Lesefestival antifaschistische Literatur: Meisterwerke der NS-Satire und was sie uns lehren. Wolfgang M. Schmitt im Gespräch mit Jan Drees und Maximilian Mengeringhaus

When political reality turns into grotesque cruelty and right-wing figures whisper of fate and profundity, laughter becomes an act of resistance. Literary satire always flourishes when times are dark. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that during the Nazi era, many writers turned to satire as a means of analyzing the situation. Some of these texts are hardly known anymore, such as Otto M. Knab’s *Kleinstadt unterm Hakenkreuz* (1934) or even Walter Mehring’s *Die Nacht des Tyrannen* (1937). Other satires, however, continue to delight audiences, are of high literary quality, and are also available in new editions on the book market. This discussion focuses on Klaus Mann’s *Mephisto. A Novel of a Career” (1936), Bertolt Brecht’s play “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui” (1941), and “The Third Walpurgis Night” (1933) by the satirist Karl Kraus. The discussion will look not only to the past but also to the present. What role can literary satire play in the face of the omnipresent shift to the right? Is our laughter more fatalistic or revolutionary?