August Otto-Walster

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August Otto-Walster

Carl Gottlob August Otto-Walster (born November 5, 1834 in Dresden , † March 20, 1898 in Waldheim ) was a German journalist , writer and politician . He published some of his works under the pseudonyms Dr. Theodor Poison Schnabel or Dr. Holofernes honeybeak .

life and work

August Otto-Walster was the son of a leather dealer. After studying political science , history and philosophy at the University of Leipzig , he left the university in 1859 without a degree and then worked briefly as a teacher at a commercial school in Braunschweig . Between 1859 and 1866 Otto-Walster worked as a freelance writer and journalist in Leipzig , Dresden and Wiesbaden . In 1866 he joined the General German Workers' Association and appeared as its main speaker at the party meeting in Braunschweig that same year. For his pamphlet “An Easter greeting to the German workers” he was regarded by the state authorities as a “Greater German Liberal” and was then taken into Prussian military custody. In Braunschweig he lived at Leopoldstrasse 23 for a long time . He worked closely with the Braunschweig social democrat Wilhelm Bracke as a journalist . Between 1867 and 1876 Otto-Walster worked politically in Dresden and in 1871 introduced the young Max Kegel to journalism. On April 2, 1871, he founded the Dresdner Volksbote . New prison sentences followed. Together with August Bebel , Wilhelm Liebknecht and Wilhelm Bracke, August Otto-Walster was one of the founding members of the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) in Eisenach in 1869 . In 1875 he also worked in Gotha on the so-called unification congress between Lassalleans and Eisenachers . After serving 25 prison sentences for his political, journalistic and agitational activities, Otto-Walster went to the USA in 1876 ​​because of the socialist laws in the German Reich , where he again worked as a journalist. He took part as a delegate at the Congress of the International Labor Association in Philadelphia in 1876. In Chicago , Cincinnati , New York and St. Louis he supported the local labor movement . He only returned to Germany in 1890, after the socialist laws were repealed. In Chemnitz he worked for a short time as editor of the "Presse". After his return, Otto-Walster was only active in literature due to his alcohol addiction and political isolation and lived in miserable circumstances in Sebnitz . He died in the Waldheim penitentiary under unexplained circumstances .

Literary work

Brunswick Days of 1874.

In addition to his journalistic and political work, August Otto-Walster also appeared as the author of various novels , in whose plot he incorporated socio-political and socialist ideas. His two most important literary works were published by Wilhelm Bracke in 1873 and 1874 by Braunschweiger Verlag. In 1873 first the three-volume "social-political novel" Am Loom der Zeit. Social-political novel in three volumes , which had twelve new editions by 1893. The author describes in a time-critical - utopian form a successful popular uprising with the aim of founding a free people's state . The following year, Wilhelm-Bracke-Verlag also published his second successful work, the historical novel Braunschweiger Tage , which was reprinted in 1902 under the title A Hero of the Spirit and the Sword. Historical novel from the times of the German Hansabund. has been published. This time the author describes a true incident from the history of the city of Braunschweig : In 1615 the city was besieged for months by Guelph troops under Duke Friedrich Ulrich von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel . The protagonist of the plot is Thomas Fillier , who not only succeeds in repelling the attackers through his efforts, but also acts as a democratic savior of the population.

Works (selection)

  • Tartuffe. Fun game in 5 acts by J. Poquelin de Molière . Transferred to German iambs by Aug. Otto-Walster . Voigt & Günther, Leipzig 1858
  • An Easter greeting to the German workers . Self-published, Leipzig 1866 digitized
  • The Braunschweiger Tageblatt's love of truth and my effectiveness in Nassau. A pamphlet for defense against defamation . Graff in commission, Braunschweig 1866
  • Minutes of the negotiations of the General German Social Democratic Workers' Congress in Eisenach on August 7, 8 and 9, 1869. Taken down in shorthand by H. Roller. Edit. And red. from the editor. of the Dr. Walster . Thiele, Leipzig 1869 (Reprint Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1989)
  • Protection of the worker in the international workers' trade union. A reminder to all German workers . Self-published, Dresden 1870 digitized
  • The Red Ghost and The Caesars. A poem of time. Dedicated to the brave freedom fighter Johann Philipp Becker in Geneva . 2nd edition, self-published, Dresden after 1870
  • At the loom of time. Social-political novel in 3 books . Wilhelm Bracke jun., Braunschweig 1873 volume 1 digitized version (reprint: Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1990 ISBN 3-631-41795-0 )
  • A hero of the spirit and sword. Braunschweig days . Wilhelm Bracke jun., Braunschweig 1874
  • All kinds of proletarians: a house story / by A. Otto-Walster Leipzig: Verl. Der Genossenschaftsbuchdr., 1874 129 pp.
  • A medieval international. Historical novella . Wilhelm Bracke jun., Braunschweig 1875 digitized
  • Rienzi . Historical tragedy in 5 acts . Publishing house of the cooperative book printing company, Leipzig 1875
  • Sick hearts. Two novels . 2. reworked. Edition Wilhelm Bracke jun., Braunschweig 1876

Stories written in exile

  • American businessmen 1877
  • German tramps in America 1879

literature

  • Henning Meier: A workers leader and writer. "Dr. A. Otto-Walster from Dresden, now in Braunschweig, Leopoldstrasse 23". In: Herbert Blume and Eberhard Rohse (eds.): Literature in Braunschweig between the pre-March period and the early days. Contributions to the colloquium of the Braunschweig Literary Association from May 22 to 24, 1992. In: Braunschweiger Werkstücke , series A, publications from the city archive and the city library, vol. 33, the entire series vol. 84. Braunschweig 1993, p. 231– 253 ISBN 978-387884037-4 .
  • Georg Eckert : 100 years of social democracy in Braunschweig, Part I: From the beginnings to the year 1890. , Verlag JHW Dietz Nachf. GmbH, Hanover 1965.
  • Wolfgang Friedrich (Ed.): August Otto-Walster. Life and work. A selection with unpublished letters to Karl Marx . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1966 ( text editions on early socialist literature in Germany 7).
  • Otto-Walster, August . In: Lexicon of socialist German writers. from the beginnings to 1945. monographic-biographical presentations . Leipzig 1964, pp. 390-393.
  • Klaus Mathes: August Otto-Walster: writers and politicians in the German labor movement: studies on narrative work 1864–1876 , Peter Lang Frankfurt / M., Bern, New York, Paris 1987, ISBN 978-3-8204-1036-5 .
  • NN: The brave fighters for the whole of Germany's unity and freedom. the steadfast contender for law and justice, Dr. A. Otto-Walster and Mr. Wilhelm Bracke jun., Dedicated by the workers of Braunschweig . Braunschweig 1865.
  • Herbert Reinelt: Otto (-Walster), August . In: History of the German labor movement. Biographical Lexicon . Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1970, pp. 360–361.
  • Eberhard Rohse : Otto-Walster, August. In: Manfred Garzmann , Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (Hrsg.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon . Supplementary volume. Joh. Heinr. Meyer Verlag, Braunschweig 1996, ISBN 3-926701-30-7 , p. 101 .
  • Eberhard Rohse: Otto-Walster, August In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 455 .
  • Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (Hrsg.): Braunschweig in forgotten novels and stories. An anthology. Compiled and commented by Dietrich Voit. In: Braunschweig City Archives and City Library. Kleine Schriften 27, Braunschweig 1995.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Eberhard Rohse: August Otto-Walster , In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches biographisches Lexikon. 19th and 20th centuries. , P. 455
  2. ↑ a b c d Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (Hrsg.): Braunschweig in forgotten novels and stories. An anthology. , P. 80
  3. ↑ Georg Eckert: 100 Years of Social Democracy in Braunschweig, Part I: From the Beginning to the Year 1890. , P. 71
  4. ↑ Eberhard Rohse: August Otto-Walster , In: Garzmann, Schuegraf, Pingel (ed.): Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon - supplementary volume , p. 101
  5. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf (Ed.): Braunschweig in forgotten novels and stories. An anthology. , Pp. 18-21
  6. ↑ with bibliography p. 390 f.
personal data
SURNAME Otto-Walster, August
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Otto-Walster, Carl Gottlob August (full name); Walster, Carl Gottlob August (maiden name); Poison Beak, Dr. Theodor (pseudonym); Honeybeak, Dr. Holofernes (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician, journalist and writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 5, 1834
PLACE OF BIRTH Dresden
DATE OF DEATH March 20, 1898
Place of death Waldheim