The blue flower of the wandering bird

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Blue Flower of the Wandering Bird is a work by the writer Werner Helwig , published in 1960 , which bears the subtitle "On the rise, shine and meaning of a youth movement" and in which the author tries to present the. In the form of a fictional symposium with a combination of historical and narrative representation To represent the youth movement until the beginning of the dissolution of their leagues by National Socialism .

content

In the first part of an imaginary round table, eight friends are invited, some with real names (e.g. Gustav Wyneken ), some with their journey name (introduced with the comment “I don't want to be named”), which are divided into 13 chapters on the origin des Wandervogels, about Karl Fischer , the diversity and expansion of the Bünde, the great times of the Zupfgeigenhansl , the First Free German Youth Day on the Hoher Meissner , narrating and debating about outsiders and the development of youth hostels .

With the 14th chapter on the life reformer Friedrich Muck-Lamberty , the group is expanded by twelve people for the second and third parts of the book. Here come u. a. the brothers Karl and Robert Oelbermann , the graphic artist Wilhelm Geißler , the music teacher Karl Seidelmann, Eberhard Koebel (name of the trip: tusk ) and the leader of the German Scout Association Walther Jansen have their say. They depict the changed situation after the First World War and, in individual chapters, deal with the topics of castles and leagues, Nerother wandering bird , the nature of the boy scouts, tusk and dj.1.11 and finally the situation of the dissolution and eradication of the leagues represent.

For the revised new edition , the book was supplemented by further parts. The editor Walter Sauer , who also wrote the epilogue and added an image section comprising approx. 80 photos, added four larger chapters to an earlier completed supplementary manuscript (Blue Flower II) comprising 12 chapters . They deal with the subjects of musicians / minstrels / traveling singers, Alfred Schmid and the Gray Corps as well as frets from the field of the Conservative Revolution ; Furthermore, the chapter “High Meissner” was supplemented by comments by Gustav Wyneken.

Narrative technique and basic idea of ​​the book

Helwig himself appears as a conversation partner in the book under his journey name "Hussa", which he wore as Nerother Wandervogel. In this role he by no means hides his skepticism towards some of the products of the youth movement. There are chapters that are not presented as a discussion round, but that are noted as “the author's solo effort”, for example the section “The Twenties - Fermentations”. In another chapter the author lets a newcomer experience a group evening at "Hussa" and describes himself as a group leader in this way.

In this book, Helwig is more of a witness than a historian. It does not deal with the youth movement, but according to the subtitle “On the rise, splendor and purpose of a youth movement” only a special one. For him this is the Nerother League, to which he attaches an archetypal meaning. He is interested in the fate of the youth movement insofar as it lies in the "radiation area" of the Neroths.

In his book the author differentiates between three phases of the youth movement. In his opinion there was an archaic, a classical and a Hellenistic phase in the history of the youth movement. To the first he counts the Wandervogel , to the second the Bündische and for the third phase, which Helwig describes as the Desperados, three personalities who created movement with their frets: tusk and the dj.1.11, teut and the Jungentrucht as well as Fred and the Gray Corps. This sequence finds its meaning and its fulfillment in the fact that it clings to its "mobility", which, however, only Nerothertum has kept through.

Reception and criticism

When it was published, the book received a relatively high level of attention (a second edition appeared after just six months), it was "both welcomed and highly controversial because of the literary form, which the author himself once called a 'romance'". The Ludwigsteiner Blätter wrote in 1960: “Helwig's book triggered a veritable flood of reviews, statements, letters and complaints. The files in our castle archives swelled up. "

Many former youth movements expected a purely historical presentation, saw in their opinion important things not taken into account and misunderstood the author's intention. “If you look at the book exclusively from the perspective of a historian (Helwig said the goal was“ a representation of the youth movement in terms of experience ”), the critics are probably right. Werner Kindt summarized his review as follows: Helwig certainly did not write his book without love and empathic understanding, but in places without sufficient knowledge and the caution befitting the subject of his description. "

Helwig himself then wrote some “follow-up remarks” to his book, in which he responded in ten sections to some objections from the circles of the youth movement. He explained, for example, why he had not dealt with the eros thesis of the "Wandervogel historiographer " Hans Blüher in more detail, for what reasons no chapter was dedicated to the Wandervogel girls and the Catholic youth movement , and explained what - in connection with what he called the epoch - should be understood under "Hellenism".

According to Armin Mohler , with this book Helwig “probably created the testimony that someone who was not there can best understand what the Bündische Welt was”. “After all, Helwig's book already marks the transition from a committed report and stylized self-image to a critically filtered presentation. [...] its presentation and collection of the multi-layered material [is] unique, its function indispensable. "

See also

expenditure

  • The blue flower of the wandering bird. About the rise, splendor and purpose of a youth movement . S. Mohn, Gütersloh 1960.
  • The blue flower of the wandering bird. About the rise, splendor and purpose of a youth movement . Extended new edition, edited and with an afterword by Walter Sauer , Südmarkverlag Fritsch, Heidenheim an d. Brenz 1980, ISBN 3-88258-053-4 .
  • The blue flower of the wandering bird. About the rise, splendor and purpose of a youth movement . Revised new edition with a picture attachment, editor: Walter Sauer. Deutscher Spurbuchverlag, Baunach 1998, ISBN 3-88778-208-9 .

literature

  • Werner Helwig : Follow-up remarks to my book “The Blue Flower of the Wandering Bird” . In: Knowledge and Action. Letters from the spirit of the German youth movement . Hördt 1960, No. 6.
  • Paul Hübner : Blue Flower and the Greens. Helwig's Wandervogel book published again . In: Rheinische Post from October 3, 1980.
  • Werner Kindt : Questionable “blue flower” . In: German General Sunday Gazette of July 24, 1960.
  • Fritz Krapp: Werner Helwig. The blue flower of the wandering bird . In: Keyword. The Bündische thematic magazine . Heidenheim 1980, No. 3, ISSN  0342-3336
  • Heinrich Leippe: Youth on the move . In: New German Issues . Contributions to the European present , issue 72, July 1960, ISSN  0028-3142
  • Erik Martin : Special edition Werner Helwig . Special edition of the annual shell pile . Viersen 1991, No. 26 A, second, expanded edition, ISSN  0085-3593
  • Erik Martin: Released, read again. The blue flower of the wandering bird . In: Clams. Annual journal for literature and graphics . Viersen 2000, vol. 39/40, ISSN  0085-3593
  • Joachim Munster: Werner Helwig. The blue flower of the wandering bird . In: The icebreaker . Heidenheim 1980, No. 90.
  • Herbert Römer: Werner Helwig. The blue flower of the wandering bird . In: Knowledge and Action. Letters from the spirit of the German youth movement . Hördt 1960, No. 6.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ teut = trip name of Karl Christian Müller
  2. ↑ Fred = trip name of Alfred Schmid
  3. ^ Special edition Werner Helwig , p. 35
  4. ↑ Special edition Werner Helwig , p. 33
  5. ^ The Ludwigsteiner Blätter , magazine of the Ludwigstein Youth Castle Association . The archive of the German youth movement is also located in the castle .
  6. ↑ Here quoted from: Special edition Werner Helwig , p. 33
  7. ↑ Werner Helwig: Follow-up remarks to my book . In: Knowledge and Action. Letters from the spirit of the German youth movement . 1960, issue 6
  8. ^ Armin Mohler: The Conservative Revolution in Germany 1918–1932. A manual . Scientific book society. Darmstadt 1989. 3rd expanded edition, p. 262
  9. ^ Heinrich Leippe: Youth on the move . In: New German Issues . Gütersloh 1960, issue 71, p. 358