This dissertation has been microfilmed exactly as received 69-4921 KNOCHE, Walter, 1933- IHE POLITICAL POETRY OF THE THIRD REICH: THEMES AND METAPHORS. [Portions of Text in German]. The Ohio State University, Ph.D., 1968 Language and Literature, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan Copyright by Walter Knoche THE POLITICAL POETRY OF THE THIRD REICH: THEMES AND METAPHORS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Walter Knoche, B.A., M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 1968 Approved by 91— Adviser Department of German PREFACE To my adviser, Prof. Dieter Cunz— the German "Doktor- vater" seems much more appropriate— I can only insufficient­ ly express my gratitude. Actively interested in this study from its inception to its completion, he gave generously of his time and offered suggestions and constructive criticisms mixed with encouragement in time of need. For this I thank him as friend and mentor. In the final stages of writing I have incurred a debt of gratitude to my second reader, Prof. Charles W. Hoffmann. If this work has any stylistic merit, it is due solely to his sensitivity of style. For his efforts "above and beyond the call of duty," I express my sincere thanks. A year of residence in Munich was made possible by a Fellowship granted in 1964 by the Germanistic Society of America. I am grateful to the Society for the financial assistance without which this work could not have been under­ taken . The bulk of the material in this study was obtained at the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek and at the Library of Con­ gress. To both Libraries I express my appreciation and gra­ titude . TO MY PARENTS VITA November 6, 1933 Born - Urbana, Illinois 1961 ........... B„A., Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1961-1964 . Teaching Assistant, Department of German, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1963 ........... M.A. , The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1964 ........... Fellowship, Germanistic Society of America 1965-1968 . Instructor, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland FIELDS OF STUDY Studies in Literature. Professors Dieter Cunz, Oskar Seidlin, Sigurd Burckhardt, Walter Naumann, Hugo Bekker Studies in Language and Philology. Professors Wolfgang Fleisch- hauer and Ulrich Groenke TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................ ii VITA ............... *........... iv INTRODUCTION ........... 1 Chapter I. DER FttHRER.............. 11 II. DAS VOLK ................. 44 III* DIE FAHNE ....... 104 IV. DER BAUER .......................... 128 V. DIE ZEREMONIE ....................... 147 CONCLUSION ................................. 167 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................... 174 INTRODUCTION Of the vast number of books which have been written about the Third Reich, only a very few concern themselves with its literature. German as well as foreign historians, psychologists and sociologists flooded the market with books and articles within a few years after the close of the second World War; not so the literary scholars or historians. They for all practical purposes ignored the literature which had been written between 1933 and 1945. It was not until 1960 that the first books began to appear. Two which deserve mention are Dietrich Stroth- mann1 s Nationalsozialistische Literaturpolitik^- ■^•Bonn: H. Bouvier und Co. Verlag, 1960. and Josef Wulf's enormous volume, Literatur und Dichtung im Dritten Reich.2 ^Giitersloh: Sigbert Mohn Verlag, 1960. Wulf's book is primarily a documentary which offers a great number of texts and letters but very little if any commentary. Strothmann is not so much interested in the literature as he is in the Nazi apparatus which controlled it. His book contains much valuable information, but it is more useful to the historian or political scientist than to the literary scholar. In the same year the first article dealing with Nazi poetry appeared: Werner Hamerski's "'Gott1 und 'Vorsehung' im Lied und Gedicht des Nationalsozialismus. ■^Publizistik, V. (1960), 280-300. As the title indicates, however, Hamerski deals only with two specific topics or motifs, and those two of a decidedly religious nature. In 1961 Franz Schonauer's Deutsche Literatur im Dritten Reich was published.^ ^01ten und Freiburg im Breisgau: Walter Verlag, 1961. Schonauer intended to be controversial in order to spark discussion. His book can in no way be considered an ob­ jective presentation,* its polemic-didactic intent pre­ cludes this. Schonauer can also be criticized for the lack of systematic continuity which is evident in his chap­ ter titles: the first two, "Die Vorl&ufer" and "Der neue Staat und die Intellektuellen" suggest historical catego­ ries while the last five deal with specific themes: "Glori- fizierung des Krieges," "Die nordische Renaissance," "'Blut und Boden1-Mythos und 'Volkhafte' Dichtung," "Die Partei- dichtung" und "Innere Emigration." As it turns out, the time before 1933 is treated historically, the time after, thematically. Schonauer often deals in generalities, with the result that the problems upon which he touches are treated super­ ficially. Especially is this true of poetry. In each chap­ ter the poems are used as supporting evidence to show that the themes which existed in prose works were present in the poetry as well. Only in a few instances does he analyse the poetry independent of the prose. The book, moreover, con­ tains an overabundance of prose quotations with only epi­ sodic commentary or interpretation. Yet in spite of its shortcomings, Schonauer's book deserves credit for attempt­ ing to discuss Nazi literature at all. Ernst Loewy's Literatur unterm Hakenkreuz is a more balanced book than Schonauer1s.5 ^Frankfurt am Main: Europ&ische Verlagsanstalt, 1966. When in the future other histories of Nazi literature are written, Loewy's will certainly have to be reckoned with, if only because it is comprehensive. Yet for the purposes of this investigation one of its weaknesses lies precisely in this comprehensiveness. Loewy goes to great lengths to show how literary trends existing before 1933 are manifested in the literature under the Nazis. Much of his book is de­ voted to prose quotations; poetry is added when it fits one of his four categories: "Taube Bltite der Romantik," "Triumph der Provinz," "Der militante Nationalismus" and "Die braune Bataillon." Loewy investigates the authors of "schOngeistige Lit- eratur" during the Nazi period. The dominant trends in their works yield the above categories. To justify his method of beginning with the authors rathen than their works, Loewy argues that in either case the results will be the same. The statement is open to debate; and we con­ sider the method unacceptable for dealing with poetry, still more so for prose, for it contains pitfalls which are not easily avoided. And Loewy does not avoid them. If he investigates an author, then one should expect him to discuss enough works by that author to be representative. Loewy or the reader would then be able to draw conclusions about the author. But to quote random selections out of context— an especially great danger when dealing with prose works— does not seem to lead to an objective analysis. On the contrary, the works of the chosen author too often be­ come the subject of a witchhunt and passages are chosen which fit pre-established categories. The only study dealing specifically with poetry is Albrecht SchOne's slender volume, Qber Politische Lyrik im 20. Jahrhundert.® ^GOttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1965. Schttne does not limit himself to the political poetry of the Nazis; the latter part of his study deals with the i postwar Socialists as well. No extant work thus deals with the writings or the Nazi poets in any great detail. It is this gap which the present work hopes to fill. The poems in this investigation are a selection, the harvest of numerous anthologies. Certainly it has not been possible to go through all of the anthologies published between 1933 and 1945, all the more since many are no longer available. Nor would it be fruitful to do so, for an in­ crease in the number of poems would add little by way of variation. We feel that the poems presented here are re­ presentative and that the sampling is large enough to catch the mainstream of ideas and motifs in all of the poetry. We have confined ourselves to that poetry which by its choice of subject matter is primarily political and pro­ pagandists and which was published to espouse the cause of National Socialism. While Loewy begins his study by selecting authors and then subjecting their works to scrutiny, ours has been the opposite approach: we regard the poetry and not the authors as our proper subject. We feel that this is the only ten­ able approach, for a poem must stand by itself and be able to be understood as an entity. But we have already overreached ourselves, for the use of the words "poetry" and "Nazi poet" confronts us with difficulties. One cannot deny that the works in this study are poetry. Much of it may be bad poetry, but it is poetry nevertheless. Something needs to be said at this point, however, about the difference between political poetry and lyric poetry. Because it espouses a cause of a political nature, the impact of political poetry is usually restricted in time. When the cause is won or lost, when the poem is taken out of its historical situation, it loses its relevance if not its effect. There are exceptions, to be sure, but they will be treated later. If the cause for which the poem was written no longer exists, then the poem too has no reason for existence, since its object is political, limited in time and transitory by its very nature. By way of contrast, lyric poetry written centuries ago maintains its appeal even today because it deals with basic human conditions and emo­ tions which, since man has not basically changed, are still relevant.