Arnold Ulitz

Arnold Ulitz

Arnold Ulitz (born April 11, 1888 in Breslau ; † January 12, 1971 in Tettnang ) was a German teacher and writer .

Life

The son of an official of the Prussian state railway grew up together with his brothers Otto and Georg in Katowice . In addition to his professional activities, he wrote as a teacher in Breslau (1913-1933) some historical novels and short stories and poems.

After his debut novel with Ararat (1920), he was considered a great narrative talent, and some counted him among the late Expressionists because of his formal language . At the end of the twenties, his novellas were in anthologies on a par with Alfred Döblin , Hermann Hesse , Heinrich Mann , Robert Musil , Jakob Wassermann , Franz Werfel and Stefan Zweig .

He also wrote the script for his film The Prodigal Son together with Luis Trenker (theatrical release September 6, 1934; director: Luis Trenker; actors: Luis Trenker, Bertl Schultes , Eduard Köck , Maria Andergast , Marian Marsh ).

Since it according to his own war experiences in the First World War, spoke in his novels against the war, his work has been Ararat , where he quite freely to the biblical motifs of the deluge served, Worbs and Testament of the Nazi regime in 1933 on the list of burning books set. On the other hand, nationalist , wrote of him after the First World War " blood and soil " narratives in the Second World War by official German soldiers to propaganda - sent and war exercise purposes in the field. Only after 1939 did he publish two novels, The wonderful summer and The great Janja , and a short story, Die Reise nach Kunzendorf , in which one could speak of clearer concessions to National Socialism , whereby he also used an "avoidance strategy" using historical material. On the other hand, Die Reise nach Kunzendorf was published in 1944 in the soldiers' library of the High Command of the Wehrmacht .

In February 1945 the Ulitz family fled from Breslau to Tettnang, the home of Arnold Ulitz's mother. Ulitz's statement that during the National Socialist era he was “no longer bearable for difficult years” must therefore be viewed in retrospect as an attempt to “whitewash”. After the war, his literary productivity was reduced to the level of a Silesian homeland poet arrested in the cultural scene of those who had been expelled from the homeland , although until 1938, in his most successful literary phase, he took a critical position with the experience of being “unhoused” in connection with the utopia of a peaceful human idyll would have. Outside of this culture it was hardly received. August Scholtis found clear words about Ulitz's behavior in a letter to Karl Schodrok in 1952 : “Ulitz is well known that he has suffered a complete bankruptcy in his literary position. He took refuge in the Silesian region, a way out that is no excuse ”. Scholtis himself, on the other hand, processed his own opportunism openly in literary terms, while Ulitz either turned to harmless parables such as For example, in the story Das Teufelsrad (The Devil's Wheel) , Silesians who were served or driven out of the country were obviously intent on using self-critical words about their own role in the Third Reich .

In Tettnang Ulitz took an active part in the cultural activities of the expellees, was a co-founder of the Wangener Kreis and a member of the Esslingen Artists' Guild.

Honors

In 1953 he was awarded the siling ring. In 1962, together with Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ferche , the church historian Joachim Konrad and the writer Friedrich Bischoff, he was awarded the Silesian Shield , the highest award of the Silesian Landsmannschaft , which was awarded for the first time in 1961. In 1963 he received the Silesian Literature Prize, in 1967 the Andreas Gryphius Prize .

Works (selection)

• The forgotten apartment , novellas, Verlag A. Langen, Munich
• Die Narrenkarosse , novellas, Verlag A. Langen, Munich
• The poor and the adventure , poems, Verlag A. Langen, Munich
• Ararat , Roman, Verlag A. Langen, Munich 1920
• The she-bear. Novel. Albert Langen, Munich 1922
• Das Testament , Roman, Verlag A. Langen, Munich 1924
• Worbs , Roman, Propylaen-Verlag, Berlin 1930
• Conqueror , Roman, Verlag Keil, Berlin 1934
• The Juggler of London , novel, Korn Verlag, Breslau 1938
• The bride of the famous , novel, Propylaen-Verlag, Berlin 1942
• Rübezahl is looking for people . (Short stories), 1948
• Bittersweet bagatelles . (Short stories), 1948
• The devil's wheel . (Stories) Laupheim Castle 1949.
• The last man . (Serialized novel), 1952
• Novellas . Selected by Angelika Spindler, with a foreword by Egbert-Hans Müller. Ed .: City of Tettnang, Bergstadtverlag Korn, Würzburg 1988
• The bastard . Ullstein, Berlin 1927

literature

• Marjatta Heiniemi: About names in the novel Ararat by Arnold Ulitz , Master's thesis, German Institute of the University of Helsinki, 1965
• Siegfried Haertel: Arnold Ulitz - teacher and poet , Verlag Zimnoch, Bonn 1977
• Oskar Pusch : Arnold Ulitz - His work as a poet and his personality , Ed .: Association of Displaced People , Bonn 1981
• Robert Rduch: Polish motifs in the work of Arnold Ulitz . In: Robert Buczek (ed.): Texts in Contexts (Germanistyka 3), Oficyna Wydawnicza Universytetu Zielonogórskiego, Zielona Góra 2004
• Robert Rduch: Homelessness and Home. The literary work of Arnold Ulitz (1888–1971) . Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / New York 2009.
• Volker Weidermann: The book of burned books . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2008. (Keyword "Arnold Ulitz")

Web links

• Literature by and about Arnold Ulitz in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature list in the online catalog of the Berlin State Library
• Ulitz, Arnold . In: East German Biography (Kulturportal West-Ost)
• Arnold Ulitz denazification files as a digital reproduction in the online offer of the Sigmaringen State Archives
• Arnold Ulitz in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sabina Becker: New Objectivity . Vol. 2. Sources and documents, Böhlau Verlag, Cologne et al. 2000, p. 74.
2. ↑ Hans Martin Èlster: The German novella of the present. German Book Association, Berlin oj
3. ^ German narrators of the present . Vol. 2, Volksverband der Bücherfreunde / Wegweiser Verlag, Berlin undated
4. ^ Paul Goetsch: Functions of the flood story in modern German literature . In: Franz H. Link: Paradeigmata: literary typology of the Old Testament . Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1989, pp. 692f.
5. ↑ Robert Rduch: ... for us all roads lead to Silesia. Arnold Ulitz as a Silesian author . In: Edward Białek, Paweł Zimniak (ed.): Silesia in litteris servata: Paradigms of Memory in Texts by Silesian Authors after 1945, Volume 1 . Dresden 2009, p. 57.
6. ^ Gerhard Sauder: The burning of books . Hanser Verlag, Munich 1983, pp. 122-126.
7. ↑ Robert Rduch: ... for us all roads lead to Silesia. Arnold Ulitz as a Silesian author . In: Edward Białek, Paweł Zimniak (ed.): Silesia in litteris servata: Paradigms of Memory in Texts by Silesian Authors after 1945, Volume 1 . Dresden 2009, p. 58.
8. ^ Arnold Ulitz: Two hometowns . In: Herbert Hupka : Leben in Schlesien , Munich 1962, pp. 43–55, here, p. 52
9. ^ Robert Rduch: Unhousing and home. The literary work of Arnold Ulitz (1888–1971) . Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main / New York 2009, p. 287 ff.
10. ↑ August Scholtis: Letters. Part 1. 1945–1957 . Berlin 1991, p. 195.
11. ^ Marek Zybura : August Scholtis 1901-1969. Studies of life, work and impact . Paderborn, pp. 117-119.
12. ↑ Robert Rduch: ... for us all roads lead to Silesia. Arnold Ulitz as a Silesian author . In: Edward Białek, Paweł Zimniak (ed.): Silesia in litteris servata: Paradigms of Memory in Texts by Silesian Authors after 1945, Volume 1 . Dresden 2009, p. 59f.