Hans Grimm
Encyclopedia
Hans Grimm was a German
writer
.
His father, Julius Grimm, was a professor of law who retired early and devoted his time to private historical and literary studies and to political activity as a founder member of the National Liberal party, which he represented in the Prussia
n parliament, and was a founder member of the German Colonial Society.
His mother, Marie Grimm, née Schlumberger Edle von Goldeck, was a minor aristocrat.
As a child, Hans Grimm showed an interest and aptitude for writing and in 1894 started to study Literature and French at the University of Lausanne
.
Under pressure from his father he left university in 1895 and went into business, working for a German company in Great Britain (in Nottingham
and London
), and then in the British-ruled Cape Colony
(in Port Elizabeth and East London), where he also rented a small farm.
n sojourn lasted only fourteen years, from 1897 to 1911, it had a profound effect on him: with few minor exceptions all his literary work - several collections of short stories and novels - is set in Southern Africa. His most famous novel is Volk ohne Raum (1926). The programmatic title "A people without space" indicates Grimm's belief that Germany's problems, exacerbated by defeat in the First World War, were caused by its lack of space at home or in overseas colonies: individuals, and therefore the nation, were unable to develop to their fullest potential. The novel established him as one of Germany’s leading writers and demonstrated clearly his political sympathies with the political Right in Weimar Germany
, and the title became a popular slogan of the National Socialist movement. The commercial success of this work – sales of the single volume edition amounted to 500,000 by 1943 - clearly shows the extent to which it struck a chord with German readers in the 1920s and 1930s.
From a strictly literary point of view - and leaving their ideological bias to one side - the most readable of Grimm's works are, however, his Novellen and short stories, in which the discipline imposed by restricted space forces him to abandon the discursive wordiness of Volk ohne Raum (1344 pages in the one-volume edition).
In a centenary address (Der verkannte Hans Grimm, Lippoldsberg 1975), designed to restore Grimm’s reputation, Klaus von Delft was able to cite letters of complaint from Grimm to the Nazi authorities on a number of subjects: the infringement of the right of confidentiality at the ballot box; the behaviour of the Hitler-Jugend and the Nazi student association; the coupling of foreign and domestic policy issues in the 1936 referendum on Hitler’s rule; and criticism of Hitler’s presentation of the murders of the "Night of the Long Knives
" in 1934 as due judicial process. It is, however, indicative of Grimm's stance that von Delft is not able to find or cite any criticism of National Socialist racial policy. In 1938 Grimm was threatened with imprisonment by Progandaminister Joseph Goebbels
and withdrew from public life.
Despite everything, however, even after 1945 Grimm remained true to his political convictions. In a pamphlet Die Erzbischofsschrift. Antwort eines Deutschen, (1950), a response to a message from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the German people, Grimm described Germany's war of aggression as an attempt to defend "European Culture" against Communism and blames Great Britain for escalating a local conflict into a global war. In 1954, having failed to gain a seat in the West German parliament for the extreme right-wing "Deutsche Reichspartei", he published a detailed defence of National Socialism under the title Warum, woher aber wohin? (Why, whence, but whither?).
published posthumously:
Non-fiction:
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
.
His father, Julius Grimm, was a professor of law who retired early and devoted his time to private historical and literary studies and to political activity as a founder member of the National Liberal party, which he represented in the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n parliament, and was a founder member of the German Colonial Society.
His mother, Marie Grimm, née Schlumberger Edle von Goldeck, was a minor aristocrat.
As a child, Hans Grimm showed an interest and aptitude for writing and in 1894 started to study Literature and French at the University of Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
.
Under pressure from his father he left university in 1895 and went into business, working for a German company in Great Britain (in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
), and then in the British-ruled Cape Colony
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony, part of modern South Africa, was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652, with the founding of Cape Town. It was subsequently occupied by the British in 1795 when the Netherlands were occupied by revolutionary France, so that the French revolutionaries could not take...
(in Port Elizabeth and East London), where he also rented a small farm.
Works
Although Grimm’s South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n sojourn lasted only fourteen years, from 1897 to 1911, it had a profound effect on him: with few minor exceptions all his literary work - several collections of short stories and novels - is set in Southern Africa. His most famous novel is Volk ohne Raum (1926). The programmatic title "A people without space" indicates Grimm's belief that Germany's problems, exacerbated by defeat in the First World War, were caused by its lack of space at home or in overseas colonies: individuals, and therefore the nation, were unable to develop to their fullest potential. The novel established him as one of Germany’s leading writers and demonstrated clearly his political sympathies with the political Right in Weimar Germany
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
, and the title became a popular slogan of the National Socialist movement. The commercial success of this work – sales of the single volume edition amounted to 500,000 by 1943 - clearly shows the extent to which it struck a chord with German readers in the 1920s and 1930s.
From a strictly literary point of view - and leaving their ideological bias to one side - the most readable of Grimm's works are, however, his Novellen and short stories, in which the discipline imposed by restricted space forces him to abandon the discursive wordiness of Volk ohne Raum (1344 pages in the one-volume edition).
Nazism
Grimm was a supporter of the Nazis, believing that only they could restore German national dignity and economic and political stability, but his relationship with the Party - of which he never formally became a member - became increasingly strained, as he fell out of sympathy with the illegality of its methods.In a centenary address (Der verkannte Hans Grimm, Lippoldsberg 1975), designed to restore Grimm’s reputation, Klaus von Delft was able to cite letters of complaint from Grimm to the Nazi authorities on a number of subjects: the infringement of the right of confidentiality at the ballot box; the behaviour of the Hitler-Jugend and the Nazi student association; the coupling of foreign and domestic policy issues in the 1936 referendum on Hitler’s rule; and criticism of Hitler’s presentation of the murders of the "Night of the Long Knives
Night of the Long Knives
The Night of the Long Knives , sometimes called "Operation Hummingbird " or in Germany the "Röhm-Putsch," was a purge that took place in Nazi Germany between June 30 and July 2, 1934, when the Nazi regime carried out a series of political murders...
" in 1934 as due judicial process. It is, however, indicative of Grimm's stance that von Delft is not able to find or cite any criticism of National Socialist racial policy. In 1938 Grimm was threatened with imprisonment by Progandaminister Joseph Goebbels
Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout followers, he was known for his zealous oratory and anti-Semitism...
and withdrew from public life.
Despite everything, however, even after 1945 Grimm remained true to his political convictions. In a pamphlet Die Erzbischofsschrift. Antwort eines Deutschen, (1950), a response to a message from the Archbishop of Canterbury to the German people, Grimm described Germany's war of aggression as an attempt to defend "European Culture" against Communism and blames Great Britain for escalating a local conflict into a global war. In 1954, having failed to gain a seat in the West German parliament for the extreme right-wing "Deutsche Reichspartei", he published a detailed defence of National Socialism under the title Warum, woher aber wohin? (Why, whence, but whither?).
Later irrelevance
In the context of post-war Germany Grimm was, however, a literary and political irrelevance, and died in 1959 in Lippoldsberg in the restored monastic buildings which he had purchased after the First World War, and where from 1934 to 1939 and then from 1949 onwards he had run the "Lippoldsberger Dichtertage" (Lippoldsberg Writers' Congresses) for nationalist and conservative authors.Selected works
Fiction:- Südafrikanische Novellen, 1913
- Der Gang durch den Sand, 1916
- Die Olewagen-Saga, 1918
- Der Richter in der Karu und andere Novellen, 1926
- Volk ohne Raum, 1926
- Die dreizehn Briefe aus Deutsch Südwestafrika, 1928
- Das deutsche Südwester-Buch, 1929
- Was wir suchen ist alles. Drei Novellen, 1932
- Der Ölsucher von Duala. Ein afrikanisches Tagebuch. 1933
- Lüderitzland. Sieben Begebenheiten, 1934
published posthumously:
- Kaffernland. Eine deutsche Sage, 1961 (written 1911-15)
- Heynade und England, 1969/70 (written 1937-45)
Non-fiction:
- Englische Rede : wie ich den Engländer sehe [The Englishman as I see him], 1938 (published in English and German)
- Die Erzbischofsschrift. Antwort eines Deutschen, 1950 (published in English translation by Lyton Hudson as Answer of a German: an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1952
- Warum, woher aber wohin? 1954