National socialist cultural diplomacy and Scandinavian popular culture: Debating the German-Nordic Writers’ House in the 1930s

This article analyzes the responses of the Finnish and Scandinavian writers’ associations to a National Socialist cultural diplomatic initiative, namely the German-Nordic Writers’ House. Doing so, it engages the interplay between popular culture and foreign politics, as Nordic writers negotiated how to respond to the Third Reich’s quest for European cultural hegemony. Using the Writers’ House as a case study, the article discusses the nebulous nature of cultural diplomacy and reflects on how responses to the Writers’ House, especially in Finland, elucidate the limits of National Socialist cultural diplomacy in its engagement with the conflict-ridden Nordic cultural fields in the 1930s.