Eutinian poets' circle

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The Eutin poets' circle , founded in 1936, was one of the most important national socialist groups of writers in the Nazi state .

The Eutin Poets' Circle was founded in 1936 in Eutin , which was a National Socialist stronghold at the time. It was brought into being on the initiative of the Eutinian librarian and writer Jochen Schmidt (born 1906), a former secretary of Hans Friedrich Blunck . The Eutin NS district president and SA group leader Johann Heinrich Böhmcker (called "Latten-Böhmcker" in Eutin because of his predilection for rough brawls) was the patron of the Eutin poets' circle . After Böhmcker, the patronage was Hinrich Lohse , who was Gauleiter at the time and later active in the Holocaust and the "euthanasia" as "Reich Commissioner for the East "-Morden was involved. A large number of the members of the group of poets also belonged to the NSDAP .

In the founding year 1936 the group of poets consisted of 21 members, the number rose to 27 by 1939. Most of the members came from Schleswig-Holstein or Oldenburg (Oldenburg) . Best known were Hans Friedrich Blunck , who was President of the Reichsschrifttumskammer from 1933 to 1935 , and the successful authors Gustav Frenssen and Edwin Erich Dwinger . The better-known members also included Waldemar Augustiny , Christian Jenssen , Hermann Claudius , Hans Ehrke , Ingeborg Andresen , Ottomar Enking , Gunnar Gunnarsson , Hans Heitmann , Wilhelm Lobsien , Alma Rogge , Helene Voigt-Diederichs and Georg von der Vring .

The group of authors called themselves the "Eutin Circle", which means they followed the tradition of the Eutin Circle that existed in Eutin in the 18th century , a group of writers and intellectuals around Johann Heinrich Voss and Friedrich Leopold Graf zu Stolberg . In the course of time, however, the name "Eutin Poets Circle" became established for the group founded in 1936.

The first meeting of the group of poets took place from September 4th to 6th, 1936 in Eutin. It was a journalistically effective start with music, political speeches, literary readings and a representative “morning party” in the knight's hall of the Eutin Castle . In the years that followed, the group of poets organized regular festive meetings as well as internal and public readings from their own works. Between 1936 and 1938 the group of poets appeared five times in public. The reading planned for September 1939 was canceled because of the German invasion of Poland . A total of 670 contributions were made by 29 members of the group of authors.

The organ of publication was the Eutin Almanac , which was edited by Christian Jenssen . A total of five volumes of the Almanac were published between 1936 and 1940. Most of the contributions can be assigned to the genre of local art or literature . Due to the lack of works by relevant party writers, local stories, but also historical novels and natural poems, formed the literary canon in the Nazi state. Often their literatures showed a clear identification with the goals of National Socialism and were in the service of the blood-and-soil ideology . Of the 27 members of this association of authors "16 published ... exclusively or at least partially monolingual Low German".

The Canadian historian Lawrence D. Stokes , who has submitted extensive documentation on the Eutinian poets' circle and its members, comes to the conclusion that this was an association that “consciously subordinated itself to the goals of the Nazi government” and “in respect of on its origins, self-portrayal, products and relatives to be described as National Socialist ”.

After 1945, some members of the Eutin poets' circle, especially Christian Jenssen , tried to revive the circle of poets. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Eutin poets' circle, a new (and final) volume of the Eutin Almanac was published in 1961. In the foreword to this volume, the role of the Eutin group of poets in the time of National Socialism is played down.

swell

  • Uwe Danker , Astrid Schwabe: Schleswig-Holstein and National Socialism . Neumünster: Wachholtz 2005, ISBN 3-529-02810-X .
  • Lawrence D. Stokes : The Eutin Poet Circle and National Socialism 1936-1945: A Documentation . Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2001. (Sources and research on the history of Schleswig-Holstein; Bd. 111.) ISBN 3-529-02211-X .
  • Lawrence D. Stokes: Small Towns and National Socialism: Selected Documents on the History of Eutin 1918–1945 . Neumünster: Wachholtz, 1984. (Sources and research on the history of Schleswig-Holstein; Bd. 82.) ISBN 3-529-02182-2 .
  • Eutinian Almanac. Published by the Eutin Circle . Edited by Christian Jenssen. Born 1936, Eutin 1936. - Born 1937, Berlin 1938. - Born 1938, Berlin 1939. - Born 1939, Berlin 1940. - Born 1940, Berlin 1941. - Born 1961, Hamburg 1961.
  • Ulf-Thomas Lesle : Identity Project Low German. The definition of language as a political issue . In: Robert Langhanke (Ed.): Language, Literature, Space. Fs. For Willy Diercks. Bielefeld: Verl. Für Regionalgeschichte, 2015, pp. 693–741.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lawrence D. Stokes: Small Town and National Socialism: Selected Documents on the History of Eutin 1918-1945.
  2. ↑ Lawrence D. Stokes: The Eutin Poet Circle and National Socialism 1936-1945. Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2001, p. 212 ff.
  3. ↑ Eutin Almanac 1939.
  4. ↑ Lawrence D. Stokes: The Eutin Poet Circle and National Socialism 1936-1945. Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2001.
  5. ↑ Ulf-Thomas Lesle: Identity Project Low German. The definition of language as a political issue. In: R. Langhanke (Ed.): Language, Literature, Space. Bielefeld 2015, p. 728
  6. ↑ Lawrence D. Stokes: The Eutin Poet Circle and National Socialism 1936-1945. Neumünster: Wachholtz, 2001, p. 432.
  7. ↑ Christian Jenssen: Zum Geleit, in: Eutiner Almanach 1961.