Schriftsteller im Nationalsozialismus

Authors were placed on the index, their works banned and burned. Those who consciously aligned themselves with the Nazis were successful. However, not all literature published in Germany between 1933 and 1945 was "Nazi literature." Literary life was far more diverse than one might expect in such a repressive system. Ideologically aligned literature was only one side of the literary scene. The other side is exemplified by the fact that Jewish authors, such as Gertrud Kolmar and Mascha Kaléko, still had modest publishing opportunities in Germany until 1938. Many writers who abhorred Nazism and were persecuted emigrated abroad, like Bertolt Brecht or Thomas Mann. Others, however, such as Ricarda Huch or Erich Kästner, stayed and sought refuge internally.