Johannes Schlaf

The Nazi use of the term comes from a 1923 book Das Dritte Reich by Arthur Moeller van den Bruck.

In an autobiographical sketch from 1902, Schlaf claimed to have written verses and puppet shows at the age of 12 and short stories while an adolescent.

Schlaf returned to his family where his father enforced a strict regime, and where Schalf felt more fear than affection.

From 1875 to 1884 Schlaf attended the cathedral school in Magdeburg, joining a student club, "Covenant of the Living" in 1882.

He moved to study in Berlin 1885 and in 1886 joined the literary group Durch of young naturalist writers including Gerhart Hauptmann, Arno Holz, and William Bölsche.

In Sequential Naturalism, one encounters a moment-to-moment description of events without a governing overarching narrative or perceiver.

Holz and Schlaf felt increasing alienation through the 1890s, with early tensions over artistic notions exacerbated by public debate over the relative contributions and merit of both writers.

Schlaf published his first independent drama, "Meister Oelze" in 1892, which received its Berlin premiere on 2 February 1894.

His works show the influence of his readings of Whitman and Ernst Haeckel as well as traces of turn of the century decadence.

Germany's defeat in the First World War was a great blow to national pride, but they did not significantly alter the ideas developed by Schlaf.

During this time there developed a contradiction between the relative lack of success of his recent writings and the growth of his public recognition.

Before the First World War, Schlaf's naturalism extended into racial aspects, but the vague concept of a Germanic race could apply to virtually every European nation.

After the war, Schlaf's notions of biological evolution extended to the superiority of the German people.

He continued to be honored by numerous awards in his late age, especially for his early works as a naturalist writer.