Ernst Balcke

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Ernst Balcke (born April 9, 1887 in Berlin , † January 16, 1912 in Gatow ) was a German author. As the best friend of the poet Georg Heym , he had a fatal accident with him who wanted to save him while ice skating on the Havel.

Life

Ernst Balcke was the son of the banker Oskar Balcke and his wife Elisabeth, née L'Hermet. He studied Romance and English in Munich , Berlin, Besançon and Edinburgh . In December 1911 he passed his state examination in Berlin. He had contacts with the New Club through Heym . Kurt Hiller said in a letter about Balcke: “I knew him briefly; I really liked him. Slightly taller than Heym, slimmer, medium-blond, straight posture, narrow, a little 'English' skull, facial expression at the same time citizen-correct and quietly dreamy. His attitude towards us: of (but unobtrusive) modesty. "

Balcke wrote occasional poetry now and then, a small selection of which was published posthumously in 1912 and 1913 in the expressionist organ Die Aktion . Hiller on Balcke's lyrical attempts: “His verses were [...] considered amiable and epigonal; unimportant because too conventional. There was something about this judgment; it was essentially mine too ”. Max Osborn then published the poems in 1914 in a narrow volume in the Berlin publishing house Reuss & Pollack.

Balcke was buried in the Berlin Cemetery IV of the Jerusalem and New Churches on Bergmannstrasse . The grave is preserved. The father Oskar Balcke (1852–1932) is also buried there. A monument plinth, crowned by a vase, serves as a grave monument.

Ernst Balcke becomes the literary title figure in the 2014 Berlin novel Balcke or The hypermodern Prometheus by Antje Göhler .

literature

  • Karl Ludwig Schneider (Ed.): Georg Heym. Seals and writings. Complete edition. (Published: Volumes 1–3; 6) Ellermann, Hamburg 1960–68.
  • Oliver Ohmann: A Fall into the Ceaselessly Flowing Nothing - The Death of Georg Heym and Ernst Balcke. In: Communications from the Association for the History of Berlin. 96th year, No. 2 (2000), pp. 50-56.
  • Bo Osdrowski / Tom Riebe (eds.): Ernst Balcke. Versensporn - Booklet for lyrical charms No. 20, Edition POESIE SCHMECKT GUT, Jena 2015, 100 copies.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schneider, Volume 6, pp. 439-441.
  2. ^ Schneider, Volume 6, page 439.
  3. ↑ Schneider, Volume 6, ibid.
  4. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 288.
  5. ^ Antje Göhler: Balcke or The hypermodern Prometheus. Novel. Elektrischer Verlag , Berlin 2014. ISBN 978-3-943889-62-8 .
personal data
SURNAME Balcke, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author
DATE OF BIRTH April 9, 1887
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH January 16, 1912
Place of death Berlin