Urgent Call for Unity

The appeal was unsuccessful, and Adolf Hitler was later appointed chancellor, and the National Socialists were able to consolidate power.

The appeal was published in the ISK's newspaper, Der Funke, in response to the growing strength of the NSDAP.

[6][note 3] On February 15, 1933, the day after the new placards appeared, both Mann, the head of the poetry department, and Kollwitz were forced to withdraw from the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, by Bernhard Rust,[6] a National Socialist who became the acting head of the Prussia Ministry of Culture on February 2, 1933 and thus curator of the Akademie.

In March 1933, Paquet, Alfred Döblin and Thomas Mann (younger brother of Heinrich) quit.

Max Liebermann, Paul Mebes, Otto Dix and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff quit in May 1933,[6] after the book burnings.