Friedrich Kellner (1885-1970) was a judicial inspector from Laubach who in the period between 1939 and 1945 kept a diary to document and critically comment on the development of policies and propaganda during the National Socialist dictatorship.
The Arbeitsstelle Holocaustliteratur edited this outstanding historical source in cooperation with Prof. Robert Scott Kellner (Collegestation, Texas) and Prof. Jörg Riecke (University of Heidelberg) between 2005 and 2011. It was published in two volumes by Wallstein Verlag at the end of July 2011.
Friedrich Kellner was a social democrat whose attitude towards the NS-regime right from the beginning ranged from firm rejection to revulsion. Since 1933 he worked as a judicial inspector in the town of Laubach, northern Hesse, and observed intensively and with great distrust the politics of the political rulers. Since the beginning of the war, he kept a diary. Initially, he particularly recorded his fellow citizens’ attitudes and reactions to the recent political changes. Eventually, he began to focus on the documentation of the propaganda, which he critically scrutinized.
In his diaries Friedrich Kellner showed how the careful and vigilant monitoring of the official propaganda, as well as a critical review of the official rhetoric, could have enabled his contemporaries to identify the true character of the dictatorship.
He read the media attentively and glued numerous newspaper articles into his diary along with simple yet direct commentary.
Documenting the effects of the often easily intelligible propaganda on his fellow citizens was one of Kellner’s main concerns. Furthermore, the diaries reveal how much there was to know even then about the central mass crimes of the regime. Kellner understood the hidden meanings in the media and connected them with other information and local incidents to gain a broader insight.
With the edition a source is made public, which is significant for the research and understanding of the history of the NS-dictatorship and its ideology of the so-called ‘Volksgemeinschaft’. The knowledge of the NS State and its propaganda, their local effects and manifestations, including the limits and possibilities of critical and oppositional behavior towards the regime will thus be broadened and differentiated.
Friedrich Kellner: “Vernebelt, verdunkelt sind alle Hirne”. Tagebücher 1939-1945. (2 volumes) Edited by Sascha Feuchert, Robert Martin Scott Kellner, Erwin Leibfried, Jörg Riecke and Markus Roth. In cooperation with Elisabeth Turvold and Diana Nusko as well as Nassrin Sadeghi and Birgit M. Körner. Göttingen: Wallstein 2011 (the fourth edition has been published).
Körner, Birgit Maria u. Nassrin Sadeghi: "'Ich konnte die Nazis damals nicht in der Gegenwart bekämpfen. Also entschloss ich mich, sie in der Zukunft zu bekämpfen.' Die Edition der Tagebücher Friedrich Kellners an der Arbeitsstelle Holocaustliteratur Gießen". In: Tribüne. Zeitschrift zum Verständnis des Judentums, 49 (2010). Heft 193, S. 136-143.
Roth, Markus: Chronist der Verblendung. Friedrich Kellners Tagebücher 1938/39 bis 1945. Bonn 2009 (= Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Reihe Gesprächskreis. Heft 83). PDF-Download
Nusko, Diana: Die Tagebücher des Friedrich Kellner – Transkription & Analyse. Unveröffentlichte Magisterarbeit. Gießen 2007.
Medenwald, Nikola u. Diana Nusko: „Jeder Mensch hat die Wahl zwischen Gut und Böse. Wähle das Gute und stelle Dich gegen die, die das Böse wählen.“ Schreiben als Widerstand – die Tagebücher Friedrich Kellners. In: Sascha Feuchert/Joanna Jabłkowska/Jörg Riecke (Hg.): Literatur und Geschichte. Festschrift für Erwin Leibfried. Frankfurt am Main u.a. 2007. S. 127-135.
Löw, Andrea: „Ein Blick in die Zeitungen zeigt uns das Wesen der Propaganda“. Tagebücher Friedrich Kellners werden an der Arbeitsstelle Holocaustliteratur ediert. In: Giessener Universitätsblätter 39 (2006). S. 99-103.
Seit dem Erscheinen des Tagebuchs von Friedrich Kellner, das seit 2005 an der Arbeitsstelle ediert wurde und im Juli 2011 im Wallstein-Verlag erschienen ist, sind zahlreiche Presseberichte, Rezensionen, Radio- und Fernsehbeiträge zur Edition erschienen.
Presseberichte und Rezensionen:
Radiobeiträge:
Fernsehbeiträge:
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