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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIn 1938, Nazis wanted to know if 'The Hobbit' author was Jewish. He responded with a high-class burn
by Tod Perry
In 1933, Adolf Hitler handed the power of Jewish cultural life in Nazi Germany to his chief propagandist, Joseph Goebbels. Goebbels established a team of of regulators that would oversee the works of Jewish artists in film, theater, music, fine arts, literature, broadcasting, and the press.
Goebbels new regulations essentially eliminated Jewish people from participating in mainstream German cultural activities by requiring them to have a license to do so.
This attempt by the Nazis to purge Germany of any culture that wasnt Aryan in origin led to the questioning of artists from outside the country.
In 1938, English author J. R. R. Tolkien and his British publisher, Stanley Unwin, opened talks with Rütten & Loening, a Berlin-based publishing house, about a German translation of his recently-published hit novel, The Hobbit.
Privately, according to 1937 The Hobbit or There and Back Again, Tolkien told Unwin he hated Nazi race-doctrine as wholly pernicious and unscientific. He added he had many Jewish friends and was considering abandoning the idea of a German translation altogether.
The Berlin-based publishing house sent Tolkien a letter asking for proof of his Aryan descent. Tolkien was incensed by the request and gave his publisher two responses, one in which he sidestepped the question, another in which he clapped back 30s-style with pure class.
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https://www.good.is/articles/jrr-rolkien-nazi-letter?utm_source=upw&utm_medium=fb&utm_campaign=1&fbclid=IwAR1kNlDWcyhGEryxMUTaaKMxWjeQSx6VT0AV8oXbBYw56qh8gaPRHFMXd-E
MustLoveBeagles
(11,589 posts)GeoWilliam750
(2,522 posts)Martin Eden
(12,863 posts)But this proved me wrong.
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chwaliszewski
(1,514 posts)Brains win again!