Posted on 09/04/2026 5:16:09 AM PDT by Cronos
In 1938, Tolkien was in negotiations with Berlin publisher Rütten & Loening about creating a German-language edition of The Hobbit; that is, until they asked for proof of Tolkien’s “Aryan descent,” due to Goebbels’ regulations on Jews’ participation n German cultural activities. Tolkien objected, writing to his British publisher Stanley Unwin:
I must say the enclosed letter from Rütten & Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of arisch origin from all persons of all countries?
Personally, I should be inclined to refuse to give any Bestätigung (although it happens that I can), and let a German translation go hang. In any case I should object strongly to any such declaration appearing in print. I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.
You are primarily concerned, and I cannot jeopardize the chance of a German publication without your approval. So I submit two drafts of possible answers.
The first of the “two drafts” Tolkien mentioned ignored the request, but the second eloquently chastised Rütten & Loening for asking:
Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject—which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.
Your enquiry is doubtless made in order to comply with the laws of your own country, but that this should be held to apply to the subjects of another state would be improper, even if it had (as it has not) any bearing whatsoever on the merits of my work or its sustainability for publication, of which you appear to have satisfied yourselves without reference to my Abstammung.
It’s unclear which letter was sent, but regardless, the deal didn’t go through. Three years later, Tolkien would express his disdain for the Nazis in a letter to his son Michael: “I have in this war a burning private grudge against that ruddy little ignoramus Adolf Hitler. Ruining, perverting, misapplying, and making for ever accursed, that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved, and tried to present in its true light.” And The Hobbit wouldn’t be translated into German until 1957. During those interim years, it’s unclear if anyone accused him of “banning the German language.”
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Historically and linguistically, "Aryan" was never a racial category, nor did it refer to blond, blue-eyed Germanic or Nordic peoples. The Nazi regime appropriated the term from 19th-century European pseudo-scientific racial theories to justify their ideology of racial supremacy.
Historically and linguistically, Aryans are exclusively Indo-Iranian peoples.
- The word originates from the ancient Sanskrit (ārya) and Avestan (airya), which were self-designations used by ancient Indo-Iranian tribes.
- The modern name of the country Iran literally means "Land of the Aryans."
The Nordic peoples including the Germans were never and are not Aryan. In fact the only Aryan peoples in Europe are: 1. the Alanii and their descendants the Ossetians 2. Gypsies/Roma
Yes, for the most part they didn’t care about genuine history. They built up a whole (semi-historic, loosely) mythology in the 1930s, and relied more on seances, science fiction writers (like where vril came from, or hollow earth), or occultists like Blavatsky (Atlantis, ascended masters, etc. etc.) than they ever did on real science or history. I think that some at the top knew it was all crazy bunk, but some were believers and all they really wanted was the mythos.
Unfortunately, it just so happened that they were also aggressive industrialists and fantastic engineers.
Ironically, the Nazis treated the Gypsies, who were true Aryans, as they did the Jews.
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for the Gypsies
And I said, “Make sure you get all of them”
I know a group of people who are like that today.
IIRC, the overly simplistic makeup of India is Aryans and Dravidians, the former being lighter skinned and mostly Brahmin/Kshatriya and the latter being darker skinned and mostly Vaisha/Shudra. It might be interesting to know how many of each group populates the vast horde of H1B.
The arrogant Brahmin’s are those polluting America and Canada
Yes that was my first thought too.
That is actually wrong, not overly simplistic
indians - or rather ALL South Asians (Afghans, Pakistanis, Indians, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshis, Nepalese, Maldivians and to some extent Bhutanese) are an admixture of:
Brahmins do have percentage-wise "more" Aryan genes, but Kshatriya and Vishya have Aryan genes too. Shudras tend to have closer to zero, but then they don't have much Dravidian genes either, but the older "sentinelese"
some Kshatriya are actually Kushans (Tocharians) like the Rajputs or other warrior groups that got assimilated into the Indic 'system'
As to the skin color - you are mostly correct, but it is, as you said, simplistic
For those who are interested in the finer details of the English language, “yours faithfully” is the way to close a formal letter in proper British English.
Interestingly conversation. It reminds me that I believe I read once many years back that part of they Aryan myth may have come from blood typing studies in the early 20th century, and because they found that B-/B+ blood types were strongest both in south central Asia as well as stronger in north central Europe (compared to the rest of Europe) that there may have been a migration in (pseudo) history.
If you have to get an astrology reading as the walls of your underground bunker are shaking from Russian artillery bombardment you might not have a firm grasp on the present situation. Someone needed to tell Adolph that the fault lay not in his stars but in himself, to paraphrase Shakespeare.
The thing is without what I call race insanity (which yes, I know is at the very heart of Nazism) Germany probably could have successfully appealed to many Jews in Poland and throughout eastern Europe. After all many of them spoke Yiddish which is basically a German dialect and its not like they were treated very well in much of eastern Europe.
The Germans had legitimate grievances after WWI (Austria voted democratically to join Germany and was not allowed to, the Sudetenlanders were never consulted before being placed as an oppressed minority in a newly created Czech-Slovak state, ethnic Germans in the “Polish Corridor” were similarly never consulted nor were those in Sud Tyrol before their land was given to Italy nor were those in Elsass Lothringen before their land was given to France nor those few whose land was given to Belgium. But of course all that was lost when instead of getting a sane nationalist who would press their legitimate claims, they got a raving lunatic.
Before Mussolini became Hitler’s little bitch, with regards to racial policies, many Jews supported the Fascists in Italy. Even Count Ciano was married to a Jewess.
He could have simply replied: “Goetz von Berlichingen”.
Germans would fully understand the literary reference and what it means. :^)
Thank you Cronos; I was trying to remember what I learned in undergrad about 55 years ago, and it was probably incorrect then too 🙄
Nazi ideology was a cooked up mish mash of late 19th century crackpot spiritualism, with socialist, nationalist, and racialist thinking animated by Jew hatred and Germany's deep sense of grievance over losing the Great War (WW I). The Nazis cared little for scientific and historic accuracy in a conventional sense but sought to fashion what they claimed was a new science and history based on race.
Nevertheless, although Norse and German mythology and history provided the Nazis with a supposed link to Germany's past, even Hitler though thought that Himmler was a bit of a kook about the whole thing, with his oddball medieval style ceremonies in robes in a specially built SS castle. In the end, the Nazis were essentially a movement based on aggressive political gangsterism in a country weakened and unhinged by defeat in war and economic catastrophe. The flags, symbols, ceremonies, and ideology were just contrived elements of costume.
Indeed! As are so many young people today. I related a story yesterday on another topic and thread about my wife and I going to the bank to get new cards,and the bank employee had never heard of D-Day. She was probably around 30, I would guess. Either the schools she attended were failures at teaching history, or she was a failure at learning history.
This was a person with a college degree, I’m sure….
I wouldn’t call her a Nazi, however.
Hmmm....
Fascinating!
“...and Germany’s deep sense of grievance over losing the Great War (WW I).”
~~~
That was probably the biggest impetus, and how humiliating and stiffling the treaty of versailles was (mostly justifiable) after WWi.
But we also forget how fluid used to be before the 20th century, because we have seen the maps of Europe change so little in the last 100 years, relatively speaking. Even when the soviets took over much of eastern europe after wwii, the soviet block national borders still existed.
I believe both Germany (holy roman empire) and Russia (russian empire) not only dreamed of (re)conquering parts of europe, and they not only felt like they were owed the territory, but also that the concept of a crystalized europe was not true then. Just look at how much change there often was in borders before the 20th century. So many kingdoms and duchys and changing borders even where nation states existed.
I am in no way excusing it, but the territorial aggression and transition was the norm in Europe.
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