That’s it, the Professor is truly the King of Sass
The letter didn’t come from the Nazi party, but from the publishing house which had expressed an interest in the German translation of The Hobbit. Tolkien’s response really is a thing of beauty, though, so it deserves to be quoted in its entirety:
25 July 1938 20 Northmoor Road, Oxford
Dear Sirs,
Thank you for your letter. … I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject - which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.
Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearings whatsoever on the merits of my work or its suitability for publication, of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung.
I trust you will find this reply satisfactory, and remain yours faithfully
J.R.R. Tolkien.
(Letter 30)
The Hobbit wasn’t published in German until 1957.
This might just be the politest “fuck you” ever written.
W.h.a.t.
Not just “I wish I had Jewish ancestors, but I don’t,” but also “you do realize that’s not what ‘Aryan’ actually means, right,” and “you guys are making it pretty hard to be proud of my German heritage.”
Fact: JRR Tolkien wanted to be an honorary Jew.
More historical info: The publishing house was Rütten & Loening. The letter is quoted from The Letters of JRR Tolkien. Tolkien wrote another letter that sidestepped the question and left it up to his editor which one to send. Judging by the response I’m guessing the editor sent the strongly-worded version.
While the letter Tolkien received was probably not directly from the Nazi party, the publisher’s inquiry in 1938 is one example of the party’s legal control of the press. In 1936 the principal owner of Rütten & Loening, Wilhelm Ernst Oswalt, was required by the Reichsschrifttumskammer (Reich Literature Chamber) to sell the publishing house or close due to his Jewish ancestry. Under new ownership and overseen by the Nazi bureaucracy, the publisher ceased business with Jews. (see below for more on the Reichsschrifttumskammer)
Wilhelm Ernst Oswalt’s father had converted from Judaism to Protestantism but, according to the 1935 Nuremberg Race Laws, Oswalt was considered half-Jewish. In 1942, he reportedly forgot to wear the required discriminatory Jewish yellow star. He was transported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he ultimately died. His co-owner, Adolf Neumann, had fled to Norway and then Sweden and lived until 1950.
Here is Oswalt’s Stolperstein (stumbling stone commemorating the last residence of a victim of the Nazis), located outside his former home in Frankfurt.
The Reichsschrifttumskammer was tasked with administering the literary profession. That included censorship and forcing Jews, homosexuals, and “criminals” out of the industry. It was one of seven chambers under the auspices Reich Chamber of Culture (Reichskulturkammer), a branch of the Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (Reich Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda). That ministry was founded in 1933 and overseen by the infamous Joseph Goebbels. By 1938, when Tolkien received his letter from the publisher, Goebbels’ ministry already exercised control of the German press.
Me: I didn’t know about Tolkien’s clap back before but I am glad I learned about his manner of resistance. Background research for this post led me to learn that Tolkien was disgusted with the Nuremberg Laws and was friends with Jews. The more you know.
