Literature Prize of the Reich Capital Berlin

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The literary prize of the Reich capital Berlin was awarded from 1935 to 1940 and donated by the then Lord Mayor of Berlin, Heinrich Sahm .

As early as March 1933, the National Socialist Julius Lippert, who acted as State Commissioner , was assigned to the non-party Sahm in order to limit his powers. The literary prize was maintained in office by Sahm's Nazi successors.

criteria

The prize was important throughout the Reich and was specifically aimed at writers who at the time were counted among the representatives of the so-called “young German literature”. This meant authors with a völkisch or Nordic - Germanic orientation whose work reflected this.

The selection process was based on applications that any German-speaking writer who belonged to the Reichsschrifttumskammer (RSK) could submit . The prerequisite for membership in the RSK was, in addition to the “ Aryan certificate ”, an examination of the author and work with regard to conformity with the Nazi ideology.

The nominated work had to have appeared in print in the three years before the respective award ceremony, could belong to the genres of drama , poetry or novel , but had not yet received an award.

The jury was also able to appoint expert personalities to “make suitable suggestions of works that are worthy of an honor”.

Procedure

The awarding of the literary prize should take place as the first, second and third prize in stages to three winners each. It took place in the following year, so that, for example, the first award in 1935 related to 1934. It should be carried out annually around May 1st, " National Labor Day ". Exceptions were the award for 1936, which was awarded on the occasion of the 7th Berlin Poets' Week from March 1 to 6, 1937 “as part of a morning celebration” and the award for 1940, which was carried out on January 19, 1941. The award was suspended for 1938 because the jury was unable to determine suitable winners.

Endowment

The prize was endowed with 10,000 Reichsmarks , which were distributed to the three winners in increments of 5,000, 3,000 and 2,000 RM. A personalized certificate and a laurel wreath were presented .

In the event that the prize was not awarded in a year "for lack of a personality to whom it could be awarded" (1938), the rule was that the amount not paid out should be used for an increase in the following year or years. Whether this was done for 1939 and 1940 can no longer be verified today, so this information is open in the list below.

jury

The selection and decision-making committee consisted of nine people. Two-thirds of it was made up of political functionaries, initially predominantly and soon exclusively by National Socialists: three city functionaries, four high-ranking state officials and two writers named by the Reichsschrifttumskammer (RSK).

The Völkische Beobachter wrote about the literary prize, which was awarded for the second time in 1936 : "As in the previous year, the judges did not select based on their local connection to the city of Berlin, but also based on their artistic and cultural-political significance."

Award winners

background

On July 1, 1937, Hitler's Mein Kampf exceeded 3 million copies and was celebrated by the Völkischer Beobachter as the “Book of the Whole People”. However, the work does not count towards beautiful literature . On September 3, 1937, the Berlin book trade announced that Waldemar Bonsel's youth novel The Maya the Bee and Her Adventures , published in 1912, had the highest circulation in fiction. In that year, this plant even overtook Karl May's Winnetou .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Helga Mitterbauer: Nazi literary prizes for Austrian authors. A documentation . Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 1994. ISBN 978-3-205-98204-3 , pp. 87-89.
  2. ↑ Principles on the distribution of the literary prize of the Reich capital Berlin . (undated) BAK R 56 V / 12, pp. 217-218.
  3. ^ The Reichsschrifttumskammer . From: dhm.de, accessed on May 21, 2017
  4. ^ Certificate of the literary price of the Reich capital . In: Berlin State Library, manuscript department. Kurt Kluge estate, call number: Nachl. Kurt Kluge 701. From: staatsbibliothek-berlin.de, accessed on May 14, 2017
  5. ↑ Principles on the distribution of the literary prize of the Reich capital Berlin . (undated) BAK R 56 V / 12, pp. 217-218.
  6. ^ Letter from the acting Mayor of Berlin, Julius Lippert, to the President of the Reichsschrifttumskammer dated December 4, 1936. BAK R 56 V / 12, p. 221.
  7. ^ Gianluca Falanga: Berlin 1937: the calm before the storm . Berlin Story Verlag, Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-929829-46-4 , pp. 95-96.
  8. ^ Walter Killy: Literature Lexicon. Vol. 7, Kräm - Marp. Verlag Walter De Gruyter, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3110220490 , pp. 575-576.
  9. ↑ Gerrit Lungershausen: World War with words: war prose in the Third Reich 1933 to 1940 . Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2016. ISBN 978-3-658-16485-0 , p. 227.
  10. ^ Wilhelm Pleyer . In: Author's Lexicon of the Adalbert Stifter Association. From: stifterverein.de, accessed on May 14, 2017.
  11. ^ Wilhelm Pleyer . From: bohemistik.de, accessed on May 14, 2017
  12. ↑ Menzel . From: volksliederarchiv.de, accessed on May 14, 2017.
  13. ↑ Gerrit Lungershausen: World War with words: war prose in the Third Reich 1933 to 1940 . Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2016. ISBN 978-3-658-16485-0 , p. 243.
  14. ↑ Tumler, Franz . In: Goethe-Institut, Deutsche Gegenwartsliteratur. On: goethe.de, accessed on May 14, 2017
  15. ↑ David Wagner: Falling in love helps: About books and series . Verbrecher Verlag Listau & Sundermeier, Berlin 2016. ISBN 978-3-95732-180-0
  16. ↑ Uwe Baur, Karin Gradwohl-Schlacher: Literature in Austria 1938–1945: Handbook of a literary system . Vol. 3. Böhlau Verlag, Vienna 2014. ISBN 978-3-205-79508-7 , p. 36.
  17. ^ Certificate of the literary price of the Reich capital . In: Berlin State Library, manuscript department. Kurt Kluge estate, call number: Nachl. Kurt Kluge 701. From: staatsbibliothek-berlin.de, accessed on May 14, 2017
  18. ^ Gianluca Falanga: Berlin 1937: the calm before the storm . Berlin Story Verlag, Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-929829-46-4 , p. 96.