THE LITERATURE OF IDEOLOGICAL PROXIMITY WITH NAZISM

Abstract

Our contribution aims at a reflection on one of the literary aspects present in the context of the Weimar Republic and, specifically, the so-called "Third Reich": the literature of ideological proximity with Nazism. For this, we chose the following works, which will be the object of analysis of the present study: Ernst Jünger’s In Stahlgewittern (1920; Storm of Steel), Ina Seidel’s Das Wunschkind (1930; The Wanted Child), and Hans Grimm’s Volk ohne Raum (1926, Nation without Space. While Ernst Jünger figures as a representative of writers who, out of the battlefields of World War I, apologized for war, the writer Ina Seidel presents an image of the woman “in the service of the nation”. In turn, Hans Grimm conveys with his work a vision not only colonialist, but also based on the notion of “living space” (Lebensraum), one of the dorsal columns of Nazi ideology. Although Jünger, Seidel and Grimm were antagonists of Nazism, positioning themselves far or even critically against the regime, no doubt in discursive terms, their works helped pave the way for the rise of Nazism.