Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener

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Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener (born June 14, 1878 in Hameln , † July 27, 1963 in Marquartstein ) was a German writer and storyteller .

Life

Born in Hameln as Elsa Sophia Kamphövener , she grew up in Constantinople from June 1883 . There, her father was Louis Kamphövener as Major and also from 1895 as the Ottoman Mushir (Marshall) with the title of Pasha , a German re-organizer of the Ottoman army .

The child grew up in the care of his mother Anna (1857-1932), surrounded by Turkish, Greek and Armenian personnel and guarded by a Turkish soldier, in dealings with the families of Prussian and Ottoman military, diplomats, railway builders and merchants on and learned several languages.

How little Elsa Sophia came into contact with Turkish folk tales in this environment is uncertain. She probably first heard oriental fairy tales from the servants of her family.

The twelve-year-old had to interrupt her stay in Turkey for several years because she was sent to a school in Hildesheim . She returned when she was just under sixteen. She devoted herself to social life and got in touch with a daughter of Sultan Abdülhamid II , about which, however, contradicting information exist. From letters and memoirs of her father we know that - with the support of her father - she liked to visit the bazaars of Constantinople, where she was able to expand and consolidate her language skills and listen to the stories of traders and craftsmen.

In 1900 the family was raised to the nobility. In the same year Elsa Sophia got her first marriage in Constantinople with Adolph von Elterlein, a private lecturer in mining , who was able to take over an Ottoman office through her father's mediation. Here she gave birth to a son (Uttmann von Elterlein, 1901–1945). In 1906 she left Turkey forever without her child.

Shortly after the divorce in 1908, she married the doctor Ernst Marquardsen and moved to Bad Kissingen , where Marquardsen owned a sanatorium . As Else Marquardsen-Kamphövener, she published numerous articles in magazines, 18 novels, a non-fiction book and a comedy between 1915 and 1939. In 1919 she founded her own publishing house and in 1920 a magazine, both of which she gave up after the death of her husband (1921). In 1925 she married the writer Alfred Balte, her third marriage, which was divorced the following year. In 1927 she married the Bad Meinberg spa director Franz Kaub.

In early 1933 she separated from her husband (divorced 1939) and moved alone to Berlin . There she joined the NSDAP , but was struck off the "Reichskartei" after two months; her renewed application in 1935 was rejected. In August she joined the “Reich Association of German Writers” and now worked for the magazine Fürs Haus , from 1941 for Wir und die Welt and as an editor for the European film company , and from 1937 for Tobis .

In 1942 she volunteered at the front to tell the soldiers her oriental fairy tales as a “comrade fairy tale”. In 1944, her Berlin house was completely bombed out and all of her property was destroyed. In March 1945 she fled Berlin and tried to build a new life as "Baroness von Kamphoevener" in various places in southern Germany .

In 1951 she was discovered by Süddeutscher Rundfunk as a storyteller. She established her reputation as a unique interpreter of her oriental stories, which she also published in book form from 1956 with numerous fairy tale broadcasts, also on almost all other German-speaking radio stations. Some of these radio recordings came to talk plates of by Ernst Ginsberg "literary archive" established in the Deutsche Grammophon . In 2004 almost all radio broadcasts received were published on 10 audio CDs , but the collection had to be withdrawn for copyright reasons. In 2008, the received radio recordings from the 1950s were published in full on MP3 CDs for the first time.

In 1952 Elsa Sophia moved from Kamphoevener to her friend Ilse Wilbrandt (1897–1978) in Marquartstein . There she died on July 27, 1963, a highly respected storyteller, shortly after she was 85 years old.

The grave of Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener is located in the church part of the Marquartstein cemetery. The Lions Club Marquartstein / Achental has taken over the care of the grave on a permanent basis.

Self-expression and self-invention

In interviews about her radio broadcasts after 1951 and in the forewords to the two episodes of the fairy tale collection An Nachtfeuern der Karawan-Serail , published in 1956/57 , Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener added the crucial statements about her youth and her approach that were already hinted at in the 1920s the Turkish fairy tale for good. After that she remembered about 400 fairy tales, most of which she heard while disguised as a young man while riding through Anatolia. The storyteller Mazarlyk-dji Fehim Bey let her represent him from time to time. She was allowed to tell fairy tales herself in the Karawan Seraglio and developed her own, unmistakable narrative style. After all, Fehim Bey has granted her all the rights of a Maddha (in today's Turkish, Meddah , storyteller). She gave up the promise given to him in Anatolia that she would never write down the fairy tales she had learned there, because she saw their preservation in the oral tradition as endangered and only in written form as viable.

Most of these statements can be falsified today. Whether Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener herself recognized and reflected the difference between being and appearance remains uncertain. She possibly saw her own life more “with the dreamer eyes of the poet” and less “with the keen eye of the thinker”.

Under no circumstances was the young Elsa Sophia out and about in Anatolia as an independent rider accompanied by protectors. According to the brother, a riding lesson in 1896 ended miserably. After that, not a single ride by the young woman can be proven. However, the father wrote in July 1898: "The horse question will be ended in these days to Elle's satisfaction" . The significance of this note cannot, of course, be assessed. The storyteller Fehim Bey has not yet been identified.

Her narrative style, which also formed the basis of her written fairy tale editions , was described by von Kamphoevener in the foreword to the second series of An Nachtfeuern der Karawan-Serail . She explained how and why, as Meddah, she had to expand the narrative core of a story independently and responsibly. The example she has chosen also forms the first story of the second episode. The Turkish of the alleged original version is flawed and suggests that von Kamphoevener, contrary to her own statements, did not master Turkish perfectly and probably wrote it down in his own transcription by ear. This is also supported by the incorrect word explanations in An Nachtfeuern der Karawan-Serail . Von Kamphoevener also used the term Maddha or Meddah in his own way. She considers him to be synonymous with the name for a narrator of traditional folk tales. The repertoire of the Turkish Meddah consisted mainly of theatrical, fluctuating and socially critical stories.

A critical analysis of the fairy tales and stories showed that their material and content came to a large extent from a collection of Turkish folk tales that Ignácz Kúnos had first published in Turkish and Hungarian, then in 1907 in Leipzig in German translation. Eighteen of the thirty actual fairy tales from An Nachtfeuern der Karawan-Serail - this collection also includes essays, for example - are based on fairy tales from Kúnos' compilation. However, some of Kamphoeveners' fairy tale motifs can also be found in other occidental and oriental stories. Quite a few of the Kamphoeveners fairy tales are viewed entirely as their own inventions. Above all, their narrative style, their way of combining Turkish and Turkish-looking motifs, their German values ​​and morals, the heroization of the protagonists and the anchoring of empirically comprehensible fairy tales in the oriental world given as real, the omission of the absurd and evil as well as that The lack of typical folk symbolism distinguishes Kamphoevener's art fairy tales from the original Turkish fairy tales. A trivialization of Turkish folk good also happens by omitting painful experiences. Von Kamphoevener ignores the contrasting typical of Turkish fairy tales. In this new creation and reshaping process, art fairy tales of their own, individual character of great effect emerged.

The German-speaking audience was inspired by the fairy tales of Kamphoeveners, accepted their self-portrayal as fact and willingly referred to her as "Baroness" von Kamphoevener. Without exaggeration, she can therefore be described as an extremely successful narrator of her personally designed art fairy tales, but not as a narrator of authentic, self-collected folk tales in the tradition of Turkish fairy tale tellers from the Ottoman era.

plant

Before Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener became famous as a writer and narrator of Turkish fairy tales, she had already published stories, essays, translations, novels and a comedy under the name Else Marquardsen-Kamphövener.

The early writings between 1916 and 1922 revolved around the theme of the Ottoman Orient. This was followed mainly by trivial novels, some of which were published as serial novels in magazine publishers. The novel Pionier für Deutschland , published in 1937, is shaped by National Socialist ideas. In 1941 von Kamphoevener dealt again with the world of the Orient in several short articles in Wir und die Welt . After 1945 she made no reference to her previous works. The external circumstances of her life between 1906 and her career as a storyteller were also no longer publicly mentioned, with the exception of her friend Ilse Wilbrandt. In contrast, representations of largely fictional experiences before 1906 took up significant space.

As early as January and February 1929, some fairy tales by Kamphoeveners, freely spoken by her, were broadcast on the radio. She was able to build on this from 1951. Her success as a storyteller in German-speaking radio stations was the basis for the book editions of her fairy tales from 1956.

Works published under the name Else Marquardsen-Kamphövener (selection)

A comprehensive catalog of works can be found in Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener (1994).

Orientalia:

  • The Sheikh's Emerald: Tale from the Awakening of Turkey , Georg Müller, Munich and Berlin 1916
  • The essence of the Ottomans: A consultant for Orient driver . Roland-Verlag Dr. Albert Mundt , Munich 1916 ( Internet archive )
  • Asia Minor as an economic replacement area for Italy and the Riviera , Deutsche Levante-Zeitung 7 No. 16, Hamburg August 16, 1917, pp. 577-578 ( SUB Hamburg )
  • From the silence of the Orient in German will. Des Kunstwarts 31st year, Munich September 1st, 1918, pp. 139–141 ( Heidelberg University Library )
  • Bülbül el Hazar: The love rhythms of the thousand nights and the one night. Transfer to Mardrus, Munich 1920
  • Daughters of Tyranny: Truth & Truth Poetry from the court of the caliphs . Roman, Schahin-Verlag, Munich 1920
  • Cleopatra's slave , Schahin-Verlag, Munich 1920
  • The death wedding of the Azzisa Sultan . Schahin-Verlag, Munich 1922
  • On holy shores . Archive for culture a. Research in the Orient. Edited by Else Marquardsen-Kamphövener. H. 4/5, Munich 1922
  • Fairy tale storytellers of the Orient , communications from the Bund der Asiakampf 5 No. 8, Berlin August 1, 1923, pp. 12-13 ( Berlin State Library )

Contributions to the magazine Jugend. Munich illustrated weekly for art and life :

Trivial Fiction:

  • The Pharaoh . Roman, Berlin 1926
  • Raubritter & Co . Roman, Berlin 1928
  • Chervonets: The international adventure . Roman, Baden-Baden 1930
  • Brave little cart . Love novel, Berlin 1936
  • Ruth Portable . Woman's novel, Leipzig 1936
  • Mongoose spar . Detective novel, Leipzig 1936
  • Never defeated . Roman, Dresden 1937
  • Pioneer for Germany . Roman, Ludwigsburg a. Leipzig 1937

Contributions in We and the World . No. 4, 3rd year 1941:

  • Traditional folk poetry in Asia Minor .
  • The threshold between Orient and Occident .
  • Islam and its founders .

Works published under the name Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener

Book editions

Published during his lifetime:

  • At night fires of the caravan seraglio. Fairy tales and stories of old Turkish nomads . Christian Wegner , Hamburg 1956/57
  • Ali, the master thief. A story of old Turkish nomads . Insel ( IB 656), Wiesbaden 1957
  • The white sheikh . Überreuter, Heidelberg / Vienna 1957
  • The White Sheikh's horses . Überreuter, Heidelberg / Vienna 1958
  • At the old well of the Bedesten. From Allah's animals . Wegner, Hamburg 1958
  • Back then in the Ottoman Empire. A fairy tale of reality from Turkey by Sultan Abdul Hamid . Mohn, Gütersloh 1959
  • Anatolian shepherd tales . Wegner, Hamburg 1960
  • Islamic Christ legends . Arche, Zurich 1963

Published posthumously:

  • Mohammed. The legend of Islam . Arche, Zurich 1968
    • both new as: Mohammed. Islamic Christ legends . Rowohlt (rororo 12543), Reinbek 1989
  • The cedar tree. Fairy tales and stories from ancient Turkey . With old Turkish miniatures and ornaments. Wegner, Hamburg 1966

Audio books

Published during his lifetime:

  • Oriental fairy tales (2 episodes on 2 records). Deutsche Grammophon (DG junior 2546006/2546015), Hamburg 1957
  • Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener tells oriental stories. The forty lies - Scheherazade . Christophorus (CLX 75521), Freiburg im Breisgau 1958
    • new as: Oriental stories . 1 CD, Christophorus (CHR 88016-2), Heidelberg 1997

Published posthumously:

  • The silent one. A Turkish fairy tale . Christophorus, Freiburg im Breisgau 1968
  • At night fires of the caravan seraglio. Fairy tales and stories of old Turkish nomads , told by Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener. 10 CDs, Deutsche Grammophon, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 978-3-8291-1458-5
  • The Scheherazade's laughter. The hearing mechanism . 2 CDs in MP3 format, with 1 booklet. Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 2008, ISBN 978-3-86150-699-7

Post fame

Von Kamphoevener still has an excellent reputation among fairy tale tellers and connoisseurs. Many of the fairy tales she has recorded, especially the burlesques from the night fires , are reproduced as a permanent repertoire by German fairy tellers. Some of their subjects - especially the stories - have been and are dramatized by the most varied of theaters for drama or puppet theater. The implementations of a subject such as The Girl and the Hard Scales range from productions for children ( The Shepherd Girl Aymineh by Wolfram Mehring , for example at the Staatstheater Kassel 2004) to abstract puppet theater pieces in the evening program ( Aymineh - The Freedom of the Shepherd Girl by Claudia Hann and Udo Mierke at the Cassiopeia stage Cologne). The book Die Märchentante, der Sultan, mein Harem und I by the travel writer Helge Timmerberg tells extravagant and humorous about the (failed) attempt of the author to put the life of Kamphoeveners into a script. At the center of its story is the fairy tale The Pearl Caravan .

literature

References and comments

  1. ↑ Helga Moericke: The fairy tale baroness. Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dortmund / Zurich 1995, p. 46.
  2. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 6.
  3. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 23.
  4. ↑ Helga Moericke: The fairy tale baroness. Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dortmund / Zurich 1995, p. 33 f.
  5. ↑ Helga Moericke: The fairy tale baroness. Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dortmund / Zurich 1995, p. 32.
  6. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 31 ff.
  7. ↑ Helga Moericke: The fairy tale baroness. Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dortmund / Zurich 1995, p. 71 f.
  8. ↑ Helga Moericke: The fairy tale baroness. Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dortmund / Zurich 1995, p. 69.
  9. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 33.
  10. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin 1994, pp. 39–47.
  11. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 47.
  12. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 58 ff.
  13. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 65.
  14. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 66 ff.
  15. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, pp. 73 ff u. 76 ff.
  16. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 80 ff.
  17. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, pp. 85–87.
  18. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 89 f.
  19. ↑ Kurt Kreiler : The laugh of the Scheherazade. The storytelling of Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener. In: Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener: The laugh of the Scheherazade. The hearing mechanism. Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 2008, ISBN 978-3-86150-699-7 , p. 39.
  20. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 87 f.
  21. ^ Hans-Volkmar Findeisen: Oriental Lies. The fairytale world of Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener. Download of the transmission manuscript as an rtf file .
  22. ^ A b Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener: At night fires of the caravan seraglio. Fairy tales and stories of old Turkish nomads . 1st episode, Hamburg 1956, pp. 7-12 and 2nd episode, Hamburg 1957 pp. 7-9.
  23. ↑ Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener: At night fires of the caravan seraglio. Fairy tales and stories of old Turkish nomads . 1st episode, Hamburg 1956, pp. 7-12.
  24. ↑ See also the foreword to Else Marquardsen-Kamphövener: The Sheik's Emerald. A story from the awakening of Turkey. , Munich a. Berlin 1916.
  25. ↑ Helga Moericke: The fairy tale baroness. Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dortmund / Zurich 1995, p. 180 f.
  26. ↑ The quotes as self-portrayal go back to an autobiographical tale from 1934. See Helga Moericke: Die Märchenbaronin. Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dortmund / Zurich 1995, p. 40.
  27. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 32.
  28. ↑ Helga Moericke: The fairy tale baroness. Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dortmund / Zurich 1995, p. 67.
  29. ↑ Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener: At night fires of the caravan seraglio. Fairy tales and stories of old Turkish nomads . 2nd episode, Hamburg 1957, pp. 7-13.
  30. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, p. 108.
  31. ↑ Theodor Menzel: Meddâh, Schattentheater und Orta Ojunu, a critical overview of the results of recent research together with new contributions . Prague 1941, pp. 3-7.
  32. ↑ Otto Spies : The Turkish folk literature . In Handbook of Oriental Studies . First section, fifth volume, first section Turkic Studies . Reprint with additions, Leiden / Cologne 1982, p. 411 f.
  33. ↑ Özdemir Nutku : On Aşıks (tale singers) and Meddahs (story tellers) . In Seyhan Livanelioğlu (Ed.): The traditional Turkish theater . Ankara 1999, pp. 53-68.
  34. ^ Ignaz Kúnos : Materials for the knowledge of Rumelian Turkish. Part II. Turkish folk tales from Adakale , Rudolf Haupt, Leipzig New York 1907
  35. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin 1994, p. 107, based on a mention of Walter Tietze in 1958 and Walter Anderson: Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener. At night fires of Karawan-Serail . In Fabula. Journal of story research . Vol., P. 292.
  36. ↑ a b Kurt Kreiler : The laugh of the Scheherazade. The storytelling of Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener. In: Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener: The laugh of the Scheherazade. The hearing mechanism. Zweiausendeins, Frankfurt 2008, ISBN 978-3-86150-699-7 , p. 36.
  37. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, pp. 105–159.
  38. ↑ For the entire paragraph of the critical analysis see Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin 1994, pp. 105–159, in particular the respective conclusion from the study of selected fairy tales.
  39. ↑ Helga Moericke: The fairy tale baroness. Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dortmund / Zurich 1995, p. 176.
  40. ^ Letters to the editor from Ilse Wilbrandt: Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Self-published, Unterwössen 1969.
  41. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, pp. 100-104 u. 160 f.
  42. ^ Helga Moericke: Life and work of the storyteller Elsa Sophia von Kamphoevener . Dissertation, Free University of Berlin 1994, pp. 69–73.
  43. ↑ Angela Dinghaus: Women's radio and young girl hour . A contribution to the program history of Weimar broadcasting. Hannover 2002, p. 187 u. 495.
  44. ↑ Helge Timmerberg : The fairy tale aunt, the sultan, my harem and me. Malik, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-89029-774-3 .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kamphoevener, Elsa Sophia von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marquardsen-Kamphövener, Else
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer and storyteller
DATE OF BIRTH June 14, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamelin
DATE OF DEATH July 27, 1963
Place of death Marquartstein