Minnesota

When the Nazis achieved power in 1933, Hanns Johst wrote the play Schlageter, an expression of Nazi ideology which was performed on Hitler's 44th birthday, 20 April 1933, to celebrate his victory. It was a heroic biography of the proto-Nazi martyr Albert Leo Schlageter. The famous line "When I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun", often associated with Nazi leaders, derives from this play. The actual line in the play is, however, slightly different: "Wenn ich Kultur höre ... entsichere ich meine Browning!" "When I hear 'Culture'... I release the safety catch on my Browning!" (Act 1, Scene 1)