GOTTFRIED BENN (1886-1956) was born in Brandenburg. He practised as a doctor in wartime Germany. Although he initially welcomed the Nazis' accession to power, after 1934 he became a sharp critic of the Nazi government and was banned from publishing by the regime. His work was not fully appreciated until after his death. DAVID PAISEY was educated in Cardiff and London. He wrote a thesis on Benn's poems during his London University MA, in the course of which he met Benn in Berlin. He has written extensively on Anglo-German literature and history and been a German specialist at the British Library.
