GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856-1950)

Details

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (1856-1950)
Autograph postcard, signed 'G. Bernard Shaw', from 4 Whitehall Court, 9 June 1933, 12°, to Mrs Hecht, in response to Nazi protests in German theatres 'it is necessary for me to emphasise the fact that I am a Gentile, and an Irish Gentile at that, to clear myself of any suspicion of a pro-Jewish bias. I even claim a pro-Nazi, or at least a pro-Fascist bias, to give greater weight to my protest. Otherwise I should seem to be only using the Jew as a stick to beat Hitler, as some of our papers are obviously doing' (some smudging).

Provenance

Max Hecht (1861-1908) and thence by descent.

Lot Essay

This comment refers to the performance of Shaw's play Too True to be Good in Mannheim early that year, which was disrupted by Nazi shouts of 'Jew Shaw'. He was accused of nihilism, believing that his works were anti-establishment and against the family.

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