Alexander home citizen

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Alexander Heimbürger in 1846
New York 1847. Citizen's portrait on the obverse of the Farewell Medal by sculptor Charles Cushing Wright.
New York 1847. The farewell dedication of the friends of Mr. Alexander on the reverse of this medal.

Johann Friedrich Alexander Heimbürger (born December 4, 1819 in Münster ; † July 25, 1909 there ) was a German magician .

Live and act

youth

Heimbürger, son of a government messenger, had an interest in mechanics and physical experiments from a young age. When he was 16 years old, the Viennese magician Ludwig Döbler gave a guest performance in the city ​​theater in Münster . Impressed by the performances, residents decided to become a magician themselves. After obtaining relevant literature on sorcery, he began to experiment and learned magic tricks with card games.

Heimbürger began his career with an apprenticeship in a lithographic institute, completed an internship with a district administrator in 1835 and then became secretary to a lawyer. In 1839, a meeting with the stall magician Friedrich Becker ensured that he applied to be his assistant. He then gave up his job as secretary to follow Becker to Leipzig , Rostock and Copenhagen . In keeping with the style of the time, devices were presented in show booths that enabled water features and ghostly apparitions, including using the magic lantern . After only a few months he joined the Polish showman Kalewsky in the summer of 1840, and a short time later a Russian artist family. He made his debut in Hanover under the name "Herr Alexander".

First successes in Northern Germany

In Hamburg he succeeded in inspiring an editor for Thalia magazine , who reported on the amazing, but so far financially unsuccessful artist. Thereupon the millionaire Salomon Heine engaged him for a soiree , where home citizens among other things let a missing playing card appear folded in Heine's pocket watch. This was followed by many private appearances for the Hamburg high society, who came together after six months for an elaborately decorated farewell performance. Heimbürger had invested all of his income in the new program. His tour through northern Germany initially met with moderate response, but he was able to attract attention through provoked controversies such as an apparently misappropriated pocket watch that was found in the house of a mayor. His repertoire now also included catching a bullet and lighting 200 candles with a pistol shot.

At the age of 23 he returned to his hometown with two servants and performed there several times in the city ​​theater .

Rise and world fame in America

On November 20, 1843 Heimbürger traveled to North America at the age of only 24 accompanied by his then 14-year-old brother August. There he made his first appearances in Niblo's Garden in New York , which were marked by failures due to language problems, among other things. In the first few weeks he therefore needed an interpreter or performed as a Chinese. Within three months he rose to be a celebrated artist and gave over 60 performances in New York alone. Then Heimbürger completed a tour of the United States and Canada . As the first magician ever, he appeared in the White House in front of then President James K. Polk .

With a letter of recommendation from the President of the United States, Heimberger boarded a warship at the end of 1847 and traveled to Havana , Cuba . Further appearances followed in Mexico , Guatemala , Panama , Argentina , Chile and Brazil . In Brazil he appeared several times before the then emperor Pedro II .

At the same time, home citizens experimented with electricity and perfected their program with increasingly spectacular performances. The "Miracle of Hindustan or The Child Floating in the Air" presented by him was the first floating demonstration shown worldwide. The other items on the program, such as the “creation of a beautiful little girl from an egg”, the “appearance of water bowls and flowers out of nowhere” or “the ghost bell” made home citizens known all over the American continent. His legendary reputation at the time ensured that he was mentioned in Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby Dick :

"Go and gaze upon the iron emblematical harpoons round yonder lofty mansion, and your question will be answered. Yes; All these brave houses and flowery gardens came from the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans. One and all, they were harpooned and dragged up hither from the bottom of the sea. Can Mr. Alexander perform a feat like that? "

- Herman Melville : Moby Dick , chapter 6

However, the climate in Central and South America was a problem for home citizens. He fell ill several times, including yellow fever . After ten years he left the American continent and returned to his hometown of Münster on September 25, 1853 as a rich and famous man. At that time he called himself "Alexander the conjurer" (Alexander the magician).

retirement

At the age of 35, Heimbürger had already earned so much money that he was able to retire in Münster in 1854. Since then, he has only performed for charity purposes. He then bought the house at Krummen Timpen 16 . In 1857 he married Anna Schalle. After her early death, Heimbürger remarried in 1861, this time Elisabeth Vogelsang. He had a total of ten children with both women. In public life, Heimbürger was a member of the civil club and organized festivals and performances. Still in poor health, in 1878 he brought a wound and laxative called “H. Bürgers Digestiv-Salz ”, which was sold until the 1950s.

In 1877 Pedro II of Brazil visited Münster especially because of Heimbürger and both talked about Heimbürger's appearances before the Emperor in 1852. In 1892 he wrote his memoirs about his time in Northern Germany. The actually planned second part about his time in America no longer followed. In 1900 Heimbürger published "The Magic Book".

When Houdini made a career in Germany, he traveled to Münster on March 17, 1903, to pay homage to the legendary home citizen. In 1905 Houdini visited Alexander Heimbürger again on the way to London and reported on it in his “Conjurer's Monthly Magazine”.

After Heimbürger hardly ever left the house for the last 20 years of his life, he died on July 25, 1909 at the age of 89. His grave is in the central cemetery in Münster .

Since the beginning of 2020, the transcribed diaries of Alexander Heimbürger have been published in loose succession, written by Prof. Dr. Günther Harsch and published by Magische Welt .

Reception in literature and theater

In 2009, the Münster City Museum dedicated an exhibition to the magician on the 100th anniversary of his death. In 2011, the musical theater piece for children “The magical world of Mr Alexander” was created, which premiered at the European Classic Festival Ruhr and has since been performed nationwide. The piece was written and produced by the Berlin actor Frank Dukowski and the Pindakaas Saxophone Quartet . The focus is on the life of Alexander Heimbürger and his journey through America. Bart Hogenboom directed the film.

Publications

The diaries

  • Alexander Heimbürger: Mein Tagebuch, Volume 1, March 13, 1840 to October 28, 1841, 88 pages, ISBN 978-3-947289-33-2
  • Alexander Heimbürger: Mein Tagebuch, Volume 2, October 7, 1841 to August 4, 1845, 68 pages, ISBN 978-3-947289-40-0
  • Alexander Heimbürger: My Diary, Volume 3, October 1845 to October 13, 1849, 132 pages, ISBN 978-3-947289-41-7

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Magician Alexander Heimbürger from Münster
  2. ↑ Münster's David Copperfield - Westfälische Nachrichten of July 27, 2009
  3. ^ Conjurers' Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 2, October 15, 1906, page 41
personal data
SURNAME Home citizen, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Heimbürger, Johann Friedrich Alexander (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German magician
DATE OF BIRTH December 4, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Muenster
DATE OF DEATH July 25, 1909
Place of death Muenster