The Honditsch Cross

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The Honditsch Cross is a historical novella by Ingeborg Bachmann , which was written around 1944.

On September 18, 1813, the theology student Franz Brandstetter was killed in the fight against the French occupiers near his home town of Hermagor .

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Franz has been studying in Vienna for three years. Now he is returning home for the first time during the summer vacation. The joy of seeing each other again on the part of the father is limited. The only child Franz was supposed to take over the Brandstetterhof one day, but had prevailed against the father. Franz does not want to become a farmer, but one day successor to Pastor Freneau. So soon after arriving, the student goes to see his old teacher. Freneau is pleased with the unexpected visit, but cannot really explain it. For three years Hermagor and the whole Gailtal is occupied by the French. Freneau asks: How did Franz get into enemy territory from Vienna? Franz puts his teacher in the picture. He has a lettre de permission for the Villach district . A politician, father of a fellow student, had obtained an entry permit in Vienna at court.

On the way home from the pastor, Franz stops at the Unterberger tavern. The landlord Jakob Unterberger is also the mayor of Hermagor. (Maire is the French term for mayor.) Franz went to school together with Kaspar, the host's son. Franz, who is a local, is treated like a stranger by Kaspar's friends. The young boys scold Pastor Freneau, who comes from Alsace , for a French servant. It finally turns out that Franz is only being put to the test. The newcomer makes no secret of his hatred of the French. Together with the boys from Hermagor, he wants to fight the enemy in the country. This is applauded in the group. But caution is advised. The occupiers are drinking in the pub next door. Your commander, General Ruska, can take pretty much anything, except the ridicule of defeat. When the general, drunk, chases after the waitress Fini, the beautiful girl struggles. Ruska ends up in the manure in the courtyard of the inn. General Ruska punishes all of Hermagor for this humiliation. The farmers have to pay. Not everyone can raise the high amount. Land is sold grudgingly.

Fini, a distant relative of the landlord Jakob Unterberger, appreciates Franz not only because he stood up for her after the incident with the general in the village. Fini and Franz make themselves pretty eyes. Franz, however, has a rival - Captain Maroni. This is a subordinate of General Ruska. The young Maroni is actually a good guy, but for Fini he is and will remain an enemy.

Franz confesses to Fini that the next day he and boys from Hermagor will switch to the Austrians' side. Under these circumstances, Fini gives in to the student's insistence and sleeps with him.

Together with the Austrian armed forces, the young boys drive the French out of the Gail Valley. The enemy is fleeing. Captain Maroni remains wounded on the roadside near Obervellach . After the Austrians liberated Hermagor, they pursue the French. Franz goes to see his parents. The father overlooks the son's return home. Franz leaves his parents deeply disappointed and meets Fini. The young woman tells Franz that she is expecting a child. Franz - undecided - has missed the war comrade's departure and rides behind them. He sees chestnuts lying on the road, stops and jumps from his horse. Maroni feels threatened. Both shoot each other almost simultaneously and die.

Franz's cousin Georg Wernitznig, the Honditsch farmer, later took over the Brandstetterhof and erected a memorial cross at the point where the two young warriors fell.

shape

The text is interspersed with Carinthisms . In the narrative context, Bartsch briefly discusses the role of Mate Banul and Waba - two secondary characters.

reception

The author used a home book of Hermagor clergyman Hubert Pietschnigg from 1931 as a template. For Weigel, the work has the character of a novella. Its ingredients can be found in local literature. Ingeborg Bachmann, an opponent of national borders, was following a utopia when writing this “intercultural” text. She wanted to “bridge” the “barriers between nationalities”, languages ​​and cultures.

Höller calls the text, written towards the end of the National Socialist era , a “work of inner emigration ”. Schmaus, on the other hand, associates the fight against Napoleon more “with Schiller's path of freedom”. Henninger sees Franz and Maroni as victims of Napoleon - or in a figurative sense - Hitler .

According to Beicken, the young author could in places have explored herself by writing in the character of the protagonist Franz.

Bartsch mentions a further leading work by Peter Henninger from 1995.

literature

Text output

First publication and edition used
  • The Honditsch Cross. A story from the year 1813. P. 489–598 in: Christine Koschel (Ed.), Inge von Weidenbaum (Ed.), Clemens Münster (Ed.): Ingeborg Bachmann. Works. Volume two: Stories . 609 pages. Piper, Munich 1978 (5th edition 1993), volume 1702 of the Piper series, ISBN 3-492-11702-3

Secondary literature

  • Peter Beicken : Ingeborg Bachmann. Beck, Munich 1988. ISBN 3-406-32277-8 (Beck'sche series: authors' books, vol. 605)
  • Peter Henninger: "Hayloft and Pocket Fibers"? On Ingeborg Bachmann's story 'Das Honditschkreuz' . Pp. 118–141 in: Gudrun Brokoph-Mauch (Ed.), Annette Daigger (Ed.): Ingeborg Bachmann. New directions in research? Röhrig Universitätsverlag, St. Ingbert 1995. ISBN 3-86110-061-4
  • Kurt Bartsch: Ingeborg Bachmann. Metzler, Stuttgart 1997 (2nd edition, Metzler Collection. Volume 242). ISBN 3-476-12242-5
  • Hans Höller : Ingeborg Bachmann . Reinbek, Rowohlt 1999 (2002 edition), ISBN 3-499-50545-2
  • Monika Albrecht (Hrsg.), Dirk Göttsche (Hrsg.): Bachmann-Handbuch. Life - work - effect . Metzler, Stuttgart 2002. ISBN 3-476-01810-5
  • Sigrid Weigel : Ingeborg Bachmann. Legacies in compliance with the confidentiality of letters . dtv , Munich 2003 (Zsolnay, Vienna 1999). ISBN 3-423-34035-5

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Marion Schmaus in: Albrecht / Göttsche, p. 262, right column, 11. Zvo
  2. ↑ Bartsch, p. 37, 11. Zvu, Höller, p. 34, 4. Zvu and Albrecht / Göttsche, p. 2, right column, 9. Zvo
  3. ↑ Edition used, p. 608, 1. Zvu
  4. ↑ see also Bartsch, p. 37 below
  5. ↑ Bartsch, p. 38 below and p. 112 below
  6. ↑ Albrecht / Göttsche, p. 49, left column, 14. Zvo
  7. ↑ Weigel, p. 56 middle
  8. ↑ Bartsch, p. 164, 10th Zvu
  9. ↑ Albrecht / Göttsche, p. 50, right column, 10th Zvu
  10. ↑ Bartsch, p. 43, 9. Zvu and p. 166 above
  11. ↑ Höller, p. 13, 3. Zvo
  12. ^ Marion Schmaus in: Albrecht / Göttsche, p. 262, right column, 14. Zvo
  13. ↑ Henninger, p. 137 below
  14. ↑ Beicken, p. 60, 1. Zvo
  15. ↑ Bartsch, p. 191, sixth entry