huf und Schritt nicht mehr, die in das Dunkel tappen. Bald strahlt in unsre N&chte klar der Himmel, der bestemte. Leb wohl dann, Herbst du grofies Jahr, und deine letzte Erntel (I, 2 32) 3 0

In late December of 1938* Eich's "Erstes Eis," a similar poem

about seasonal changes, appeared in Die Koralle;

Gestem troff der graue Regen, Staub ward Modder auf den Wegen; heute singt der klare Frost, und der Wald [sic3 weht im Nordost. Hart erklingt im Schritt die Erde; R&derspur und Spur der Pferde, alle Pftitzen glSnzen wei(3. Oh, in dieses erste Eis Mit den Fttften einzuhacken, bis die dtinnen FISchen knacken, sprechend ihren spr6*den Ton — horche, du vemahmst ihn schon! Damals, mit dem Schritt der Kinder, stampftest du ins Eis gelinder — Scherben klirrten unterm Schuh, und du sangst dem Abend zul31

And on August 21, 1939» just eleven days before Hitler's

Wehrmacht invaded Poland and touched off the Second World

War, yet another seasonal poem by Eich with a nostalgic es

sence, "Sternschnuppen," was broadcast over the Nazi airwaves: 225

Von Funken ein fallend Gewimmel, stumm und verloschen im Nu, — Sternschnuppen am nSchtlichen Himmel, euch seh ich gerne zu. Wenn im August am dunkeln Mitternachtsfirmament ihr unter der Sterne Funkeln glflhend zu Nichts verbrennt, oder im kahlen GeSste, wenn dann das Jahr sich neigt, strahlende, lautlose GSste, ihr im November euch zeigt. Euch will ich gerne schauen, fallet mir Nacht fftr Nacht, Sternschnuppen, flttchtig im blauen Himmel zu Feuer entfachtl (I, 186-87)

The features common to these poems— their seasonal themes, light tone, and structural parallels right down to the same rhyming pair "Erde/Pferde" in the first two— suggest that they were written as a group at about the same time. In addition, the exclamatory phrases at the conclusions of all three poems suggest that, like "Sternschnuppen," "Rtfbenernte" and "Erstes Eis" were also recited or sung in a radio broad cast, possibly as part of an episode in the KWL or the MSrki- scher Kalendermann series. The most important characteristic shared by these poems is, however, their total lack of rele vance. In Eich's focus on the final harvest in the first poem, on childhood memories in the second, and on shooting stars in the third, it seems as if he were deliberately avoiding Germany's then current circumstances.

The escapism evident in Eich's poems stands out all the more when they are compared with the following lines from

Peter Huchel's "Zwolf NSchte," which he wrote in 1938 but 226 first published in 19^8, and in which we do find a clear response to the "terrors of the time"!

• 0 0 0 Und gr&bst du durch das Eis der Nacht, wie es der Spruch gewollt, dein Spaten schttrft und hebt im Schacht der FSulnis fahles Gold, Du findest nur den Schmerz der Zeit, die Erde feucht von Blut, Und unterm Schutt, zum Bifi bereit, der Schlangen nackte Brut, Zertritt ihr Haupt und scheu den Bifi. Horch in den Wind, bleib stumm,, Noch herrscht der Glanz der Finsternis, noch geht der Wttrger urn.32

Adherents of the theory of Eich's "silence" as a poet under Nazism, and, in general, anyone whose conception of

GUnter Eich is based on his postwar writing might very well express disbelief about the above trio of poems, as well as about Eich's poems from the early Nazi years. Were they real ly written by the same author who would later make famous the motto: "Alles, was geschieht, geht dich an"? But if one con siders here the true extent and nature of Eich's work for the

Nazi radio system, there is little cause for wonder. It is only appropriate that his lyrics and his radio broadcasts were consistent in the attitude they reflected. The fact is that

Eich's roles during the Third Reich as a poet and a radio author are inseparable, A division between the two, such as

Krispyn makes in his discussion of Eich’s "artistic integri ty," is impossible. As we have seen, not only were many of the poems written specifically for broadcasts, but the pub lished poetry, too, shows no more concern about the situation 227 in Nazi Germany than his radio plays. In neither capacity did Eich demonstrate the "artistic integrity" attributed to him by Krispyn and others.

There are only seven poems in which Eich takes some kind of critical stance on events during the Third Reich. Even here there is no real confrontation with Nazism, though none of the poems was published under the Hitler regime and Eich therefore did not have to fear censorship. The themes, war time experiences that might very well have been Eich's own, are treated from a philosophical rather than political per spective .

As with much of Eich's writing, there has been confusion about when these poems were composed. In accordance with his theory that Eich wrote no poetry after 1935» Krispyn claims that most of the extant war-poems (those published in Abge- legene Gehofte; "Truppentfbungsplatz," "Nacht in der Kaseme,"

"Lazarett," and "Beim Telegrafenbau") were written in retro spect, after 19^6 , following the composition of the famous

P.O.W. poems.However, after Eich's death in 1972 this view has been altered by people who knew him intimately dur ing the Nazi years. Erhard G6‘pel, a friend since 1928 who helped Eich compile Abgelegene Geh6‘fte„ indicated in his notes that at least one cycle of poems, "Beim Telegrafenbau," o|i had been written in 19*14. And Heinz Schwitzke, Eich's ac quaintance since 1935» now claims that not only the poems with war-motifs in Abgelegene Geho’fte, but also many of the nature lyrics had in fact been written during the Third Reich. 228

In support of this claim, Schwitzke provided from his person al archives a hitherto unknown text of an unpublished poem,

"Kellemacht, " which Eich most certainly wrote in the early

forties.

Eich never indicated that he had written poetry during the war; but, as we have seen in the previous chapters, his statements— or lack of them— cannot be used as a guide to his Nazi-era activity. Except for Gopel's and Schwitzke's statements, we have for all intents and purposes only the texts themselves as a source of information about the story of their composition, and the most compelling evidence that these poems were written in the final years of the Third

Reich is the immediacy they exhibit towards their subject matter. Sometimes the descriptions of war experiences are so realistic that it is tempting to assign certain poems to spe cific stages in Eich's military career,,

The first war-poem to be discussed, "Truppenttbungsplatz, " is a transitional piece which has many common features with

Eich's earlier nature lyrics:

Fremdartiger Herbst auf moorigem Hochplateau. Tiber dem Heidekraut gilben die Wilder wie Stroh. In die Furche geduckt, steigt es herauf zu mir, hab ich die Einsamkeit, die lauernde, im Visier. Unbegreifliche Luft, windlos und vogelleer, hockt in das Dornengerank und aufs Knieholz sich schwer. 229

Gellt im Echo der Schufl, zb'gert es wSlderwSrts; nimmer am Scheibenstand traf ich den Herbst ins Herz. Webt aus dem Wacholderharz ein Schatten das UngefShr, Hauch, der aus welchem Mund, atzend beschlSgt das Gewehr. Wurzel und Untergrund schwanken im Fallen mir dumpf„ Atem der Erde treibt Blasen im Sumpf. (I, 21-22)

The interplay of Eich's familiar nature motifs with refer

ences to the shooting range indicates that, finally, some as pects of present reality have encroached upon his "timeless"

theme of man's alienation from nature.. While this theme is

still central to "Truppenttbungsplatz," it now takes on a

different function,, The autumnal environment does not call

forth an awareness of the persona's exclusion from nature's

infinite realm, but signals some universal disaster., Here we find Eich's favorite symbols for the infinite realm, the wind and the birds, applied negatively! their absence from

the air contributes to the atmosphere of foreboding which pervades the poem. That the cause of this disquietude is never expressed (the war? induction into the military?) lim its considerably the poem's critical potential.,

Another depiction of military life is found in "Nacht in der Kaseme," where Eich departs from his usual natural set tings !

Teerdunkle Nacht, Traum bei geoffneten Lidern. Genagelte Stiefel hallen in Flieseng&ngen und in den 6*den K a m m e m des Herzens wider, wo sich Kommandos und Trauer sinnlos vermengen, 230

wo der Geruch von SchweiB und ungelttfteten Spinden ■fibers Geweb des Geftfhls wie mit Schimmel wSchst. Schlafdunkle Nacht, oh deine Tiefe zu finden, wo du die Lider fiber die Schweigenden deckst! (I, ^5)

We find in this poem- two new aspects that were missing in

Eich's lyrics discussed thus far: unambiguous allusions to a real situation and subtle criticism of the military, which is apparent in the presentation of the persona's impressions.

In his stream of consciousness the perception of his environ ment merges with his subjective state of mind, thus aspects of barracks-life are associated with the persona's despair

("Genagelte Stiefel . . . in FliesengSngen — 6*de Kammern des Herzens"; "Kommandos — Trauer — sinnlos")0 As a conse quence "Nacht in der Kaserne" is more critical than "Truppen- ftbungsplatz," though it still does not express any message that is directly against the Hitler regime., It could be con sidered oppositional only insofar as any negative, i.e. "un heroic," depiction of soldiering would have been condemned as

"defeatist" by the Nazis»

This same negative depiction prevails in the remaining war-poems, where the soldier's despair becomes intensified by a preoccupation with death. "Lazarett" describes a visit by the "Grim Reaper" to a ward in a military hospital:

NSchtlich erwacht seh ich am Nachbarbett geblecktes Gebifi, klappernd Skelett, ttber Namen und Daten geneigt, ob die Kurve sinkt oder steigt, 231

vermodertes Aug auf der Kreidezahl, Visite, stelzend quer durch den Saal, wie der SchlSfer sich wSlzt und stb’hnt, aus zerfressener Kehle ein Schnarchen t6‘nt, der Atem r6“chelt, heruhigt haucht, die S t i m e bleichend, in SchweiB getaucht, aus den VerbSnden die R6*te tropft dem prflfenden Daumen die Ader klopft. Uber Karbol- und Todesgeruch ziehn Fingerknochen das Leichentucho Das Rippengitter im Fenster verblicho Meint er die andem, meint er auch mich? (I, 25)

This poem was most likely written during or shortly after

Eich's confinement to a military hospital between August Inl

and September 10, 19^0 for the treatment of a severe throat

inflammation (Angina) „^ Although not seriously ill himself,

Eich would have come in contact there with wounded and dying

soldiers from the front, whose suffering could well have in

spired such death imagery.

The attitude toward death in "Lazarett" differs radi

cally from what we saw in Eich's earlier lyrics and radio

plays. Whereas in works such as "Weg durch die Dttnen" and

"Schritte zu Andreas" death has a positive function as the moment when man is reintegrated into the totality of nature,

it is depicted in "Lazarett" solely in terms of its most 232

gruesome aspects: as the beginning of physical decay and as man's ultimate terror. The universe is now void of any signs

from the eternal realm; they have been replaced by the fea

tures of a grim reality.

Although expressed more subtly than in "Lazarett," the

fear of death is also central to the nine lines entitled

"Kellernacht," which Eich probably wrote during his assign ment to the Stabsstelle Papier in Berlin between 19^1 and

19 4 4 :

Wie ist die Erde weich! Sie schwankt in Bank und Wand. Der Atem schmeckt nach Sand und der Major wird bleicho Soil ich den K&’nigsbauern ziehn? Wie zittert mir die Hand! War es ein Hauch aus anderm Land, der durch den Luftkamin an meine Stirne fand?37

While this is not one of Eich's better poems and one can eas

ily see why he might not wish to publish it, "Kellernacht"

is significant because of its apparent autobiographical fea

tures. The incident it describes, a tension-filled night in an air raid bunker shaken by bombs exploding nearby, may have been one of many Allied air attacks Eich experienced while stationed in Berlin. The "Major" in the first stanza may refer to Eich's friend and immediate superior Jtirgen

Eggebrecht, and the terrified chess player may be Eich him

self. 233 Like "Lazarett," "Kellernacht" ends in uncertainty. In the former poem the persona wonders whether the "Grim Reaper" may have come to carry him off, hut is not sure of itj "Meint er die a n d e m , / meint er auch mich?" And in the latter work, the persona wonders nervously about the significance of this

"Hauch aus anderm Land" which has issued from the realm of destruction outside the bunker and touched his foreheads has he been marked for death? Both conclusions indicate an atti tude which Mftller-Hanpft describes as a "barockes Geffthl von der Ftlgung des Menschen. Fatalism predominates in these two works, as well as in the other war-poems, where a passive persona is always being acted upon by some outside, "super natural" force. Just as Eich9s prewar lyrics showed him to be oblivious to the developments lea.ding to the war, his war- poems, too, do not treat the reality of Nazi Germany9s his torical and political situation,, Instead the war is viewed not so much as a human undertaking, but as if it were some universal catastrophe that has befallen mankind,, And here we find a correspondence to Eich's fundamental pessimism about modern civilization, which results from his philosophy of na ture alienation. It is possible that he viewed the war like the social evils in his radio plays "FShrten in der Pr&rie" and "Radium," as yet another outgrowth of man's misdirection due to his alienation.

Such a view would explain the final stanza of Eich’s

"Herbstlich," the first in a series of poems with the collec tive title "Beim Telegrafenbau": 234

I. Herbstlich Bald werden die Schollen im Froste versteinern. Die Stangen, entrindet, erscheinen mir beinem, die knb'chemen Spaten von Nebel umsponnen, die L6*cher als w&ren hier GrSber begonnen, die bleichenden StrSucher wie Efeugerank, rotbeerige Eibe den Schatten als Dank, hoch ffbem Gew6*lke die Fortress-Motoren geschundener Sph&re Musik in den Ohren. (I, 45-46)

Although similar to the motifs in earlier poems such as

"Rtfbenemte" and "Erstes Eis," the fall imagery here has dif ferent connotations: it is an unambiguous sign of death,, In this poem Eich emphasizes traditional symbols for human mor tality (bones, graves and ivy), which points once again to the transformation in his lyrical themes which we saw in the other war-poems. The persona's environment is now devoid of any indication of transcendence. The birds, whose flight- paths across the sky were Eich's favorite symbol for eternal nature, have now been replaced by the remote drone of Allied bombers overhead, a sound which is described as "music of a violated sphere." For Eich— obviously— warfare is not so much the expression of human error and malice and brutality as it is a violation of the natural realm.

In the second poem in the series, "Die Drehkreuzachse," the pessimism evident in "Herbstlich" gives way to nihilism.

Here the emphasis lies on the lines of human communication, 235 represented literally by the telegraph-wires,, In contrast to their purpose of establishing contact, they are described as being silent and leading into nothingness*

a • a o Die Nahe, die F e m e bleibt unberfthrt, die DrShte schweigen, ins Nichts geftlhrt. (I, 46)

In this series' final poem, "Nebelmosaik," references to military life are interspersed with allusions to Eich's familiar theme of nature alienation; and while there is a retreat from the nihilistic stance expressed in "Die Dreh- kreuzachse," fatalism and melancholy still predominates

Von Spinnweben tlberzogens Der Nebel verhSngt die Sicht. Die Erde klebt zSh am Stiefel, dem Leimnetz entrinn ich nicht„ Das Seitengewehr verrostet, die Zeltbahn durchnSBt das Knie, aus leeren Kartoffelmieten dttnstet die Melancholie0 o o e e ( I 5 4/)

The "Beim Telegrafenbau" series offers much support for

Gopel's claim that these poems were written in late 1944„

Eich would have been doing the activities described in

"Herbstlich" and "Die Drehkreuzachse" after he had been trans ferred in the spring of 1944 from his desk job in Berlin to a communications unit in the fieldo A late 1944 date of ori gin would also account for the strong sense of fatalism per vading the poems, since by then the defeat and total destruc tion of the Third Reich seemed inevitable to most Germans, and Eich himself faced an uncertain fate now that he had 236 finally been sent to the front. Thus it is possible to sur mise with some assurance that these poems are the latest ex tant works Eich wrote during the Nazi years*

If the "Beim Telegrafenbau" poems are indeed Eich's last works from the Third Reich, they then show the degree of transformation his lyrics underwent from 1933 ‘to 19^5° Only after being confronted with the war and with his own induc tion into military service, did Eich abandon his aloofness from contemporary events, but even then this reaction was limited* While his seven war-poems discussed above show some form of a response to the "terrors of the times," they also show how Eich avoided the political issues behind the war and all mention of the Hitler regime. He remained a cautious writer to the end. NOTES TO CHAPTER VIII

A Of. for example Schafroth, p. 26 and Richardson, p. 15o

2 Mttller-Hanpft, Lyrik und Rezeution, pp. 30-31; subse quent references in the following pages to this work will be in text.

^ What Mttller-Hanpft does not know is that Eich's broad casts were more than "distraction., " As has been demonstrated above in Chapters V and VI, some of Eich's broadcasts active ly promoted the Blut-und-Boden ideology, Prussian chauvinism, and anti-English propaganda.

^ Krispyn, Gttnter Eich, pp. 40-41.

This major shortcoming is due to an almost exclusive reliance on Eich's own version of his Nazi-era biography. It is apparent that Eich made every effort to downplay his accomplishments as an author during the Third Reich. In fact one enigmatic statement Eich made to Mttller-Hanpft in an in terview seems to offer support for her claim that he wrote no poetry under the Nazis. Mttller-Hanpft paraphrasesi Befragt nach den Grunden, warum er keine Gedichte mehr geschrieben habe, behauptet Eich, da/3 er in der politischen Situation, ohne da(3 er sie sich in ihren histo- rischen Dimensionen vergegenwSrtigt hStte, keine M6*g- lichkeit fttr Lyrik mehr sah (Lvrik und Rezention, p. 31» n. 24). £ E.g. Krautkramer, pp. 27-28.

^ Sch&fer, "Die nichtfaschistische Literatur der 'jungen Generation,'" p. 462.

® Krispyn, Gttnter Eich, p. 46.

9 Briner, pp. 42-50.

Briner, p. 51 •

Briner, p. 43. 238

12 In the pertinent volume of the Deutsches Bflcherver- zeichnis there is no listing of any poetry anthology, liter ary collection, periodical, or magazine which corresponds to this title and which gives any indication that it would in clude Eich’s poems.

^ Cf. for example the piece "Auch der LandbrieftrSger Apfelst^dt wSre gern der liebe Gott" (I, 207)• 1 Zl With regard to Eich’s poetry in his radio broadcasts Mttller-Hanpft0s denial that he wrote any lyrics after 1932 seems especially puzzling,, She was aware of Eich’s poems published in Das festliche Jahr in 1936— cf. Lyrik und Rezen- tion, p. 31— and to deny that these pieces are poetry is simply an arbitrary decision,, 1 5 J This includes the 16 poems in Das festliche Jahr, although only 6 of them have been included in Eich’s Gesam- melte Werke— cf0 I, 421.

1 f i In 19^7 Eich published the poem "Sternschnuppen im August"; its title and contents indicate that it was part of the broadcast "Sternschnuppen und WunschtrSume: Improvisa- tionen im August" (Berlin; August 21, 1939)« 17 ' The difference in numbers is due to the fact that the 16 poems in Das festliche Jahr are considered as publications and not as broadcast poems. In reality they belong in both categories. The four unknown poems from "Das Leben" are not considered in these calculations, since it is possible that they were republications of earlier works. 1 fl Cf. the discussion of Eich’s early essays in Chapter II, page 20 aboveo

^ Ina Seidel, Gedichte (Berlins Egon Fleischel & Co., 191*0» P» 8^. 20 Although this poem was not published during the Nazi years, it is mentioned along with 14 other pre-1935 works in a preface Eich originally planned to use in Abgelegene Ge- hofte— see I, ^-04.

Gttnter Eich, "Wind ttber der Stadt," in Almanach der Dame: Fflnfzig ausgewShlte Gedichte (Berlins PropylSen-Verlag, 1935), p. 12. 22 "Wald vor dem Tage" was published twice in 1933* in Die neue Rundschau and in Der weifie Rabe. "Der Beerenwald," on the other hand, was not published in the Nazi years, but it is mentioned along with "Wiederkehr" as a pre-1935 poem in Eich’s preface (see note 20 above). The earliest 239 documented date of the origin of "Der Beerenwald" is 1938, when Eich submitted it to the annual poetry competition spon sored by Die Dame; cf. Die Dame. 65, No. 23 (1938), 12. 23 J Hugo von Hofmannsthal, "Ballade des ttufieren Lebens," in his Die Gedichte und kleinen Dramen (Leipzig* Insel, 1911), p. 12. oh, Gttnter Eich, "Tag im Herbst," Der Bttcherwurm, 19, No. 1 (193*0 * 23.

^ See Chapter II, pages 20-22 above. 26 Sch&fer, "Die nichtfaschistische Literatur der 8jungen Generation,8" p. 486.

Schttfer, p. 486.

2® Cf. Krispyn, "Gtlnter Eichs Lyrik bis 1964," p. 76.

2^ Brecht, Gesammelte Werke. XI, 723.

First published in Die Dame, 65, No. 24 (1938), 38.

Gttnter Eich, "Erstes Eis," Die Koralle. NS 6, No. 50 (1938), 1812. A slightly different version is published in the Gesammelte Werke (I, 234). There the final verse in the first stanza reads: "scharfer Wind weht von Nordost."

-^2 Peter Huchel, Gedichte (Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag, 1948), pp. 78-79.

Krispyn, Gttnter Eich, p. 46.

See the notes about Eich8s lyrics (I, 4o4-05)» OK Schwitzke provided this information and the poem in a letter to me on May 21, 1979«

^ A report of Eich8s stay in the military hospital (Res. Lazarett 106 Berlin-Wilhelmsdorf) is part of the limited data which are now available from his records. See page 44, note 83 above.

^ The text provided by Schwitzke (note 35 above) is quoted with permission from Use Aichinger.

Mttller-Hanpft, Lyrik und Rezention. p. 46, CHAPTER IX

CONCLUSION

Gttnter Eich hat die nationalsozialistische Ideologie stets abgelehnt. Er ist seinem Wesen nach ein Mensch, der auf Grund seiner lyrischen Weltanschauung alien politischen Fragen naiv und uninteressiert gegenttbersteht. Er lehnte den Hitlerismus instinktiv ab„ Mir ist weder in seinen Gedichten noch seinen Dramen und HUrspielen fttr den Rundfunk irgendeine Zeile hekannt geworden, die politisch oder gar nazistisch gewesen ist0 Es handelt sich bei ihm urn reine Dichtung8 . . .1

This assessment of Gttnter Eich's professional activity during the Third Reich was part of a political reference that the au thor Hermann Kasack submitted on August 30, 19^-6, to the Al lied Military Headquarters in Regensburg on behalf of Eich, who was apparently applying for a license to publish in the

American Occupation Zone0 Kasack's reference provides a fit ting point of departure for the present study's summation, since his statement is not only the earliest exoneration of

Eich from complicity in Nazi cultural politics, but in his emphasis on Eich's alleged anti-Nazism and on the "apolitical innocuous nature" of Eich's works, Kasack also typifies the most common perception of this author's Nazi-era writing,,

As stated in the second chapter, there is no documenta tion that Eich had ever belonged to the NSDAP or any related 2 organizations. Nor is there evidence that Eich went so far as to greet the onset of Hitler's regime as Gottfried Benn 240 24l

did so ignobly in his radio speech "Der neue Staat und die

Intellektuellen" (1933)• Thus it is possible to accept

Kasack*s claim that Eich was never an adherent of the Nazi movement. However, by this time it should be clear that— whatever his personal political views may have been— Eich did not avoid serving the Nazi regime as an author. His writing

during the Third Reich was influenced by ideological trends.

It was not the "reine Dichtung" described in Kasack*s refer

ence.

The role Eich played in Nazi cultural politics is evi

dent in his work for the radio between 1933 and 1940. As we have seen in Chapters five and six, many of Eich*s seemingly

"innocuous" radio plays did in fact promote aspects of the

Blut-und-Boden cult and Prussian/German nationalism. And as

Chapter four*s survey of Nazi radio policy has demonstrated,

even Eich*s comedy and musical broadcasts, which fell in the

category of "light entertainment," served an important pur pose in the Nazi master plan of propaganda by their mere pre sence on the airwaves. Both Eckert and Goebbels were aware of the need for entertaining programs that distracted the populace from the ugly reality of life in a totalitarian state headed for war,^ Moreover, such "radio entertainment," according to Reichsrundfunkkammer President Eugen Hadamovsky, was necessary as an enticement that would attract and retain listeners, who then could also be subjected to political in doctrination s 2k2

Der Rundfunk muf3 den H6*rer mit einem leichten Musikpro- gramm oder einem leichten Unterhaltungsprogramm gewinnen und aufnahmebereit machen. Und er kann ihn erst dann zu hSheren Zielen hinleiten.^

It is clear from such statements that the management of

the Nazi radio system had ulterior motives for broadcasting

programs which were not overtly Nazistic and for employing

non-Party writers such as Eich. Here the key question arises

as to whether Eich, too, realized the political implications

of his radio writing,. Was he aware that it constituted a

form of collaboration with the propagandists of a regime he

allegedly despised?

His radio play characters Patt and Chabanais seem to in

dicate that as. early as the end of 1936 he had gained insight

into his role during the Third Reich. These two "poets," who

compromise their integrity in order to get ahead in the world, might represent Eich6s'perception of his own "prostitution"

in order to earn money as a writer under the Nazis, There

are sufficient autobiographical parallels with these figures

to warrant speculation in this direction. But as the dis

cussion in Chapter, seven has shown, the relevance of these

fictional poets to Eich's situation under Nazism is problema

tic. In the case of Chabanais we must take into account the

great discrepancy between the mode of behavior depicted at

the conclusion of "Radium" and Eich's actions after 1937o

Rather than emulating Chabanais, who refused to collaborate any further with Cynac's "propaganda department" after he had gained insight into his wrongdoing, Eich continued to produce 243

broadcasts that the Nazis found "acceptable.," Eich in fact

ended his work for the Nazi radio not with a controversial

radio play such as "Radium" or "Weizenkantate" but with "Re

bellion in der Goldstadt" (1940), which was apparently one

of the most politically compromising works he wrote during

the Hitler regime„ Therefore, whatever message of resistance

or non-cooperation Eich might have meant to convey through

his fictional poet is confusing, since it is inconsistent with

the true facts of the author’s own biography.

Even in the postwar years Eich never commented directly

on the political implications of his work for the Nazi radio.

The laconic and often untruthful remarks he did make served

to downplay the extent and importance of his pre-19^5 broad

casts.-^ A statement Eich made to Fehse shortly after the war, for example, sounds almost like an expression of relief

that so few traces of his Nazi-era radio plays had survived:

Sie sind alle uninteressant geworden, Sie existieren nicht mehr, - schon weil die meisten Manuskripte verloren gegangen sind,6

In lieu of any substantial commentary by Eich about his broad

casts, we might interpret both his unwillingness to discuss his past and what seems to have been a deliberate effort to

suppress the facts of his writing during the Third Reich as

Eich’s tacit admission of misconduct.

With few exceptions critics have ignored the political

implications of the seven years Eich spent writing for the

Nazi radio. As stated in the preceding chapter, the tendency has been to focus on Eich's role as a lyric poet, and 244

specifically on his alleged decision not to write any further

poetry. His broadcasts have been dismissed as "routine works"

of no political or artistic significance. This line of cri

ticism posits that Eich dedicated his talents almost exclu

sively to the production of broadcast texts because he be

lieved that the adverse state of affairs in Nazi Germany made

his personal style of poetry "inappropriate." His turn to

the radio play, then, is made out to be the result of some

ethical decision, not a financial one (which it most likely w a s ).\ 8

In light of the findings of the present study, the above view is no longer acceptable. Research into Eich's pre-194-5

biography reveals that there is no definite cut-off date when

he stopped writing poetry during the Third Reich. At the pre

sent we know that he published poems as late as December

1938, and it is quite possible that additional Eich poems may still be discovered in obscure journals from the Nazi years. Moreover, it is now clear that Eich would have actu

ally served the Nazi regime far less and thereby preserved

his artistic integrity, had he devoted his energy solely to

composing esoteric nature lyrics instead of broadcasts such

as Per K6‘nigswusterhSuser Landbote or "Till Eulenspiegel, " which could be exploited by propagandists.

Considering the extent and nature of Eich’s collabora

tion with the Nazi radio system, it is indeed ironic that

several critics have cited Brecht's exile poetry to 2^5

demonstrate the "nobility" of Eich's alleged neglect of ly rics in favor of the radio play. Brecht is first mentioned

in connection with Eich's Nazi-era writing by Krispyn. Dis

cussing Eich's "awareness" that lyrics were no longer appro priate under the Hitler regime, Krispyn refers to Brecht's

"Schlechte Zeit fttr Lyrik" and quotes the lines from "An die

Nachgeborenen" which were cited in the previous chapter of

this study (page 223 above).^ This poem is also cited in 10 Schafroth's discussion of Eich's poetry from the Nazi years; and Richardson alludes to "Schlechte Zeit fttr Lyrik" when he 11 claims that Eich was silent as a poet during the Third Reich#

Interestingly, none of these critics cites more than the ti

tle of the key poem "Schlechte Zeit fttr Lyrik." As its text shows below, they had good reason for doing so, since there is little support for their theory of Eich's "noble silence" in the poem's body, where Brecht explains what he means by

the titles

Ich wei(3 doch: nur der Glttckliche 1st beliebt. Seine Stimme H6’rt man gern. Sein Gesicht ist schbn. Der verkrtippelte Baum im Hof Zeigt auf den schlechten Boden, aber Die Vorftbergehenden schimpfen ihn einen Krftppel Doch mit Recht. Die grtlnen Boote und die lustigen Segel des Sundes Sehe ich nicht. Von allem Sehe ich nur der Fischer rissiges Gamnetz. Warum rede ich nur davon Dafi die vierzigj&hrige HSuslerin gekrtimmt geht? Die Bruste der M&dchen Sind warm wie ehedem. In meinem Lied ein Reim KSme mir fast vor wie Ubermut. 2k6

In mir streiten sich Die Begeisterung fiber den bltlhenden Apfelbaum Und das Entsetzen fiber die Reden des Anstreichers. Aber nur das zweite DrSngt mich zum Schreibtisch.12

To be sure, Brecht's basic message both here and in the lines cited above from "An die Nachgeborenen" is that in view of the crimes of the Nazi regime it would be socially irre sponsible to continue to write traditional, "timeless" lyrics.

But there is more to his message which does not correspond to any theory of Eich's "supreme sacrifice as a poet" during the Third Reich. Nowhere does Brecht indicate that the ap propriate response is for the poet to become silent. Quite the contrary. As he states in the last seven lines of 13 "Schlechte Zeit fflr Lyrik" and elsewhere, the only legiti mate response is to devote one's creative energy to opposing

Hitler, the "Anstreicher." And here it is impossible to reconcile Eich's seven-year collaboration with the Nazi.radio system with Brecht's call for active resistance.

Briner was the first to use the term "opportunism" in All reference to Eich's activity during the Nazi years.

Briner's justification for doing so has been demonstrated in the preceding chapters. Starting with Eich's "break" into the radio industry in early 1933» which was facilitated by his friend Wilhelm Hoffmann and perhaps as well by the sudden drop in competition due to Nazi purges of "undesirable" au thors and to emigration waves, and ending with the Berlin assignment which kept Eich from the front until 1'9^, it is apparent that he was able to make the best out of circumstances 2^7

in Hitler's Germany. Eich did not have to go so far as to

become a Party member. There is ample proof in his extant

Nazi-era works that he was willing to accommodate certain ide

ological trends. A prime example of this is his story "Die

Schattenschlacht" (1936). And in the case of Eich's nonex-

tant texts, indications are that in broadcasts such as "Bran

denburgs Adler ttber Afrika" (1933) > "In den Staub mit alien

Feinden Brandenburgs!" (1933)> "Der Tod an den HSnden" (1939)

and "Rebellion in der Goldstadt" (19^0), Eich might have gone

even further in promoting ideas favorable to the National-

socialist regime.

As stated above, discussions of Eich's Nazi-era writing

have often cited Brecht. It therefore seems fitting that

this study close with lines from a Brecht poem that is yet

more pertinent to Eich's actual role during the Third Reich

than "Schlechte Zeit fiir Lyrik." The poem, "An die Gleich-

geschalteten," was read by Brecht over Radio Moscow in 1935*

Brecht addressed his words to non-Nazis such as Eich, who were nevertheless prepared to cooperate with the Hitler re

gime as long as it was to their financial advantage to do so.

Especially the poem's first half, which follows below, is im

portant for the understanding of Eich's writing, since here

Brecht brings up the principle of man's accountability for

the evil that occurs around him, a principle that is central

to Eich's "TrSume" and to the Btlchner-speech. Brecht, too,

raises a point similar to Eich's question of "Geranien oder 2^8

Kritik?" which was posed at the onset of this study. -And were we now to judge Eich's Nazi-era writing in accordance with his own principles, we would have to state that he in deed produced "Geranien." The consequences of such opportun ism are clearly stated in "An die Gleichgeschalteten"t

Um sein Brot nicht zu verlieren In den Zeiten zunehmender Unterdrftckung BeschlieBt mancher, die Wahrheit Uber die Verbrechen des Regimes bei der Aufrechterhal- tung der Ausbeutung Nicht mehr zu sagen, aber Auch die Lftgen des Regimes nicht zu verbreiten, also Zwar nichts zu enthftllen, aber Auch nichts zu beschSnigen. Der so Vorgehende Scheint nur von neuem zu bekrSftigen, daB er entschlossen ist Auch in den Zeiten zunehmender Unterdrttckung Sein Gesicht nicht zu verlieren," aber in Wirklichkeit Ist er doch nur entschlossen Sein Brot nicht zu verlieren. Ja, dieser sein Entschlufi Keine Wahrheit zu sagen, dient ihm dazu, von nun an Die Wahrheit zu verschweigen. Das kann freilich Nur eine kleine Zeit durchgeftfhrt werden. Aber auch zu dieser Zeit Wghrend sie noch einhergehen in den A m t e m und Redak- tionen In den Laboratorien und auf den Fabrikh6*fen als Leute Aus deren Mund keine Unwahrkeit kommt Beginnt schon ihre SchSdlichkeit. Wer mit keiner Wimper zuckt Beim Anblick blutiger Verbrechen, verleiht ihnen nSmlich Den Anschein des Natftrlichen. Er bezeichnet Die furchtbare Untat als etwas so UnauffSlliges wie Regen Auch so unhinderbar wie Regen. So untersttttzt er schon durch sein Schweigen Die Verbrecher, aber bald Wird er bemerken, daB er, um sein Brot nicht zu verlieren Nicht nur die Wahrheit verschweigen, sondern Die Ltige sagen muB. Nicht ungn&dig Nehmen die Unterdrttcker ihn auf, der da bereit ist Sein Brot nicht zu verlieren.15 NOTES TO CHAPTER IX

A ■ "Als der Krieg zu Ende war11: Literarisch-oolitische Publizistik 1945-1950: Eine Ausstellung des Deutschen Litera- turarchivs im Schiller-Nationalmuseum Marbach a. N.(Munich: Kosel, 1973)» p. 1^3. 2 See page 45» note 86 above.

3 Eckert, FUhrungsmittel. pp. 246-47; see pages 80-82 above.

^ Eugen Hadamovsky, "Der Rundfunk im Dienst der Volks- fUhrung" (Leipzig: n.p., n.d»), p. 21; cited in Eckert, FUhrungsmittel. p. 170.

^ Of. Eich's statement cited on page 8 above. £ Fehse, p. 346.

^ Cf. page 209 above. O Cf. pages 15-16 above.

^ Krispyn, GUnter Eich. pp. 40-41.

Schafroth, pp. 25-26. 11 Richardson, p. 15.

^2 Brecht, Gesammelte Werke, IX, 743-44.

^ In another of his exile-poems, "In Finsteren Zeiten," Brecht expresses his strong opposition to writers who reacted to Nazism by becoming silent: Man wird nicht sagen: Als da der Nufibaum sich im Wind schUttelte Sondern: Als da der Anstreicher die Arbeiter niedertrat. Man wird nicht sagen: Als das Kind den flachen Kiesel Uber die Stromschnelle springen liefl Sondern: Als da die grofien Kriege vorbereitet wurden. Man wird nicht sagen: Als da die Frau ins Zimmer kam Sondern: Als da die grofien MSchte sich gegen die Arbeiter verbUndeten.

249 250

Aber man wird nicht sagen: Die Zeiten waren finster Sondern: Warum haben ihre Dichter geschwiegen? (Brecht, Gesammelte Werke. IX, 7^1) A Ji Briner, p. 38.

^ Brecht, Gesammelte Werke, IX, 679-80. BIBLIOGRAPHY

I0 Works By Gunter Eich:

Gesammelte Werke. Ed. U s e Aichinger, Susanne Mtfller-Hanpft, Horst Ohde, Heinz F. Schafroth, and Heinz Schwitzke. 4 vols. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1973«

Eich's works not included in the above: a. Poems:

"Schlaflied am Abend." Die literarische Welt. 9, No. 16 (1933), 4. "Mittag," "Tag im Herbst," and "Zu einer sehr alten Photogra- phie." Der Bttcherwurm. 19, No. 1 (1934), 23-24.

"Wind ttber der Stadt." In Almanach der Dame: Fflnfzig ausge- wShlte Gedichte. Berlin: Propyl&en, 1934, pp. 26-27. b. Prose:

"Die Schattenschlacht." Die Dame. 63, No. 24 (1936), PP° 10 and 54-61. c. Radio Texts:

"Lustiges Lumpenpack." Studio manuscript for the Deutschland- sender broadcast on December 14, 1933, in Eich's liter ary legacy, Deutsches Literaturarchiv/ Schiller-National- museum Marbach a. N.

"Die Tasche des LandbrieftrSgers D6*derlein. " Studio manu script for the Reichssender Berlin broadcast on January 26, 1936, in the archives of Norddeutscher Rundfunk, Hamburg.

"FShrten in der Pr£rie." Typescript in Eich's literary leg acy, Deutsches Literaturarchiv/ Schiller-Nationalmuseum Marbach a. N0

Together with Martin Raschke. Das festliche Jahr. Olden burg: Stalling, 1936.

251 252

Together with Martin Raschke. "Aus dem 'Deutschen Kalender.'" Die Literatur. kl (1938/39), 5^9-50. d. Reviews published under the pseudonym Georg Winters

"Die Vermischung der Formen." Die Kolonne, 2, No. 2 (1931)» 23.

"Diskussion um Emil Belzner." Die Kolonne9 2, No. 3 (1931), 35-36.

Review of Um uns die Stadt: Eine Anthologie neuer Groflstadt- dichtung. Die Kolonne. 3? No. 1 (1932)* 16.

Review of Verse by Georg von der Vring. Die Kolonne. 3* No. 2 (1932), 31.

Review of Morgenlandfahrt by Hermann Hesse. Die Kolonne. 3 No. (1932)» front cover page.

II. Other works cited:

"Als der Krieg zu Ende war": Literarisch-politische Publizi- stik 19^5-1950: Eine Ausstellung des Deutschen Litera- turarchivs im Schiller-Nationalmuseum Marbach a. N. Munich: Kosel, 1973.

Becher, Johannes R. Gesammelte Werke. Berlin & Weimar: Auf- bau Verlag, 1971. Vol. VIII.

Benn, Gottfried. Kunst und Macht. Stuttgart: Deutsche Ver- lags-Anstalt, 193^.

Gesammelte Werke. Ed. Dieter Wellershoff. Wiesbaden: Limes, 1959. Vol. I.

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Brecht, Bertolt. Gesammelte Werke. Frankfurt/Main: Suhr kamp, 1967. Vols. IX, XI, and XVIII.

Brenner, Hildegard. Die Kunstnolitik des Nationalsozialis- mus. Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1963.

Breuer, Dieter. EinfUhrung in die nragmatische Texttheorie. Uni Taschenbttcher, 106. Munich: Fink, 197^. 253

Briner, Heinrich Georg. Naturmvstik - Biologischer Pessi- mismus - Ketzertum; Gtlnter Eichs Werk im Spannungsfeld der Theodizee0 Bonns Bouvier, 1978.

Brunngraber, Rudolf. Karl und das zwanzigste Jahrhundert. Pref. by Thomas Lange. Kronberg/Ts.: Scriptor, 1978.

Radium; Roman eines Elementes. Stuttgart; Rowohlt, 1938.

Courtade, Francis, and Pierre Cadars. Geschichte des Films im Dritten Reich. Munich & Vienna; Hanser, 1975°

Darre, Richard Walther. Neuordnung unseres Denkens. Reichs- bauemstadt Goslar; Verlag Blut und Boden, 1941.

Denkler, Horst, and Karl Prttmm, eds. Die deutsche Literatur im Dritten Reich; Themen - Traditionen - Wirkungen. Stuttgart; Reclam, 1976.

Das Deutsche Hausbuch. Hrsgo in Verbindung mit dem Winter- hilfswerk des Deutschen Volkes vom Hauptkulturamt in der Reichspropagandaleitung der NSDAP (ed«). Berlin; Zen- tralverlag der NSDAP, Franz Eher Nachfolge, 1943°

Diebold, Bernhard. "An die jungen Lyriker." Die Kolonne. 3* No. 1 (1932), front and back cover pages.

Diettrich, Fritz. "Die gegenwSrtige Lage der deutschen Ly rik ." Die Literatur. 33 (1930/31)> 438-41.

Dohl, Richard. Versuch einer Geschichte und Typologie des Horspiels in Lektionen; H&'rspiele der fttnfziger Jahre (Part I), "Gtlnter Eich als H&'rspieldichter. " Dir. Klaus Schb’ning, Dec. 13, 1976. Ms. Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Cologne.

Drews, Richard, and Alfred Kantorowicz. Verboten und Ver- brannt. Berlin & Munich; Ullstein-Kindler, 1947.

Eckert, Gerd (i.e., Gerhard). "Wo steht das Horspiel?" Die Literatur. 39 (1936/37), 298-300.

"Querschnitt des Horspiels." Die Literatur, 39 (1936/37), 494-96.

- , "Ein funkisches Kunstwerk." Das deutsche Wort und die gro(3e Ubersicht, 12, No. 9 (1936), 492-95*

—.------, "RegelmSGig im Sendeplan. " Die Literatur. 41 (1937/38), 172-74. 2 54

Eckert, Gerd. "Berechtigungsnachweis des Horspiels." Die Literatur. 40 (1937/38), 234-36.

------o "Der ideale Rundfunkhb'rer." Die Literatur. 40 (1937/38), 425-26.

------. "Formen des Horspiels." Die Literatur. 40 (1937/38), 750-51.

"Neues vom Horspiel." Die Literatur, 41 (1938/ 39), 172-74.

------# "Horspielmanie und Horspielpflege." Die Litera- tur, 41 (1938/39), 495-97.

------. "9Deutscher Kalender.9" Die Literatur. 41 (1938/ 39), 560-61.

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Eckhardt, Ferdinand. "GrundsStzliches zu einem Horspiel des Deutschlandsenders." Rufer und Horer, 3, No. 9 (1933), 422-26.

Euringer, Richard. Deutsche Passion: Hbrwerk in sechs SStzen. Oldenburg: Stalling, 1933.

Evmari (pseud.). "Zwei Jahre Konigswusterhauser Landbote." Die Sendung: Rundfunkwoche. 12, No. 42 (1935), 848.

------a "Flug zum Niederwald." Die Sendung: Rundfunk woche. 13, No. 16 (1936), 453-55.

"Vier Jahre K6*nigswusterh&user Landbote: Ein JubilSum im Deutschlandsender." Die Sendung, 14 (1937), 912.

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