Bernhard Zeller

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Bernhard Zeller (born September 19, 1919 in Dettenhausen near Tübingen , † September 7, 2008 in Ludwigsburg ) was a German literary historian and archivist . As founding director, he ran the German Literature Archive in Marbach from 1956 to 1985 and made it an internationally respected institution.

Life and achievement

Bernhard Zeller grew up in his parents' Protestant parsonage and attended the Eberhard-Ludwigs-Gymnasium in Stuttgart until he graduated from high school . He then studied history , German and Latin at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen . In the winter semester of 1942/1943 he became a member of the Tübingen fraternity Derendingia . After the state examination and doctorate at the Lindau Heilig-Geist-Spital (1948), he initially worked in school.

In 1953 Zeller became archivist of the Schiller National Museum and in 1955 its director. Together with the then President of the German Schiller Society, Wilhelm Hoffmann , he developed plans to expand the Schiller National Museum into a German literary archive . In 1956 the German Literature Archive was officially founded and Zeller also became its director.

Thanks to his numerous contacts, Zeller was able to acquire many other manuscripts from Franz Kafka , Carl Zuckmayer and Joseph Roth for the archive . The small archive as an appendage to the Schiller National Museum was transformed under his direction into an internationally known and recognized research center for German-language literature, which not only attracted German scholars but also former writers in exile such as Eduard Berend , Max Brod , Kurt Pinthus and Max Zweig . Ninon Hesse brought the entire estate of Hermann Hesse to Marbach.

In addition to his successful work as an acquirer of donations and manuscripts and as a collector of pre- and bequests , Zeller was also the author of numerous books and author of afterwords and forewords as editor. In addition, he was significantly involved in several editions of works from the collections of the archive, for example as co-editor of the historical-critical complete edition of the works of Eduard Mörike and the collected works of Wilhelm Lehmann . He wrote a bestseller with his picture monograph on Hermann Hesse , which appeared for the first time in 1963 and of which over 270,000 copies were sold in over 37 editions .

In her obituary, Irene Ferchl describes Zeller's successful work for the German Literature Archive: “He had recognized that no other institution in those post-war years was in a position to preserve the evidence of all contemporary literature, and put a focus on exile literature; In addition to the Swabian poets, who had previously been cultivated in Marbach, the focus was now on all German-language literature, and not only bequests from dead writers, but also what are now known as the bequests of living authors and scientists were acquired. Zeller was a master in the acquisition of libraries and autographs, through personal contacts and clever diplomacy, through his persuasiveness, the scientific seriousness and enthusiastic mediation that combined, the Marbach institutions made what they are today. "( Stuttgarter Zeitung from 9 September 2008, see web link)

From 1973 to 1979 he was chairman of the working group of independent cultural institutes (AsKI for short).

Awards and honors

The honorary member of the German Schiller Society, Bernhard Zeller, has received numerous honors: he had been an honorary citizen of his place of residence in Marbach am Neckar since 1985 and also honorary professor and honorary senator of the University of Tübingen. He received honorary doctorates from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the University of East Anglia in Norwich, the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1985) and the Medal of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg . In 2001 Zeller received the Ludwig Uhland Prize and in the same year he was awarded the Schiller Prize of the city of Marbach am Neckar for his Marbach memorabilia . He was a member of the Mainz Academy of Sciences and Literature , the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and the German Academy for Language and Poetry in Darmstadt.

Fonts

  • The Heilig-Geist-Spital zu Lindau in Lake Constance from its beginnings to the end of the 16th century . Lindau 1952 (dissertation. Tübingen 1948).
  • Schiller. A picture biography . Kindler, Munich 1958.
  • Five years of the German Literature Archive in Marbach. Results, experiences, plans . In: Ewald Lissberger (ed.): In libro humanitas. Festschrift for Wilhelm Hoffmann on his 60th birthday, April 21, 1961 , Stuttgart: Klett 1962, pp. 349–384.
  • Hermann Hesse in personal reports and photo documents . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1963. New edition: 2005, ISBN 978-3-499-50676-5 .
  • The German Literature Archive in Marbach. For the opening of the new building on May 16, 1973 . Klett, Stuttgart 1973.
  • Author, estate, heir - problems of the transmission of literature . Mainz 1981.
  • Marbach am Neckar. Friedrich Schiller's birthplace . Anton H. Konrad, Weißenhorn 1982.
  • Swabian Parnassus. Reflections on the literary history of Württemberg . Schmidt, Esslingen 1983. New edition 2005, ISBN 3-87407-667-9 .
  • Harry Graf Kessler - witness and chronicler of his era . Steiner, Wiesbaden 1989.
  • With Margrit Zeller: Cities in the past. A literary-historical journey through Baden and Württemberg . Metzler, Stuttgart 1990.
  • Marbach Memorabilia - From the Schiller National Museum to the German Literature Archive 1953–1973 . Marbach 1995, ISBN 3-929146-35-5 .
  • Marbacher Memorabilien II - From the museum and archive work 1972–1986 . Marbach 2000, ISBN 3-933679-50-8 .

Editing

  • Catalogs for exhibitions in Marbach, often developed together with employees:
    • Gerhart Hauptmann : Life and Work. A commemorative exhibition of the German Literature Archive for the 100th birthday of the poet in the Schiller National Museum . 1962.
    • Shaping and Encounters: German Literature since the End of the 19th Century. A cross-section through the collections of the German Literature Archive in the Schiller National Museum Marbach a. N. 1964.
    • Die Insel : An exhibition on the history of the publishing house under Anton and Katharina Kippenberg . 1965.
    • Stefan George : 1868–1933. The poet and his circle . 1968.
    • Eduard Mörike: 1804, 1875, 1975 - Memorial exhibition on the 100th anniversary of death in the Schiller National Museum in Marbach a. N. 1975.
    • Carl Sternheim : From the bourgeois hero life . 1980.
    • Classic in dark times 1933–1945 . 1983.
    • The Inner Reich 1934–1944. A magazine for poetry, art and German life . 1983.
  • Work and individual editions, often together with colleagues:
    • Wilhelm Hauff : Works . Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1969.
    • Friedrich Schiller : The ghost seer. Stories and historical characteristics . Reclam, Stuttgart 1958.
    • Schiller's Swabian Journey 1793–1794. Pictures, letters, reports . Stuttgart 1959.
    • Hermann Hesse: A chronicle in pictures . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1960.
    • Oskar Kreibich : Portrait and Handwriting - Painter visits to poets and scholars in southwest Germany . Rose garden, Constance 1961.
    • The Sunday paper for educated classes. A magazine of the Tübingen romantics . Marbach 1961.
    • The turn of book art: literary and artistic magazines from the years 1895 to 1900 . Stuttgart 1962.
    • Friedrich Schiller: The criminal from lost honor and other stories . Reclam, Stuttgart 1964.
    • Hermann Hesse: New German books: Literature reports for Bonniers Litterära magasin 1935-1936 . Marbach 1965.
    • Book Art and Poetry: On the History of the Bremen Press and the Corona . Munich 1966.
    • Kurt Wolff : Correspondence from a publisher 1911–1963 . Frankfurt am Main 1966.
    • Schiller's life and work in data and images . Insel, Frankfurt am Main 1966.
    • Karl Otten : Work and Life. Texts - reports - bibliography . Hase and Koehler, Mainz 1982.
    • Literature in the German Southwest . Theiss, Stuttgart 1987.
    • Thea Sternheim : Diaries 1905–1927. The years with Carl Sternheim . Hase and Koehler, Mainz 1995.
    • Eduard Mörike: Poems in one volume . Insel, Frankfurt am Main 2001.
    • Eduard Mörike: You are Orplid, my country! The distant shines. Poems, prose, letters . Insel, Frankfurt am Main 2004.

literature

  • Hans-Henrik Krummacher, Fritz Martini , Walter Müller-Seidel (eds.): Time of modernity. On German literature from the turn of the century to the present. Bernhard Zeller on his 65th birthday . Kröner, Stuttgart 1984.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Membership directory of the Derendingia fraternity in Tübingen.  1967, master roll no. 907 

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zeller, Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German literary historian and archivist
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Dettenhausen
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 2008
Place of death Ludwigsburg