Albert Minder

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Albert Minder (born February 5, 1879 in Walkringen , † July 25, 1965 in Burgdorf BE ) was a Swiss Yenish poet-painter.

Life

Born in 1879 as a descendant of forcibly assimilated travelers, he spent the first years of his life partly in the Grosse Moos , partly in Bern , depending on the work situation of his parents, who tried to earn a living as basket and farmer and finally found a job in Burgdorf in a cigar factory and through the Selling mushrooms and driftwood also generated a modest additional income. His excellent school achievements helped him to get a free place at the Burgdorfer Gymnasium. The desired teaching profession seemed within reach after the Progymnasium. However, the training failed after just fourteen days due to the unaffordable costs for teaching materials and for accommodation at the teachers' seminar. 1901–1902 he attended the Basel School of Applied Arts .

In his earliest years, Minder began to grapple with his own origins. Unlike his father, who tried to break away from his origins, the young Minder stood by his family's history and traced it impressively and without make-up over the years in two books: In the text collection "The Son of the Homeless" and in the book The Korberchronik - From the wandering book of a homeless person, after which Hans Rych designed a multi-part audio sequence for Radio Bern.

From 1926 to 1928, Minder was a city ​​councilor in Burgdorf as a member of the SP .

His involvement with his origins as well as his socio-political commitment can also be seen in artistic work. His painting «Factory Party Evening» from around 1907 is exemplary. This was exhibited in 2006/2007 in the Burgdorf Castle Museum in the special exhibition “12 faces, 12 stories”, which portrayed 11 Burgdorf personalities from the 18th to the 20th century who were culturally, economically, politically or socially committed. In the 2007/08 financial year, the picture was acquired by the Burgdorf knight hall association from the estate of Sergius Golowin .

In the end, however, Minder withdrew from everything in resignation and lived as a much-smiled original in a barrack overflowing with books on the outskirts, occupied with the history and tradition of the travelers, to whose identity he found more and more clearly. When he took his own life on July 25, 1965, completely lonely, his 1,344 books - a special library on the subject of " Children of the Landstrasse ", as it will probably never be available again in this form - went unseen to the antiquarian bookshop.

In 1977 an exhibition on the life and work of Minder was shown in the Burgdorf guesthouse school building. A path is named after him in Burgdorf's Steinhof district.

Works

  • The son of the homeless , Volksverlag, Burgdorf, 1925
  • The Korberchronik - From the traveling book of a homeless person , NSB, Zurich, 1948
  • Contribution to JENISCHE REMINISZENZEN , Eye, 2001, ISBN 3-901735-06-2
  • under the pseudonym Albertus Magnus : Article in the journal Neuer Postillon

Secondary literature

  • Rudolf Roth: On the hundredth birthday of Albert Minder. In: The Burgdorfer Jahrbuch, vol. 46 (1979).
  • Thomas Huonker : Albert Minder (1879-1965) - a family story. In: The Travelers. The Yeniche between Vinschgau, Oberinntal, Graubünden, Swabia and Bavaria. Landeck 2001, pp. 15-17.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Minder, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss Jenic poet-painter
DATE OF BIRTH February 5, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Walk wrestling
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 1965
Place of death Burgdorf BE