Template:Did you know nominations/Ernst Ottwalt

Ernst Ottwalt

 * ... that German writer Ernst Ottwalt, who sought refuge from the Nazis in the Soviet Union but became its victim, was nonetheless quoted by the Soviet prosecutor at the Nuremburg Trials?
 * Reviewed: Theory of historical trajectory
 * Comment: Holiday interference ahead: I will be away and without a computer from Dec. 23 till about January 6.

Created/expanded by Marrante (talk). Self nom at 09:04, 19 December 2011 (UTC)


 * I am back. Marrante (talk) 22:33, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Symbol question.svg Article qualifies on newness (when nominated) and length -- and it's a good bit more extensive than its counterpart in the German Wikipedia. The hook fact checks out in the German-language sources cited. The article is well-supplied with footnotes. However, I had one minor concern with the article. The statement that the Nazi blacklist had Ottwalt's name marked with a cross to identify him as one of the "real vermin" is one of those startling facts that I would want to be supported by a footnote, but none was supplied. I checked the source cited in that paragraph and I did not find Ottwalt's name on that page. I believe that the intended reference is this related URL -- I would change it, but I'd prefer for the article creator to do that. However, that page also doesn't appear discuss the cross-mark -- is there another source for that? --Orlady (talk) 22:08, 28 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I do remember looking for that and not finding it. I had meant to search further, but forgot in the (then) pre-holiday rush. My German pick-ups are typically much more extensive by the time I get through with them. Let me look again and see what I can find. If I can't find it, I'll either comment it out or make a note on the talk page, so it doesn't get forgotten in the event someone is able to find a source for the info later on. And thank you for bringing this article back from purgatory. I felt this was a remarkable case and would be interesting to many WP readers. Marrante (talk) 23:07, 28 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I fixed the one ref URL and found a ref for the "vermin" remark, plus a longer list of names that shared the distinction, so I threw them in there too. Marrante (talk) 23:26, 28 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Hmm. First of all, I removed a comma from the hook and a couple more from the article. Second, though, I don't see a cross mark in here. That shouldn't invalidate the hook, but I'm wondering if I'm missing something. Drmies (talk) 04:34, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Symbol confirmed.svg The new ref supports the "vermin" remark, but not the bit about the cross. Accordingly, I removed the cross from the article. This is ready to go now -- with Drmies' improvements to the punctuation in the hook. --Orlady (talk) 06:22, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Reply to Drmies: That URL contains the following sentence: "Als die "eigentlichen Schädlinge", die auch bei den Bücherverbrennungen am 10. Mai 1933 die "Hauptrolle" spielten, galten laut "Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel" vom 16. Mai 1933 die Schriftsteller Lion Feuchtwanger, Ernst Gläser, Arthur Holitscher, Alfred Kerr, Egon Erwin Kisch, Emil Ludwig, Heinrich Mann, Ernst Ottwalt, Theodor Plivier, E.M. Remarque, Kurt Tucholsky und Arnold Zweig." In English, "As the "real vermin", whose books, according to the Trade Publication for German Bookshops of May 16, 1933, played the "main role" in the book burnings on May 10, 1933, were the writers Lion Feuchtwanger, Ernst Gläser, Arthur Holitscher, Alfred Kerr, Egon Erwin Kisch, Emil Ludwig, Heinrich Mann, Ernst Ottwalt, Theodor Plivier, E.M. Remarque, Kurt Tucholsky and Arnold Zweig." I see that Orlady removed the sentence anyway. I will look more later, but have no time at the moment. Marrante (talk) 08:02, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I did find a source, so I restored the quote, plus added the two names that weren't on the list of 12. I also changed the word "cross" to "x". The original was "kreuz" of course, which could go either way, but the source shows them as x's. Marrante (talk) 14:32, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Symbol confirmed.svg Thanks for looking into that, Marrante. As I noted earlier, the quotation you provided above supported the "vermin" item but not the marks on the list. The new reference supports the existence and significance of Kreuzen. --Orlady (talk) 15:46, 29 January 2012 (UTC)