Peter Schmitz und Josef Ponten : zwei Schriftsteller aus dem deutsch-belgischen Grenzland, 1918-1940 : eine kulturhistorische Studie unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der komparatistischen Imagologie
(2010)
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00_DECK_DANK_INHALT_EINLEITUNG.pdf
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02_TEILII-GeschichteEupen-Malmedy.pdf
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- Abstract
- (en) This is the first in-depth study about the writers Peter Schmitz (1887-1938) and Josef Ponten (1883-1940). Both were born in Eupen-Malmedy, a territory that in 1919 was assigned to Belgium after more than a hundred years of Prussian rule. National, ethnic or regional auto- and hetero-images – like in many other publications of the time – played an important part in Schmitz’ and Ponten’s works. In order to heighten the awareness of the often subtle ideological impact these images could have on the reader, the chosen writings have been analysed with the help of comparative imagology. Especially Daniel-Henri Pageaux’ theory focusing on discursive analysis and the ideological implications of images was applied for this purpose. The works of Schmitz and Ponten reflect the complexity of the pluralistic German literary landscape in the 1920’s and 1930’s. They are two examples in case that question firstly the dichotomic thought patterns frequently applied to the intellectuals of the time, secondly the periodical subdivision of German literature according to political changes (i.e. Weimarer Republik, ‘Drittes Reich’, Innere Immigration, Exil). Regarding these two elements, publications of the last decades have shown that there were many interchangeable discourses at that time and that a general change of mood can already be observed around 1930 and not only from 1933 on. This is the case for Josef Ponten. During the 1920’s he was befriended with Thomas Mann, took a stance for the “United States of Europe” and pleaded for a positive image of France in German schoolbooks. In the early 1930’s however, he showed resentfulness towards France and reactivated the old stereotype of the ‘hereditary enemy’ (Erbfeind). According to the image of the French in Ponten’s novels Volk auf dem Wege Roman der deutschen Unruhe (1930-31/1933-1942), Louis XIV, Napoleon and their armies were responsible for the ‘German diaspora’. Chasing ‘German people’ from their land, they forced them to wander around in an endless quest for new territory. The ‘Jewish people’ surprisingly becomes a metaphor that serves to victimize ‘the Germans’. Moreover the dissertations tries with the help of biographical data to clarify Ponten’s ambivalent attitude towards the Nazi-Regime. The almost forgotten writer Peter Schmitz was the author of an exceptional anti-war-novel entitled Bataillon Eupen-Malmedy/Golgatha (1931/1937). The book, today unavailable and forgotten, is quite a special case: firstly, it was written by a Belgian author who had been a German soldier between 1914 and 1918; secondly it is the only antiwar-novel written in German and published in Belgium; thirdly, the narrator and the protagonists discuss the origins of the war and denounce the ideological use of negative hetero-images in political propaganda. As a journalist, writer and secret agent Schmitz took a fierce stance against Militarism from the late twenties on and tried to fight the secret war-plans of the Third Reich. Him being a key-figure for the Belgian, French and British secret services was one of the major discoveries of this research. When the Wehrmacht invaded Belgium in May 1940 the Gestapo severely interrogated Schmitz’ widow, confiscated Schmitz’ writings and had his body removed from the cemetery of honour in Eupen.
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Citations
Beck, P. (2010). Peter Schmitz und Josef Ponten : zwei Schriftsteller aus dem deutsch-belgischen Grenzland, 1918-1940 : eine kulturhistorische Studie unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der komparatistischen Imagologie. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/46822