Erich Kloss (Author)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erich Kloss , also Erich Kloß (born March 9, 1889 in Eichhorst im Niederbarnim , † October 15, 1964 in Berlin-Dahlem ) was a German author . The teacher from the Mark Brandenburg processed his knowledge of the flora and fauna of field, forest and meadow and its inhabitants in nonfiction , but also in Tier novels and children's books .

Life

Kloss' grandfather and father were teachers and Erich Kloss also took this career path. His father was also a forester and ran a farm. His mother was a housewife and he had three siblings. In 1915 he married his wife Martha. Daughter Hildegard later revised part of his works.

Erich Kloss grew up in Eichhorst on the Werbellinsee (today part of the municipality of Schorfheide in Brandenburg ) and as a child made many forays into nature and enjoyed fishing. Later he worked mainly in Schönwalde and Berlin , where he became a teacher in natural history classes, wrote and illustrated school books. In addition to the publication of school and technical books and stories from the woods and fields, he was known for several years (until 1934) on German radio stations as a storyteller of animal stories. Erich Kloss had also tried his hand at being an illustrator, but with only moderate success. The war restricted his writing: Erich Kloss was non-party and did not respond to the propagated education in youth associations - for these reasons he was neither promoted nor was he allowed to continue to appear on the radio with his animal stories. In 1944 he was drafted into the Navy. After the war he worked as a school principal in Schönwalde. In 1950 he fled to West Berlin, where he also spent his old age. On his 75th birthday, he was able to celebrate the news that a total of five million books had been sold.

Erich Kloss died in Berlin in 1964 at the age of 75 and was buried in the Dahlem forest cemetery. The grave has not been preserved.

plant

Non-fiction

Erich Kloss liked to describe the connections between humans, animals and nature in non-fiction books. Whether it's fishing instructions for children or a gardener's book, his most important concern was to teach the children how to deal with animals and nature correctly. He described the biology of animals and their importance in the ecosystem . In his books, behavior between animals is not presented as brutal, but as a natural course with all its facets.

He also published textbooks in the fields of science , technology , biology and physics as an author and partly as an editor . Some of his stories have been published in excerpts in school books for German lessons in primary and secondary schools .

The line between non-fiction and fiction is often blurred in his books .

Animal novels and youth literature

Erich Kloss was primarily known for his series of books for young people in the deep forest and forester's house . The main characters and thus the "heroes" of Erich Kloss are hunters, fishermen and farmers. The illustrations in these books for young people were all by Moritz Pathé . Kloss has published other children's books, especially with Franz Schneider Verlag . These repeatedly express his closeness to nature, as well as his belief in the order in the animal and plant world, in which humans also have their place. Examples are the books about the animal welfare village Schönwalde.

Works (selection)

"Horst slowly raised the glass, and he clearly recognized the fox, its pointed muzzle, the silvery shimmering bellows, the long fuse that dragged on the snow." From: "Winter Holidays in the Försterhaus".

Försterhaus series, each with the subtitle "A boy experiences the forest and his animals" :

  • Spring in the forester's house
  • Summer days in the forester's house
  • Autumn joys in the Försterhaus , Franz Schneider Verlag, Munich undated [1953].
  • Winter holidays in the Försterhaus , Vier-Tannen-Verlag, Berlin 1948. New edition by Franz Schneider Verlag, Munich undated [approx. 1950].

"In the deep forest" series :

  • Horst becomes a forester
  • Horst and the predatory game
  • The king of the night
  • Hunting adventure at the forest lake

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 583.
  2. ↑ Munich n.d., p. 50.
personal data
SURNAME Kloss, Erich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dumpling, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German book author
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Eichhorst (Schorfheide) , Niederbarnim district
DATE OF DEATH October 15, 1964
Place of death Berlin-Dahlem