Josef Magnus Wehner (14 November 1891 – 14 December 1973) was a German writer and playwright. Celebrated (locally, in

Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. History ...

) as a "great German poet" his reputation is criticized for the militarism displayed in his work and his allegiance to the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

. Wehner was one of the 88 German authors who signed the ''

Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft The Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft (variously translated from German to English as "vow of most faithful allegiance", "proclamation of loyalty of German writers" or "promise of most loyal obedience") was a declaration by 88 German writers and poe ...

'', a 1933 "promise of most loyal obedience" to

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

.88 "writers", from ''Letters of Heinrich and Thomas Mann, 1900–1949, Volume 12 of Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism'', University of California Press 1998
, p. 367-8 After the war, he wrote a number of feast plays for religious occasions, including celebrations for

Rabanus Maurus Rabanus Maurus Magnentius ( 780 – 4 February 856), also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk, theologian, poet, encyclopedist and military writer who became archbishop of Mainz in East Francia. He was the author of the ...

and

Saint Boniface Boniface, OSB ( la, Bonifatius; 675 – 5 June 754) was an English Benedictines, Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of the Frankish Empire during the eighth century. He organised significant ...

. In a 1988 study of Wehner, Joachim Hohmann concluded that Wehner's past was too easily forgotten and that his reputation as a Catholic ''Heimatdichter'' was undeserved and white-washed his

national socialist Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

past.

Works (selection)

*''Das Fuldaer Bonifatiusspiel''. Fulda: Parzeller, 1954. *''Die Versuchung des Rabanus Maurus''. Fulda, 1956.

References

External links

* 1891 births 1973 deaths German male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century German dramatists and playwrights 20th-century German male writers {{Germany-writer-stub