Emil Rittershaus (poet)

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Friedrich Emil Rittershaus

Friedrich Emil Rittershaus (born April 3, 1834 in Barmen (today in Wuppertal ), † March 8, 1897 there ) was a German merchant and poet . He wrote numerous short stories, poems and novels. To this day he is best known as the author of the Westphalia song . In the Barmer Anlagen , an old park in Wuppertal-Barmen, there is a life-size knight's house monument. Another monument stands in Menden on the city limits of Iserlohn at the point where Rittershaus is said to have been inspired to write the text of the Westphalia song. Furthermore, streets and squares are named after him in several places.

Life

family

Emil Rittershaus was the son of a band manufacturer who had come to civil affluence in the Bergisches Land . He was married to Hedwig Rittershaus, née Lucas. He had seven children with her: Anna (* January 27, 1858), Walther Adolf (* August 4, 1859), Helene Hedwig (* November 12, 1860), Alfred Emil (* February 13, 1863), Adele Lina ( * December 24, 1864), Hugo Julius (* May 8, 1866) and Adeline (* July 29, 1867). Helene later married the sculptor Fritz Schaper , Adeline became known as a Scandinavian and a champion of women's studies .

Merchant

In 1856 Emil Rittershaus took over his father-in-law's metal goods factory and expanded it. Later he founded and managed his own company in Elberfeld (now in Wuppertal ), E. Rittershaus u. Cie. , a wholesale business for metal goods of all kinds , as a trading agency with a lively export business to neighboring countries. He also took part in a factory in Barmen and subsequently took over several general agencies for insurance companies.

poet

Barmen: Memorial to Friedrich Emil Rittershaus, created by Fritz Schaper
Dedication by the donors

Although he traveled a lot , especially in the context of his commercial activities , including the Netherlands , Switzerland and Germany , Emil Rittershaus remained very close to his home region throughout his life . He has also stated several times that the aesthetic work is much more important to him than the disdainful earning of a living . Many of his works are dedicated to the Bergisches Land and the Rhineland , but also Westphalia , especially the Sauerland . Therefore he is often referred to as a local poet . For example, in 1868 (probably during a visit to Iserlohn ) he wrote the Westphalia song and on October 6, 1872, for the inauguration of the Rudolfshalle am Hestenberg, the text of the Plettenberg song, Plettenberg, Dir Praise and Price, which is still known in the Sauerland .

Among other things, Rittershaus was friends with Ferdinand Freiligrath and Emanuel Geibel , and he also exchanged long letters with Hoffmann von Fallersleben . Around 1875 he was involved in the construction of a monument in honor of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff in Münster .

Rittershaus wrote theater, art and exhibition reports, poems and other texts for various magazines and appeared as a reciter. He wrote in “Across Land and Sea” and for several years was the main author of the then very popular weekly newspaper Die Gartenlaube . He owed a large part of his fame throughout the German-speaking area to the success of his gazebo contributions in particular . As a member of the German Writers' Association , he campaigned for broad popular education from 1894 , which was an unusual demand at the time.

After his death, at the beginning of the 20th century, some of his critical socio-political texts were published in the Viennese magazine Blätter für Moderne Weltanschauung. Organ of the association “Free Thought” .

Freemasons

Emil Rittershaus was a Freemason brother of the Schwelmer Johannisloge Zum Westfälischen Löwen , to which he dedicated his own song, among other things; he also had close relationships with the Bochum lodge. It is documented that he inaugurated the new rooms of the Lodge Zur Deutschen Redlichkeit in Iserlohn on July 1, 1877 . For the Freemasons he wrote One Resists , a “flaming poem” against the banishment of Pope Pius IX. In 1864 he had formulated a curse against the representatives of freedom of conscience and belief as well as against the opponents of church violence (encyclical Quanta cura and its appendix Syllabus errorum of December 8, 1864). Already in 1738 the Pope Clement XII. a curse against Freemasonry issued by Pius IX. was renewed.

Works (selection)

Grave of the Rittershaus couple in the old Protestant cemetery in Heckinghausen

literature

Web links

Commons : Emil Rittershaus  - Collection of Images
Wikisource: Friedrich Emil Rittershaus  - Sources and full texts
Wikiquote: Emil Rittershaus  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ News sheet of the family association of the Rittershaus, No. 6/7, May 1934
personal data
SURNAME Knight's house, Emil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rittershaus, Friedrich Emil (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German merchant and poet, author of the Westphalia song
DATE OF BIRTH April 3, 1834
PLACE OF BIRTH Barmen
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1897
Place of death Barmen