The Augsburg Chalk Circle

The Augsburg chalk circle is a story by Bertolt Brecht from 1940. Bertolt Brecht was accused of high treason and had to flee from Nazi Germany. This story was written in exile and takes place in Augsburg during the Thirty Years War (1618–1648). Augsburg is a Catholic city in southeast Germany and Brecht's birthplace. The story first appeared in 1941 and Brecht later also included it in the calendar stories first published in 1949 .

Emergence

Brecht moved the plot of the story, the motif of which he had taken from a Chinese story by Li Qingzhao , to the time of the Thirty Years' War in his hometown Augsburg.

Brecht dealt with the motif of the chalk circle sample in several works; the best known is the later play " The Caucasian Chalk Circle ", which has a similar plot to the Augsburg Chalk Circle .

content

The story is about the fate of a child and a maid who takes on the role of mother when the real mother leaves the child behind. The story takes place at the time of the Thirty Years War. During this time Catholics and Protestants fight each other in armed conflicts. The Swiss Protestant Zingli owns a large tannery with a leather shop in Augsburg am Lech. Mr. Zingli is married to a woman from Augsburg and they have one child together. When Catholics overrun the city and start looting in the evening, Mr. Zingli hides in a pit in his tannery. However, he is discovered there and killed by the Catholic intruders. His wife, who was supposed to flee to a suburb with the child, spends too long packing her clothes and in a hurry, when the Catholics storm the courtyard, leaves the child behind. When the simple maid Anna sees the impending danger, she storms upstairs and hides in a closet. After the danger is over, she comes out and finds the dead tanner Zingli and his child who is still alive. First she leaves the child behind and sets off. She has decided to visit Ms. Zingli in the suburbs. But when she stands there in front of the door, Ms. Zingli and her relatives want nothing to do with the child. With a good heart Anna decides to take the child and flees to her brother in the country. Her brother married on a farm and is taking in her and the child. However, she mistrusts her sister-in-law and constantly asks her about the child's father, since at that time an illegitimate child was seen as a shame. So Anna invents a story about a husband who is supposed to come and pick her up at the court. But as time goes by and no man shows up, they have to find another solution. One day her brother takes her to a neighboring village. He had found a “terminally ill” man for her who could marry her. When he dies, she will receive his death certificate and use it to dispel the doubts of the others. Anna marries the terminally ill man and waits for the news of his death to come. Day after day now goes by and no news comes of her husband's death until one day Anna decides to investigate. When her brother finds her husband, known as the “otter”, the once “terminally ill” turns out to be very healthy. However, Anna refuses to move in with him and live with him under one roof. Shortly afterwards Anna falls ill and lies in bed. When Otterer comes for her, she allows it and does not fight back. After she is healthy again, Anna tries to flee, but she does not get far and so she accepts her fate and lives with Otterer. Over the years, Anna is satisfied with her role and she has a lot of joy in life with "her" child.

After the end of the Thirty Years' War, the wife of the tanner Zingli comes while Anna has gone to the village to get syrup and fetches her biological child. Upon her return from the village, Anna experiences the loss of the child with horror. Anna then goes to the authorities and says that her child was stolen. By luck, her case is referred to judge Ignaz Dollinger. The judge is known throughout Swabia for his rudeness and erudition. Subsequently, Anna is quoted as a judge. The judge asks Anna why she didn't say straight away that it was about a "tannery with a pound of property", to which Anna replied that she was only concerned with the child. As it turns out, Ms. Zingli, the birth mother of the child, needs the child so that her husband's inheritance goes to her. The trial will take place on the following Saturday. The specificity of the case has drawn a lot of attention. First Mrs. Zingli is called and she tells how imperial soldiers snatched the child from her and the maid Anna took the child to extort a ransom later. Next, the relatives of the deceased are called, they do not have many kind words for their sister-in-law. Finally, Anna is called, she describes the night when she fled from the tannery and went to Ms. Zingli's uncle's house to report that the child was still in the tannery. However, she did not immediately return to the tannery for fear of the imperial troops. After everyone has been heard, the judge says the real mother could not be found and orders the child and a piece of chalk to be fetched. A circle is drawn on the floor and the child is placed in the center. Now the judge orders Ms. Zingli and Anna to each grab a hand of the child and pull it as tightly as possible. The real mother would pull the child over to her side. As they now begin to pull, they cause the child pain and for fear of hurting the child, Anna lets go of her hand. This shows who the real mother is and Anna can keep the child. By showing their love for the child and the fear of hurting the child who is the better mother.

interpretation

The story is meant to be an instruction for the reader. With this story Bertolt Brecht tries to make us think and to show us the terrible consequences of war. In the story that takes place during the Thirty Years' War, for example, a Protestant tanner is murdered by Catholic troops and his child is left behind by its mother. At the end of the war, when there is peace between Catholics and Protestants, a dispute arises, only because of the war, about custody of the child. With this, Brecht wants to show us that it only got this far because of the war. In addition, one can also see a lesson from this, namely that not only the generation that is directly affected suffers from a war, but also future generations have to live with the consequences. Furthermore, Brecht wants to show that the birth mother is not always best suited to be a mother. Any woman can have a child, but that doesn't mean that the woman who gave birth to the child can really care for the child. History shows that a woman who adopts a strange child can still develop maternal feelings for the child and is concerned about the child's well-being.

intention

Brecht's intention was to teach people that war is completely unnecessary and only causes suffering. Thousands of innocent people die. Bertolt Brecht shows that persecuting other groups or peoples is superfluous. Mother's love is also made very clear in this story. One recognizes that the birth mother is not always the “right” mother, but that the actual foster mother can show more love. For the first time, he contradicts the statement “blood is thicker than water”, which was previously valid in society. The statement “property is property” is also rejected.

literature

Text output

Ana Kugli: The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Text and commentary , Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-518-18842-2 (Suhrkamp BasisBibliothek, 42) (Appendix: "Der Augsburger Kreidekreis", story from 1940)
Denise Kratzmeier: Bertolt Brecht Calendar Stories . Text and commentary , Frankfurt am Main 2013, ISBN 978-3-518-18931-3 (Suhrkamp BasisBibliothek, 131)