Ernst Glaeser
Ernst Glaeser (1902-1963) was a notable German writer whose works reflect the turbulent political and social landscape of Germany during and after World War I and II. Born in Butzbach, Hesse, Glaeser was educated at the Universities of Freiburg and Munich. His early experiences shaped his pacifist views, which he passionately expressed in his first novel, "Class of 1902." This ensemble narrative critiques postwar German society, addressing themes like anti-Semitism, government corruption, and militarism.
Glaeser’s work gained international acclaim but faced severe backlash during the rise of the National Socialists; his novel was banned and burned. After fleeing to Switzerland, he controversially returned to edit a propaganda newspaper for the fascist regime he had opposed. Despite this, he published over twenty titles, with notable works including "The Last Civilian," which critiques Hitler's ascent, and "The Shady Miracle," which explores post-war recovery and its moral implications. Glaeser’s legacy as a writer is marked by his compassionate storytelling and his role as a chronicler of Germany's mid-20th century evolution, even amidst his contentious choices during the war.
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Ernst Glaeser
Author
- Born: July 29, 1902
- Birthplace: Butzbach, Hesse, Germany
- Died: February 8, 1963
- Place of death: Mainz, Germany
Biography
The son of a prominent judge, Ernst Glaeser was born July 29, 1902, in the village of Butzbach, Hesse, Germany. Educated at the Universities of Freiburg and Munich, the young Glaeser, too young for military service in World War I, was acutely aware of the devastating cost of the protracted war and the consequent political and social upheavals in Germany. He was particularly troubled by the end of the emergence of the Social Democrats, who began an era of relatively stable government, now termed the Weimar Republic, which lasted until the emergence of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.
By his late twenties, Glaeser had worked in the theater as well as a journalist in both print and on the radio. Glaeser’s first novel, Class of 1902, captures the political and social life of the author’s generation. Stridently pacifist in its argument, the novel is an ensemble narrative that centers on a young man who is to discover not only his own identity on the threshold of the war but also the implications of his place within the German postwar society, an often-critical depiction that includes its anti-Semitism, its widespread government corruption, its unsavory love of military endeavors, and its exaggerated sense of itself as an inevitable military powerhouse. Internationally, the book was hailed as a landmark novel and was translated into dozens of languages.
When Hitler’s National Socialists consolidated power in 1933, Glaeser’s novel was immediately targeted for official sanction and burned; it was seen as an antinationalist portrait of the country and as a pacifist document. Since Glaeser was politically active, he was targeted as a radical leftist soft on Soviet Communism. Officially blacklisted, Glaeser fled to Switzerland, where he would remain for six years. When Glaeser returned, however, he accepted a staff position within the very fascist government he had so vocally condemned, editing the German army propaganda newspaper in Sicily (an ironic choice of occupation, given Glaeser’s fervent pacifism). After the war, Glaeser would argue that he had been compelled to be a nonfleeing emigrant, a German who stayed but did not agree with Hitler. Not everyone found the argument convincing, and Glaeser was accused of accommodating to the regime in return for being allowed to end his exile.
Glaeser wrote more than twenty titles, although most have fallen into obscurity, with the exception of two books: The Last Civilian and The Shady Miracle. The Last Civilian depicts Hitler’s rise to power amid the economic collapse of the Weimar Republic and chronicles the growing moral outrage of the narrator, a German American émigré. The Shady Miracle was Glaeser’s last novel, and it follows the German industrial recovery of the late 1950’s and the emergence of a democratic state, which struggled with the dark implications of Hitler’s legacy. Glaeser died February 8, 1963, in Mainz. With clear-eyed realism, a gift for storytelling and character, and a unwavering compassion for those caught up in the dramatic events that define an era, Glaeser remains among the indispensable chroniclers of Germany’s midcentury political and military evolution, despite his controversial activities during World War II.