Alfred E. Johann

AE Johann (born September 3, 1901 as Alfred Ernst Johann Wollschläger in Bromberg ; † October 8, 1996 in Dedelstorf ; other pseudonyms: Alfred Ernst Johann, Carl Matthias Fischer) was a German journalist and writer .

Life

AE Johann was the son of a postal worker. He grew up in Preussisch-Friedland and attended the Realgymnasium in Bromberg , where he graduated from high school in 1918 . From 1919 to 1922 studied it theology , geography and sociology at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Berlin ; During this time he earned his living working as a factory and agricultural worker . From 1922 he completed an apprenticeship at the Prussian State Bank ; he then worked as an auditor until 1926 .

In 1927 AE Johann gave up his job. He made contacts with the editor-in-chief of the “ Vossische Zeitung ” and received the order from Ullstein-Verlag to deliver reports on a planned trip to America. Johann traveled to western Canada , where he a. a. as a lumberjack , sawmill and harvest worker. After his return to Germany in 1928, his articles, which appeared in the “Vossische Zeitung”, formed the basis for his book debut “With twenty dollars in the wild west”, of which more than 150,000 copies were sold. In the following years Johann undertook extensive trips through Asia , America , Australia and Africa as a correspondent for the Ullstein publishing house , about which he reported in newspaper articles and books. At times he was also editor-in-chief of the magazine " Koralle ".

During the Second World War , AE Johann worked as a war correspondent . In his review of Johns Steinbeck's novel Fruits of Wrath in the Zeitschrift für Geopeopolitics (1943) he interprets it as evidence of the superiority of the fascist worldview and politics over those of the USA and USSR. In June 1945 he was taken prisoner by the Americans , from which he was released in September. From 1948 to 1978 he lived in Groß Oesingen in Lower Saxony and from 1978 in Oerrel ( Lüneburg Heath ). In Berlin he also had an apartment in Charlottenburg at Halmstrasse 10 from 1963 to 1977. From 1949 he began to publish books again, and from the 1950s he started traveling overseas again. AE Johann was married three times; the first marriage resulted in a daughter.

AE Johann was the author of numerous travel reports and historical novels , which were distributed in large editions (according to the author, the total edition of his works was approx. 20 million copies). Johann was particularly fond of Canada , a country that he was familiar with from numerous trips. In 1969 the Landsmannschaft West Prussia awarded him the Marienburg Prize . In the Soviet zone and the early GDR , six of his works were on the " List of literature to be sorted out ".

Works

• With twenty dollars in the wild west , Berlin 1928.
• The inner coolness , Berlin 1929 (this book was banned in the Third Reich).
• 40,000 kilometers! , Berlin 1929.
• The imperfect adventurer , Berlin 1930.
• America. Downfall in abundance , Berlin 1932.
• Kangaroos, copra and corals , Berlin 1936.
• Coolies, captains and headhunters , Berlin 1936.
• Generals, geishas and poems , Berlin 1937.
• Fur hunters, prairies and presidents , Berlin 1937.
• Africa is big , Berlin 1939.
• Between the Siegfried Line and the Maginot Line , Berlin 1939.
• Death in the Bush , Berlin 1940.
• Im Strom , Berlin 1942.
• The land without a heart , Berlin 1942.
• The maple leaf , Berlin 1944.
• as Carl Matthias Fischer (pseudonym): Die Wildnis , Celle 1949.
• Snow storm, homesickness and nocturnal bamboo , C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Gütersloh 1950.
• as Carl Matthias Fischer (pseudonym): Zwischen den Ufern , Gütersloh 1950.
• The man who gave his word , Gütersloh 1951.
• Steppenwind , Gütersloh 1951.
• White Sun , Gütersloh 1951.
• The herd rages , Gütersloh 1952.
• Diana im Dornbusch , Gütersloh 1953.
• Home of the rainbow , Gütersloh 1953.
• The revenge of the red spears , Gütersloh 1953.
• Great trip around the world with AE Johann , Gütersloh 1955.
• Son of Stars and Streams , Gütersloh 1955.
• Big is Africa , Gütersloh 1957. New and expanded edition.
• Where the earth rolls to , Gütersloh 1959.
• Where I found the earth to be most beautiful , Gütersloh 1960.
• À la Indonesia , Gütersloh 1961.
• The wonderful world of the Malays , Gütersloh 1962.
• At the edge of the wind , Gütersloh 1963.
• Paradise is everywhere , Gütersloh 1963.
• The fisherman who stabbed the sea , Gütersloh 1964.
• Profit and Loss , Gütersloh 1964.
• The big dream America , Hamburg 1965.
• The world as a unit , Braunschweig 1965.
• Gold at Porcupine , Wuppertal 1966.
• America is worth a trip , Gütersloh 1967.
• Adventure from afar , Cologne 1968.
• One should travel to Canada , Gütersloh 1968.
• The big book of the earth , Gütersloh 1969.
• The swing of the seven decades , Gütersloh

1. In the stream , 1969.
2. The maple leaf , 1970.
3. From the thorn bush , 1972.

• World tour on the trail of unrest , Gütersloh 1970.
• A dreamland: British Columbia , Gütersloh u. a. 1971.
• People on my ways , Munich a. a. 1973.
• Elefanten, Elefanten , Munich a. a. 1974.
• To the dark shore , Munich a. a. 1975.
• Colored world tour , Munich a. a. 1976.
• Forests beyond the woods , Munich 1976.
• At the end a beginning , Munich 1978.
• Behind the mountains the sea , Munich 1979.
• America: the unlimited dream , Munich a. a. 1980.
• The people of Babentin , Munich 1980.
• Westward to Oregon , Munich 1980.
• Until the end of eternity , Bayreuth 1981.
• The house on Lake Huron , Munich 1981.
• The happiness of traveling , Munich a. a. 1982.
• From the Yukon to the Rio Grande , Munich 1982.
• Canada's Far East , Munich 1983.
• with Elke Emshoff: Adventure Canada: The National Parks Banff and Jasper , Gronau / Leine 1984.
• Eva's Wilderness , Bayreuth 1984.
• Southwest , Munich a. a. 1984.
• Behind American curtains , Munich 1985.
• with Claus Miliz: Trans-Canada , Munich 1986.
• But the wilderness is silent , Munich a. a. 1986.
• You cannot escape yourself , Munich u. a. 1987.
• Longing for Dobrinka , Munich 1988.
• Under strange stars , Munich 1988.
• This wild century , Munich 1989.
• Canadas Northern Route , Munich 1990.
• The world was beautiful , Munich 1992.
• Who affirms love , Augsburg 2003.

Translations

• Gwen Bristow : The noble street , Celle 1950 (translated under the pseudonym Carl Matthias Fischer).
• Hendrik Willem van Loon : You and the Earth , Berlin 1932.
• Bryan MacMahon : Children of Dawn , Gütersloh 1954.

literature

• Volker Bendig: AE Johann at Ullstein and in the German publishing house. The America picture of a publicist and travel writer in the Weimar Republic and in the "Third Reich" . In: David Oels, Ute Schneider (ed.): " The whole publishing house is simply a candy dish". Ullstein in the first half of the 20th century. De Gruyter, Berlin 2015 ISBN 978-3-11-033721-1 pp. 239-256
• AE Johann , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 04/1997 from January 13, 1997, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Web links

• Pages about AE Johann
• Full text of Das Land ohne Herz
• Literature by and about Alfred E. Johann in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Alfred E. Johann  in the German Digital Library