Bartels, Adolf (Wesselburen, 1862-1945, Weimar), a prolific historian of literature, was for a short time a journalist, after which he established himself in Weimar, where he founded the Deutscher Schillerbund in 1907. His histories of literature include Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, 1901-2, and Einführung in die Weltliteratur, 1912-13; he also compiled a bibliographical handbook (Handbuch zur Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, 1906) and a lavishly illustrated historical study of the German peasant (Der Bauer in der deutschen Vergangenheit, 1900). He wrote historical novels (of which Die Dithmarscher, 1898, is the best known), the play Martin Luther (1903), and numerous poems. He was a tireless publicist, propagating his strongly nationalistic and violently anti-Semitic opinions. He was, as might be expected, an ardent advocate of Heimatkunst and came into his own under the National Socialists (see NSDAP).




