Herybert Menzel
Herybert Menzel (August 10, 1906 – February 1945) was a German poet and writer who played a role in Nazi Germany. He was born in Obornik near the German‑Polish border and grew up in Tirschtiegel. He studied law briefly at the universities of Breslau and Berlin and then worked as a freelance writer in his hometown. His first poetry book appeared in 1926, Mond, Sonne und Stern und Ich. Kleine Lieder. He wrote about tensions between Germans and Poles and produced works like Grenzmärkische sagas (1929) and the novel Controversial Earth (1930), which touches on the German‑Polish conflict around 1918–19.
Before 1933 he joined the Nazi Party and the Sturmabteilung (SA), rising to SA‑Sturmbannführer by 1943. After the Nazis came to power, Menzel published propaganda poems and cantatas and contributed to Nazi publications and Hitler Youth materials. He was elected to the Reichstag in 1936 and served until 1938. In 1938 he joined the Bamberg Poets’ Circle.
Menzel served in the German army in France and was badly wounded in 1940. He left the army in 1941 and focused on writing, producing works with hostile attitudes toward Slavic peoples, such as Anders kehren wir wieder (1943). He gave propaganda talks in Norway (1941) and Bulgaria (1942). In 1945 he is believed to have been drafted into the Volkssturm and died in battle near his hometown during the Vistula–Oder offensive.
After the war, his mother destroyed his estate to avoid seizure, and his writings were banned in the Soviet zone and in East Germany. Some scholars view him as a Nazi apologist.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:35 (CET).