This post is written out of a scholarly interest in a well-known 'quotation'.

In the RGCM thread, 'Civility' (27 April 2003), Jerome Bibuld wrote:
"Although you may be a United Statesian, you seem to forget that, in
Uhmuhrikka, when we hear the word, 'culture', we reach for our guns...."

In response (27 April 2003), Simon ('Chapman billy') wrote:
"...The philistine attitude of Goering seems, sadly enough,
to be common to all Anglo-Saxon countries."

The 'quotation', "When I hear the word 'culture', I reach for my gun",
has been popularly attributed (perhaps including in some reference books)
to Hermann Goering, but it's apocryphal (as I had long suspected).
There's no known evidence that Hermann Goering ever said those words.

The closest source for that 'quotation' was the play 'Schlageter'
(dedicated to Adolf Hitler at his own request) by Hanns Johst, dramatizing a
story of German nationalist resistance against the French military occupation
in the early 1920s, which opened in Berlin's State Theatre on 20 April 1933
(Hitler's birthday) before an audience that included Hitler and Goebbels.
(An actress in the play, Emmy Sonnemann, would soon marry Hermann Goering.)
The play was named in honour of Albert Leo Schlageter, a German nationalist
who had committed an act of sabotage against the French military occupation
of the Ruhr and then had been executed by the French in 1923. Afterward,
Nazi propagandists transformed Schlageter into a German nationalist (not to
mention a presumably pro-Nazi) martyr, though there seems to have been hardly
any evidence of Schlageter's specific views about the Nazis in 1923.

"Thanks to all the publicity it (the play) gained, it was widely felt to
symbolize the Nazi attitude to culture. People noted, either from going to
see the play or from reading about it in the press, that one of the main
characters, Friedrich Thiemann...rejected all intellectual and cultural ideas
and concepts, arguing in a number of scenes with the student Schlageter that
they should be replaced by blood, race, and sacrifice for the good of the
nation. In the course of one such argument, Thiemann declared: 'When I
hear 'culture', I release the safety catch of my Browning!' To many cultured
Germans, this seemed to sum up the Nazis' attitude to the arts, and the
phrase quickly went the rounds, becoming wholly detached from its original
context. It was soon attributed to various leading Nazis, but above all to
Hermann Goering, and simplified in the process to the catchier, wholly
apocryphal, but oft-repeated statement: 'When I hear the word culture,
I reach for my gun!'"
--Richard Evans (The Coming of the Third Reich, p. 418)

"When I hear 'culture', I release the safety catch of my Browning!"
--'Friedrich Thiemann' in the play 'Schlageter' by Hanns Johst (1933)

Of course, I expect that the apocryphal quotation that has been attributed
to Hermann Goering will continue to circulate widely (despite my post here).

--Nick

Dear Nick,

Heil Dubya!

I respect your research and will attribute ... (a corrected quote) ... to the
proper source. Thank you.

This post is written out of a scholarly interest in a well-known 'quotation'.

In the RGCM thread, 'Civility' (27 April 2003), Jerome Bibuld wrote:
"Although you may be a United Statesian, you seem to forget that, in
Uhmuhrikka, when we hear the word, 'culture', we reach for our guns...."

In response (27 April 2003), Simon ('Chapman billy') wrote:
"...The philistine attitude of Goering seems, sadly enough,
to be common to all Anglo-Saxon countries."

The 'quotation', "When I hear the word 'culture', I reach for my gun",
has been popularly attributed (perhaps including in some reference books)
to Hermann Goering, but it's apocryphal (as I had long suspected).
There's no known evidence that Hermann Goering ever said those words.

The closest source for that 'quotation' was the play 'Schlageter'
(dedicated to Adolf Hitler at his own request) by Hanns Johst, dramatizing a
story of German nationalist resistance against the French military occupation
in the early 1920s, which opened in Berlin's State Theatre on 20 April 1933
(Hitler's birthday) before an audience that included Hitler and Goebbels.
(An actress in the play, Emmy Sonnemann, would soon marry Hermann Goering.)
The play was named in honour of Albert Leo Schlageter, a German nationalist
who had committed an act of sabotage against the French military occupation
of the Ruhr and then had been executed by the French in 1923. Afterward,
Nazi propagandists transformed Schlageter into a German nationalist (not to
mention a presumably pro-Nazi) martyr, though there seems to have been hardly

any evidence of Schlageter's specific views about the Nazis in 1923.

"Thanks to all the publicity it (the play) gained, it was widely felt to
symbolize the Nazi attitude to culture. People noted, either from going to
see the play or from reading about it in the press, that one of the main
characters, Friedrich Thiemann...rejected all intellectual and cultural ideas
and concepts, arguing in a number of scenes with the student Schlageter that
they should be replaced by blood, race, and sacrifice for the good of the
nation. In the course of one such argument, Thiemann declared: 'When I
hear 'culture', I release the safety catch of my Browning!' To many cultured
Germans, this seemed to sum up the Nazis' attitude to the arts, and the
phrase quickly went the rounds, becoming wholly detached from its original
context. It was soon attributed to various leading Nazis, but above all to
Hermann Goering, and simplified in the process to the catchier, wholly
apocryphal, but oft-repeated statement: 'When I hear the word culture,
I reach for my gun!'"
--Richard Evans (The Coming of the Third Reich, p. 418)

"When I hear 'culture', I release the safety catch of my Browning!"
--'Friedrich Thiemann' in the play 'Schlageter' by Hanns Johst (1933)

Of course, I expect that the apocryphal quotation that has been attributed
to Hermann Goering will continue to circulate widely (despite my post here).

--Nick

Heute Uhmuhrikkka, Afghanistan, Irak und Haïti. Morgen die ganze Welt!

Uhmuhrikkka, Uhmuhrikkka über Alles!

(The more information that comes out about the attacks on the Twin Towers and
the Pentagon of 11 September 2001 the more it appears that those attacks were
organized by the rulers of the United States and were intended to have the same
effect on the people of the United States that the Reichstag fire had on the
people of Germany in 1933.)

Fight terrorism! Dissolve the CIA and disarm the Pentagon! (I have been
watching the hearings of the Commission to investigate the attacks on the Twin
Towers and the Pentagon of 11 September 2001. As a result, I have become
convinced that every one of the witnesses and their four Presidents - and every
one of the Commissioners - should be tried for:
(1. Conspiracy to commit terrorism; and/or
(2. Commission of terrorist acts; and/or
(3. Conspiracy to commit murder; and/or
(4. Commission of murder; and/or
(5. Treason; and/or
(6. Suborning one or more of the above acts.)

Fraternally,

Jerry Bibuld
gens una sumus

(Nick) wrote in message . com...

The 'quotation', "When I hear the word 'culture', I reach for my
gun", has been popularly attributed (perhaps including in some
reference books) to Hermann Goering, but it's apocryphal (as I had
long suspected). There's no known evidence that Hermann Goering ever
said those words. The closest source for that 'quotation' was the play
'Schlageter' ... by Hanns Johst

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (3rd edition, 1979) supports Mr.
Bourbaki, attributing "Wenn ich Kultur höre ... entsichere ich meinen
Browning!" to Johst's "Schlageter" (1934), with the notation "Often
attrib. Goering."

Taylor Kingston

Taylor Kingston wrote:

(Nick) wrote in message . com...

The 'quotation', "When I hear the word 'culture', I reach for my
gun", has been popularly attributed (perhaps including in some
reference books) to Hermann Goering, but it's apocryphal (as I had
long suspected). There's no known evidence that Hermann Goering ever
said those words. The closest source for that 'quotation' was the play
'Schlageter' ... by Hanns Johst

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (3rd edition, 1979) supports Mr.
Bourbaki, attributing "Wenn ich Kultur höre ... entsichere ich meinen
Browning!" to Johst's "Schlageter" (1934), with the notation "Often
attrib. Goering."

Taylor Kingston

Ah! true nazi decadence. Kulture ****ting on culture & now for the
'commie' variation - " I prefer a nice bit of cheese to all that art
stuff " ..

ospam (Jerome Bibuld) wrote in
message ...
Dear Nick,
I respect your research and will attribute ... (a corrected quote) ...
to the proper source. Thank you.

Dear Mr Bibuld,

Thanks. As far as I can tell, my scholarly research tends to be respected
by readers apart from those who are nearly illiterate (in English) or trolls.

Here's the original quotation in German:
"Wenn ich Kultur hoere, entsichere ich meinen Browning."
--'Friedrich Thiemann' in the play 'Schlageter' by Hanns Johst (1933)

It's interesting that Hanns Johst, a pro-Nazi writer, would have
specifically mentioned an American gun, 'meinen Browning'.

In the RGCM thread, 'Civility' (27 April 2003), Jerome Bibuld wrote:
"Although you may be a United Statesian, you seem to forget that, in
Uhmuhrikka, when we hear the word, 'culture', we reach for our guns...."

In response (27 April 2003), Simon ('Chapman billy') wrote:
"...The philistine attitude of Goering seems, sadly enough,
to be common to all Anglo-Saxon countries."

The 'quotation', "When I hear the word 'culture', I reach for my gun",
has been popularly attributed (perhaps including in some reference books)
to Hermann Goering, but it's apocryphal (as I had long suspected).
There's no known evidence that Hermann Goering ever said those words.

The closest source for that 'quotation' was the play 'Schlageter'
(dedicated to Adolf Hitler at his own request) by Hanns Johst, dramatizing a
story of German nationalist resistance against the French military occupation
in the early 1920s, which opened in Berlin's State Theatre on 20 April 1933
(Hitler's birthday) before an audience that included Hitler and Goebbels.
(An actress in the play, Emmy Sonnemann, would soon marry Hermann Goering.)
The play was named in honour of Albert Leo Schlageter, a German nationalist
who had committed an act of sabotage against the French military occupation
of the Ruhr and then had been executed by the French in 1923. Afterward,
Nazi propagandists transformed Schlageter into a German nationalist (not to
mention a presumably pro-Nazi) martyr, though there seems to have been
hardly any evidence of Schlageter's specific views about the Nazis in 1923.

I regret any inaccuracy in my last statement (above). What I meant was that
there seems to have been hardly any evidence of what Albert Leo Schlageter
(12 August 1894 - 26 May 1923) would presumably have thought about the
direction of the Nazi movement after 1923. In fact, Schlageter had joined
the NSDAP (Nazi Party) in 1922. After his death, of course, Nazi propagandists
were at liberty to invoke Schlageter's name (without any risk of rebuttal)
in the service of whatever policy that they favoured at that time.

In June 1923, Karl Radek (a Marxist of Jewish heritage) gave a memorable speech
to honour Albert Leo Schlageter as a heroic fighter against French imperialism,
'Leo Schlageter: The Wanderer into the Void':

http://www.marxists.org/archive/rade...schlageter.htm

"Schlageter himself cannot now hear this declaration, but we are convinced
that there are hundreds of Schlageters who will hear it and understand it."
--Karl Radek (June 1923)

Evidently, Karl Radek believed that German nationalists such as Schlageter
(whom he apparently considered generally well-meaning but politically naive)
could be persuaded to shift their support from the Fascists to the Communists.

During the Second World War, the Luftwaffe named one of its best fighter
wings, Jagdgeschwader 26, in honour of Albert Leo Schlageter.

--Nick

"Thanks to all the publicity it (the play) gained, it was widely felt to
symbolize the Nazi attitude to culture. People noted, either from going to
see the play or from reading about it in the press, that one of the main
characters, Friedrich Thiemann...rejected all intellectual and cultural ideas
and concepts, arguing in a number of scenes with the student Schlageter that
they should be replaced by blood, race, and sacrifice for the good of the
nation. In the course of one such argument, Thiemann declared: 'When I
hear 'culture', I release the safety catch of my Browning!' To many cultured
Germans, this seemed to sum up the Nazis' attitude to the arts, and the
phrase quickly went the rounds, becoming wholly detached from its original
context. It was soon attributed to various leading Nazis, but above all to
Hermann Goering, and simplified in the process to the catchier, wholly
apocryphal, but oft-repeated statement: 'When I hear the word culture,
I reach for my gun!'"
--Richard Evans (The Coming of the Third Reich, p. 418)

"When I hear 'culture', I release the safety catch of my Browning!"
--'Friedrich Thiemann' in the play 'Schlageter' by Hanns Johst (1933)

Of course, I expect that the apocryphal quotation that has been attributed
to Hermann Goering will continue to circulate widely (despite my post here).
--Nick

(Taylor Kingston) wrote in message . com...
(Nick) wrote in
message . com...
The 'quotation', "When I hear the word 'culture', I reach for my
gun", has been popularly attributed (perhaps including in some
reference books) to Hermann Goering, but it's apocryphal (as I had
long suspected). There's no known evidence that Hermann Goering ever
said those words. The closest source for that 'quotation' was the play
'Schlageter' ... by Hanns Johst

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (3rd edition, 1979) supports
Mr. Bourbaki, attributing "Wenn ich Kultur höre ... entsichere ich
meinen Browning!" to Johst's "Schlageter" (1934), with the notation
"Often attrib. Goering."

Mr. Kingston, thanks for your corroborating citation.
I have enjoyed reading your articles at the Chess Cafe.

--Nick

(Nick) wrote in
message . com...
(snipped)
During the Second World War, the Luftwaffe named one of its best fighter
wings, Jagdgeschwader 26, in honour of Albert Leo Schlageter.

It's interesting that, evidently, being known as a dedicated Nazi did
*not* help an officer to advance within the ranks of JG 26 'Schlageter'.

"As a professionally trained officer, he (Siegfried Sy) was a rarity in the
Gruppe, and hs advancement should have been rapid, but circumstances intervened.
For one thing, he was a Nazi party member, which was not looked on with favour
in the Second Gruppe...."
--Donald Caldwell (JG 26: Top Guns of the Luftwaffe, p. 372)

Here's another anecdote of historical interest:

"There was much to be learned from the old hands--how they attacked, how they
had gotten away. (Wilhelm) Hofmann gave this advice to his pilots: 'If you
ever have to bail out, remember that the Americans are known to shoot us in
our parachutes. Therefore, free-fall to about 200 metres; only that way can
you be sure of survival. I have seen one of my best friends torn to bits by
enemy cannon fire while still hanging in his chute.'"
--Donald Caldwell (JG 26: Top Guns of the Luftwaffe, p. 263)

Wilhelm Hofmann's statement about 'the Americans are known to shoot us in
our parachutes' has been corroborated by other Luftwaffe airmen and accepted
as true by some American military historians.

--Nick