Jakob Schaffner (14 November 1875 – 23 September 1944) was a leading Swiss novelist who became a supporter of

Nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

. Philip Rees (1990) ''

Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 The ''Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890'' is a reference book by Philip Rees, on leading people in the various far right movements since 1890. It contains entries for what the author regards as "the 500 major figures on the ...

'', Simon & Schuster, p. 347,

Emergence as a writer

Born on 14 November 1875 in

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, both his father and his mother, a native of the State of Baden, died when he was young, leaving him to be reared in an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

. His early experiences inspired his most celebrated novel ''Johannes'' (sometimes known as ''Roman einer Jugend''), which was published in 1922 and was a semi-autobiographical story of life in an orphanage. He initially worked as a shoemaker before turning to writing and held a number of other jobs throughout his life whilst an author. As a young shoemaker Schaffner travelled extensively as a journeyman in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, which heavily influenced his later writing, much of which was concerned with travel. He studied at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

, and wrote his early works in Basel. In his very early days Schaffner was sympathetic to communism but he would switch at an early age to nationalism. In 1912, Schaffner moved to

Charlottenburg Charlottenburg () is a Boroughs and localities of Berlin, locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Established as a German town law, town in 1705 and named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, Queen consort of Kingdom ...

, near

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Germany, after marrying a German woman and was driven by his German ethnic identity. His native spoken tongue was the

Alemannic German Alemannic, or rarely Alemannish (''Alemannisch'', ), is a group of High German dialects. The name derives from the ancient Germanic tribal confederation known as the Alemanni ("all men"). Distribution Alemannic dialects are spoken by approxi ...

dialect but seeking to rid himself of regional peculiarities and become what he described as an "all-German" he consciously adopted north German forms and expressions in his writing. He was strongly critical not only of

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

but also of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

, dismissing the Bible as "a foreign collection of texts".

Far right activity

He later returned to Switzerland and from 1936 to 1938 was active on behalf of the National Front, leaving the movement along with Rolf Henne and Hans Oehler. For a time Schaffner was a member of the ', a pro-

group established by Henne, Oehler and others on the extreme wing of the National Front. Schaffner had initially been a sceptic about Nazism but soon became a strong supporter of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

, feeling that he could spearhead a renovation of Europe. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Schaffner returned to live in Germany. He joined the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...

and worked as a propagandist for

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and philologist who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief Propaganda in Nazi Germany, propagandist for the Nazi Party, and ...

. He rarely returned to Switzerland, except for a meeting with cabinet minister Marcel Pilet-Golaz in 1940 alongside and Max Leo Keller, two leading members of the recently established Swiss Nazi movement, the

National Movement of Switzerland The National Movement of Switzerland ( or ''NBS'') was a Nazi umbrella-group formed in Switzerland in 1940. Foundation The NBS had its roots in the 1938 foundation of the ' by Rolf Henne after the more moderate Robert Tobler had removed Henne fr ...

.Pierre-Th Braunschweig (2004) ''Secret Channel To Berlin: The Masson-Schellenberg Connection And Swiss Intelligence In World War II'', Casemate Publishers, p. 337, Schaffner was killed in 1944 during an air raid on

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

and was buried in his hometown Buus in September 1944. Having formerly been widely regarded as a writer, his reputation in German-speaking literary circles was damaged significantly after the war due to his support for Nazism.

Literary works

* ''Irrfahrten'' (Wanderings) 1905 * ''Die Laterne und andere Novellen'' (The Lantern and other novellas) 1907 * ''Konrad Pilater'' 1910, a story of a rather whimsical journeyman shoemaker, embodying scenes of Schaffner's boyhood as a shoemaker * ''Der Bote Gottes'' (The Messenger of God) 1911 * ''Die goldene Fratze'' (The Golden Fratze – a German term for a distorted or ugly face or grimace) 1912 * ''Die Irrfahrten des Jonathan Bregger'' (The Wanderings of Jonathan Bregger) 1912, a new edition of ''Irrfahrten'' of 1905 * "The Iron Idol,” an English translation of one of his stories, appears in Kuno Francke, ed., ''German Classics'', v. 19, New York, 1914 * ''Die Weisheit der Liebe'' (The Wisdom of Love) 1919 * ''Konrad Pilater'' (new version) 1922 * ''Johannes'' 1922 * ''Brüder'' (Brothers) 1925 * ''Das grosse Erlebnis'' (The Grand Experience) 1926 * ''Die Jünglingszeit des Johannes Schattenhold'' (The Young Manhood of Johannes Schattenhold) 1930 (sequel to ''Johannes'') * ''Eine deutsche Wanderschaft'' (A German Journey) 1933 (third Johannes book) * ''Offenbarung in deutscher Landschaft. Eine Sommerfahrt'' (Revealing in German Landscape – A Summer Journey) 1934 * ''Berge, Ströme und Städte. Eine schweizerische Heimatschau'' (Mountains, Rivers and Cities – A Swiss Homeland Show) 1938 * ''Kampf und Reise'' (Struggle and Journey) 1939 (final part of Johannes

tetralogy A tetralogy (from Greek τετρα- ''tetra-'', "four" and -λογία ''-logia'', "discourse") is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works. The name comes from the Attic theater, in which a tetralogy was a group of three tragedies ...

)

References

External links

* Alan Morris Scohm
'A Survey of Nazi and Pro-Nazi Groups in Switzerland: 1930–1945'

Propaganda work by Schaffner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaffner, Jakob 1875 births 1944 deaths 20th-century Swiss novelists 20th-century Swiss male writers Swiss critics of Christianity Critics of Judaism Writers from Basel-Stadt Swiss emigrants to Germany Swiss male novelists Swiss Nazi propagandists Deaths by American airstrikes during World War II Civilians killed in World War II Nazi Party members