Ernst Penzoldt

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April 12, 1949 at a meeting of the German PEN Center in Hamburg, first from the left

Ernst Penzoldt (born June 14, 1892 in Erlangen , † January 27, 1955 in Munich ) was a German writer , also a sculptor , painter , draftsman and caricaturist under the pseudonym "Fritz Fliege" .

life and work

Penzoldt grew up as the youngest of four brothers in a bourgeois house and, according to his own statement, lived "a wonderful, almost spoiled youth". His father Franz Penzoldt was one of the Erlangen dignitaries as a medicine professor. While the father was skeptical of the son's artistic inclinations, the mother Valerie (née Beckh) seemed to encourage them. Although the parents' plans included studying medicine for their fourth son, they ultimately supported Ernst in his decision to pursue a career as an artist: in 1912, Penzoldt began studying sculpture at Albin Egger-Lienz's Weimar Art Academy . Here he met his friend Günther Stolle, in whom he thought he recognized the complementary counterpart to his own personality.

After Egger-Lienz left Weimar in 1913, they moved together to the art academy in Kassel, today's Kassel art college . When the First World War began in 1914, like most of his peers, Penzoldt was enthusiastic and did not want to be inferior to his friends and college comrades and to meet the expectations of his parents. He therefore volunteered for military service, which he performed as a medic (almost) until the end of the war. From 1915 he began to write poems and stories in the stage. Günther Stolle fell in 1917 - at least since that time, death and friendship have been integral parts of Penzoldt's work.

In 1918 Penzoldt returned home confused and disaffected: “I stood baffled for a long time, shouted at by the god of war. First I found the language again, my hands were still unconscious. ”Accordingly (and not entirely without coquetry) Penzoldt called his writing career a kind of“ war damage ”.

In the politically troubled times of spring 1919, Penzoldt moved to Munich, where shortly afterwards he met his new “companion”, the young Ernst Heimeran . This friendship became decisive for Penzoldt's further personal and professional career, because Heimeran founded his own publishing house ( Heimeran Verlag ) in the inflationary year of 1922 , where Penzoldt's first publications appeared: The first was the volume of poems Der Companion in 1922 , followed by Idyllen (1923) and Der Schatten Amphion (1924). In 1922 Penzoldt married Heimeran's sister Friederike, known as Friedi. According to Penzoldt, the marriage also served to counter his homosexuality, which he experienced at times as unsettling, with a life anchored in the conventions of the bourgeoisie. The marriage resulted in two children: Günther (* 1923, later dramaturge, inter alia at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus under Gustaf Gründgens , † 1997) and Ulrike, called Ulla (* 1927).

At the beginning of the 1920s, Penzoldt was already working on various literary materials that helped him achieve his breakthrough as a writer , appearing in renowned publishers such as Reclam or Insel : Der Zwerg (1923), Der arme Chatterton (1928) and Etienne and Luise (1929). Penzoldt made friends with Munich writers and literary critics such as Hans Brandenburg , Paul Alverdes , Eugen Roth and Hans Carossa and in 1924 was one of the founding members of the artists' association “The Argonauts”, which soon became a decisive factor in Munich's cultural life. In 1927 Penzoldt was given the opportunity to read in Elsa Bernstein's famous literary salon in front of such illustrious guests as Thomas Mann , who wrote retrospectively about his first meeting with Penzoldt: “[...] with a tactfully muffled voice he read his novella“ Poor Chatterton “Before, and immediately I sensed the charm and rank of his talent, something unmistakably musical, a spirit of gently floating lightness and romantic mockery of the clumsy and ugly hardship of a life unblessed by the graces, including mercy for the offended, cast out and starving a hardened society ... ".

A lawsuit brought by Penzoldt's former gymnastics teacher against the spread of the novella Etienne and Luise , as he believed he was portraying himself and his daughter, made Penzoldt famous throughout the country and led to the novella being banned. In 1929/30 Penzoldt wrote his most successful book, Die Powenzbande , "one of the rare humorous novels that we Germans unfortunately only manage every 50 years" ( Walther Kiaulehn ). This “ picaresque novel ” deals with the philistine bourgeoisie and was not created by chance at the time of the court proceedings. At the same time, Penzoldt worked on various plays, some of which were performed with well-known cast ( Bernhard Minetti , Ida Ehre ). In 1932, the composer Paul Hindemith asked Ernst Penzoldt to write the libretto for a planned “German Volksoper”, which led to intensive cooperation, but ultimately failed due to political upheavals. Also in 1932 was Penzoldt's play So Was Herr Brummell , which is dedicated to the historical figure of the dandy George Bryan Brummell and which premiered with great success at the Burgtheater in Vienna in 1934 , before being staged in 1935 at the Hamburger Schauspielhaus and in 1939 at the Deutsches Theater Berlin .

Although Penzoldt's negative attitude towards National Socialism was known, the novel Kleiner Erdenwurm (“a lovable, in a delightful way out of date book”, Hermann Hesse ) was published in 1934 under the editing of Penzoldt's friend Peter Suhrkamp , the story Idolino in 1935 and the volume Der in 1937 grateful patient whom the censorship welcomes and who sold well.

In spring 1938 Penzoldt was drafted into the Wehrmacht. During this time a number of important texts were written, among which the novella Korporal Mombour , printed in the Neue Rundschau in 1940, deserves special mention. Although this story was read by contemporaries as a "literary nest of resistance" ( Friedrich Luft ), it was distributed in 1943 as a field post edition. In 1944 Penzoldt was finally discharged from the army due to a stomach ache.

After the war, Penzoldt held various official positions: In July 1946 the re-established "Protection Association of German Writers" appointed him to the admission committee (alongside Erich Kästner and others), on April 20, 1948 he became a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts, in their Board of Directors he was elected on June 1st of that year. From November 1949 Penzoldt was General Secretary of the West German section of the PEN Club, since December of the same year, on the initiative of Alfred Döblin , a full member of the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature. In 1950 the film It comes to the cinemas one day after the novella Korporal Mombour shows Maria Schell and Dieter Borsche in the leading roles - “A film that can be counted among the top class” was the conclusion in the press at the time.

In the years after the Second World War, other important texts by Penzoldt appeared, such as the 1954 story Squirrel , according to Thomas Mann a "more poetic conception than the whole ' Krull '", Manfred Hausmann speaks of a "graceful flower in the buttonhole of society". Penzoldt's literary work was honored by the award of two prizes: in 1948 he was awarded the Literature Prize of the City of Munich and in 1954 the Immermann Prize of the City of Düsseldorf .

Until his death on January 27, 1955, Penzoldt repeatedly interfered in public discussion, defending Martin Niemöller , for example , advocating the recognition of exiles and opposing rearmament. Hermann Hesse wrote in a letter of condolence to Penzoldt's widow about his deceased friend: "I saw and loved in him one of the very few living embodiments of the artist, just as our fathers and we, when we were young, thought and wished for him."

Penzoldt's artistic estate is in the Erlangen city archive. Part of his literary estate is in the German Literature Archive in Marbach . Individual pieces of it can be seen in the permanent exhibition in the Museum of Modern Literature in Marbach, especially the manuscript for Die Powenzbande - written on continuous paper and rolled up like ancient papyri.

Commemoration

The Ernst-Penzoldt- Hauptschule in Spardorf (district of Erlangen-Höchstadt ) was named after Ernst Penzoldt in 1977 . The Penzoldtstrasse on Erlanger Burgberg, on the other hand, so named in 1954, is dedicated to Penzoldt's father Franz.

On October 27, 2008, a Penzoldt memorial was inaugurated near the author's birthplace (which had long since been demolished) at the busy crossing Güterbahnhofstrasse / Henkestrasse. It feels life-size of a stainless steel plate is cut, a paper cut -Selbstporträt Penzoldt after which this shows in ajar standing posture while reading.

Film adaptations

In 1950, based on the novel "Korporal Mombour", the film " There comes a day " was made and in 1955 the television adaptation "Squirrel" was released based on a model by Penzoldt.

Penzoldt's novel “Die Powenzbande” was filmed in 1973 by director Michael Braun as a five-part television series for ARD . The actors of the family members included Gustav Knuth , Ruth-Maria Kubitschek , Helga Anders , Michael Ande , Pierre Franckh , Heinz-Werner Kraehkamp , Martin Semmelrogge and Peter Kranz . On October 30, 2007, the television series was released on DVD.

Works (selection)

First editions and collected works

  • The companion. Munich: Heimeran Verlag 1922.
  • Idylls. Munich: Heimeran Verlag 1923.
  • The shadow Amphion. A Franconian idyll. Munich: Heimeran Verlag 1924.
  • The dwarf. Leipzig: Philipp-Reclam-Verlag 1927. (Series: Junge Deutsche.)
  • Poor Chatterton. Story of a child prodigy. Leipzig: Insel Verlag 1928.
  • Etienne and Luise. Leipzig: Philipp Reclam Verlag 1929.
  • The power band. Zoology of a family, presented in a commonly understood way. Berlin: Propylaeen Verlag 1930.
  • The Portuguese battle. Comedy of immortality. Berlin: Propylaeen Verlag 1930.
  • The Portuguese battle. Novellas. Munich: Piper Verlag 1930.
  • That was Mr. Brummel. Chamber play in three acts. Berlin, Arcadia Verlag, (1933).
  • Small earth worm. Romantic narrative. Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag 1934.
  • Idolino. Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag 1935.
  • The grateful patient. Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag 1937.
  • The people from the Mohren pharmacy. Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag 1938 (revised version of the dwarf ).
  • Corporal Mombour. A soldier romance. Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag 1941.
  • Epistles. Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag 1942.
  • The journey to the land of books. Heimeran 1942
  • Consolation. Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag 1946
  • Accesses. Berlin: Suhrkamp Verlag 1947.
  • Causeries. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 1949. (Collected writings in individual volumes, 1).
  • Sweet bitterness. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 1951. (Collected writings in individual volumes, 2).
  • Three novels. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 1952. (Collected writings in individual volumes, 3).
  • Squirrel. Narrative. Berlin and Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 1954.
  • The Lovers and other prose from the estate. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 1958.
  • Dramas. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 1962. (Collected writings in individual volumes, 4.)
  • Play with the scissors. Paper cutouts. Edited by Ulla Penzoldt and Jürgen Sandweg. Frankfurt am Main: Insel Verlag 1988.
  • Anniversary edition for the 100th birthday of Ernst Penzoldt in seven volumes. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag 1992.
  • Summer on Sylt. Declarations of love to an island. Leipzig: Insel Verlag 1992.

Monuments and sculptures

  • gain
    • Bust of Privy Councilor Penzoldt, in the university (1918)
    • War memorial stone 1914-18, at the Onoldenhaus (1921)
    • Bust of August von Platen , in the Platenhäuschen (1926)
  • Munich
    • Bust of Privy Councilor Muncker, in the Philosophical Seminar of the University of Munich (1926)

literature

Web links

Commons : Ernst Penzoldt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Christian Klein: Ernst Penzoldt - Harmony from contradictions. Life and Work (1892-1955). Cologne and Weimar (Böhlau) 2006, p. 176 ff.
  2. ↑ Information about the holdings of the DLA about Ernst Penzoldt.
personal data
SURNAME Penzoldt, Ernst
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fly, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer and visual artist
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH gain
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 1955
Place of death Munich