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The reception and position of Feuchtwanger’s work in European study contexts

In Germany, the critical reception of the German-language literature of exile (1933–1945) and of Lion Feuchtwanger’s literary work in particular has been, by and large, subject to the polarization of the Cold War division of Europe. In sum and as examined elsewhere,1 during the 1980s, there was the occasional demand for a greater focus on this type of literature in West German school and university teaching.2 The didactic value of this literature had been considered as vital for a socio-political education at a time of a peak in German neo-Nazism. In spite of this, such demands had no real impact on the institutional organization of the study and teaching of literature at the time. While at the same time Feuchtwanger was listed among the compulsory authors of exile literature in the East German subject syllabi, it was mainly his reputation as an anti-fascist and his sympathizing with the USSR which was considered of merit. In the aftermath of German ← 451 | 452 → reunification, some federal states then introduced contextual and structural reforms to their literature syllabi, which in part included sub-units on exile literature within the study and evaluation of Weimar Literature or, to a far lesser extent, a focus on literary works published in exile although rarely on Feuchtwanger, one of the most widely translated German authors of the era. Specifically with regard to Feuchtwanger, there was still an obvious need for the...