Here we make available Hans Reisiger's two-volume German translation of Whitman's poetry and prose, Walt Whitmans Werk (1922). Praised by various writers, including Thomas Mann, Reisiger's text has arguably become the classic German translation of Whitman. Work is underway to add further German translations, including several published during Whitman's lifetime.
For a broad overview of German translations, users can benefit from Walter Grünzweig's chapter "Whitman in the German-Speaking Countries" from Walt Whitman and the World, ed. Gay Wilson Allen and Ed Folsom (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1995), pp. 160–230. In the future, we intend to provide an introduction specific to the translations selected and edited for the Archive.