The Stasi poetry circle, Nazi schools and German culture

In 1982, the East German security force was deeply concerned with subversive literature and decided to train soldiers and border guards to write lyrical verse. Decades earlier in 1933, a group of elite boarding schools modelled along the lines of English public schools were founded on Hitler's birthday. A new play explores the disappearance of English schoolboys in the Black Forest in 1936. Why did the authoritarian regimes of 20th-century Germany concern themselves so heavily with cultural output and influence? Anne McElvoy discusses some of the curious initiatives of Nazi Germany and the DDR and responses to them.

Pamela Carter is the author of The Misfortune of the English runs at The Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, London from 25 April to 28 May 2022

Karen Leeder is Professor of Modern German Literature at the University of Oxford. Her books include Rereading East Germany: The Literature and Film of the GDR and a translation of Durs Grünbein's Porcelain: Poem on the Downfall of My City

Philip Oltermann is Berlin Bureau Chief for The Guardian and the author of The Stasi Poetry Circle: The Creative Writing Class that Tried to Win the Cold War

Helen Roche is Associate Professor in Modern European Cultural History at the University of Durham. Her second book is The Third Reich’s Elite Schools: A History of the Napolas

Producer: Ruth Watts

Image: Entering East Germany via Checkpoint Bravo in Berlin in the 80s.

You can find more episodes of Free Thinking exploring German history and culture including: Florian Huber, Sophie Hardach, Tom Smith and Adam Scovell on New angles on post-war Germany and Austria https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0006sjx
The 1920s Philosophy's Golden Age https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000q380 Wittgenstein changed his mind, Heidegger revolutionised philosophy (and the German language), and both the Frankfurt School and the Vienna Circle were in full swing.
Germany: Neil MacGregor, Volker Kutscher, Threepenny Opera https://bbc.kongjiang.org/www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b079mcgf