Barlach in Güstrow
“Barlach in Güstrow” is a novella by the writer Franz Fühmann , first published in 1968 , in which a portrait of the artist Ernst Barlach is drawn. The entire action takes place on one day in 1937 when a work by Barlach, known as Der Schwebende or the Domengel , was removed from the church in Güstrow on the orders of the National Socialist rulers; Barlach's work was considered degenerate art by the Nazis . Fühmann tells of the desperation of Barlach, who himself was a change from the patriotic-ethnic advocate of the First World Warto the voice that accuses and names the human suffering caused by the war, has gone through and now despairs of his home and the nature of the world. Fühman sometimes expresses his own attitudes and thoughts indirectly via the expressionist-emotionally drawn figure Barlach.
background
Ernst Barlach's works were classified as Degenerate Art by the National Socialists and accordingly gradually removed from the German intellectual life of the time; for example, his plays were banned on German theaters. His sculpture Der Schwebende , created in 1927, found its home in Güstrow Cathedral, but was removed and melted down in 1937 at the behest of the rulers at the time. The novel tells the reaction of Barlach to this act, which was adopted and designed by Franz Fühmann. Ernst Barlach, who was denounced by the rulers as an opponent of their worldview and banned from exhibiting, died in 1938. A cast of the floating object survived the war in Cologne; this has been hung in the Antoniterkirche in Cologne since 1952 . In 1953 a copy of this cast was hung up again in Güstrow Cathedral; today Barlach is an important tourist factor for Güstrow; there is a Barlach Museum and Barlach tours.
expenditure
The text was originally written to accompany a Barlach exhibition; At that time it was still called "Ernst Barlach: The Bad Year". As “Barlach in Güstrow” it was then included in the book of stories “King Oedipus” and finally published in 1973 as Reclam volume 487 as a separate text with some photos of Barlach's works.
Web links
Homepage of the Ernst Barlach Foundation in Güstrow