Zwischen Affirmation und Ablehnung: Hermann Stehr im Urteil seiner Zeitgenossen

The authors of this article discuss how the works of Hermann Stehr (1864–1940), a German writer from Silesia, were received. An author, who – like Gerhart Hauptmann – stayed in Germany after the national socialists took over. That fact affected the reception of his writing: to this day, he is considered as a representative of the so-colled ‘literature of blood and land’, which the Nazis perceived as expression of „German spirit”. This article presents Stehr’s literary works from various perspectives. It shows the tragedy of the author making political choices in times, when an individual, even the most prominent, was subjected to totalitarian processes of unification and de-individualization.