Die a Hero in Langemarck: Flanders in the Nazi Poetry of Heinrich Anacker

Abstract: This contribution focuses on the representation of Flanders in the propaganda poetry of the Nazi writer Heinrich Anacker (19011971) and its role in mythologising heroes in National Socialism. The analysis of a selection of poems from Anackers anthology Die Fanfare. Gedichte der deutschen Erhebung reveals Flanders as an important topos in his poetry. The symbolic value of this topos will be explained from a literary theoretical point of view: the idea of Flanders/Langemarck as a German memory space in a World War I past will be linked to the debate on whether National Socialism should... Mehr ...