Recht in Literatur und Literaturkontrolle – Doppeltes Verständnis von Recht und Literatur im Theater des dritten Reiches am Beispiel von E.W. Möllers Thingspiel Das Frankenburger Würfelspiel

Joanna Szczukiewicz

Wydział Filologiczny, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Instytut Filologii Germańskiej
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9175-3769

Abstract

The recognition that literature and law were closely linked in the Third Reich explains, firstly – the legal provisions introduced after Hitler’s seizure of power, including the establishment of the Reich Chamber of Culture, and secondly – the literary approaches which were developed on the basis of these provisions. A prime example of the intrusion of laws enacted in Nazi Germany into the literary life of those times is the theatrical form of Thingspiel, developed around the mid-thirties. This theatrical concept presents a dual approach to law and literature. Not only was the Thingspiel subordinate to the legal provisions of the Reich Chamber of Culture, but criminal law itself also became a theme of these plays. The Thingspiel originated in the Old Germanic concept of people’s and court assemblies called a “Thing”. The model of putting criminal law on stage also found its way into “Frankenburger Würfelspiel” by E.W. Möller, Head of the Theater Unit at the Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Examining the connection between literature and law in this piece and also its function for the NS-Politics is the main aim of this study.

Schlagworte:

literature and law, the Third Reich, Thingspiel, E.W. Möller, “Frankenburger Würfelspiel”