Dimitri and the false tsars
Dimitri and the false tsars (also: Demetrius and the false tsars or conspiracy against Dimitri ) is a youth novel published in 1970 by Hans Baumann . He is set in the Russian Empire during the time of Ivan the Terrible and the years after his death. The focus here is on the youngest descendant of Ivan Dimitri and the life of the later Tsar Dimitri II.
content
The Deutsche Taschenbuchverlag ( dtv-Junior ) describes the book as follows:
“Rule of Terror in the Russian Empire under Ivan the Terrible. After his death, the ice-cold Boris Godunov takes over the reign. Soon afterwards he announced the death of the Tsar's son Demetrius. But then there was a murmur among the people: Dimitri is alive! In Poland he is preparing to conquer Moscow. And Dimitri, in possession of the characteristics of the true son of the tsar, triumphs through Russia, bold, innocent, generous and just, full of desire to bring his people a government of non-violence. He is crowned tsar. But his reign only lasts one year ... "
Dimitri and the False Tsars is divided into the first part ( Dimitri disappears and reappears ) with 11 chapters, a second part ( Dimitri equips and moves to Moscow ) with 16 chapters and a third part ( A young Tsar in the Kremlin ) with 15 Chapters. In addition, a time table with historical dates of the Russian Empire and a map of the events are attached to the book. Furthermore, other novels and plays that have taken up the topic are presented, and various historical assessments of the historical person of the so-called "False Dimitri" are added.
The first part ( Dimitri disappears and reappears ) begins with the birth of Dimitri (according to the novel) on September 19, 1583 in Moscow. The last descendant of Ivan IV ("the terrible") is not given the usual honor as a son from his fifth marriage. With his half-brother Fyodor from his first marriage, the succession of Ivan was assured. Shortly after Ivan's death, the influential boyar Boris Godunow obtained the banishment of the Nagoj clan, which also included Dimitri and his mother Marja , to the remote town of Uglich . Dimitri grew up here with his family until the death of the young tsar's son was announced to the people in 1591. A commission set up by the tsar is supposed to investigate this death, as voices were raised that his death would not be an accident, but murder. Regent Godunow appoints the boyars Schuiski , Wylusgin and Kleschin for this purpose . However, this commission confirms in the Grand Square in Moscow the unfortunate death of Dimitri as a result of falling into a knife he was playing with and allegedly cutting his own throat. From the assembled people, this representation earns opposition and the accusation is raised. Dimitri was stabbed to death by the boyar Bitjagowski and a massacre of the population is committed on site at the same time. The people still have doubts about the official account, but a major fire in Moscow and a Tartar incursion offer the regent Godunov the opportunity to divert attention from these doubts and to make himself popular with the people. After the death of Tsar Fyodor , Boris Godunov is appointed the new Tsar. After a famine and increasing tyranny, the people and the Russian nobility turn away from the new tsar, who, like Ivan the Terrible , reacted with harsh punishments. This is fueling a rumor that Dimitri, who had been declared dead, is alive and has appeared in Poland. Without the knowledge of the tsar, Boyar Shuiski sends a clerk to Poland to contact the alleged tsar's son and rightful heir to the throne.
The second part ( Dimitri prepares and moves to Moscow ) begins with the reception of the clerk sent to Poland. He describes Dimitri and the voivod Mnisek the background to his posting and the events in Russia. So far there have been doubts among the Polish Panen about Dimitri's tsarist origin . This is partially cleared by a Polish farmer who claims to have been a prisoner of war in Uglich and believes he can undoubtedly recognize the tsar's son. Dimitri and Mnicek are received by the Polish King Sigismund , who recognizes Dimitri as the son of the Tsar. An embassy from the Russian Tsar Godunov , arriving a short time later, fails to expose the alleged tsar's son as a fraud because of the apparent resemblance to the young Dimitri . The initial reluctance of the Polish nobility turned into active support, but not without demanding consideration. For the planned wedding between his daughter Marina and Dimitri, Pan Mnicek also demands the promise of money and land, which Dimitri gives in the prospect of becoming a future tsar. The Cossacks from Wilder Feld , on the other hand, join Dimitri voluntarily and without any demands. He replied to the clerk Grischa , who doubted this coalition:
“I'm a Russian like you, I cling to my people like all Russians. But not those who love their people most who put it above other people without knowing these people. It is not he who does his people the greatest service who denies his mistakes, but who is ready to counter them. "
Together, Dimitri moves towards Moscow with an army of Polish soldiers and Russian Cossacks. After initial successes, more soldiers and Cossacks join the army. Dimitri is always careful to refrain from fighting by promising fortresses and military leaders a pardon if they arise. But Novgorod, led by Pyotr Basmanov, is determined to fight. The capture of the city fails and the approaching army of the Tsar under Shuisky drives Dimitri's troops to flight. But despite the defeat, new Cossacks join Dimitri, sure of victory . Also Basmanov changes sides and joins him.
"'So now we are traitors," said Pyotr. 'The man in the Kremlin will call us that. He gave each of us a few titles. But we should only be proud of this one: "Traitor to Boris Godunov" '"
Together, without major resistance and to the cheers of the people, Dimitri moves into Moscow. Previously, Tsar Godunov had died of heart failure. Shuisky had sided with Dimitri and turned the people against the descendants of Godunov .
The last part ( A Young Tsar in the Kremlin ) starts with big celebrations in honor of the new Tsar. At this festival, the young Tsar Dimitri walks through the celebrating people, which was unusual for a Tsar wedding. He also orders the guards not to carry sharp weapons. Numerous changes follow. Bans are lifted, usury deeds are banned, the army is disbanded and civil servants' salaries are doubled to prevent bribery. The tsar himself renounced pomp and special rights. With this he is turning the boyars against him more and more. However, contrary to the advice of his followers, he does not punish his opponents with death, but only with the trimming of beards and exile.
At the wedding of Marina and Dimitri there were fights between Poles and Russians, whereupon Dimitri tried to appease:
“Put down your weapons! I invited you to a party, not an argument. Forget what happened! No Russian should offend a Pole, no Pole a Russian. Hatred is a house without windows and doors, anyone who stays in the house will suffocate in it. "
But he remains yielding to Poles and rebellious Russians. Colleagues like Kurella and Marfa turn away from him. Dimitri becomes certain that he is not the real son of Ivan , but part of a great plot. His conversion to the Catholic faith in Poland gives Shuisky the opportunity to make the popular tsar unpopular with the Russian people. Expecting the fall, he dismisses all remaining faithful from their service. Only Basmanov stays by his side and both are killed by the angry people. Shuisky is elected the new tsar by the intimidated Duma . Dimitri and Basmanov are later sentenced to death long ago.
At the end of the story, the farmer Dygat sums up Dimitri's grave :
“He was a good tsar. He didn't do anyone wrong. He made no distinctions between people. It was not important to him whether someone was highborn or a Cossack, whether a Russian or a Pole, whether poor or rich. Nobody trembled before this Tsar. He was a tsar without fear. That's why everyone who knew him will hope that someone like him will come back. "
rating
Dimitri's claim to power and ideas , similar to the Baumann novels Ich drew with Hannibal , Steppensöhne and The Great Alexander Train , can be seen as Baumann's autobiographical processing during the National Socialist era and as coming to terms with the past.
Baumann's turn to the Russian language, literature and history began for Baumann during the Second World War , in which he participated as a company commander on the Eastern Front . After the war he worked as a translator from Russian, among other things, of works by Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy .
For Otto-Rudolf Rothbart, Baumann's implementation of the historical Demetrius material is less a concrete character analysis of a person, but rather a general discussion of human behavior patterns when he writes:
"That is what this latest version of an interpreted vita is all about: not about character analysis per se, not so much about a colorful historical panorama as more about exemplary, memorable, comprehensible visualization of ancient life maxims and exemplary human behavioral patterns."
Winfred Kaminski sees the novel in the tradition of other historical and political books for young people by the author.
"Both for his" Dimitri and the false tsars "(1970) and for his" Flügel für Ikaros "(1978) it is true that he is a historical event from the distant past, early Tsarist Russia and ancient (mystical) Greece, picks up to discuss a timely problem. He also remained true to himself in the way he approached the subject. All of his texts turn out to be a variation of the one question about the possibility of the "good ruler". "
In the Children's Book Review, the English translation is described as a plausible narrative between truth and falsehood:
"Hans Baumann throws light on the subject by a skilful interweaving of truth and falsehood. He produces a plausible narrative which, for all its twisting and turning, ultimately comes to the orthodox conclusion. Unlike the historiens however, Baumann does not end the discussion there. "
expenditure
Dimitri and the False Tsars was first published in 1970 by Ehrenwirth Verlag . In 1976 there was a new edition under the title Conspiracy against Dimitri and another under Demetrius and the false tsars in the program dtv-Junior of the German paperback publisher. Furthermore, the novel was published by the Freie Geistesleben publishing house and also translated into English ( Dimitri and the false Tsars ) and Afrikaans ( Dimitri die Onbekende ).
literature
- Winfred Kaminski: Heroic inwardness. Studies on youth literature before and after 1945. Dipa, Frankfurt am Main 1987. (= Youth and Media; Volume 14).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Günter Hartung: German fascist literature and aesthetics: collected studies , Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2001, ISBN 3-934565-92-1 , p. 222 ff.
- ^ "The Grand Inquisitor", Bertelsmann Verlag, 1955
- ↑ u. a. "The Tsar's Brothers", S. Mohn Verlag, 1964
- ^ Otto-Rudolf Rothbart, review in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, November 17, 1970, p. 31
- ↑ Winfred Kaminski: Heroic inwardness. Studies on youth literature before and after 1945. Dipa, Frankfurt am Main 1987, p. 281
- ^ Children's Book Review, Volumes 2-4, Five Owls Press, Ltd., 1972, p. 153