GRIMM, HANS (EMIL WILHELM)

born March 22, 1875, Wiesbaden, Ger. died Sept. 27, 1959, Lippoldsberg German writer whose works were popular expressions of Pan-Germanism and helped to prepare the climate of opinion in Germany that embraced the nationalist and expansionist policies of Adolf Hitler. Educated in Munich and Lausanne, he received commercial training in England, and from 1901 to 1910 he was a merchant in Cape Colony, S.Af. Grimm's experiences in South Africa furnished material for his literary works, the first of which, Sdafrikanische Novellen, appeared in 1913. His novel Volk ohne Raum (1926; Nation Without Room), in which he contrasts the wide-open spaces of South Africa with Germany's cramped position in Europe, deals with the German settlers in South West Africa, their involvement in the South African War, and their determination to retain their land despite the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. Grimm's style was influenced by the Old Icelandic sagas.