When in 2005 I started to look for sci-fi novels from the Third Reich, there were not many documents on the internet, which seemed to bode well for the pioneering character of my project. Since then, things have changed and some may say I now publish this bibliography late. Be that as it may, I believe the list I made remains the most comprehensive so far.

Sources I relied on are:

1/ Online and paper essays, which dealt with only a few titles, and “who’s whos” on German literature.

2/ data mining from German libraries in Berlin, Heidelberg, and Köln. In Berlin (it was the city library, if I remember well), where they have some of the books on my list, for a good deal of them, however, they don’t know if the books are still available (!). On their digital catalogue they make the comment “prewar book, may have been destroyed during the war.” It refers to the Allied bombings on Berlin; the library must have been hit, and lost items. Since then, nobody asked for these books, so apparently the librarians don’t know if they’re still available. I didn’t stay long enough to ask for membership, so I couldn’t check if the books were available or not.

3/ data mining on ZVAB (Zentrales Verzeichnis Antiquarischer Bücher) and Abebooks’s websites.

4/ and last but not least, data mining from the catalogue of Versandantiquariat Hans-Jürgen Lange (,,wir sind zu allen Themen der Grenz- und Geheimwissenschaften sowie Utopie und Phantastik interessiert”), which I have been receiving since #4 (the latter issue being now #18). Herr Lange does tremendously good work at describing the content of the books in his catalogue.

The following bibliography is made of three parts.

(1)

Part one is the main part and deals with first editions of science fiction published during the Third Reich, that is, since 1933 in Germany and 1938 in Austria. If sci-fi short stories have been published in collections of miscellaneous stories, then it is quite possible they have escaped my attention. As to the definition of “science fiction,” I tried not to include fantasy when it was obvious that it wasn’t “science fiction,” but you’re probably aware that the demarcation line between the two is not always easily drawn. In fact, in one case (one of the books I have read from this list [see Hermann Barthel]), even though the book is dealt with in an essay on science fiction, I personally would have classified it as pure fantasy; as at least one scholar, the author of the essay in question, thought otherwise, I have left the item in the bibliography.

I said this is a comprehensive list but as at least one of the authors on it is a serial writer with overabundant output, in sci fi as well as fantasy and other genres [see Lok Myler], I invite you to visit Wkpd for a list of all his titles, of which only a selection is to be found here.

(2)

The second part is dedicated to sci-fi films from the Third Reich and contains four titles (plus a short film and a short animated cartoon). For good measure, I also included westerns from the Third Reich, to make sure you know that such a thing as westerns from the Third Reich exist. I made rather extensive research on German cinema and could find no more than these films – again, excluding fantasy works, like the well-known Münchhausen by Josef von Baky (1943).

The third part, which I present in no way as a comprehensive work, and only as a sketch, deals with three different things: A/ sci-fi works from German Nazis or supporters who wrote some sci-fi books, yet not during the Reich years but a little earlier or a little later; B/ sci-fi works from Fascist Italy and from Germany and Italy’s ally in the Antikomintern Pact, namely Japan, from about the same period; & C/ sci-fi works from pro-Nazi or pro-fascist writers outside these countries, that is, from writers whom we know were members in such organizations or expressed their support in any other way. These limits on the research are rather arbitrary and one may ask why not, for instance, writers and others who worked in fascist Italy and made science fiction later on, like Mario Bava, who, with films like Terrore nello spazio (1965), known in English as Planet of the Vampires, is a pioneer of Italian sci-fi cinema, and began as an assistant and cameraman at the Istituto Luce in the thirties… That’s a good point, thank you.

For all languages that I master, I provide an English translation of my own beside the original title (more precisely, after the date of publication or release), being a matter of fact that few of these books have ever been translated. For other languages, I give only the titles as I found them in English. I sometimes add my own comments, they’re to be found in [ ].

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SCI-FI LITERATURE

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ALEXANDER Arno, Das geheimnisvolle Gas: ,,Gas LM 387‘‘, 1933 (The mysterious LM 387 Gaz)

ARNOLDT Johannes, Vor Götterdämmerung. Phantastischer Roman aus nordische Frühzeit, 1934 (Before twilight of the gods: A fantasy novel about Nordic early times) [From a writer inspired by Hörbiger’s cosmological Welteislehre, World Ice Theory; with an afterword by “Welteislehrer” Georg Hinzpeter.]

BADE Wilfrid, Gloria über der Welt, 1937 (Gloria over the world)

BARTEL Hermann, Der weiße Elefant. Ein Atlantis-Roman, 1937 (The white elephant: An Atlantis novel)

BARTHEL Max, Im Land der sieben Krater, 1937 (In the land of the seven craters)

BEHM Bill, Anafur! Die Stadt der Verlorenen, 1938 (Anafur! City of the lost)

BERGMANN Ernst, Deutschland, das Bildungsland der Menscheit, 1933 (Germany, the country where the new mankind is shaped) [A visionary essay by the founder of the Deutsche Glaubensbewegung, German Faith Movement.]

BERGNER Bernd, Die Blitzfall am Monte Santo. Kriminalroman um eine Erfindung, Köln 1938 (Lightning falls on Monte Santo: A thriller about an invention)

BERNDT Maximilian, d.i. Bernd Engel, Der rote Pfeilring, 1933 (Red Pfeilring)

BERNHARDY Werner, eig. Werner Tummely, Sacara. Unter zehntausend Amazonen, 1934 (Sacara: Amidst ten thousand Amazons)

BIALKOWSKI Stanislau, Leuchtfeuer im Mond, 1934 (Signal lights on the moon); Krieg im All, 1935 (War in space); Die Macht des unsichtbaren Sterns, 1936 (Power of the invisible star); Der Radiumkrieg, 1937 (Radium war); Start ins Weltall, 1941 (Launched in space); Der Stratosphärenflieger, 1938 (Stratosphere aircraft)

BIERBOWSKI Heinz, Der Mann ohne Gesicht, 1938 (The man without a face); Der Welt ohne Schlaf, 1940 (The world with no sleep)

BOETTICHER Hans, Unterseeboot Ganymed, 1942 (Submarine Ganymed)

BRAUN Hans-Fried, Die Expedition der SENTA II, 1934 (Expedition of SENTA 2)

BRUGGER Wolfgang, Kampf um „EA 1“, 1936 (Battle for EA 1)

BRUHL Leo am, Lebendiges Licht, 1933 (Living light)

BRUNNGRABER Rudolf, Die Engel in Atlantis,1938 (The angels in Atlantis)

BÜRGEL Bruno Hans, Sterne über den Gassen, 1936 (Stars above alleys), Der Stern von Afrika. Ein phantastischer Roman aus dem Jahre 3000, 1937 (The star of Africa: A fantasy novel from year 3000)

BURMESTER Albert K. (various pseudos: Geo Barring, Axel Berger…); Panzerfort Nova Atlantis meutert, 1935 (Panzer-Fort Nova Atlantis mutinies); Erdball in Ketten, 1935 (Earth globe in chains); Der Damm von Amazonis. Zukunftsroman, 1936 (Dam of Amazonis); Die Stadt im Krater. Technischer Zukunfts-Roman, 1937 (City in the crater); Der Erde reißt, 1938 (The Earth rips); Die Sonne Sixa, 1938 (Sun Sixa)

CHOMTON Werner, Weltbrand von morgen, 1934 (Tomorrow’s world blaze)

CONTROL Adolf, Vor Weltraumfahrt und Planetenkolonisation erst vom äthronischen Lebensschlag zum werdenden Menschenschlag, Leipzig 1937 (With space travel and planet colonization, from aethronic twist of fate to man in becoming [Tentative translation of this obscure title with a neologism apparently formed on the Greek mythological name Aethra (Äthra), a princess who became a slave.])

CORRINTH Curth, Die unheimliche Wandlung des Alex Roscher, 1941 (Alex Roscher’s uncanny transformation)

DAUMANN Rudolf Heinrich, Dünn wie eine Eierschale. Ein utopistischer Roman, Berlin 1937 (Thin as an eggshell); Macht aus der Sonne, 1937 (Power from the sun); Das Ende des Goldes, 1938 (End of gold); Gefahr aus dem Weltall, 1939 (Danger from space); Patrouille gegen den Tod, 1939 (Patrol against death); Die Insel der tausend Wunder. Ein utopischer Roman, 1940 (The island of thousand wonders); Abenteuer mit der Venus, 1940 (Adventure with Venus); Protuberanzen, 1940 (Protuberances) [Daumann got Schreibverbot, that is, was forbidden to publish anything more, in 1943, for a reason I don’t know.]

DELMONT Joseph, pseudo of Karl Pick, Der Fels im Meer, Leipzig 1934 (The rock on the sea) / From before 1933: Die Stadt unter dem Meer, 1925 (City under the sea); Der Ritt auf fem Funken. Phantastischer Zukunftsroman (The ride on sparks), 1928

DOHM Batti, Stielauge der Urkrebs, 1933 (Popping-Eye the Trilobite) [Written by a geologist and owner of a rich scientific collection of trilobites influenced by Welteislehre.]

DOLEZAL Erich, Grenzen über uns, 1940 (Boundaries above us)

DOMINIK Hans, Der Befehl aus dem Dunkel, 1933 (Command from darkness); Der Wettflug der Nationen, 1933 (Competition flight of the nations); Das stählerne Geheimnis, 1934 (The iron mystery); Ein Stern fiel vom Himmel, 1934 (A star has fallen from the sky); Atomgewicht 500, 1935 (Atomic weight 500); Himmelskraft, 1937 (Sky power); Land aus Feuer und Wasser, 1939 (Land of fire and water); Lebensstrahlen, 1938 (Life rays), Treibstoff SR, 1939/40 (Fuel SR) [Hans Dominik is the major German sci-fi author of the period. He also wrote essays, such as Vistra, das weiße Gold Deutschlands, 1936 (Vistra, Germany’s white gold) on a super-light alloy.]

EICKERMANN Wilhelm Friedrich, Großmacht Saturn, 1938 (Arch-Power Saturn)

EIGK Claus, eig. Hartmut Bastian, Das Vermächtnis des Ingenieurs Eigk, 1943 (Engineer Eigk’s legacy)

ENSKAT Fritz, pseudo of Freder Catsen, Weltraumschiff Unimos. Ein technish-phantastischer Zukunftsroman, 1936 (Spaceship Unimo)

ERBER Richard, Welt ohne Tod, 1937 (World without death)

FEHR Frank, pseudo of Rassenforscher (racial anthropologist) Otto Hauser (not the paleontologist), also known as Otto Hauser-Wien, sometimes using the pseudonym Ferdinand Büttner, Das Blut, 1935 (The blood)

FICHTE Werner v., Der Spukflieger, 1940 (Ghost aircraft)

FLECHTNER Hans-Joachim, Front gegen Europa, 1935 (Front against Europe); Europa siegt…? 1937 (Europe wins?…)

FRIELING Heinrich, Begegnung mit Sauriern. Eine wunderbare Reise ans Kreidemeer, 1940 (Encounter with saurians: A wonderful travel to the Cretaceous Sea)

FUSCHLBERGER Hans, Der Flug in die Zukunft, 1937 (Flight into the future) [The author was a representant of the so-called „Odal“ movement.)

GERMAN Günther, d.i. Anton Mehl, Schatten der aufgehenden Sonne, 1935 (Shadows of the rising sun); Der rote Habicht, 1936 (The red hawk)

GRILLMAYER Georg, Kurt und Jörg erobern die Welt. Aus Gegenwart und Zukunft, 1943 (Kurt und Jörg conquer the world: From past and future)

GROSSER Reinhold Fritz Asaka Fu mobilisiert den Osten, 1940 (Asaka Fu mobilizes the East) [In 1925 Ferdinand Grautoff (pseudos: Parabellum, Seestern…) wrote a Fu der Gebieter der Welt, Fu Master of the World, a Zukunfstkriegsroman depicting Germany’s alliance with Japan and China. Same writer under different names – same character?]

GÜNTER Herbert, Magisches Schicksal, 1942 (Magic fate)

GURK Paul, Tuzub 37. Der Mythos von der grauen Menscheit oder von der Zahl 1, 1935 (Tuzub 37: The myth of grey mankind or of Number 1) [The author had some trouble publishing in the Third Reich – some of his books were forbidden. He was an „Odal” follower.)

HAUSWIRTH Werner, Republik Europa. Eine Vision, 1937 (Republic Europe: A vision)

HEICHEN Walter, Jenseits der Stratosphäre, 1937 (Beyond the stratosphere); Luftschiff im Weltenraum, 1941 (Spacecraft in cosmos); Der U-Boot-Pirat, 1941 (Pirate submarine)

HERMANN Franz, Die Erde in Flammen. Ein Zukunftsroman aus den Jahren 1937/38, 1933 (World ablaze: An anticipation novel of the years 1937-38)

HOFF Harry, d.i. Hans Heidsieck, Das stählerne Antlitz. Phantastischer Kriminalroman, 1938 (The iron face: A fantasy thriller)

HUBER Armin Otto, Das Paradies im Eis, 1937 (Icebound paradise)

HUNDEIKER Egon, Alumnit, 1934

JÜNGER Ernst, Auf den Marmor-Klippen, 1939 (On the marble cliffs)

KÄMPFER Adolf, Das erste Jahre, 1941 (The first year)

KARLIN Alma Maximiliane, Isolanthis. Roman vom Sinken eines Erdteils, Leipzig 1936, Atlantis-Roman (Isolanthis: The drowning of a continent)

KÄRRNER Dietrich, d.i. Artur Mahraun, Verschollen im Weltall, 1938 (Lost in space); Gösta Ring entdeckt Värnimöki, 1938 (Gösta Ring discovers Värnimöki); Per Krag and sein Stern, 1939 (Per Krag and his star) [Mahraun was the founder of the Jungdeutsche Orden.]

KEGEL Walther, Rakete 33, 1934 (Rocket 33); Tiefsee. Tauchtank 9200 Meter unterm Meeresspiegel, 1934 mit Hans Heuer (Deep Sea: Water-ballast 9.200 meters under sea level); Tod im Strahlenring, 1937 (Death in the beam-circle); Dämme im Mittelmeer, 1937 (Dams in the Mediterranean); Feuer über dem Atlantik, 1939 (Fire over the Atlantic)

KIRCHHOFER Fritz, Piraten im Äther, 1934 (Pirates in the ether)

KIß Edmund, [Nicknamed the “Poet of Atlantis,” his Atlantis and Welteislehre-tetralogy is well-known. A member of the SS-Ahnenerbe involved in several archaeological missions – South America (Tiahuanacu), Africa (Abyssinia) –, his writings inspired Wilhelm Landig’s postwar sci-fi novels about German flying saucers and UFO bases in Antarctic (Neuschwabenland).] Tetralogy: Die gläserne Meer, 1930 (The sea of glass); Die letzte Königin von Atlantis, 1931 (Last queen of Atlantis); Frühling in Atlantis, 1933 (Spring in Atlantis); Die Singschwane aus Thule, 1937 (Singing swans of Thule)

KLOTZ Karl, Die letzte Schlacht am Birkenbaum. Der Schicksalsroman der Menschheit, Düsseldorf 1933 (Last battle at the birch tree: Fate novel of mankind)

KOLBENHEYER Erwin Guido, Klaas Y der grosse Neutrale, 1936 (Klaas Y the Big Neutral)

KOSSAK-RAYTENAU Karl L., Lermontow vernichtet die Welt, 1936 (Lermontow destroys the world); Die Welt am laufenden Band, 1937 (The Earth on the conveying belt); Der Stoß in den Himmel, 1940 (Thrust into the sky)

KUBIE Wilhelm, Professor Frauenschuhs zweite Erdenfahrt, 1939 (Professor Frauenschuh’s second Earth trip)

KÜCHLER Luise, Wider Meer und Menschen, 1934 (Against sea and men)

KÜHLMAN Richard von, Saturnische Sendung, 1935 (Transmission from Saturn)

KUNZE Karl H., …und abermals nach Jahrhunderten… Kämpfe um Kräfte. Technisch-Phantastischer Roman, 1934 (Once again after centuries… Fights for forces)

LAAR Clemens, eig. Eberhard Koebsell, U-31. Das Schiff aus dem Jenseits, Verlag der Wehrmacht 1937 (U31 the boat from beyond); Das Geister U-Boot, 1937 (Ghost submarine)

LAMBERTY Paul, Die Sage vom Weltreich der Arier, 1937 (Epic of the Aryans’ world empire) [A cosmic essay, whose author is influenced by both Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels’s ariosophy and Hörbiger’s Welteislehre: the great periods of world history coincide with ebbs and flows of Nordic blood, these ‘tide’ cycles being of cosmic origin.]

LANGHANSKI Viktor, Urkraft. Der Roman einer großen Idee, 1937 (First power: The novel of a great idea)

LERCH Hans, Sintflut über Europa. Der Roman einer Erdkatastrophe, 1933 (Deluge over Europe: The novel of a world catastrophe); Ein Volk wandert ins Meer, 1934 (A people wanders on the seas); Der rasende Tod, 1935 (Raging death)

LERNET-HOLENIA Alexander, Die neue Atlantis, 1935 (poetry) (The new Atlantis) [Lernet-Holenia was a prolific scriptwriter for the movie industry; he wrote Die große Liebe, directed by Rolf Hansen, the biggest film success in the Third Reich.)

LINDRODER Wolfgang, Die Brücke des Schicksals, 1936 (The bridge of fate)

LORENZ Helmut, Das Echo von Meganta. Nie wieder Friede? 1935 (The echo from Meganta: No more peace ever?)

LÖWENTHAL Josef Frh. v., Die unsterbliche Stadt. Eine utopische Erzählung aus dem Jahre 2000, 1936 (The immortal city: A utopian tale from year 2000)

MANN Alfred Theodor, Pax Mundi (Die Weltfriede).Volkstümlicher Roman, 1934 (World peace)

MARSCHALL Hanns, d.i. Johannes Ickes, Der Mann, den die Welt nich sah, 1935 (The man whom the world was not seeing)

MATTHIEßEN Wilhelm, Karl Mays Wunderbare Himmelfahrt, 1942 (Karl May’s wonderful voyage to the sky)

MASOVIUS Werner, eig. W. Mialki, Gefesselte Stürme. Roman um Energiequellen der Zukunft, 1942 (Chained streams: A novel on energy sources of the future); Neotherm C, 1943

MAY K. Eduard, Der Plan des Ingenieurs Dekker, 1938 (Engineer Dekker’s plan)

MAYER Theodor Heinrich, Ärzte, 1936 (Doctors); Vom Gedanken zur Tat. Novellen aus der Geschichte werktätigen Schaffens, 1941 darunter die utopische Novelle „Weltkongreß der Techniker, Wien 1960“ (From thought to action: Short stories from the history of striving; among which the utopian story „Technicians World Congress Wien 1960“)

MEIXNER Fritz, Bevor es zu spät ist, 1940 (Before it is too late); Wettlauf mit der Zeit, 1942 (The race against time)

MUNGO, Die Marsbewohner sind da! Politische Satiren, 1939 (The Martians are here! Political satires)

MYLER Lok, eig. Paul Alfred Müller, Sun Koh, der Erbe von Atlantis (Sun Koh, heir of Atlantis) [a fantasy series 1933-36]; Jan Mayen, der Herr der Atomkraft (Jan Mayen, master of the atomic power) [a sci-fi series 1936-38) Das hypnotisierte Unterseeboot, 1933 (The hypnotised submarine); Ein Mann fällt vom himmel, 1933 (A man falls from the sky); Der fressende Kreis, 1937 (The eating circle); Atlantis steigt auf, 1938 (Atlantis rises); Blaue Kugel, 1938 (Blue orb); Die Tarnkappe, 1938 (The invisibility cloak); Die Seifenblasen des Herrn Vandenberg, 1939 (Mr Vandenberg’s soap bubbles); Trommeln der Hölle, 1939 (Hell’s ruins); 40.000 Meter unter dem Meeresspiegel, 1939 (40.000 meters under sea level); Sonnenmotor Nr. 1. Roman eines phantastischen Abenteuers, 1940 (Sun-Engine Nb.1) [Paul Alfred Müller, whose post-war pseudonym was Freder van Holk, was in the Third Reich a proponent of the Hohlwelt-Theorie, Hollow Earth theory (according to which we would be living on the concave side of ‘the Earth’): see his essay Und sie bewegt sie doch nicht! 1939 (And yet it moves not!)]

NAUNDORF Gerhard, Stern in not, 1938 (Star in emergency); Welt ohne Sonne, 1939 (World with no sun)

OHLIGER Ernst, Bomben auf Kohlenstadt. Ein Roman, der Wirklichkeit sein könnte, 1935 (Bombs upon the coal city: A novel that could be reality)

OPRÉE Arthur, Der Unirdische, 1937 (The unworldly); Unter glühender Doppelsonne, 1938 (Under glowing double sun)

OSTEN Ludwig, eig. Fritz Mardicke, Die große Flut, 1934 (The great Deluge)

PAATZ Herbert, Doktor Kleinermacher führt Dieter in die Welt, 1938 (Dr Shrinker introduces Dieter to the world); Doktor Kleinermachers Erlebnisse zwischen Keller und Dach, 1939 (Dr Shrinker’s experiences between cellar and roof); Abenteuer in Doktor Kleinermachers Garten, 1940 (Adventures in Dr Shrinker’s garden) [An early, Teutonic version of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids in three installments.]

PAETZOLD Kurt, Der Apparat des Dr. Junghans. Kriminalroman, 1936. Kriminalroman mit phantastischen Elementen (Dr Junghans’s apparatus)

PAGILL (pseudo for Paul Gille), Gletscher über Europa, 1940 (Glaciers over Europe)

PEIL Fritz, Der Kupferdoktor, 1939 (The copper doctor)

PELZ V. FELINAU Josef, Dämon Mensch. Der Roman eines Weltzeitalters, 1940 (Demon man: Novel of an era)

REIMANN Hans, under pseudo Andreas Zeltner, Des Teufels Phiole, 1939 (The Devil’s flask)

REINHART E.W.A, Das kalte Licht. Ein Kriminalroman aus der Lüneberg Heide, 1939 frühe Erwähnung eines „Robot“ (The cold light)

REISSE Kurt, Der Yokh der Elmo. Nach dem Bordbuch des Planetenkreuzers RAK I, 1936 (Der Yokh of Elmo: After the logbook of planet cruiser RAK 1)

REITTER Nikolaus, Planetenflieger. Ein astronomischer Abenteuer, 1935 (Planetary flight)

RENKER Gustav, Ein Schiff steuert in die Urzeit. Ein Tiefsee-Roman, 1934 (A boat sails to prehistory: A deep sea novel); Der Stadt in der Wüste, 1938 (City in the desert); Das Geheimnis des Simon Hard, 1943 (Simon Hard’s mystery)

RHEIN Eduard, Wunder der Wellen. Rundfunk und Fernsehen dargestellt für jedermann, 1935 (Wonder of the waves: radio and television for dummies) [in sci-fi mode due to anticipations of future developments: “chronovision”, time machine…]

RICHTER Georg, Reichstag 1975, 1933 (Parliament 1975)

ROBER Karl, d.i. Kurt Martin, Die Experimente des Dr. Wan-schi-tin, 1936 (Dr Wan-schi-tin’s experiments)

ROHA Franz, Stiller Ozean – Insel X, 1939 (Pacific Ocean – Island X)

ROCK C. V. (real name: Kurt Walter Röcken), Experiment im All, 1936 (Experiment in space); Die glühenden Türme, 1936 (The glowing towers); Der Flug in die Erde, 1937 (Flight into the Earth) [a Hollow-Earth theory book?]; Rückkehr aus dem All, 1939 (Back from space)

ROHDEN Ernst, d.i. Ernst Willi Ebel, Der Kaiser von Südafrika, 1936 (The emperor of South Africa)

ROLAND Siegfried, Suggestion. Kriminalroman, 1934

ROSSMANN Hermann, Flügel 1934 (Wings)

RUDOLPH Axel, Die Eisfrau, Berlin 1933 (Ice woman); Gebt uns ehrliche Waffen! 1933, Spionageroman um die Erfindung eines neuartigen Gases (Give us noble weapons!)

SCHICHT Eleonore, Sonnenfünkchens Abenteuer. Ein Buch für Kinder, 1943 Mischung aus Märchen und SF (Sun-spark’s adventure)

SCHMID Edmund, Im Jahre 2000 im Dritten Reich, 1933 (The Third Reich in Year 2000) [They say the book was forbidden because it was too racialist!]

SCHMIDT Wilhelm Der kleine Wunderbaum, 1941 (The little wonder-tree)

SCHUBERT August, Weltenwende durch Gas, 1939 (World revolutions through gas)

SEIDEL Willy, Die Nacht der Würde, München 1941 (enthält: Die Nacht der Würde. Der neue Gott. Utku) (Night of dignity)

SEXAU Richard, Denkmal einer Freundschaft. Das geheimnis der verhüllten Hände und andere Erzählungen, 1934 Sammlung aus phantastischen und utopischen Texten (Monument to a friendship: The mystery of the gloved hand and other tales)

SIEG Paul Eugen, Detatom, 1936; Südöstlich Venus, 1940 (South-west of Venus)

SIXTUS Albert, Das Geheimnis des Riesenhügels, 1941 Jugend-SF-Roman (Mystery of Giants’ Hill)

SPATZ Albert, Die Herren des Feuers. Ein Roman im Innern der Erde, 1936 (Lords of the fire: A novel inside the Earth)

STRATZ Heinz, Der Regenmacher von Turkestan, 1938 (Rainmaker of Turkestan)

STROBL Karl Hans, Feuer im Nachbarhaus. Roman von übermorgen, 1938 (Fire in the neighboring house: A novel of the day after tomorrow); auch Od. Die Entdeckung des magischen Menschen, 1930 (Od, discovery of the magic man) [Strobl was, with Alfons von Czibulka, the publisher of Der Orchideengarten, the world’s first literary journal entirely devoted to fantasy literature: „Der Orchideengarten (1919-1921), die de facto noch vor den Magazinen in den USA die erste rein der phantastischen Literatur gewidmete Zeitschrift der Welt war.“ In the Third Reich he become „Landesleiter Wien der Reichsschriftumskammer.“]

TAESCHNER Titus, Eurofrika. Die Macht der Zukunft 1938 (Eurafrica, the power of the future) [about Germany colonizing Africa with the help of a jumbo dam on the Mediterranean: (real) Atlantropa Project]; Der Mars greift ein, 1935 (Mars steps in)

TROPPENZ Walter, pseudo: Bruno S. Wiek, Phantasten. Roman einer naher Zukunft, 1935 (Phantasts, novel of a near future); LPR 1600 – Das Geheimniss mikrokurzer Wellen, 1938 (Mystery of the microwaves); Der Schlüssel des Meeres, 1939 (Key of the sea); Ave-Brunonia. Die Stadt in der Erde, 1940 (City inside the Earth)

ULLER T., Chefingenieur Hansen, 1944 (Chief engineer Hansen)

VAN WEHRT Rudolf (eig. Hans Rudolf Berndorf, Freikorpskämpfer und SS-Standarte), Der Libellen-Krieg, 1936 (War of the dragonflies); Das Mädchen aus den Jenseits, 1943 (Maiden from beyond); Ein Wal – gespenstisch anzusehen! Ein utopischer Roman, 1943 (A whale – ghostly)

VIVIAN Karl, Dunkle Gewalten, 1933 Kriminalroman, in dem Menschen mittels einer Hypnose-Maschine manipuliert werden (Dark powers)

WEHNER Joseph Magnus, Die Wallfahrt nach Paris. Eine patriotische Phantasie, 1933, „völkische Utopie“ (Pilgrimage to Paris: A patriotic fantasy)

WIDEMANN Nora, Das gläserne Unterseeboot, 1940 (The glass submarine); Von China bis Kiel im gläsernen Unterseeboot, 1941 (From China to Kiel in the glass submarine)

WIECHERT Alfred, Laore. Ein Erlöserschicksal, 1934 (Laore, the fate of a savior)

WITTE Viktor, Bharpami, das Tal der lebenden Toten, 1936 (Bharpami, the valley of the living dead)

WITTKOP Justus Franz, Gullivers letzte Reise. Die Insel der Vergänglichkeit, 1941 (Gulliver’s last Travel: The island of transitoriness)

ZIESE Maxim, Der Film des Dr. Wharton. Roman einer Weltkatastrophe, 1938 (Dr Wharton’s film: Novel of a world catastrophe)

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SCI-FI MOVIES

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Science fiction was also handled by filmmakers. Harry PIEL, a major film director in the Third Reich, made two “humor” sci-fi films: Ein Unsichtbarer geht durch die Stadt, 1933 (Invisible man in town), and Die Welt ohne Mask, 1934 (World without a mask).

BERNHARDT Kurt, Der Tunnel, 1933

HARTL Karl, Gold, 1934

KUTTER Anton, Weltraumschiff I startet, 1940 (Spacecraft 1 starts) [short film, from the material of two long-film sci-fi projects that were cancelled due to the war, Zwischenfall im Weltraum (Incident in space) under Robert Adolf Stemmle’s direction, and Weltraumschiff 18 (Spacecraft 18) under Eduard von Borsody’s]

PEROFF Paul, or Pavel Perov, Ein astronomisches Abenteuer, 1936 (An astronomical adventure) [short animated cartoon by Russian émigré Peroff who settled in Germany from 1929 to 1943 and created there animation Atelier Peroff]

On the topic of sci fi, the name of Thea von HARBOU should be mentioned. She was film director Fritz Lang’s wife, known for SF films like Metropolis and The Woman in the Moon. Thea von Harbou was Lang‘s script and wrote the scripts of all his Weimar films. Moreover, Metropolis and Frau im Mond are novels written and published by her, in 1926 and 1928 respectively, as she was a novelist as well. She divorced Fritz Lang, when he was about to leave Germany, and embraced National-Socialism instead. She kept writing during the Third Reich, although not science fiction. Therefore, she belongs with other writers in III-A (below).

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While I am dealing with cinema, I draw the attention of Western fans on the fact that even this genre was handled in German films of the time, as the following titles show (surely among the first examples of sauerkraut westerns):

TRENKER Luis Der Kaiser von Kalifornien, 1935-36 (The emperor of California)

VERHOEVEN Paul Gold in New Frisco, 1939

WASCHNECK Erich Frauen für Golden Hill, 1939 (Women for Golden Hill)

To which filmography may be added what is doubtless one of the first spaghetti westerns, Una donna dell’ovest, 1942 (A lady of the West), with French legend actor Michel Simon, by German director Carl KOCH, who directed two films in fascist Italy, this one included.

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„NEW ORDER“ SCI FI

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A/ Nazi or Nazi-supporting writers whose sci-fi works were published before or after Third Reich years

BALL Kurt Erwarth, Nsdap and collaborator of Theodor Fritsch’s Der Hammer, wrote several sci-fi novels with Lothar Weise in the DDR.

BETSCH Roland, Leiter des Verbands Westmark der Organisation Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur (Alfred Rosenberg), Das Experiment des Dr Tintelott, 1931 (Dr Tintelott’s experiment)

BOCHOW Walter, V-Mann (liaison agent) for the SD (Sicherheitsdienst) of the SS, Hansgeorg ererbt ein Wunder, 1931 (Hansgeorg inherits a marvel)

COLERUS Egmont, Austrian, Nsdap, Antarktis, 1920 (Antarctica); Der dritte Weg, 1921 (The third way); Die neue Rasse, 1928 (The new race)

FREKSA Friedrich, Druso oder: Die gestohlene Menschenwelt, 1931 (Druso or the stolen world of man) is a sci-fi novel, while his biography of Boer president Paul Kruger, Ohm Krüger. Sein Leben – ein Kampf gegen England, 1941 (Kruger, his life, a fight against England), published during the war, served German war propaganda (a film was made of it the same year by director Hans Steinhoff).

HANSTEIN Otfried v., his writings from the Third Reich were put on DDR’s blacklist of undesirable literature (List der auszusondernden Literatur), which indicates National-Socialist tendencies, Der Telefunken-Teufel, 1924 (Tele-sparks devil); Elektropolis. Die Stadt der technischen Wunder. Ein Zukunftsroman, 1928 (Elektropolis, city of technical marvels); Mond-Rak 1. Ein Fahrt ins Weltall, 1929 (Moon-Rak 1, a travel in space); Nova Terra, 1930

HARBOU Thea v., Nsdap, Metropolis, 1926; Frau im Mond, 1928 [See Sci-Fi Movies]

HARDER Hermann, Nsdap, Die versunkene Stadt. Ein Roman aus der kommende Urzeit, 1932 (The sunken city: A novel about the prehistory to come)

HEYCK Hans, Nsdap, Deutschland ohne Deutsche. Ein Roman von übermorgen, 1929 (Germany without Germans: A novel of the day after tomorrow)

LAFFERT Karl-August v., Nsdap and SS, Untergang der Luna, 1921 (End of the moon); Feuer am Nordpol, 1924 (Fire on the north pole); Fanale am Himmel (Signals in the sky), 1925; Flammen aus dem Weltenraum, 1927 (Flames from space)

PÜRINGER Rudolf, Austrian, among the contributors of Monument Dichterstein Offenhausen, Hans Trapps zweites Leben, 1937 (Hans Trapps’s second life)

WEBER Fritz, Austrian, collaborator and ghost writer of Luis Trenker, Nsdap and SA, Die Toten der Svea, 1930 (The Dead of Svea)

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B/ Italy and Japan (sketch)

Fascist Italy

ALVARO Corrado, L’uomo è forte, 1938 (Man is strong)

BENEDETTO Enzo, Viaggio al pianeta Marte, 1930 (Travel to the planet Mars)

BERTINETTI Giovanni, Ipergenio il disinventore, 1925 (Hypergenius the desinventor); Il gigante dell’apocalisse, 1930 (Giant of the apocalypse); Il rotoplano “3bis”, 1930 (Rotoplane 3bis) ; Fumettino – Storia del monello di fumo, 1938 (Fumettino: Story of the smoke brat)

BUZZI Paolo, Jungla di Barba Blu, 1933 (Bluebeard’s jungle) [A short story. In 1915 Buzzi had written the Futurist novel L’ellisse e la spirale. Film + parole in libertà (The propeller and the spiral. Film + words in freedom) with sci-fi elements in it.]

CHIOSSO Renzo, I navigatori del cielo, 1925 (Pilots through the sky); La città sottomarina, 1940 (Underwater city)

CIANCIMINO Calogero, Il prosciugamento del Mediterraneo, 1931 with Luigi Motta (The drying-up of the Mediterranean); La nave senza nome, 1932 (The ship without name); Come si fermò la Terra, 1932 (How the Earth stopped); Il mistero della sfinge gialla, 1935 (Mystery of the yellow sphinx) [inspired by Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu series, with sci-fi elements]; Le bare di granito, 1935 (The granite coffins); Il corsaro dell’aria, 1935 (Corsair of the air)

CICOGNA Giorgio, I ciechi e le stelle, 1931 (The blind and the stars) [a collection of sci-fi short stories]

COSSIO Carlo, La macchina del tempo, 1937 (Time machine) [an animated cartoon after H.G.Wells’s story]

DELLA CASA Nino, Domani ameremo così, 1924 (Tomorrow we will love that way)

DE PALMAS Mauro, La donna senza sesso, 1926 (The woman without sex)

FELISARI Dora, Materia solare, 1934 con copertina di Fortunato Depero (Solar matter)

FILLIA (Luigi Colombo), La morte della donna, 1925 (Death of woman)

FRATTINI Angelo, La donna su misura, 1926 (The tailored woman)

KHAN Ciro, Gli astronauti del polline, 1931 (Astronauts of the pollen); L’uomo di fil di ferro, 1932 (Iron-wire man)

LO DUCA Giuseppe, La sfera di platino, 1927 (The platinum sphere, preface by F.T. Marinetti)

MAGGI Luigi, La bambola vivente, 1924 (The living doll [a gynoid]) [45 minutes motion picture]

MOTTA Luigi, Il sommergibile fiammeggiante, 1924 (The flaming submarine); I giganti dell’infinito, 1934 (Giants of infinity); La battaglia dei ciclopi, 1935 (Battle of the cyclops); Il covo dei predoni, 1935 (Lair of the marauders) [see also Calogero Ciancimino for one book written together]

PAPINI Giovanni, Gog, 1931

PARSI-BASTOGI Carla, La leggenda del mare, 1922 (Legend of the sea); Estrema umanità, 1922 (Last mankind)

PEDROCCHI Federico, Virus, il mago della foresta morta, 1939-40 (Virus, magus of the dead forest) [a comic-book series, designers: first Walter Molino, then Antonio Canale]; Saturno contro la Terra, 1936-46 (Saturn against the Earth) [comic-book series, designer: Giovanni Scolari]

PELLACANI Ada Maria, Il sogno di un pazzo, 1940 (A madman’s dream)

PRANDI Eugenio, Il sentiero delle ombre, 1933 (Path of the shadows); Il cimitero die giganti (Cemetery of the giants)

REISOLI Gustavo, La disfatta dei mostri, 1940 (Defeat of the monsters) [Zukunftskriegsroman]

SCERBANENCO Giorgio, Il paese senza cielo, 1939 (Land with no sky); Fine del mondo, 1942 (End of the world)

SCATASTA Gino, Il quarto evo (2001-2032), 1939 (The fourth era)

SILVESTRI Armando, La meravigliosa avventura, 1927 (The wonderful adventure); Il signore della folgore, 1941 (The lightning master)

SIMONI Gastone, La casa nel cielo, 1928 (House in the sky), La barriera invisibile, 1929 (The invisible fence), L’isola del Gran Tabù, 1931 (Island of the Great Taboo), Il richiamo dal fondo, 1931 (Call from the deep), L’ultimo degli Atlantidi, 1932 (Last of the Atlanteans), La prigioniera dell’abisso, 1932 (Prisoner of the abyss), Il re del mistero, 1934 (King of mystery)

SOLDATI Mario, La verità sul caso Motta, 1937 (The truth on case Motta)

STOCCO Guglielmo, Il riformatore del mondo, 1927 (Reformer of the world)

TALARICO Elio, Il morbo di Talarico, 1929 (Talarico’s disease) [a play based on the discovery of the germ of love] 

VASARI Ruggero, L’angoscia delle macchine, 1925 (Angst of the machines); Raun, 1932 [these titles are two plays]

VISCARDINI Mario, Ciclo di Ardo l’Entusiasta (Cycle of Ardo the Enthusiast [a trilogy]): La casa del genere umano, 1927 (House of the human species); La piramide capovolta, 1932 (The upside-down pyramid); La vita senza cielo, 1933 (Life without sky)

YAMBO, that is, Enrico Novelli, L’uovo di pterodattilo o L’allevatore di dinosauri, 1926 (The pterodactyl egg, or The breeder of dinosaurs); Viaggi e avventure attraverso el tempo e lo spazio, 1930 (Travels and adventures through time and space); Gli uomini verde, 1935 (Green men) [a comic book]

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Dai Nippon

SAKAMOTO Gajo, mangaka, creator in 1934 of the robot character Tanku Tankuro [Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar: American influences on Japanese sci fi, like that of Star Wars on early Japanese space-opera films and series such as Message from Space, are often stressed while we never hear of the reverse, and yet Darth Vader is said by some specialists to bear a resemblance to the villain in Tanku Tankuro manga, Kuro-Kabuto or “Black Hat” – the manga might be a secret, unacknowledged influence.]

SUZUKI Ichiro, author of Ôgon Batto superhero serial cartoon (since 1930, that is, eight years before Superman was created in the U.S.) (designer: Takeo Nagamatsu)

UNNO Jûza, The case of the mysterious death in the electric bath, 1928; The demon of vibration, 1931; The music bath at 18:00 hours, 1937; Mars Corps, 1940; Patent for a multi-armed man, 1941; Miracle of the dawdling bullet, 1941; Conjugated ricochet, 1944 [among other titles from this prolific pioneer of Japanese sci fi]

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C/ Nazi-supporting sci-fi writers from outside Germany (sketch)

BARJAVEL René, France, published his sci-fi novels Ravage, 1943, and Le Voyageur imprudent (The uncautious traveller), same year, in the collaborationist journal Je Suis Partout, and was blacklisted after the war.

BURDECKI Feliks, Poland, sci-fi writer who collaborated with pro-Nazi Polish journals and was condemned to prison for life after the war, later lived in South Africa: Perkuna’s fire hand, 1934; Rocket to Mercury, 1934; Safety TV, 1936; Fight for the atom 1938.

D’ESPIE Adolphe, pseudonym: Jean de La Hire, France, prolific pulp writer, member of the collaborationist party RNP (Rassemblement national populaire) founded by Marcel Déat, creator of superhero Le Nyctalope.

GHILINI Hector, France, editor-in-chief of collaborationist journal L’Appel, blacklisted after the war, author of various sci-fi novels before, during, and after the war, such as Selskar Fils de la Bête, 1943 (Selskar son of the beast) and La Troisième Guerre mondiale durera six heures, 1950 (The Third World War will last 6 hours).

GUDMUNSSON Kristmann, Iceland, wrote in Icelandic and Norwegian, including sci fi, collaborated in Mjölnir, periodical of the Flokkur þjóðernissinna (Nationalist Party, inspired by National-Socialism and using the Swastika as emblem).

HARTLEY Kelver, Australia, professor of French language at Sydney University in the fifties, he had converted to fascism while in Paris in the thirties and took part in the right-wing antiparliamentary riots in the capital of France; author of various sci-fi stories. (Although he adhered to a Ligue or to Ligue ideology, that does not make him a Nazi supporter eo ipso, as French right-wingers are usually hostile to everything German, but you get my point, I think.)

LÖNNERSTRAND Sture, Sweden, fantasy and sci-fi writer, father of superheroine Dotty Virvelvind (Dotty Whirlwind) appearing in a dozen short stories and serialized in cartoons 1944-45 (designers: Lennart Elf and Björn Karlström). Lönnerstrand was a member of pro-Nazi party Svensk Opposition founded by Per Engdahl (see tobiashubinette.se: Swedish scholar Tobias Hubinette has posted on his website the membership lists of all major Swedish Fascist parties of the thirties and forties).

MEYN Niels, Denmark, prolific writer of pulp fiction, including sci fi, under various pseudonyms. Member of DNSPA (Danmarks Nationalsocialistiske Arbejderparti).