Sigmund Graff

Sigmund Graff (born January 7, 1898 in Roth (near Nuremberg), † June 18, 1979 in Erlangen ) was a German writer and playwright .

Life

Sigmund Graff was born the son of a lawyer and mayor of Roth. After his school education he volunteered for the First World War in 1914, inspired by the Battle of Langemarck , and made it to the rank of officer . After the war he began to study economics and worked as a journalist in the Ore Mountains .

Editor and playwright

Between 1924 and 1933 Graff was an employee of Franz Seldte in the Stahlhelm , at the same time he was editor of the party newspaper of the same name. In 1925 he met Carl Ernst Hintze, with whom he wrote the play Die Endlose Strasse , in which his experiences in the First World War are portrayed in a transfigured manner. Only after the first performance of the piece in London in the spring of 1930 was it shown on November 19 of the same year on a German stage (Aachen). Between 1930 and 1936 he had his first major successes at home and abroad, including in Austria and Italy . Between the seasons 1929/30 and 1938/39 there were 111 productions and over 5,000 performances of the play in Germany until it fell under war censorship in 1939, as did the war drama The Homecoming of Matthias Bruck (1933). In 1933 Graff received the Dietrich Eckart Prize for the drama .

Activity under National Socialism

In 1933, Graff became a consultant in the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda and worked for Reich dramaturge Rainer Schlösser . Here he was responsible for reviewing plays. He “censored [...] unpopular pieces, examined productions and gave instructions on how these had to be changed. Graff was just as implacable towards Jewish authors as his colleagues. ”In 1938 Graff was promoted to government councilor.

Graff wrote articles not only for theater magazines such as Der neue Weg , Die Bühne, and building blocks for the German National Theater , but also for the Völkischer Beobachter . On April 1, 1936, he joined the NSDAP . He justified this step in the early 1960s with the fact that he wanted to protect his work Unforgettable War (1936) from censorship.

Since the fall of 1937 for membership in the armed forces endeavor he was at the outbreak of World War II in the Press and Propaganda Department of the High Command of the Wehrmacht used (OKW). In his war reports on the experiences in Poland and on the Western Front, in the magazine Die Wehrmacht and in his prose volume Westwall. Wall der Herzen (1940), he spread the usual slogans to hold out. In addition, he edited a field edition of contemporary war poetry, worked on the army film Sieg im Westen (1941) and was responsible for the knapsack publication of the OKW Was uns geht uns , for which he wrote himself. In 1943 Graff brought out Der namenlose Soldat , a volume with short stories by ethnic poets (e.g. Wilhelm von Scholz , Hans Friedrich Blunck , Franz Schauwecker , Heinrich Zerkaulen , Friedrich Bethge ). At the end of the war he was a captain in the Nazi leadership of the OKW. On 14 April 1945 Graff fell into Allied captivity .

Post-war years

Graff was released from captivity in mid-December 1945. After 1945 he vehemently resisted being associated with the Nazi regime. As part of denazification , he presented numerous so-called Persilscheine in 1948 . Despite considerable allegations on the part of the commission for cultural workers, he emerged from the panel proceedings as “exonerated” and was able to resume his work as a freelance writer in the same year . Graff sued the Free State of Bavaria for damages on the grounds that the Commission's “incorrect report” unnecessarily delayed his arbitration chamber proceedings and brought him economic and professional disadvantages. The Federal Court of Justice ruled the plaintiff on May 3, 1956.

He went to court several times for allegedly one-sided portrayal of his Nazi past. His lawsuit against Kröner Verlag was upheld by the Munich Higher Regional Court in 1963 , and two years later, in 1965, he lost the appeal proceedings .

When Graff was to be awarded the art prize of the city of Erlangen in 1964, protests were particularly loud among the students. The prize money of 3,000 DM was handed over to the writer "later, tacitly and without public appreciation".

Sigmund Graff died in Erlangen in 1979 at the age of 81.

Awards and honors

1933 Dietrich Eckart Prize
1939 Friedrich Rückert Prize
1958 Jean Paul Medal
1964 Art Prize of the City of Erlangen

Works

Poetry

And if the need doesn't break iron ... German ballads and songs. 1924
Brazen harvest. Poems in war. 1939/1941. 1941
Gifts of fate. Poems. 1973

Prose, aphorisms

Fate on Capri. Novel. 1960
Goethe in front of the Spruchkammer or The Lord Privy Councilor defends himself. After Johann Peter Eckermann's conversations with Goethe in the last years of his life. 1951
From the tree of knowledge. Truths and malice. A book of aphorisms. 1955
Think about it ... aphorisms, fragments and contemporary remarks. 1963
Smiling wisdom. Aphorisms. 1967
Decoys of truth. Aphorisms. 1968
Adventure of hearts. Thoughts about love. 1970

Stage plays

The endless road. A front piece in 4 pictures. 1930
The lonely act. A piece about the student sand in 10 pictures. 1930
We're going to see Santa Claus. A fun fairy tale game in 5 pictures. 1930
What will happen to Adalbert? A piece from this time in 4 acts. 1931
The four musketeers. Folk play in 3 acts. 1932
The homecoming of Matthias Bruck. Acting in 3 acts. 1933
Hirschgraben and Kornmarkt. Comedy in 5 acts. 1933
Chamois can be seen here! Comedy in 5 pictures. 1934
Meeting with Ulrike. Comedy in 7 pictures. 1937
The Priman. Based on a novella by Alexander Turmayer, designed into a comedy in 5 pictures. 1937
The wasp nest. Comedy in 4 acts. 1938
The exam of Master Tilmann. Acting in 14 pictures. 1939
Geraldine goes away. Comedy in 3 acts. 1940

Autobiographical

Alternately cloudy life. Memories from an abused generation. 1956
From SM to NS Memoirs of a playwright (1900–1945). 1963
From rascal to recruit. Youth memories of a franc. 1979

Others

Unforgettable war. A book about German destiny. 1936
Westwall, wall of hearts. Factual report of the life of our soldiers on the western front and reports of experiences from the patrol company in the west. 1940
About the soldier. 1943
The manuscript. Handbook for authors. Forms of word art, tools and manipulations of the writer. Edited by Otto Schumann. 1954
We travel through Germany with Peter Spang. 1956
The technique of dictatorship - a postponed and rediscovered script of the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Translated and explained by Traugott Thoroughly (i.e. Sigmund Graff). Grote, 1960
Capri, island of longing. Impressions, thoughts, memories. 1970
After the next time. Memories of possible things. Hans Pfeiffer Verlag, 1970

Editorial activity

Gottfried Keller : Pearls. 1921
Heavy chunks. 1000 words front German. 1925
The nameless soldier. 1943
The steadfast heart. Claudius, Eichendorff, Mörike. A selection. 1944

literature

Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, pp. 213–246.

Web links

Literature by and about Sigmund Graff in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

↑ Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 229f.
↑ Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, pp. 215, 232.
↑ Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 230.
↑ Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 233f.
↑ Barbara Panse: "Contemporary Drama 1933–1944". In: Henning Rischbieter (ed.): Theater in the "Third Reich". Theater politics. Schedule structure. Nazi drama . Seelze-Velber: Kallmeyer (2000), p. 500. Quoted from Pinnow (2018), p. 234.
↑ Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 234.
↑ Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 235.
↑ ^a ^b Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 236.
↑ Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 237f.
↑ Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 238.
↑ Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 239.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 240.
↑ BGH, May 3, 1956 - III ZR 285/54 - Appeal. Retrieved August 3, 2018 .
↑ Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 242.

personal data
SURNAME	Graff, Sigmund
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German writer and playwright
DATE OF BIRTH	January 7, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH	Roth
DATE OF DEATH	June 18, 1979
Place of death	gain

[1] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 229f.

[2] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, pp. 215, 232.

[3] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 230.

[4] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 233f.

[5] Barbara Panse: "Contemporary Drama 1933–1944". In: Henning Rischbieter (ed.): Theater in the "Third Reich". Theater politics. Schedule structure. Nazi drama . Seelze-Velber: Kallmeyer (2000), p. 500. Quoted from Pinnow (2018), p. 234.

[6] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 234.

[7] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 235.

[:0-8] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 236.

[9] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 237f.

[10] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 238.

[11] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 239.

[:1-12] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 240.

[13] BGH, May 3, 1956 - III ZR 285/54 - Appeal. Retrieved August 3, 2018 .

[14] Imke Pinnow: Sigmund Graff - the poet of the trench war . In: Rolf Düsterberg (Ed.): Poets for the "Third Reich". Volume 4. Biographical studies on the relationship between literature and ideology . Bielefeld: Aisthesis 2018, p. 242.