Alexander Würtenberger

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Alexander Würtenberger (born September 19, 1854 in Dettighofen ; † July 5, 1933 there ) was a farmer, gardener and local poet .

Life

Alexander Würtenberger was a son of Franz Joseph Würtenberger . After attending the village school in Dettighofen and Wil , he learned the trade of gardener. Already at the age of 17 he published poems in the local newspaper Alb-Bote , his military service from 1872 to 1874 in the 6th Infantry Regiment 114 in Baden encouraged him to write some snappy poems. After completing his military service, he went on a hike and on September 1, 1881, became a court gardener in Baden-Baden. Old stories from the Upper Rhine appeared in 1880 . He also collected legends and published them in 1881. On September 1, 1892, he was forced to give up his hopeful job to work in his parents' business at home. Wild roses give him the idea of ​​breeding and refining them, which he later expanded into a cultivation area of ​​two hectares, but after 20 years he stopped doing this again. He succeeded in growing a rare black and red rose.

He was the editor of the garden newspaper, which appears fortnightly in Munich, and the gardening calendar, in which he wrote numerous articles. In addition, like his father, he was engaged in geological and prehistoric studies. In addition, he was an expert on antiquity issues and a district councilor, as well as an honorary district curator for architectural monuments in the district of Waldshut, chairman of the agricultural association Jestetten and the beekeeper in Erzingen. On February 11, 1902, he received the Cross of Merit of the Zähringer Lion Order .

In America

When Georg Wittmer, who emigrated from Baltersweil, visited his homeland in 1900 , he helped this compatriot, who had become rich in America through oil discoveries, to build a library, the Wittmer Foundation . He then headed the Volksbildungsverein and the library until 1910 and after his return from America from 1921 to 1933. Lectures were given by well-known people, including Gerhart von Schulze-Gaevernitz , Hans FK Günther , Erich Scheurmann , Ludwig Finckh , Alfred Huggenberger and others . In addition to short stories, he wrote a number of plays of which around 15 were performed from 1884 to 1909.

A reprint of an article by Norbert Jacques entitled The Ideal Village created trouble. Not everyone liked the publications. Contact was made with Konstantin Krowopusko , and Hermine Villinger describes the situation in her novel Die Sterngucker . An offer to manage a rural education home based on the Glarisegg model , the "Interlaken School" of the agricultural machinery manufacturer Advance-Rumely , whose ancestor Edward Rumely , who came from Alsace, was therefore welcome, and in 1910 he traveled to the Wittmers in Michigan . In 1911 his wife and children followed him. The plan failed in 1918 and he bought a piece of land in Texas, near Houston , and built a cotton farm that was completely flooded by the nearby Brazos River in 1913. His wife and daughter and their husband traveled back home. He still wanted to assert recourse and was then initially unable to leave the country due to the start of the First World War. He worked as a consultant in rose, berry and beekeeping and returned in 1920. Here he moved into his retirement home, the Dichterhäusle on the Eichberg , near Eichberg near Dettighofen and dealt with writing and local research and grew roses. His tombstone, a boulder from Kalten Wangen , is in the Wittmer Library today.

The poet's house on the Eichberg

His son-in-law rented the house he built in 1908. First the painter Oskar Schlemmer lived here with his wife for three years , then Mrs. Pa Pape and the poet Willy Schirp with his son. After they moved away, the journalist, music teacher and poet Fritz Detering rented the house in 1939. He brought his family with him and they lived here for many years. One of his sons is the linguist Klaus Detering . When the house was sold, he was unable to make the desired purchase due to the currency reform . After the sale, it was demolished by the second owner in 1954 and replaced by a new building.

Works

  • Old stories from the Upper Rhine, 1880
  • Black Forest sagas and stories, 1881
  • The profitable berry culture, 1891
  • Our native orchids - their culture and use in the garden and as potted plants, 1892
  • The Hengartshof - A Novella, 1911
  • The Elsbeth vom Thurmhof - a story from the time of the Thirty Years War, 1922
  • Poems and Poetry
  • further stories, partly as a manuscript
  • Plays
  • numerous articles in magazines

family

Heinrich Würtenberger was married and had three children. His brothers were Heinrich Würtenberger , local poet and rose breeder, and the geologist Leopold Würtenberger .

literature

  • Hubert Matt-Willmatt and Klaus Isele , Die Würtenberger. Three poets from the Klettgau ; 1986, ISBN 3-925016-16-3
  • Hubert Matt-Willmatt, Dettighofen , 1992

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hubert Matt-Willmatt, in: Die Würtenberger. Three poets from the Klettgau ; 1986, p. 10 ff.
  2. ^ Fritz Detering: The “Dichterhäusle” on the Eichberg , Edition Isele , 1988. ISBN 3-925016-38-4
personal data
SURNAME Würtenberger, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Württenberger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German homeland poet
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1854
PLACE OF BIRTH Dettighofen
DATE OF DEATH July 5, 1933
Place of death Dettighofen