Arthur Koetz

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Arthur Koetz (born March 12, 1896 in Obertiefenbach , † December 9, 1953 in Friedersdorf ) was a German poet and non-fiction author .

Life

Arthur Koetz, born in 1896, came as a child with his parents to the Wolzig district in the Heidesee community in Brandenburg , southeast of Berlin in the Dahme-Spreewald district at the turn of the century . By acquiring his own small garden as part of the parceling out around the city of Berlin, the father aroused his interest in botany. Plants and gardens then became his specialty. Later Koetz maintained a lively correspondence with the well-known flower grower Karl Foerster . While attending a grammar school in Charlottenburg , the Unterprimaner volunteered as a war volunteer in 1914 - like his father - and was seriously injured near Langemarck in the First World War and released from the army after a long hospital stay in the middle of this war. He made up for the Abitur exams and initially studied four semesters in the subjects: philosophy, history, economics and geography. In an academic career advice service, Koetz told the professor who was present that he actually wanted to become a garden designer or perennial grower or something similar.

Nothing came of this career aspiration and he decided to write a doctoral thesis. After his oral exam on February 28, 1923 at the University of Greifswald, Koetz was awarded a Dr. phil. PhD. He wrote his dissertation on the topic: The grave problem in its contemporary history . The literary historian Paul Merker was a reviewer for the inaugural dissertation submitted by Koetz to the Philosophical Faculty under the Dean's office of Johannes Mewaldt .

Koetz worked full-time as a lawyer in Berlin for many years . In his free time he was active as a “gardener and gardener” on his weekend property in Wolzig , when he “inherited his father's little garden” in the early 1930s.

In 1939 the Velhagen & Klasing publishing house published the book In My Father's Garden: A garden book by garden friends and gardeners with 90 drawings by Kurt Gundermann. In 1948 his volume Passions: From Simple Gardens, People, Flowers and Things was published by the Siebeneicher publishing house in Berlin-Charlottenburg.

Arthur Koetz had already started to publish works of fiction at the end of the 1920s . He worked full-time as managing director and then as in-house counsel in Berlin. In 1927 his children's book Engelchen und der kleine Satan: A very serious story in 3 sections was published by FM Gutewort in Dresden. This was followed by the volumes of poetry nevertheless (sonnets) and Der Hochwald (poems) at the beginning of the 1930s. He wrote a poem for the three sculptures by Wilhelm Groß , "Job", "Crucifix" and "The Prophet", in the title of which he explicitly mentioned the first and last name of the artist with his place of residence Oranienburg . According to the foreword, Koetz based the Prussian Book of 1932 on “true events and personal experiences”, as they were at the time as a war volunteer and wounded man during the hospital stay in his home country as well as during the final exams in Berlin (pp. 35-46) and with a Court visit (pp. 13–18) as well as to the Reich Patent Office in Berlin-Kreuzberg (pp. 28–34). He primarily narrated episodes “of little Prussian people of everyday life” and dealt with their “special mental attitude and state of mind” (p. 11).

In addition, his lyric works have also been published as articles in newspapers and magazines. Since May 1946 he wrote articles for the daily newspaper Neue Zeit . It began with a review of a book of poems by Kurt Erich Meurer "Greetings of the Hour", New Poems, published by Herrm Verlag. Meister , Heidelberg 1946. After visiting Berlin exhibitions about Ernst Barlach and Wilhelm Groß, he judged the artists in the CDU newspaper: "... but both are full of humility and are certain of divine grace". In August of the first post-war year he dealt with the glow of the sunflower and initially asked the following questions: Has the people ever given a flower such a true, so clear, so simple and so beautiful name? Isn't it a parable of how the simplest can also be the greatest? Isn't it so often overlooked just because it is so common and fertile, so humble and useful? In conclusion, he said to the readers: Greetings, you strong and coarse, childlike and cheerful, indestructible and solid plants of the earth, you sparkling images of the shining sun, golden standards of bravery, you happy guide of undaunted courage, laughing companions of my confidence - you, my sunflowers! His so-called plant fable The Ear of Corn and the Cabbage was published in 1947 in this CDU daily newspaper. In his newspaper articles Koetz also commented on social problems in the GDR, for example on the bureaucracy in 1953, and conveyed the insight: “The most lively thing about the bureaucracy are the people's jokes about it. The best bureaucracy is - none. "In a farewell word from the culture department, the" exemplary book reviews "and" touching images of nature "by Koetz in Neue Zeit as well as" the incorruptible conscience of an upright man "and the" passionate seriousness of the writer who is aware of his great commitment " appreciated.

Bombed out in Berlin

A bomb attack on Berlin at the end of the Second World War resulted in the loss of Koetz's apartment and all of his property in Niederschönhausen . At the end of the 1930s, the Syndikus moved from the Niederschönhausen Grabbeallee to a "quiet garden street", the then Viktoriastraße, due to the expansion of the family with the birth of daughter "Rose". Above all, he regretted the loss of an old picture Bible from his library, which had been "stolen from the flames". The garden house in Wolzig now became the new home for him, his wife and the three children. "With the patched tires and coats" of his bike he drove "every day" mainly to the Friedersdorf train station on the railway line to Berlin, and he could not protect the bike from breakdowns caused by broken glass. On a Passion Sunday after the end of the war, he drove to Berlin with his son Hartwig to show him his hometown, which was now largely in ruins. In his post-war book "Passionen" Koetz particularly described the ruins of his old Charlottenburg school, a once "mighty red brick building" from which "the small observatory on the shattered rear building high above the roof" survived the war undamaged. In his "Passions" Koetz reflected not least on the Soviet officers and soldiers who stayed temporarily on his property on Heidewg after their invasion of the village of Wolzig and for whom he saw a "flower" from his "little garden" between "the buttons of his uniform "stuck.

Master of the Berlin dialect

Koetz mastered the Berlin dialect , which he came into contact with as a student in the north of Berlin, in the Prenzlauer Berg district . There he had found a part-time job to finance his studies in a small factory and rented a room from a family in the "garden house", whose landlady the local writer set a literary monument in his "Passions". In a verbatim speech, the author wrote down everyday conversations from fellow tenants in the second backyard in Berlinish under the heading "The smell of hay in the backyard".

Final resting place

Arthur Koetz died in 1953 at the age of 57 in the Friedersdorf community in Brandenburg and was buried in the Wolzig cemetery. In a newspaper article in his memory it was said: His work did not remain hidden like that of the editor; it was in the public eye, a public that was often all too loud and agitated, into which Koetz repeatedly called out with his nature chats, stories, poems and aphorisms , reminding people to reflect on the healing powers of the soul and nature, or in which he wrote with his book reviews fought for good German literature committed to tradition.

Works

Single volumes

  • “Angel and little Satan: A very serious story in 3 sections”, (children's book), Verlag FM Gutewort, Dresden, 1927; DNB 576258105
  • “Yet”, (poetry), W. Knapp, Halle (Saale), 1927; DNB 576258091
  • “Der Hochwald”, (poetry), Metropol-Ges. E. Matthes & Co., Berlin, 1931; DNB 574396934
  • "Das kleine Preussenbuch", (non-fiction book), Verlag Wolf Heyer, Berlin a. Leipzig, 1932, DNB 574396942 ; dedicated to the author's father, Ferdinand Koetz, who had died before, a law firm inspector and court clerk from Charlottenburg.
  • "In my father's garden: A garden book by gardening friends and gardeners ...", (non-fiction), with 90 drawings by Kurt Gundermann (1894–1979) Velhagen & Klasing , Bielefeld u. Leipzig, 1939; DNB 574396926
  • "In the hour of the decision: combat u. Disputes to d. Front “, (non-fiction book), Truckenmüller, Stuttgart, 1941; DNB 574396950
  • “Passions: Of simple gardens, people, flowers and things”, (non-fiction book), Siebeneicher, Berlin-Charlottenburg, 1948; DNB 452507847 . This book was published with the printing permit No. 8758 of the American Intelligence Service Control Office and was produced in the "German Central Printing Office Berlin" in the southwest of the four-power city . Koetz dedicated it to his wife Dorothea (Dora), his three children: Christiane (Christa), Hartwig, Rosa and the poet Kurt Erich Meurer , the botanist and horticultural scientist Robert Zander and another "faithful helper in need " in the figurative sense, named Alfred Espig, a Berlin insurance inspector.
  • "The month with a child's heart", Berlin 1952

Editor and specialist author

  • "25 years of the Association of German Roofing felt manufacturers" [1901–1926], Halle an der Saale 1926
When Koetz published the Festschrift, he was managing director of this association under the chairman Alexander Malchow (1862-1943). He worked in several association committees: the Standards, Patent and Customs Committee as well as the Committee for Contracting and the Employers Committee. At the time, the standards committee was chaired by the entrepreneur and treasurer of the association Max Stein (1871–1952), while the patent committee August Wilhelm Andernach , the customs and employers committee Alexander Malchow and the committee for contracting - the Allocation of work and delivery orders through tendering, especially by the public sector - the branch association chairman for Pomerania and Grenzmark , Th. C. Müller, was in charge .
  • "Origin, foundation and history of the Association of German Roofing felt manufacturers" [until 1926]. With the help of his previous historical and economic knowledge and as a contemporary witness in the association of German roofing felt manufacturers, he wrote the historical contribution to the 25th anniversary and published it in the association's commemorative publication in 1926. Before that, at the extraordinary general meeting of the association on November 22nd, 1924 in Berlin, he presented the export difficulties of the roofing felt industry, which were caused by the high foreign tariffs, in a much-noticed lecture .

Newspaper and magazine articles (selection)

  • "Beauty of the Mark" with his poem Birke
  • "Little etiquette for garden lovers"
  • “Aphorisms”, for example: There are people, monsters and sham people. The order in which they are listed carefully reflects the value, worthlessness and danger of these beings. Only if the communities of the world made this knowledge their own and understood how to use it, they could make that use of their dearly bought freedom , which enabled them to realize the idea of ​​God and their own reason of man and humanity .

Book reviews (selection)

After losing his apartment in Berlin due to the war and moving to the Wolziger Garten-Häuschen, Koetz wrote several book reviews that were published in the daily newspaper Neue Zeit :

At the beginning of 1953 Koetz paid tribute to the fresh, phraseless, gripping and exciting description of the story of a high school graduate in the early GDR in the first work of the 22-year-old author

Two days before his death, he attributed the book reviews

Correspondence (selection)

  • Koetz corresponded with the writer Hans Franck . After the publication of an essay by the writer at Pentecost in 1951 in the daily newspaper Neue Zeit under the editorial heading “The office of the Christian poet”, Kroetz commented in a letter from his home in Wolzig on Franck's essay that it was “... the basis for a fruitful discussion between Christian and socialist poets ”would be and also to those who cannot be classified in either of the two categories.
  • On April 21, 1939 Koetz thanked the botanist Robert Zander in handwriting for his advice and at the same time gave him a copy of the first edition of the title In my father's garden , printed and published by Velhagen & Klasing in Bielefeld , "a non-fiction book by gardening friends and Gartenweilern, an apple tree and Hans Hartpeter, the settler, the small and the large GGB, border walls and good neighbors, the magic of catalogs and other malicious and good-natured things, along with other boring and entertaining chapters and many contradictions ".
  • On February 7, 1940, he wrote to the prospective editor for the planned edition "German Spirit in Manuscripts of German People", the prison pastor / pastor Karl Kohl in Bernau am Chiemsee (1889–1971). Koetz's poem "Der Stein .." should be included in this edition together with poems by other authors.

literature

  • Arthur Koetz. In: Jürgen Israel, Peter Walther : Muses and Graces in the Mark: A historical writer lexicon. , Lukas Verlag , 2002, p. 111
  • Kürschner's German Literature Calendar Nekrolog 1936–1970 , Berlin, New York 1973; P. 359 column 1; ISBN 3-11-083056-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German Literature Lexicon ; Bern / Munich 1984, Volume 9, keyword Koetz, Arthur , edited by Reinhard Müller, lic. phil., Bern, ISBN 3-7720-1538-7
  2. ↑ Arthur Koetz. In: Heidesee-Journal.
  3. ↑ "In my father's garden ...", p. 95
  4. ↑ "In my father's garden ...", p. 94
  5. ↑ "The Little Book of Prussia", Berlin a. Leipzig 1932, pp. 49 and 53
  6. ↑ "In my father's garden ...", p. 101
  7. ↑ "In my father's garden ...", p. 100
  8. ↑ Typescript as a microfiche edition in the Berlin State Library
  9. ^ Title page of the print of this inaugural dissertation as an extract, printed with the permission of the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Greifswald [1923]; Microfilming from May 5, 1995 of the copy in the Berlin State Library, formerly the Prussian State Library Berlin
  10. ↑ The occupation "Syndikus" appeared for the first time in the Berlin address book, edition 1929 Part I, by Arthur Koetz, residing in Berlin-Charlottenburg , Charlottenburger Ufer 12
  11. ↑ "In my father's garden ...", p. 102
  12. ^ In the Berlin address book for 1931 the father, Ferdinand Koetz (Kötz), is listed for the last time; Part I, p. 1727, column 2
  13. ↑ Arthur Koetz. In: Gartenwelt, Volume 43. , P. Parey., 1939, p. 300
  14. ^ Berlin address book for 1928; Part I p. 1757 column 4
  15. ^ Berlin address book for 1943; Part IV, p. 2427 Viktoriastraße 3 in Berlin-Niederschönhausen
  16. ↑ Kroetz, Arthur: Der Hochwald , Berlin [1931], p. 17 ff.
  17. ↑ Das kleine Preussenbuch , Berlin a. Leipzig 1932; DNB 574396942;
  18. ↑ Arthur Koetz. In: Richard Elsner The German seal. , West-Ost-Verlag, 1936, p. 5
  19. ^ Neue Zeit , May 19, 1946, p. 3
  20. ^ Neue Zeit , July 5, 1946, p. 2
  21. ^ Neue Zeit , August 10, 1946, p. 2
  22. ^ Neue Zeit , September 13, 1947, p. 3
  23. ↑ Neue Zeit , October 30, 1953, p. 4
  24. ^ Gerhard Rostin in Neue Zeit , December 12, 1953, p. 5
  25. ^ Berlin address book, edition 1939; Part I, p. 1488, column 2
  26. ^ Koetz, Arthur: The fiery tongues and the tower of Babel , in Neue Zeit , May 16, 1948, p. 3
  27. ↑ Neue Zeit , July 11, 1948, p. 4
  28. ↑ Kroetz, Arthur: Passions. Of simple gardens, people, flowers and things , Berlin-Charlottenburg, 1948; P. 25 f.
  29. ↑ Passionen , 1948, p. 111 f .; DNB 452507847
  30. ↑ “Passions: Of Simple Gardens, People, Flowers and Things”, p. 91 ff .; DNB 452507847
  31. ↑ Neue Zeit , July 22, 1955, p. 4
  32. ^ Berlin address book for 1929; Part I, p. 1812, column 3
  33. ↑ DNB 137018428
  34. ↑ Also called by Koetz: "In my father's garden ...", p. 61
  35. ^ Berlin address book, 1943 edition
  36. ↑ OCLC 1076144603
  37. ↑ OCLC 699673406
  38. ↑ Information on the inside title page of the Festschrift
  39. ↑ Berlin address book, edition 1933, part III, under commercial representations: 23. Construction; Digitized Central and State Library Berlin - ZLB, p. 114, column 5
  40. ↑ 25 years of the Association of German Roofing felt manufacturers , p. 167 f.
  41. ↑ Managing Director A. Koetz in: "25 Years of the Association of German Roofing Fibers", Halle (Saale), pp. 53–97
  42. ^ Deutsche Bauzeitung , Volume 58, December 17, 1924, p. 676
  43. ↑ In: The Mark . Illustrated magazine for hiking, local history, art and nature in Brandenburg, publisher and editor: Georg-Eugen Kitzler (1904 to 1931), Verlag Die Mark , 24th year, Berlin 1928, No. 7, p. 79; DNB 014044110
  44. ^ In: Monthly Athena , 1st volume, issue 7/1946/47, pp. 71–72 and 77–79 with drawings by Oleg Zinger
  45. ^ Reprinted after his death in: Neue Zeit , February 20, 1955, p. 3
  46. ↑ DNB 453350178
  47. ^ Neue Zeit , May 19, 1946, p. 3
  48. ↑ DNB 140935584
  49. ↑ DNB 452030013
  50. ^ Neue Zeit , January 11, 1953, p. 3
  51. ↑ DNB 452630045
  52. ↑ DNB 454606117
  53. ↑ DNB 453843328
  54. ^ Neue Zeit , December 17, 1953, p. 4
  55. ↑ Hans Franck's estate; Calliope network
  56. ^ Neue Zeit , June 1, 1951, p. 4
  57. ↑ As much as garden law book based on the abbreviation "BGB" for civil law book
  58. ↑ Dedicated copy - Schudi Collection 45
  59. ↑ DNB 116303530
  60. ^ Letter (s) to Kohl, Karl Deutsches Literaturarchiv Marbach , Archiv; kalliope-verbund.info.
personal data
SURNAME Koetz, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German lyric poet and non-fiction author
DATE OF BIRTH March 12, 1896
PLACE OF BIRTH Obertiefenbach
DATE OF DEATH December 9, 1953
Place of death Friedersdorf