René Schickele and Alsace

Born into a German-French bilingual environment, the once renowned German-language author René Schickele (1883-1940) grew up in the Alsace region − today located in eastern France − during its annexation to the German Empire when links to French culture were frowned upon. In the aftermath of the First World War the situation was reversed when Alsace was reclaimed by the French Republic. In both these phases of its troubled history, Schickele insisted on the importance of Alsace’s right to retain