The boy Hüssein
Der Knabe Hüssein is a book by the pacifist German writer Armin T. Wegner from 1921, which deals with the author's experiences during the First World War in Turkey .
Emergence
The author, bearer of the Iron Cross , was a German soldier in Turkey. On the outward and return journeys in 1915 and 1916, he experienced (and photographed) how, in addition to the usual war events, a large-scale expulsion and murder of Armenians was carried out, which remained internationally unobserved due to the general turmoil of the world war. Having returned to Germany early due to a typhus disease , Wegner was able to inform the German government about what was going on in Turkey. In the form of an open letter, he also intervened with US President Woodrow Wilson ( "A Legacy in the Desert - Open Letter to the President of the United States of America, Woodrow Wilson, on the expulsion of the Armenian people into the Mesopotamian desert" ). Here the author, who worked together with the Aleppo missionary sisters for a while in 1916 , describes his admittedly subjective observations as a medic regarding the situation of the Armenians in Turkey extremely drastically:
“Killed, shot, hanged, poisoned, stabbed, strangled, devoured by epidemics, drowned, froze to death, died of thirst, starved, rotted, eaten by jackels. Children wept themselves to death. Men smashed themselves against rocks, pregnant women rushed, hands tied together, into the Euphrates while singing. "
Wegner's hope that imperial diplomacy would influence the Turks allied with them was just as disappointed as the expectation after 1918 that the victorious powers would stand up for the Armenian people.
According to this, Wegner repeatedly spoke out in public for “a German guilt” for the fate of the Armenians. B. in a major event held together with the German-Armenian Society and a number of mission societies in Berlin's Urania , which caused quite a stir.
content
The literary processing of Wegner's experiences in Turkey in the “Turkish Novellas”, which appeared in the volume Der Knabe Hüssein , published in 1921 , is considered to be one of the most impressive works of the writer. The Austrian writer Stefan Zweig judged Wegner's work: seized people saw a country and a people in their hardest hour. "
In Notes from Turkey and In the House of Sociability (1920) as well as Weg ohne Heimkehr (1919), the writer had already begun to process his experiences in a literary way.
effect
Interest in the work Der Knabe Hüssein had already been limited in the Weimar Republic and the book had no political consequences. During the time of National Socialism , the book fell victim to the book burnings . After that it was not published for decades. It has been available again since 2012 in the volume Der Knabe Hüssein and other stories .
literature
- “Genocide: Denied History - Turkey and the Armenian Massacre”, Der Spiegel , No. 16/2005, May 2, 2005.
- Martin Tamcke : Armin T. Wegner and the Armenians: Claims and reality of an eyewitness. Hamburg 1996. ISBN 978-3-8258-2803-5
Web links
- Armin T. Wegner: The boy Hüssein. In: Hunch and Departure. Expressionist prose. Edited and introduced by Karl Otten . Luchterhand, Darmstadt 1957, pp. 490–508 ( digitized in the Internet Archive )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jürgen Serke: The burned poets, Beltz and Gelberg; extended edition 2002, p. 61
- ↑ Jürgen Serke: The burned poets, Beltz and Gelberg; extended edition 2002, p. 61
- ↑ Martin Tamcke: WEGNER, Armin Theophil. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 585-588.
- ↑ Martin Tamcke: WEGNER, Armin Theophil. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 13, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-072-7 , Sp. 585-588.
- ↑ Speech by the Deputy District Mayor Klaus-Dieter Gröhler on the unveiling of the memorial plaque for Armin T. Wegner on May 17, 2002
- ^ Lexicon of German-language writers, VEB Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1975
- ^ Wallstein Verlag: Der Knabe Hüssein and other stories. Retrieved April 2, 2016 .