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Nazis demanded to know if J.R.R. Tolkien was jewish. He responded with an elegant “Burn”.
When the Nazi Party sent a letter to J.R.R. Tolkien demanding to know if he was Jewish, the author of “The Hobbit” responded to them making a fool of them with such elegance, that it could be considered an insult to this day.
As you well know, the Nazis were trying to prevent German culture from mixing with Jewish culture. For this reason, in 1938 while J.R.R. Tolkien was in full negotiations with a german publisher for the translation of his work “The Hobbit”, the Nazi party sent him a letter demanding to know the roots of the writer and this was his response:
25 July 1938 20 Northmoor Road, Oxford
Dear Sirs,
Thank you for your letter. I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to…
