The Nazi Appropriation of Shakespeare

Book excerpt: For the Nazis, Shakespeare was a major cultural icon, whose works belonged to German culture more than to English and were therefore to be exploited for political-propagandistic purposes like those of any other German classical writer. Following an overview of the importance of Shakespeare in German culture, this book's three major sections investigate the controversy over the appropriate translation Shakespeare's plays to be read and performed, the effect of the new political-cultural climate on Shakespeare-scholarship, and the attempts of the Nazis to co-ordinate Shakespeare's works on the stage for propagandistic ends. This is the first complete study, entirely in English, to present the total picture of Shakespeare's fortunes in Germany between 1933 and 1945 in the context of Nazi cultural policy.