Fairy Tales and Fables from Weimar Days

Political "fairy tales" by progressive Weimar activists

Deliberately transforming traditional German fairy tales and fables into utopian narratives and social commentary, political activists wrote the stories in this collection for progressive youth groups during the years of the German Weimar Republic, 1919 to 1933. Noted folklore scholar Jack Zipes has edited and translated these thirty-two tales by sixteen Weimar authors, who include such notable writers as Kurt Schwitters, Oskar Maria Graf, and Hermynia Zur Mühlen. Zipes has also provided an introduction, notes and bibliography, period illustrations, and concise biographies of the authors, many of whom were later killed, persecuted, or forced into exile by the Nazis.