Der literarische Anschluss Siebenbürgens – Heinrich Zillich und Das Innere Reich (1934–1944): Eine Fallstudie

Abstract

Abstract In the journal Das Innere Reich, published from 1934 to 1944 by the Langen-Müller publishing house in Munich, there is an astonishing density of articles relating to Transylvania. The south-eastern border region of the former Habsburg Monarchy is the subject of publications of essayistic contributions and texts by authors from the region, with Heinrich Zillich in particular playing a central role. The integration of Transylvania followed two basic lines: On the one hand, a group of people who had been living outside the inner-German language area for centuries was established as an integral part of the ʻGerman ethnic groupʼ. On the other hand, Transylvania, which has always been inhabited by different ethnic groups, was presented as a model of a clearly hierarchical region in the sense of the national ideology.