Stefan George

Stefan George (Bingen, Hesse, July 12, 1868 – Locarno, December 4, 1933) was a German poet and translator.

Influence

George was thought of by his contemporaries as a prophet and a priest, while he thought of himself as a messiah of a new kingdom that would be led by intellectual or artistic elites, bonded by their faithfulness to a strong leader. His poetry emphasized self-sacrifice, heroism and power, and he thus gained popularity in right wing and Nazi circles. A group of writers that congregated around him were known as the Georgekreis (George circle).

Related Topics:
Prophet - Priest - Messiah - Elite - Right wing - Nazi

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Stefan George left Germany and immigrated to Switzerland as the regime realized it could gain popularity by claiming George as a Nazi poet. Though George himself shunned such an association, the Nazis made George a national poet after his death. Critics considered his work to be proto-fascist, though many of the leading members of the German Resistance to the Nazis were drawn from among his followers, notably the Stauffenberg brothers who were introduced to George by the poet and scholar Albrecht von Blumenthal.

Related Topics:
Switzerland - Fascist - Von Blumenthal

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Out of the Georgekreis arose Hugo von Hofmannsthal, one of Austria's most important literary modernists (who broke from George's influence), and also several members of the assassinate Hitler, including Claus von Stauffenberg himself.

Related Topics:
Hugo von Hofmannsthal - Assassinate Hitler - Claus von Stauffenberg

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George is also said to have had an influence on Franz Kafka.

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