From the Crowd to the Masses: Philippe Soupault, Great Reporter of Germany in the 1930s

Abstract

Following his expulsion from the Surrealist movement, Philippe Soupault turned to journalism to earn a living. Between 1932 and 1936 he regularly traveled to Germany to report on the events in the neighboring country, both as a reporter and special envoy for newspapers such as Vu and especially Excelsior. Amidst a widespread indifference, the poet became a lucid observer of the rise of Nazism. Although he addressed political issues, it was the more anonymous people who interested him. In order to gauge the extent of desperation among the Germans and on the lookout for the slightest sign of revolt, he observed the crowds, questioned students, the bourgeoisie, peasants, intellectuals, and the unemployed alike. Following the increasing pressure on foreign journalists, dialogues disappeared from his writings: the crowd gradually took on the appearance of mass, a symptom of the rupture between the poet and the German people.