Pledge of the most loyal allegiance

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"Vow of the most loyal allegiance" in the Frankfurter Zeitung from 26./28. October 1933, cut out and marginalized by Count Harry Kessler .

The pledge of loyal allegiance was a promise of loyalty made by 88 German writers and poets to Adolf Hitler , the wording of which, together with the list of signatories, was distributed throughout Germany in the press on October 26, 1933.

context

The initiative for the "vow" went by the Department of poetry of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin off after the coup-like reconstructed in the spring and early summer of 1933 and with supporters of National Socialism had been occupied and shortly afterwards in German Academy of Literature was renamed . At the same time, book burnings had taken place all over Germany in the spring of 1933 , to which the works of excluded academy members had also fallen victim.

The text appeared on October 26, 1933 in the Vossische Zeitung and was also printed in other newspapers such as the Frankfurter Zeitung .

Immediately preceded was Germany's withdrawal from the League of Nations , declared by Hitler in Geneva on October 14, 1933 , which had triggered a great national and international response and was to be confirmed by the German people in the upcoming Reichstag election on November 12, 1933 . On 4 October 1933 the Hitler government had also the editor of the law adopted, which should enter into force on 1 January 1934, and the way for the DC circuit made of the entire German press free.

In this situation, the appeal served to publicly affirm the unreserved support of the German writers and intellectual greats for the extremely radical and internally and externally incisive policies of Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler and his government and the expected "electoral success" of the National Socialists, all of them had eliminated other parties and appeared on a unity list, in this way to level the field.

The publication was followed on November 1, 1933 by another press rally by the German Academy of Poetry , in which an express call was made to vote for “People's Chancellor Adolf Hitler” and for a “Yes” to leave the League of Nations.

Immediately after the Reichstag election, on November 15, 1933, Joseph Goebbels opened the Reich Chamber of Culture in the presence of Hitler , which completely replaced the independent Academy of Poets and made it superfluous.

text

The signatories stated:

“Peace, work, honor and freedom are the most sacred goods of every nation and the prerequisite for honest coexistence among peoples. The awareness of our strength and our regained unity, our sincere will to serve peace both inside and outside without reservation, the deep conviction of our tasks to rebuild the empire, and our determination not to do anything that is incompatible with our honor and that of the fatherland , cause us to solemnly take the pledge of the most loyal allegiance in front of you, Mr. Reich Chancellor. "

Signatory

The 88 names signed were:

  1. Friedrich Ahrenhövel (1886–1954)
  2. Gottfried Benn (1886–1956)
  3. Werner Beumelburg (1899–1963)
  4. Rudolf G. Binding (1867-1938)
  5. Walter Bloem (1868–1951)
  6. Max Karl Böttcher (1881–1963)
  7. Hans Fr. Blunck (1888–1961)
  8. Rudolf Brandt (1886–1953)
  9. Arnolt Bronnen (1895-1959)
  10. Otto Brües (1897–1967)
  11. Alfred Brust (1891–1934)
  12. Carl Bulcke (1875-1936)
  13. Hermann Claudius (1878–1980)
  14. Hans Martin Cremer (1890–1953)
  15. Marie Diers (1867-1949)
  16. Peter Dörfler (1878–1955)
  17. Max Dreyer (1862-1946)
  18. Franz Dülberg (1873–1934)
  19. Ferdinand Eckardt (1902–1995)
  20. Richard Euringer (1891-1953)
  21. Ludwig Finkh (1876–1964)
  22. Hans Franck (1879–1964)
  23. Otto Flake (1880–1963)
  24. Heinrich von Gleichen (1882–1959)
  25. of match sootworm 
  26. Gustav Frenssen (1863–1945)
  27. Friedrich Griese (1890–1975)
  28. Max Grube (1854-1934)
  29. Johannes Günther (1886–1973)
  30. Max Halbe (1865-1944)
  31. Ilse Hamel (1874-1943)
  32. Agnes Harder (1864-1939)
  33. Carl Haensel (1889–1968)
  34. Hans Ludwig Held (1885–1954)
  35. Karl Heinl (1898–1961)
  36. Friedrich W. Herzog (1902–1976)
  37. Rudolf Herzog (1869–1943)
  38. Hans von Hülsen (1890–1968)
  39. Paul Oskar Höcker (1865–1944)
  40. Rudolf Huch (1862–1943)
  41. Bruno W. Jahn (1893–1943?)
  42. Hanns Johst (1890–1978)
  43. Max Jungnickel (1890-1945)
  44. Hans Knudsen (1886–1971)
  45. Ruth Koehler-Irrgang (1900–?)
  46. Gustav Kohne (1871–1961)
  47. Karl Lange (1885–1959)
  48. Joh. Von Leers (1902–1965)
  49. Heinrich Lilienfein (1879–1952)
  50. Heinrich Lersch (1889–1936)
  51. Oskar Loerke (1884–1941)
  52. Herybert Menzel (1906–1945)
  53. Gerhard Menzel (1894–1966)
  54. Alfred Richard Meyer (1882–1956)
  55. Agnes Miegel (1879–1964)
  56. Walter von Molo (1880–1958)
  57. Borries Frhr. von Münchhausen (1874–1945)
  58. Müller-Partenkirchen (1875-1942)
  59. Mühlen-Schulte (1882–1981)
  60. Eckart von Naso (1888–1976)
  61. Helene von Nostitz-Wallwitz (1878–1944)
  62. Josef Ponten (1883–1940)
  63. Rudolf Presber (1868-1935)
  64. Councilor Rehbein (1867–1952)
  65. Ilse Reicke (1893–1989)
  66. Hans Richter (1889–1941)
  67. Heinz Schauwecker (1890–1964)
  68. Johannes Schlaf (1862–1941)
  69. Anton Schnack (1892–1973)
  70. Friedrich Schnack (1888–1977)
  71. Rich. Schneider-Edenkoben (1899–1986)
  72. Wilhelm von Scholz (1874–1969)
  73. Lothar Schreier (1886–1966)
  74. Gustav Schroer (1876–1949)
  75. Schussen (Wilhelm) (1874–1956)
  76. Ina Seidel (1885–1974)
  77. Prof. Heinrich Sohnrey (1859–1948)
  78. Dr. Willy Seidel (1887–1934)
  79. Diedrich Speckmann (1872–1938)
  80. Heinz Steguweit (1897–1964)
  81. Lulu v. Ostrich u. Torney (1873-1956)
  82. Eduard Stucken (1865–1936)
  83. Will Vesper (1882–1962)
  84. Magnus Wehner (1891–1973)
  85. Leo Weißmantel (1888–1964)
  86. Bruno Werner (1896–1964)
  87. Heinrich Zerkaulen (1892–1954)
  88. Hans Caspar von Zobeltitz (1883–1940)

Reactions from writers

The writer Hanns Martin Elster (1886–1983) lodged an objection to the Reich Association of German Writers on October 28, 1933 because his name was not listed and the wrong impression could arise that “those writers who are not mentioned in the list of names, do not stand by the pledge of loyalty and the leader. "

Even Rudolf G. Binding protested in 1933 because they had put him on the contrary unasked on the list, said but in 1934 in an opinion in the exile magazine The collection that he had used too much for the "new era", "except that I should surprise the public as well as the Chancellor with a solemn pledge of allegiance. "

Joseph Wulf notes contradicting facts about some of the above: “The document is hardly very credible because some only signed to protect their publishers in this way, see Oskar Loerke: Tagebücher 1903–1939 , Heidelberg / Darmstadt 1955, p. 349; Otto Flake: It becomes evening , Gütersloh 1960, p. 448 f; RG Binding also protested in a letter dated October 30, 1933 to the Reich Association of German Writers against the fact that his name was wrongly under the oath of loyalty - R. G. Binding: Die Briefe , Hamburg 1957, pp. 216-217; The following two letters also confirm perfectly that the signatures of party officials were obtained without the knowledge of those concerned. "

Otto Flake was sharply criticized for his signature by Thomas Mann , Bertolt Brecht and Alfred Döblin, among others .

Two and a half years after the end of the Second World War , Thomas Mann commented on the list of pledges: “That HL Held and Loerke are also on it makes me very upset. The rest of the people are completely in their place. "

See also

literature

  • Jürgen Hillesheim , Elisabeth Michael (Hrsg.): Lexicon of National Socialist Poets. Biographies, analyzes, bibliographies. Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1993, ISBN 3-88479-511-2 , p. 423.
  • Ernst Klee : The cultural lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 .
  • Hans Sarkowicz , Alf Mentzer: Literature in Nazi Germany. A biographical lexicon. Extended new edition. Europa-Verlag, Hamburg / Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-203-82030-7 .
  • Joseph Wulf : Literature and Poetry in the Third Reich. A documentation (= culture in the Third Reich , vol. 2). Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-550-07056-X (first edition Sigbert Mohn, Gütersloh 1963).

References and comments

  1. ^ A b Hans Sarkowicz, Alf Mentzer: Literature in Nazi Germany. A biographical lexicon. Extended new edition. Europa-Verlag, Hamburg / Vienna 2002, p. 15.
  2. ^ The "pledge of most loyal followers" of the 88 writers of October 26, 1933 in the Vossische Zeitung is documented by the German Press Museum in the Ullsteinhaus : Loyalty rallies of German writers, Vossische Zeitung, page 2 (morning) October 26, 1933 ; accessed on October 10, 2016. A facsimile of the publication in the Frankfurter Zeitung is published in the exhibition catalog Harry Graf Kessler. Diary of a man of the world (3rd, reviewed edition, Deutsche Schillergesellschaft , Marbach am Neckar 1996, p. 485); the excerpt comes from the Frankfurter Zeitung No. 780 of October 28, 1933, page 2 (information ibid., p. 484). The text from the Frankfurter Zeitung was also printed in Der Aufbau 2 (1946), Issue 9 ( ZDB -ID 1010674-1 ), p. 972; Lecture by Friedbert Aspetsberger: Insignificant comments on the limitation of the literary "home" concept. Online publication in: Palimpzeszt No. 9 (March 1998), footnote 28; accessed on October 10, 2016.
  3. ↑ Jörg Thunecke: 'The Years of Doom': The inner émigré Oskar Loerke in his diaries and leftover poems. In: Marcin Gołaszewski, Magdalena Kardach, Leonore Krenzlin (eds.): Between Inner Emigration and Exile. German-speaking writers 1933–1945. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2016, pp. 65–82 (here: 68).
  4. ↑ 87 names (without No. 25) are listed in Joseph Wulf, Literature and Poetry in the Third Reich: A Documentation , Ullstein, Berlin 1989, p. 112 f., With reference to the source Schleswig-Holsteinische Zeitung of October 26, 1933 . - Wulf notes on Binding that he protested in writing on October 30, 1933 against his unsolicited listing (see also Sarkowicz / Mentzer, p. 102); Loerke and Flake have noted reservations in internal records; they only signed for the protection of their publishers - in detail Jörg Thunecke: 'The Years of Doom': The inner emigrant Oskar Loerke in his diaries and leftover poems. In: Marcin Gołaszewski, Magdalena Kardach, Leonore Krenzlin (eds.): Between Inner Emigration and Exile. German-speaking writers 1933–1945. De Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2016, pp. 65–82. - The name Hermann Kasack is not on the list, but is mistakenly named as a signatory in some recent publications (first Marcel Atze : Im völkischen Glashaus. In: literaturkritik.de review forum of July 7, 2002, accessed on October 6, 2016; like Jörg Thunecke: 'The Years of Unheils' , p. 69 and note 13); correct on the other hand Sarkowicz / Mentzer: Literature in Nazi Germany. A biographical lexicon. Extended new edition. Europa-Verlag, Hamburg / Vienna 2002, pp. 252–255. - The not exactly alphabetical order of the names as well as the partly shortened or different, partly incorrect spelling follows the publication in the Frankfurter Zeitung (according to Graf Kessler, annex to the diary entry of October 28, 1933) and is also documented in the other documented original publications .
  5. ↑ Identity unclear.
  6. ↑ Klee, Kulturlexikon, p. 134; documented by Joseph Wulf: Literature and Poetry in the Third Reich, 1989 edition, p. 114.
  7. ^ Klee, Kulturlexikon, p. 52.
  8. ↑ Joseph Wulf: Literature and Poetry in the Third Reich, 1989 edition, p. 112. Meant are the letters Elster and his objection.
  9. ^ Letter of September 17, 1947 to Alexander Moritz Frey , quoted in Klee, Kulturlexikon, p. 275.