Week of the German Book
The week of the German book was a series of events founded by the National Socialists in Weimar , Thuringia in 1934 , which served propaganda purposes. It should promote German literature and its authors , but at the same time also promote the attitude and worldview desired by the regime .
precursor
In the Weimar Republic , the Reich Ministry of the Interior had already initiated Book Day in 1929 , after the Exchange Association of German Booksellers in Leipzig had encouraged this to increase sales of literary works. On March 22, 1933, the anniversary of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's death , this event was continued unchanged by the new rulers. The motto “Book and People” of this day came from the time before the de facto cession of power to the coalition of Adolf Hitler , Alfred Hugenberg and Franz von Papen , but it fit perfectly with the tenor of the new political and ideological line. This event in 1933 did not have a propagandistic effect, however, because it was clearly outshone by the Potsdam day, which took place the day before, March 21, 1933, which was much more heavily supported by the media .
Event duration
In 1934, the newly founded Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda under Joseph Goebbels took over the patronage of the event, which from then on was known as the German Book Week . Extending it from one day to a week already expressed the importance that the National Socialists, and especially Goebbels, wished for in future.
The week of the German book took place annually from 1934 to 1942, only in 1939 it was canceled. From 1943 to 1945, the war situation no longer permitted such an event; Priorities had to be set differently.
organization
The week of the German book was organized by the subdivisions of the Reichsschrifttumskammer (RSK), in which from July 30, 1934 everyone had to be a member who wanted to be a full-time writer. There Goebbels recorded everyone who “produced, processed or sold cultural property”.
The great importance that was attached to the week of the German book can be seen in the effort made: The event week began with a formal state act . On the radio, the “intellectual weapon of the total state”, Goebbels addressed the “Volksgenossen” with a warning: “The book must re-enter the people.” In the following year, 1935, with the theme week “The book - a sword des Geistes "is already much more specific:" For us National Socialists, the book is no longer an opportunity for unworldly citizen contemplation, for maddening and indulgent passivity; in the hands of young Germany it becomes a sharply honed weapon in the struggle of our people for its reconstruction and for a better future. "
According to Goebbels, art should either be “heroic”, “steely romantic”, “non-sentimentally objective” - or “it will not be”.
Goal setting
Because of its literary past, largely founded by Goethe, the city of Weimar formed the festive setting for the “German” book.
Hitler's pamphlet Mein Kampf , first published in 1925, should be stylized as the epitome, as it were, the synonym of the German book. A contemporary photo shows the event advertising: an oversized dummy book ( Mein Kampf with Hitler's likeness on the book cover) on a temporarily installed rectangular base, on it a wide banner with the Hitler quote: “Back then I read an endless amount and thoroughly. In just a few years I created the foundations of a knowledge that I still draw from today. ”Underneath a sign“ To the week of the German book ”.
Unpopular works or unpopular authors whose life, worldview or origin did not fit into the picture that the National Socialists wanted to create and which they wanted to convey prominently to their own people and into the world were subject to a strict ban at an early stage.
The book burnings and the nationwide sorting out of the works of communist, socialist, liberal and Jewish authors or works disqualified as “un-German” (example: Erich Maria Remarque : Nothing new in the West with the disqualifying statement on the blazing fire: “Against literary betrayal of the soldiers of the World War , for educating the people in the spirit of defensibility! ") took place early in larger cities - to a special extent in university towns. The large-scale sorting encompassed all bookstores, libraries and libraries, but mostly only households that conform to the system.
One can therefore speak of a political instrumentalization of literature, which was also reflected in the annual themes of the event: workers, farmers, women, youth, soldiers. These topics took up the term “ Volksgemeinschaft ”, as it was defined under National Socialism and stylized as the yardstick for all things. Ultimately, however, it was only aimed at the goal of subordination and unconditional obedience for the war effort at the front and at home.
This is exactly what should be reflected in the work of the patronized authors of this time, in the “German” book. Goebbels commented on this as follows: The national comrades should be “captured” and “processed” until “they have fallen for us”. The Germans, so Goebbels made himself contemptuously, were "once in a row, 30 million idiots".
Published calls (selection)
In 1935 Reichsleiter Robert Ley ( German Labor Front ) posted an appeal for the Week of the German Book :
“Creative national comrades! Workmates!
For the Week of the German Book in 1935, the entire German people are called to work for the spiritual goods of the nation. The working German person in particular will bear witness to the fact that his struggle for the liberation of the German working class was not only waged for material goods, but also for recognition of his honor and for participation in all intellectual and cultural institutions.
The German worker is intimately connected with the German book. He enjoys respect and recognition all over the world, because he is always striving and diligent in expanding his horizons and deepening his knowledge. No people in the world has such extensive specialist literature as the German, no worker in the world avails himself of the possibilities of professional training as zealously as the German.
In the land of poets and thinkers, books and people are inseparable. The German book as a sword of the spirit, as a proclaimer and teacher of unique achievements and purposeful creative diligence, as an outstanding confessor of German labor, calls you!
The whole working class of Faust and Forehead, united in Adolf Hitler, will stand up for the German book in these days and will commit themselves to it in a voluntary, determined commitment! "
Individual evidence
- ↑ Oliver Gaida: The week of the German book . In: German Press Museum in Ullsteinhaus e. V. At: dpmu.de, accessed on July 8, 2017
- ^ The Reichsschrifttumskammer . In: German Historical Museum. From: dhm.de, accessed on July 8, 2017
- ↑ Wolfgang Malanowski: My weapon is called Adolf Hitler . In: Der Spiegel 39/1987, September 21, 1987. From: spiegel.de, accessed on July 8, 2017
- ↑ Burkhard Stenzel: Book and sword. The “Week of the German Book” in Weimar (1934-1942). Notes on Nazi cultural policy . In: Ursula Härtl et al. (Ed.): Here, here is Germany ... From national cultural concepts to National Socialist cultural policy . Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 1997, ISBN 978-3-89244-279-0 , p. 94.
- ↑ Wolfgang Malanowski: My weapon is called Adolf Hitler . In: Der Spiegel 39/1987, September 21, 1987. From: spiegel.de, accessed on July 8, 2017
- ↑ Oliver Gaida: The week of the German book . In: German Press Museum in Ullsteinhaus e. V. At: dpmu.de, accessed on July 8, 2017
- ↑ Wolfgang Malanowski: My weapon is called Adolf Hitler . In: Der Spiegel 39/1987, September 21, 1987. From: spiegel.de, accessed on July 8, 2017