Pledging allegiance to evil-Vow of most faithful allegiance.

The Gelöbnis treuester Gefolgschaft  translated from German to English as “vow of most faithful allegiance”, or “proclamation of loyalty of German writers” was a declaration by 88 German writers and poets of their loyalty to Adolf Hitler. It was printed in the Vossische Zeitung on 26 October 1933 and publicised by the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin.

Some were still celebrated long after the war,  as literary heroes despite their allegiance with the Nazi regime. They were even put on stamps

The declaration came towards the end of 1933, in the period of domestic turmoil in Germany following the Reichstag fire on 27 February 1933, the elections that returned Hitler to power on 5 March, and the passing of the Enabling Act on 23 March 1933 which allowed Hitler bypass the German legislature and pass laws at will. It came shortly after the editor law (Schriftleitergesetz) was passed on 4 October 1933, which sought to bring the press under government control, and the withdrawal of Germany from the League of Nations on 21 October 1933.

Below is the text of the vow in English.

“Peace, work, freedom and honour are the most sacred goods of each nation and a precondition for honest coexistence of peoples with each other. Consciousness of our power and recovered unity, our sincere will to serve unreservedly the cause of peace inside and outside our nation, the deep conviction of our tasks in the reconstruction of the Reich, and our determination to do to nothing that is not compatible with our honour and that of our Fatherland, make us, in this grave hour submit to you, Herr Reichskanzler, this vow of our most faithful allegiance.”

Some of them and I presume (at least I hope so) most of them would have signed in a pre-emptive way in order to preserve their work and lives, but there were also some like  Hanns Johst and the aforementioned Agnes Miegel were happy to excel in the 3rd reich at the costs of others.

The 88 who declared their loyalty to Hitler were:
Friedrich Arenhövel (1886–1954)
Gottfried Benn (1886–1956)
Werner Beumelburg (1899–1963)
Rudolf G. Binding (1867–1938)
Walter Bloem (1868–1951)
Hans Friedrich Blunck (1888–1961)
Max Karl Böttcher (1881–1963)
Rolf Brandt (1886–1953)
Arnolt Bronnen (1895-1959)
Otto Brües (1897–1967)
Alfred Brust (1891–1934)
Carl Bulcke (1875–1936)
Hermann Claudius (1878–1980)
Hans Martin Cremer (1890–1953)
Marie Diers (1867–1949)
Peter Dörfler (1878–1955)
Max Dreyer (1862–1946)
Franz Dülberg (1873–1934)
Ferdinand Eckardt (1902–1995)
Richard Euringer (1891–1953)
Ludwig Finckh (1876–1964)
Otto Flake (1880–1963)
Hans Franck (1879–1964)
Gustav Frenssen (1863–1945)
Heinrich von Gleichen-Rußwurm (1882–1959)
Friedrich Griese (1890–1975)
Max Grube (1854–1934)
Johannes von Guenther (1886–1973)
Carl Haensel (1889–1968)
Max Halbe (1865–1944)
Ilse Hamel (1874–1943)
Agnes Harder (1864–1939)
Karl Heinl (1898–1961)
Hans Ludwig Held (1885–1954)
Friedrich W. Herzog (1902–1976)
Rudolf Herzog (1869–1943)
Paul Oskar Höcker (1865–1944)
Rudolf Huch (1862–1943)
Hans von Hülsen (1890–1968)
Bruno Herbert Jahn (1893-1943*) Fate unknown after 1943
Hanns Johst (1890–1978)
Max Jungnickel (1890–1945)
Hermann Kasack (1896–1966)
Hans Knudsen (1886–1971)
Ruth Köhler-Irrgang (1900–?)
Gustav Kohne (1871–1961)
Carl Lange (1885–1959)
Johann von Leers (1902–1965)
Heinrich Lersch (1889–1936)
Heinrich Lilienfein (1879–1952)
Oskar Loerke (1884–1941)
Gerhard Menzel (1894–1966)
Herybert Menzel (1906–1945)
Alfred Richard Meyer, aka „Munkepunke“ (1892–1956)
Agnes Miegel (1879–1964)
Walter von Molo (1880–1958)
Georg Mühlen-Schulte (1882–1981)
Fritz Müller-Partenkirchen (1875–1942)
Börries Freiherr von Münchhausen (1874–1945)
Eckart von Naso (1888–1976)
Helene von Nostitz-Wallwitz (1878–1944)
Josef Ponten (1883–1940)
Rudolf Presber (1868–1935)
Arthur Rehbein (1867–1952)
Ilse Reicke (1893–1989)
Johannes Richter (1889–1941)
Franz Schauwecker (1890–1964)
Johannes Schlaf (1862–1941)
Anton Schnack (1892–1973
Friedrich Schnack (1888–1977)
Richard Schneider-Edenkoben (1899–1986)
Wilhelm von Scholz (1874–1969)
Lothar Schreyer (1886–1966)
Gustav Schröer (1876–1949)
Wilhelm Schussen (1874–1956)
Ina Seidel (1885–1974)
Willy Seidel (1887–1934)
Heinrich Sohnrey (1859–1948)
Diedrich Speckmann (1872–1938)
Heinz Steguweit (1897–1964)
Lulu von Strauß und Torney (1873–1956)
Eduard Stucken (1865–1936)
Will Vesper (1882–1962)
Josef Magnus Wehner (1891–1973)
Leo Weismantel (1888–1964)
Bruno Erich Werner (1896–1964)
Heinrich Zerkaulen (1892–1954)
Hans-Caspar von Zobeltitz (1883–1940)

Sources

Bundesarchiv

Dutch and German wikipedia.