ALONG WITH JÜNGER, Ernst Wiechert is one of the more controversial writers of the inner emigration. His early ideological proximity to extreme German nationalism and his enduring popularity and success as a published author under National Socialism have caused many to question his supposed oppositional stance from the mid-1930s on. Despite his arrest and brief imprisonment in Buchenwald, the subsequent critical silence on his work, and his virtual ostracization by the regime, Wiechert’s writing has been criticized for a romantic, antirational, and conservative mysticism, which focuses on the inner suffering of fictional characters and fails to engage in any analysis of contemporary society or historical events; it has thus been considered a form of solace to fellow travelers and he himself has been accused of complicity with the regime. A key work in understanding the writer is the novel Das einfache Leben (1939, English translation The Simple Life, 1954), in which principled opposition to the regime is offered through the portrayal of an alternative reality based on a commitment to Christian morality, purity of spirit, and compassion for the oppressed, but which also illustrates the more disputed aspects of his writing and thought.

Examination of Wiechert's work is hampered by the patchy nature of the sources available. Following his death there was no systematic attempt to collate and archive the Nachlass, and the manuscript collections in the Wiechert archive in the museum Haus Königsberg in Duisburg are limited. Moreover, the archives of Langen-Müller, his publisher up to 1945, were totally destroyed in the war and the “10- or 12-centimeter thick” Gestapo file, which Wiechert claims existed on him, has never been found.1 Researchers are consequently heavily reliant on Reiner's major four-part documentation.

A Troubled Early Life

Born in 1887, the son of an East Prussian forester, Wiechert remained wedded throughout his life to the rural charms of his native land, and in many ways his writing conveys the impression of a constant revisiting of the lost paradise of his childhood. His early years were beset by tragedy: his younger brother died of diphtheria at the age of four; his uncle died in mysterious circumstances from a gunshot wound, possibly an act of suicide; and his father suffered a serious accident in 1907, in which he lost a leg and thus his livelihood.