Bodo Uhse's career as a writer was marked by the rise of National Socialism in Germany; by exile in France, Spain, the United States, and Mexico; and by the division of postwar Germany into two political and cultural entities. While Uhse was a well-known cultural and political figure in the early years of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), his literary work received little critical attention in the GDR and remained virtually unknown in the West. Interest in East German literature and in the exile experiences of authors who fled Nazi Germany has recently helped to stimulate interest in Uhse in both the West and the East.

Uhse was born on 12 March 1904 in Rastatt. He was the son of a Prussian officer and, as a youth, took part in the activities of reactionary political groups in the Weimar Republic. He joined the Nazi party in 1927 but was expelled in...