Dam construction (novel)

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Dam construction. Sylt novel from the present is a novel by Margarete Boie published in 1930, the focus of which is the construction of the Hindenburg dam, through which Sylt was connected to the mainland by rail in 1927.

In her novel, the author takes up various true events in order to process them into a painting of time.

Pastor Johler that actually it was known also to strive for the dam workers on Nösse in barracks lived, becomes Peter Boy Bun aka Peter Boy Eschels , a Morsumer who gives up his professorship in southern Germany to his comrades in Morsum the to convey the “New Era” associated with the Hindenburgdamm. He encounters opposition from the "Morsumese", who are portrayed in the figure of Holm-Peters as infatuated and conservative and ultimately dismiss the pastor because the bishop no longer has the strength to fight the frequent complaints from Morsum. The metaphor of the infatuated backward opposition can be found at the end of the novel, when Holm-Peters perceives the development of the people no better than someone who drives by "in the express train", but the dam that 1,500 people have built and the "human dam “Of Pastor Eschels stand and stand.

Karl Clasen, who was actually involved in building the dam, is not mentioned by name in the novel. His name, however, is found in a modified form in a family web that shows the different points of view and also social aspects of the changes. For example, the wife of church leader Volquard Clahsen is Lene, the pastor's sister, who occasionally gives her brother her opinion. Rasmus or Erasmus Clahsen benefit from his work on the dam construction, but find it very difficult to get used to the idea of ​​the new transport connection. Volquard Clahsen, the community leader, prevails against a majority when he advocates the "northern route", which is supposed to give the poorer districts advantages. Volquard Clahsen later drowns metaphorically for the plagues and hardships in front of the dams and dykes when he tries to rescue his sheep during a storm surge.

On another occasion the pastor's daughter speaks of cheese as it was made in Morsum in the past - with milk from their own cows, of course. She expresses the suspicion that this type of preparation will soon give way to goods from the "Westerland Dairy" that can be bought cheaply. Today's supermarket culture also on Sylt confirms this suspicion. The daughter is again an invention of the author. In fact, there was probably a goddaughter who often stayed with Pastor Johler, but when she was a toddler she presented President Hindenburg with a bouquet of flowers on June 1, 1927.

All in all, the author has succeeded in creating a very vivid representation of the construction work in connection with the severe economic crisis of that time. Anyone who was in Morsum in the 1970s can vividly imagine the conversations and arguments presented. The author succeeds in experiencing the linguistic peculiarities of the Frisians when they spoke German.

expenditure

  • First edition: dam construction. Sylt novel from the present. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1930.
  • New edition: dam construction. Commented by Arno Bammé and Thomas Steensen . Husum Druck und Verlag, Husum 2012, Nordfriesland series in the Roman Vol. 6, ISBN 978-3-89876-610-4 .

literature