血と土
Some German nationalists identified Stehr as a eulogist of the German soul. However, the more ideological National Socialists criticised Stehr for his advocacy of independent thought and seeking God within oneself rather than finding solace in society. His works are not celebrations of an innocent rural life, extolling men of the soil, as Blood and Soil literature did, but owe more to naturalism through the portrayal of the poverty and hardship of ordinary people's lives, and the "Heimat-Roman" or regional novel genre through their focus on Silesia and, more specifically, the people of the Grafschaft Glatz.