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Authors' Responses to Censorship in Imperial Germany, 1885-1914 Gary D Grand Valley State University ScholarWorks@GVSU Peer Reviewed Articles History Department 2014 Trials and Tribulations: Authors' Responses to Censorship in Imperial Germany, 1885-1914 Gary D. Stark University of Texas at Arlington Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/hst_articles Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Stark, Gary D., "Trials and Tribulations: Authors' Responses to Censorship in Imperial Germany, 1885-1914" (2014). Peer Reviewed Articles. 17. https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/hst_articles/17 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the History Department at ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Peer Reviewed Articles by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Trials and Tribulations:Authors' Responsesto Censorshipin Imperial Germany,1885-1914 GaryD. Stark Universityof Texas, Arlington In Thomas Mann's famous short story of 1903 about the artist's problematicrelation to bourgeoissociety, the aspiringyoung writerTonio Krfiger,after an absenceof thirteenyears, returns to his hometownfor a brief visit. Therehe is confrontedby a policemanwho, suspectingKifiger to be a swindlerwanted by the law, questionshim abouthis identityand occupation. Kr6ger,although recognizing that this guardianof civic orderis withinhis rights,is neverthelessreluctant to reveal who he is. Unable to providethe requisiteidentity papers, he finallyshows the policemanproof- sheets of a story of his that is aboutto be published.The officeris not entirelyconvinced the young writeris not the wantedcriminal, but in the end he lets the matterdrop and allows Kr6igerto leave the country.This unsettlingconfrontation with a representativeof the Germanstate drives home to Krogerhis socialisolation, his uneasyexistence between two seeminglyincompatible worlds: that of his bohemianartist friends, who regard him as a bourgeois,and that of thebourgeois, who try to arresthim. It also reinforceshis long-standingaversion to his hometownand his eagernessto returnsoon to hisself-imposed exile in themore hospitablesouth. Tonio Kr6ger'ssituation is symbolicof that of manyfin de sikcle Germanwriters. As numerousscholars have noted,many late nineteenthand early twentiethcentury German literati shared three distinct but interrelated characteristics:an acute self-consciousness; a sense of alienationfrom bourgeois society;and an "unpolitical"withdrawal from the pressingsocial andpolitical problems of the day. During the nineteenthcentury, but especially since Nietzsche,German writers became increasingly conscious of theirexistence as ,a distinct,semi-independent social groupand were increasinglypreoccupied with questionsabout the role of artin the modernworld, the uniquenature of This content downloaded from 148.61.109.103 on Fri, 19 Sep 2014 10:03:45 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 448 GERMANSTUDIES REVIEW theartistic calling, the artist's position and function in bourgeoissociety, and the artist'sresponsibilities to Geist.At thesame time, their intense concern with (and at times glorificationof) the artist'sspecial calling createdin manyGerman writersa growing sense of separatenessfrom the rest of society. Authors, particularlyin thefin de sk'cleera, frequentlyfelt isolatedand alienatedfrom ""normal"life; because of theirunique artistic temperaments and their special, "higher"calling, many of them felt like outsiderswho did not belong to bourgeoissociety. Frequently, this sense of social isolationresulted also in a consciouswithdrawal from the real world,especially the worldof powerand politics.Perceiving the inner world of Geistrather than the external world as the authenticone, andregarding active involvement in socialor politicalissues as incompatiblewith or even harmfulto their"higher" artistic calling, German writersgenerally scorned political engagement. Many escaped from what they perceivedas oppressivesocial or politicalconditions by retreatinginto the "6unpolitical"9realm of thespirit. But this unpolitical disdain for issues of power and politicshad seriouspolitical consequences. Their "inner emigration" led manyinto resignationabout the existenceof socialevil andpolitical injustice; the resultwas widespread political fatalism concerning the possibility of socio- politicalchange or silentacceptance of the statusquo.' As thestory of TonioKroger illustrates, external challenges, especially fromauthority, can play a significantrole in the process by whichindividuals or groupsclarify their self-image,define their social role, and choose their politicalresponses, for such challenges often stimulate self-reflection. Hermann Hesse,a contemporaryof ThomasMann, reached much the sameconclusion: reflectingon the writer'scalling shortlybefore the First WorldWar, Hesse observedthat "the Literati, exactly like everyphysician orjudge or civil servant, are instructedand enlightened (aufgekliirt) about the essenceand character of theirvocation through the kindsof demandsthat others make on them."2 Among the many externalchallenges faced by fin de skw'cleGerman writers,one of the mostpervasive and potentially serious to theircareers was that of censorship.German writers in the imperialera had to contendwith a moreextensive, and less tolerantsystem of censorshipthan their counterparts in France or Britain.Although the ImperialPress Law of 1874 guaranteed freedomof the pressin Germanyand abolished preventive or priorcensorship (i.e.,the needto obtainofficial approval before a workcould be published),the ImperialCriminal Code still permitted local prosecutors to confiscate,and with court approvalto destroy,any printedmatter that violatedthe laws against obscenity,blasphemy, or k1semajestM. Under certain conditions, authorities couldalso prosecute the author of suchworks; if convicted,the defendant could be finedup to 1,000 marksor imprisonedfor upto five years.In contrastto the press,the publicstage in Germanywas still subjectto priorcensorship in the imperialera, for in most Germancities theaterdirectors had to obtainprior This content downloaded from 148.61.109.103 on Fri, 19 Sep 2014 10:03:45 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions GaryD. Stark 449 police approvalfor each dramathat was to be performedpublicly. Police had the right to ban any dramathey believed would endangerpublic peace or securityor wouldthreaten the existingmoral or politicalorder. While it is true thatFrance, Great Britain, and other nations also had laws prohibiting obscene orblasphemous publications, the laws in Germanywere generally applied more stringently(e.g. authors,not merely publishersor booksellers,could be prosecuted),and the Germanpenalties tended to be more severe.As for the public stage, France abolishedits system of theatercensorship in 1905-06, althoughBritain, like Germany,required that all new stageplays be submitted for prior state approval.B3ritish theater censorship, however, was far more lenient than its German counterpart:during the decade 1891-1900, for example,only twenty-two plays were banned in all of Britain,while during that same period,157 workswere bannedin the city of Berlinalone!3 Censorship, in short,posed a far more significantand frequentthreat to writersin late nineteenthcentury Germany than it did to writersin eitherFrance or Britain. Whileit is truethat, in the end,the successof Germancensors in suppressing certaintypes of artisticproducts fell far shortof theirintentionS,4 this seldom deterredthem from trying, and it didlittle to diminishthe anger,frustration, and sometimespsychological trauma involved for the authorswho ranafoul of the censors. Censorshipis, in thebroadest sense, an attemptby society(through its authorizedagents, the governingauthorities) to controlartists by definingthe limitsof artisticactivity and by isolatingor punishingartists who violatethose boundaries.It thereforereveals a good deal aboutwhat a societyconsiders the properrole of art and artiststo be. For artists,in turn,the experienceof being censoredcan significantlyaffect their self-image, their vocational identity, their perceptionof theirplace within society, and their level of politicalconsciousness andengagement. This essay will examine how the experience of beingcensored affectedthe views of severalGerman authors of the imperialera concerning theircalling as writersand their relation to Germansociety and/or the imperial authorities. Between1 885 andthe First World War, approximately twenty German authorsof seriousliterary works, including such figuresas ConradAlberti, HermannBahr, Hugo Ball, Klabund, and Ludwig Thoma, were prosecuted for what they had written.Of these, roughlyone-fourth were acquitted,another one-fourthwere fined, and the rest were imprisonedfor anywherefrom two weeks to one year.Scores of otherauthors - some of themmajor figures such as GerhartHauptmann, Paul Heyse, ArthurSchnitzler, and Carl Sternheim, some relativelyobscure and now forgotten- saw at least one of theirworks temporarilyor permanentlyconfiscated, or hadthe public performance of one or more of their dramasprohibited by the police. Many of the authorswho experiencedcensorship, especially those for whom censorshipmeant merely This content downloaded from 148.61.109.103 on Fri, 19 Sep 2014 10:03:45 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 450 GERMANSTUDIES REVIEW the banningof one of theirdramas from the publicstage, have left littleor no indicationof how that encounteraffected them and their attitudestoward Germansociety. But
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