Josef Magnus Wehner was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 and playwright

Playwright

A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...

. Celebrated (locally, in Fulda

Fulda

Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...

) as a "great German poet" his reputation is tainted by the militarism displayed in his work and his allegiance to the Nazi Party.

Wehner was one of the 88 German authors who signed the Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft

Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft

The Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft was a declaration by 88 German writers and poets of their loyalty to Adolf Hitler...

, a 1933 "promise of most loyal obedience" to Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...

. After the war, he wrote a number of feast plays for religious occasions, including celebrations for Rabanus Maurus

Rabanus Maurus

Rabanus Maurus Magnentius , also known as Hrabanus or Rhabanus, was a Frankish Benedictine monk, the archbishop of Mainz in Germany and a theologian. He was the author of the encyclopaedia De rerum naturis . He also wrote treatises on education and grammar and commentaries on the Bible...

 and Saint Boniface

Saint Boniface

Saint Boniface , the Apostle of the Germans, born Winfrid, Wynfrith, or Wynfryth in the kingdom of Wessex, probably at Crediton , was a missionary who propagated Christianity in the Frankish Empire during the 8th century. He is the patron saint of Germany and the first archbishop of Mainz...

. In a 1988 study of Wehner, Joachim Hohmann concluded that Wehner's past was too easily forgotten and that his reputation as a Catholic Heimatdichter was undeserved and white-washed his Nazi-past.

Works (selection)

• Das Fuldaer Bonifatiusspiel. Fulda: Parzeller, 1954.
• Die Versuchung des Rabanus Maurus. Fulda, 1956.