In 1934, as a student, Schwarzenbach orchestrated a public uproar by his fellow members of the pro-Nazi movement National Front when the anti-fascist cabaret group "Die Pfeffermühle", in exile from Germany, was touring in Switzerland. In Zürich the cabaret, led by Therese Giehse, Erika Mann, and Klaus Mann, was only able to perform under police protection. James Schwarzenbach's aunt Renée Schwarzenbach-Wille was suspected to be the power behind the turmoil. She accused Erika Mann to have set up her daughter, the writer Annemarie Schwarzenbach who was a close friend of the Mann family, against her own family.
