Adolf Holst
Adolf Holst (born January 7, 1867 in Branderoda , † January 4, 1945 in Bückeburg ) was a German educator , children's book author and editor.
Life
August Adolf Holst was the second son of August Andreas Jacob Holst and Marie Johanne Wilhelmine Holst, nee. Bötticher, born on January 7th, 1867 in Branderoda. He experienced his first childhood in Branderoda. Holst was first taught by his father, who was pastor in Branderoda from 1863 to 1878. After the subsequent lessons in the preparatory institution in Kösen, he attended the royal state school Pforta in Schulpforte near Naumburg from 1880 and then the Francke Foundations in Halle.
Holst studied philosophy , history , geography and modern languages in Tübingen , Leipzig and Berlin and was awarded a Dr. phil. PhD. He later worked as a private tutor in Westphalia, Rome and Florence and directed private schools in Blankenburg (Harz) and Genoa .
From 1901 to 1913 Holst worked as a prince educator in the Princely House of Schaumburg-Lippe .
In 1903 Holst married the pianist Clara von Cramer (born November 8, 1875), daughter of General Rudolph von Cramer in Blankenburg in the Harz Mountains, in Berlin. The three daughters Ebba, Ingeborg and Cordula emerged from the marriage. Across from the Bethel Hospital near Bielefeld, the Adolf Holst family was required to provide 100 Reichsmarks per month for their terminally ill daughter Ebba . (Federal Archives Berlin)
From 1915 to 1918 he headed the Princely Schaumburg-Lippische court library in Bückeburg.
From 1918 Holst was a freelance writer, wrote numerous children's books and poems and for a long time published Auerbach's children's calendar and the New German Youth Friend .
plant
With over 200 children's picture books, illustrated collections of poetry, amateur games and fairy tales in numerous editions, he is one of the most widely read and best-known children's book authors of the first half of the 20th century.
Adolf Holst's books have appeared in many countries and have been translated into several languages. B. "Grete cooks" in the Netherlands, "The school in the woods" in 1991 in Lithuania, ...
To this day, various reprint editions are printed and sold.
Among his best-known poems are the following
ice skating
today, children let's dare
today the ice will probably be carried,
so go for those who can run,
hat on and ice skate on.
...
In the lake
Today the water is warm,
today it can't hurt.
quickly down to the lake
today we go swimming!
...
Reinhold Krug (1926–1991) composed one of his melodies for the poem Im See . As a summer song, it is considered suitable for children from the age of 5.
Numerous school primers, reading books and song books with his texts appeared in numerous countries over many decades. ( German Empire , Weimar Republic , German Empire , FRG , GDR , Austria, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, ...)
In 1967, 14 of his poems were published in a Zurich reader. In the 1980s, every school starter in the GDR learned texts from Adolf Holst such as B. the poem "Im See" that was to be found in every GDR school primer.
Well known today was once and is sometimes a successful book by Adolf Holst. Oh Tannenbaum! Oh Christmas Tree! (1910), Lirum Larum (1913), Ringel, Ringel range (1928), ...
Numerous sayings, slang phrases in German-speaking countries, are related to Adolf Holst. Komische Käuze (1909), Vom Allerfeinsten (around 1925), Eine Fahrt ins Blaue (1933), When someone goes on a journey ... (1937), ...
Influences, interactions, effects
He often maintained close contacts and intimate friendships over many years with numerous well-known and important people of his time.
From childhood he was friends with Anna Thekla von Weling , who as "Gnädiges Fräulein" founded the first infant care facility in the Querfurt district in Branderoda in 1875. (Local archive Branderoda) Adolf Holst wrote: “The appearance of the“ gracious lady ”was of course a big event for the small village ... We brothers were proud that the“ gracious lady ”was friends with us, went in and out of our house, she said goodbye to mother, played four-handed with father and loved to stroke our boys' hair with her narrow, white hands. And yet, the most appealing and valued thing about her, what impressed us brothers completely, was neither the noble perfume and the exciting rustling of her train, nor the establishment of a toddler school, not even the brilliantly successful event with our first successful actors - no , It was the almost inconceivable, but indisputable fact that she was a writer in the flesh, that she wrote novels that were even printed, some of which we had already read with delight in our "At home" volumes. The fact that we only found out about her writing profession after some time was due to the fact that she did not write under her real name Anna von Weling, but under the code name Hans Tharau . "
With the ingenious doll maker Käthe Kruse , with whom he exchanged humorous letters, he initially maintained formal and later friendly contacts.
Excerpt from a letter from Käthe Kruse to Adolf Holst from 1926: “…. As the mother of seven children, I am also a great friend of your verses, especially those from the picture books that you made together with Kutzer ... I would be happy to meet you personally. ... I was very pleased to have the opportunity to establish personal contact with you ... “- Max Kruse , the youngest son born in 1921, who played a role in all of Käthe Kruse's letters to Adolf Holst, later became one well-known author for children and young people. From him z. B. " Urmel from the ice ".
In the memories of his childhood Max Kruse wrote “... My mother appreciated his poetic fairy tales about the poinsettia and Hans Wundersam, the wandering boy. She liked reading these stories to me; It was really intimate, but my favorite thing was “Fridolin, the Easter Bunny”. I was proud that Adolf Holst was our guest. "
Furthermore, z. For example, the contact between Adolf Holst and the writer and painter Hermann Hesse , who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1946, is documented.
In the Fürstlich Schaumburg-Lippische Hofbibliothek in Bückeburg he got to know, among others, Lulu von Strauss and Torney , journalist and writer Hermann Löns, and the Swiss graphic artist and illustrator of children's books Ernst Kreidolf .
At least 54 illustrators worked with him, often over a long period of time and on various books. ( Ernst Kutzer , Gertrud Caspari , Walther Caspari , Fritz Baumgarten , Else Wenz-Viëtor , Adolf Schmidhammer, Eugen Osswald, Karl Elleder ...)
According to previous research, at least 29 composers composed melodies for a wide variety of texts by Adolf Holst ( Margarete Schweikert , Max Reger , Joseph Haas , Henri Marteau , Martin Frey, Reinhold Krug , Richard Rudolf Klein , Adolf Lohmann , Helmut Richter, Otto Siegl , Karl Hogrebe , Max Engel, ...)
These pieces were set to music on behalf of numerous radio stations. (e.g. broadcast of the GDR, Deutschlandradio, Bayerischer Rundfunk, SWR, NDR, MDR, ...)
Especially as a calendar man, Holst's work is a source of inspiration for countless children, artists, writers, composers, ... Max Kruse has already been mentioned as an example.
Another example is the writer and journalist Ruth Geede , who received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon in 1985 .
Historical honors, culture of remembrance
In 1927, an Adolf Holst linden tree was planted next to the church in his native Branderoda.
In Muecheln took place in 1929, the cornerstone was laid for the elementary school I was later named after him and bears his name today.
A museum also set up in Müelte was destroyed in 1945.
In 1993 a board with the inscription “Sportstätte Dr. Adolf Holst SV Branderoda “inaugurated in Branderoda. An Adolf Holst cone memorial tournament takes place here every year on January 6th.
In Bückeburg there is the Adolf-Holst-Straße.
Remains of his written estate are in the Bückeburg State Archives .
criticism
The literary work of Holst has been assessed very differently by the cultural and literary critics.
Some commentators saw in Holst's literary work "one of the most outstanding representatives of the new youth literature" as well as parallels to Rainer Maria Rilke and / or Hugo von Hofmannsthal . Others only speak of "mediocrity" and often bumpy and "often hackneyed rhyming clichés" with Holst.
Research needs
A detailed, comprehensive, scientific study and publication on the life, work and impact of Adolf Holst is still pending.
Likewise, its importance and classification within the children's and youth literature of his time as well as children's and youth literature to this day cannot yet be precisely assessed, as this has only been rudimentary researched so far.
“Research is required that presents the work of Adolf Holst for children's literature during his lifetime, allows questions about the meaning of the texts for today and does not ignore the darker sides of his biography. .... Thorough research is required in order to be able to make statements about the poet's proximity to National Socialist ideology. Its significance for German children's literature must also be discussed in close collaboration with specialist scientists. " Juliane Stückrad, Office for Applied Cultural Research, Eisenach
Furthermore, so far there have hardly been any comprehensive, scientific studies and publications on his amateur plays, fairy tales and settings, as well as the literary estate as editor (calendar man) of Auerbach's children's calendar and the effect of his works on the artists of his time and on "his calendar children". In this context it would also be interesting to see how his works influenced the early childhood influences of later artists. B. had theater actors, composers and writers.
literature
- Karl Blaume: Adolf Holst. A bibliography of children's picture books and illustrated collections of poetry that contain texts by him. With portrait of the poet. CREATEAM Marketing, Bückeburg 1993, ISBN 3-929288-01-X .
- Cordula Holst, Helga Warschewski: Adolf Holst - Lyrische Impressionen, A declaration of love to Bückeburg and the surrounding area . Schaumburger Druckhaus KG, Bückeburg 2003
- Dr. Juliane Stückrad & Heimatverein Branderoda eV: Adolf Holst - childhood in Branderoda , print management Roberto Ley, Weißenfels OT Uichteritz, Branderoda 2015
Web links
- Literature by and about Adolf Holst in the catalog of the German National Library
- Short biography with picture ( memento from March 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (pdf, 60 kB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Federal Archives Berlin
- ↑ see GDR school primer for school beginners
- ↑ see childhood memories of Adolf Holst in "Adolf Holst - Childhood in Branderoda"
- ↑ see Adolf Holst - Lieder, Reigen, Tänze mit composer list
- ↑ http://mugi.hfmt-hamburg.de/Artikel/Margarete_Schweikert
- ↑ Ruth Geede: When the calendar man came ... - Beloved Auerbach. In: The Ostpreußenblatt. Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen eV, December 1, 2001, accessed on January 28, 2017 (German).
- ↑ compare also press articles on the life and work of Adolf Holst
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Holst, Adolf |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German philologist, editor and children's book author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 7, 1867 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Branderoda |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 4, 1945 |
| Place of death | Buckeburg |