1) Marcel Reich-Ranicki was a Polish-born literary critic who became famous in Germany for his role on the television program Literarisches Quartett. 2) He had an unusual background as a Jewish survivor of the Warsaw ghetto who nonetheless became deeply knowledgeable about German literature and culture. 3) In the quote, Reich-Ranicki notes that the Nazis could make no use of the German author Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, due to Lessing's association with Moses Mendelssohn and support for religious tolerance.

1. ‘Mit Lessing konnten die Nazis nichts anfangen.’ – The Nazis could never make any
headway with Lessing”. I remember these words spoken by Marcel Reich-Ranicki in the
course of a broadcast on a German television network devoted to discussions on literary
works byGermanauthors of note, LiterarischesQuartettif mymemoryservesme well. He
cut an unusual and controversial figure as one who as a Jewish survivor of the Nazi
persecution in Warsaw met with resentments even within literary circles but who also
became widely known as ‘the pope of German literature’ on the strength of his deep
knowledge of German culture and literature and of his engaging manner of makingliterary
culture seem relevant and interesting,- entertaining even - to the general public.
Born in Poland in 1920, he did not feel completely comfortable in his Polish homeland and
took up residence in Germany where he obtained his Abitur school leaving qualification in
the hostile climate of Germany under NS rule and whence he was forced to return to
Poland. However, his time in Germany had imbued him with a deep love of German
literature that would put him in good stead for the rest of his life. After the invasion of
Poland by German forces in 1939 Marcel was forced into the ghetto of Warsaw where he
assumed the task of translator and served in a liaison capacity between the captive
community and the occupying authorities. He and his wife were able to escape from the
ghetto and Marcel then joined a Communist-Polish resistance group. After the war he felt
increasingillateaseinPolandunderaCommunistregimeandleftthecountryforGermany

2. in 1958. He soon established himself as a newspaper columnist and literary expert, having
added ‘Ranicki’ (a code word from his time as a secret agent) to his name, thus becoming
Marcel Reich-Ranicki. He became famous as the star participant in the Literarisches
Quartett, a televised program in which he and three other critics discussed literary works
in an engaging and unstuffy manner that was able to enthuse a wide viewership. He
rejected any belief in the collective guilt of the German people incurred by the war and the
sufferings of the Jewish people and did not allow his knowledge of all that went with the
Nazi era to cloud his evaluation of German achievements in literature and culture. His
posture is encapsulated in the statement that Richard Wagner was a despicable anti-
Semite andyetat the same time one of the greatestcomposers inhistory. He didnot follow
the declaration of the philosopher Theodor W. Adorno when asserting that there could be
no poetry after Auschwitz but admitted that he had lost faith in the presence of an
omnipotent yet merciful God.
Reich-Ranicki’ hadaless thanfriendlyrelationshipwith two giants on the stage of German
literature. First we consider Gunther Grass, much praised for accomplishments in
literature and the graphic arts, his novel Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum) marking a
highpoint in postwar German literature. Grass smarted at the belated revelation of his
serving in the Waffen-SS at the end of the war. Without condemning Grass simply for
joining the military wing of the organization when a teenager of 17 under the constraints of
the time, Reich-Ranicki joined the chorus of the many who failed to understand why Grass
had concealed this fact for many long years during which time he enjoyed the reputation of
posing as an anti-fascist with an impeccably white vest. Grass did little to enhance his
image in liberal or Jewish circles by writing a poem in he expressed deep resentments
occasioned by his harsh criticism of Israel and its dealings with the Palestinians. Martin
Walser went further than Grass in expressions of personal animosity towards Reich-
Ranicki, indeed to the point of writing a roman-a-clef that postulated the death of literary
critic who bears a remarkable resemblance to Marcel Reich Ranicki as viewed in the eyes
of his peevish critic. Walser caused a stir during an important speech by referring to ‘the
Instrumentalization’ of Auschwitz’ by Jewish leaders eager to utilize the concept as a form
of psycho-cudgel, an accusation voiced quite often by those tending to the right. Does
residual and possibly repressed anti-Semitism have a part to play in the unfriendly
attitudes to which Reich-Ranicki was exposed? He never made any such suggestions.
Perhaps he hadnone tomake,or perhaps hedisplayed the same restraint and wisdom that
had sustained him throughout his life.
And Oh, what about Lessing? Did Reich-Ranicki imply that great German authors apart
from Lessing provided the Nazis with some kind of ideological support? Far from it.
Goethe’s semi-autobiographical book Dichtung und Wahrheit records times when Goethe

3. as a youth was a welcome guest at the celebration of Succoth, the Feast of Tabernacles in
the Jewish calendar, and Jean-Paul Richter commended the wisdom and cheerfulness of
ChassidicJews.Reich-RanickihadagreataffectionforHeinrichHeine,onelikehimcaught
in the tension of German-Jewish relations. For Lessing he evinced less warmth of feeling
and yet Reich-Ranicki bestowed on him the honour of being singularly impervious to
misrepresentationbytheNazis.ItwasLessingwhoshatteredthetaboothathadprevented
the Jews from being viewed in a favourable light, however faint. This he did in writing his
play entitled Die Juden, a work which attracted the attention of Moses Mendelssohn, the
great Jewish philosopher who sought to bring Judaism and the age of Enlightenment into
harmony. A manifestation of this ideal is found in the character of Nathan, the noble Jew
who bears out the principle of religious toleration in his dealings with Saladin and
Crusaders in Jerusalem as presented in the drama Nathan der Weise. Through Lessing’s
mediation elements drawn from Mendelssohn’s Phaeton, a philosophical treatise on the
immortalityof the humansoulfind their wayintoGoethe’s DieLeidendesjungenWerthers.
Lessing’s association with Mendelssohn made him the object of suspicion in
establishmentarian circles, especially among the stricter members of the clergy who
considered the theatre to be a hotbed of sin and infidelity. He was even suspected of being
a Spinozian, an atheist in other words. No wonder the Nazis couldn’t make any use of him.