SOURCE: Krispyn, Egbert. “A Year of Decision.” In Anti-Nazi Writers in Exile, pp. 45-58. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1978.

In the following excerpt, Krispyn analyzes the political and social climate of Germany in 1935-36, commenting on why such writers as Thomas Mann and Arthur Koestler chose to continue writing in exile.

While the emigrants were arguing among themselves about the true nature of exile literature and its contribution to the antifascist cause, Hitler pressed forward relentlessly with his political battle plan for the stabilization and expansion of his power. His first objective was the Saar territory which since the end of World War I had been administered by the League of Nations. In January 1935, in accordance with the terms of the Versailles peace treaty of 1919, a plebiscite was held to decide the future of this French-German border region. The exiled and Saarlandian antifascists of all ideological hues naturally...