Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft

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The Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft (variously translated from German to English as "vow of most faithful allegiance", "proclamation of loyalty of German writers" or "promise of most loyal obedience") was a declaration by 88 German writers and poets of their loyalty to Adolf Hitler.[1] It was printed in the Vossische Zeitung on 26 October 1933 and publicised by the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. It was also published in other newspapers, such as the Frankfurter Zeitung, to widen public awareness of the confidence of the signed poets and writers in Hitler as the Chancellor of Germany.

Background[]

The declaration came towards the end of 1933, in the period of domestic turmoil in Germany following the Reichstag fire on 27 February 1933, the elections that returned Hitler to power on 5 March, and the passing of the Enabling Act on 23 March 1933 which allowed Hitler bypass the German legislature and pass laws at will. It came shortly after the editor law (Schriftleitergesetz) was passed on 4 October 1933, which sought to bring the press under government control, and the withdrawal of Germany from the League of Nations on 21 October 1933.

The editor law regulated journalism, and requiring journalists to be registered on an official list of the , under Joseph Goebbels' Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. To join the list, a journalist had to demonstrate one year's professional training, "political reliability", and Aryan descent. Newspaper editors were also regulated and subject to central control. Around 1,300 journalists lost their jobs when the editor law came into force on 1 January 1934.

German writer (1910–1998) complained on 28 October 1933 that writers not listed could be mistakenly thought to lack loyalty to the Führer. However, some writers felt forced to sign to protect themselves or their publishers.

The declaration by German writers was echoed by similar declarations by 900 university and high school professors, and by other artists.

Text of the vow[]

Friede, Arbeit, Freiheit und Ehre sind die heiligsten Güter jeder Nation und die Voraussetzung eines aufrichtigen Zusammenlebens der Völker untereinander. Das Bewußtsein der Kraft und der wiedergewonnenen Einigkeit, unser aufrichtiger Wille, dem inneren und äußeren Frieden vorbehaltlos zu dienen, die tiefe Überzeugung von unseren Aufgaben zum Wiederaufbau des Reiches und unsre Entschlossenheit, nichts zu tun, was nicht mit unsrer und des Vaterlandes Ehre vereinbar ist, veranlassen uns, in dieser ernsten Stunde vor Ihnen, Herr Reichskanzler, das Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft feierlichst abzulegen. Peace, work, freedom and honour are the most sacred goods of each nation and a precondition for honest coexistence of peoples with each other. Consciousness of our power and recovered unity, our sincere will to serve unreservedly the cause of peace inside and outside our nation, the deep conviction of our tasks in the reconstruction of the Reich, and our determination to do to nothing that is not compatible with our honour and that of our Fatherland, make us, in this grave hour submit to you, Herr Reich Chancellor, this vow of our most faithful allegiance.

Signatories[]

The 88 signatories were:[1]

  1. (1886–1954)
  2. Gottfried Benn (1886–1956)
  3. (1899–1963)
  4. Rudolf G. Binding (1867–1938)
  5. Walter Bloem (1868–1951)
  6. Hans Friedrich Blunck (1888–1961)
  7. (1881–1963)
  8. (1886–1953)
  9. Arnolt Bronnen (1895–1959)
  10. (1897–1967)
  11. (1891–1934)
  12. (1875–1936)
  13. (1878–1980)
  14. (1890–1953)
  15. (1867–1949)
  16. (1878–1955)
  17. (1862–1946)
  18. (1873–1934)
  19. (1902–1995)
  20. Richard Euringer (1891–1953)
  21. (1876–1964)
  22. Otto Flake (1880–1963)
  23. (1879–1964)
  24. Gustav Frenssen (1863–1945)
  25. (1882–1959)
  26. Alexander von Gleichen-Rußwurm (1865–1947)
  27. Friedrich Griese (1890–1975)
  28. (1854–1934)
  29. Johannes von Guenther (1886–1973)
  30. (1889–1968)
  31. Max Halbe (1865–1944)
  32. (1874–1943)
  33. (1864–1939)
  34. (1898–1961)
  35. (1885–1954)
  36. Friedrich W. Herzog (1902–1976)
  37. (1869–1943)
  38. Paul Oskar Höcker (1865–1944)
  39. Rudolf Huch (1862–1943)
  40. (1890–1968)
  41. (born 1893)
  42. Hanns Johst (1890–1978)
  43. (1890–1945)
  44. (1886–1971)
  45. (1900–?)
  46. (1879–1961)
  47. (1885–1959)
  48. Johannes von Leers (1902–1965)
  49. (1889–1936)
  50. Heinrich Lilienfein (1879–1952)
  51. (1884–1941)
  52. Gerhard Menzel (1894–1966)
  53. Herybert Menzel (1906–1945)
  54. Alfred Richard Meyer, known as (1892–1956)
  55. Agnes Miegel (1879–1964)
  56. Walter von Molo (1880–1958)
  57.  [de] (1882–1981)
  58. (1875–1942)
  59. Börries von Münchhausen (1874–1945)
  60. (1888–1976)
  61. (1878–1944)
  62. (1883–1940)
  63. (1868–1935)
  64. (1867–1952)
  65. Ilse Reicke (1893–1989)
  66.  [de] (1889–1941)
  67. (1890–1964)
  68. Johannes Schlaf (1862–1941)
  69. Anton Schnack (1892–1973)
  70. (1888–1977)
  71. Richard Schneider-Edenkoben (1899–1986?)
  72. (1874–1969)
  73. Lothar Schreyer (1886–1966)
  74. (1876–1949)
  75. (1874–1956)
  76. Ina Seidel (1885–1974)
  77. (1887–1934)
  78. (1859–1948)
  79. (1874–1938)
  80. (1897–1964)
  81. (1873–1956)
  82. (1865–1936)
  83. Will Vesper (1882–1962)
  84. Josef Magnus Wehner (1891–1973)
  85. (1888–1964)
  86. (1896–1964)
  87. (1892–1954)
  88. (1883–1940)

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b 88 "writers", from Letters of Heinrich and Thomas Mann, 1900-1949, Volume 12 of Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism, University of California Press 1998 ISBN 0-520-07278-2, p. 367-8
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