Law in Literature, Literature under Law – A Dual Approach to Law and Literature in the Theater of the Third Reich, Based on E.W. Möller’s Thingspiel “Das Frankenburger Würfelspiel”
Joanna Szczukiewicz
Wydział Filologiczny, Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Instytut Filologii Germańskiejhttp://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.
