The innocent (Gertrud von le Fort)
The innocent is a story by Gertrud von le Fort , which was published in 1953 by Ehrenwirth in Munich.
content
Heini von Aßlau, the first-person narrator, still a child, wants to ring the Friederizia bell to separate the beloved mother Melanie von Aßlau from the uncle Eberhard. One of Heini's ancestors, Field Captain von Asslau, had brought the bell back from the Thirty Years' War as an item of booty. During that war, the Friederizia fell from the tower of the same church that the captain and the people who fled into it had set fire to. When the bell at home in Niederaßlau was rung for the first time, Heini's ancestor had gone mad at the ringing; had laughed himself to death. The people in the village talk, like the captain, every Asslau who hears the bell will fare. Colonel Eberhard von Aßlau is the brother of Heini's father Karl von Aßlau. The father shot himself because he did not want to carry out an order. Uncle Eberhard now wants to marry Heini's mother.
The daily newspapers report terrible things. The troops commanded by Uncle Eberhard burned women and children in a church in Oradour . Uncle Eberhard was not present at the time.
When Heini rings the Friederizia bell, his uncle takes the rope from his hand and rings the bell himself. Heini wants to run away. The colonel orders Heini to stay because the little one is also an Aßlau.
Heini's mother writes down the rest of the notes. The bell fell again, but missed the uncle. The dying boy learns from his mother that he has nevertheless achieved his goal. The colonel is not going to marry his mother, but has followed a foreign recruiter, never to be seen again. In contrast to Heini's father, Uncle Eberhard turns out to be a coward who abandons his soldiers, who are being tried for Oradour.
reception
Meyerhofer presumably had a different version of the narrative than the one on which this article was based. Because he writes that the colonel is facing the court.
literature
- Used edition
- The innocent. In memory of the dead children of the world war . P. 55–120 in: Gertrud von le Fort: Deleted candles. Two stories (also include: " The Ostracized "). Ehrenwirth, Munich 1953 (4th edition). 120 pages
- Secondary literature
- Nicholas J. Meyerhofer: Gertrud von le Fort . Morgenbuch Verlag Berlin 1993. Heads of the 20th Century, Volume 119. ISBN 3-371-00376-0
- Gero von Wilpert : Lexicon of world literature. German Authors A - Z . S. 382, left column, 8. Zvo Stuttgart 2004. ISBN 3-520-83704-8