The Politics of Literature in Nazi Germany: Books in the Media Dictatorship

by Jan-Pieter Barbian, Kate Sturge (Translator)

This is the most comprehensive account to date of literary politics in Nazi Germany and of the institutions, organizations and people who controlled German literature during the Third Reich. Barbian details a media dictatorship-involving the persecution and control of writers, publishers and libraries, but also voluntary assimilation and pre-emptive self-censorship-that began almost immediately under the National Socialists, leading to authors' forced declarations of loyalty, literary propaganda, censorship, and book burnings. Special attention is given to Nazi regulation of the publishing industry and command over all forms of publication and dissemination, from the most presitigious publishing houses to the smallest municipal and school libraries. Barbian also shows that, although the Nazis censored books not in line with Party aims, many publishers and writers took advantage of loopholes in their system of control. Supporting his work with exhaustive research of original sources, Barbian describes a society in which everybody who was not openly opposed to it, participated in the system, whether as a writer, an editor, or even as an ordinary visitor to a library.

Genres: Nonfiction

448 pages, Paperback

First published August 15, 2013

Reviews

[E. Artyom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Политически небезопасное чтиво в 2026, обеспечивающее читателя одной страны имени ресентимента, я бы сказал, избыточным количеством подозрительно напоминающее что-то материала. Слишком много лобовых аналогий, слишком много пересечений, даже если игнорировать бесконечные уверения в обратном. Отдельно я бы посоветовал принудительно ознакомить с данной работой тех деятелей литературного поля, что некогда даже подавали творческие надежды, но предпочли родную сильную руку и крепкий кирзовый сапог. И то, и другое с погружением в задницу притом.