Erhart Kästner’s Travel Accounts and Nazi Perceptions of Greece

This essay examines the work of the German writer Erhart Kästner, the author of a number of travel accounts on Greece published during the Second World War. Commissioned by the Wehrmacht, Kästner’s books were intended to provide German soldiers with knowledge about the country they were occupying and to serve as leisure reading. The essay focuses on Kästner´s accounts, using them as a lens through which to examine how National Socialism's racial stereotyping of Greece was appropriated by the rank and file of the German army, shaping their perception of the country. On the other hand, it also investigates how a repertoire of stereotypes, deeply rooted in German and, more generally, Western culture, fed into the Nazis' ideological view of Greece during the occupation.