Bellizismus eines pazifisten Stefan Zweig und der Insel-Verlag im Ersten Weltkrieg

Abstract

This article critically investigates correspondence between Leipzig publisher, Anton Kippenberg and Austrian author and literary adviser Stefan Zweig. None of the letters, which date from WWI, have been published before. It has been generally accepted that the years 1915-16 marked a turning point between Zweig’s involvement in the war and his later pacificist stance resulting in his emigration to Switzerland. His letters to Katharina and Anton Kippenberg, however, provide evidence that such a turning point cannot be verified given his overall ambivalent attitude during the war. Zweig’s motivation in opposing the publication of Polish literature by Insel-Verlag, his nationalist and patriotic vocabulary as well as his advances towards a post in occupied Belgium show that after 1915 Zweig rather displayed a conformist stance. Moreover, as an important member in the literary scene at the time, Zweig was able to skillfully manipulate the circumstances of the war and the rhetoric it entailed.