Ernst Harthern

Ernst Harthern (born Ernst Ludwig Jacobson in Stade on September 7, 1884 ; died June 8, 1969 in Sigtuna , Sweden ; pseudonym from 1909 to 1945: Niels Hoyer) was a German journalist, writer and translator. Because of his Jewish descent, he was persecuted after 1933 and expatriated after his emigration in 1936. From then on he lived in exile in Denmark and Sweden. Ernst Harthern dealt intensively with his Jewish-German identity in his work and worked as a cultural ambassador as a translator of works of Scandinavian literature.

Life

Information board at the residential building Bungenstr. 14 in Stade

Ernst Harthern was born as Ernst Ludwig Jacobson on September 7, 1884 at Bungenstrasse 14 in Stade.

Family, childhood and youth

According to his own statements, Ernst Harthern was the great-great-grandson of the Jewish reformer Israel Jacobson from Halberstadt. Harthern's paternal family therefore descended from the “last son” of this reformer, who lived the Jewish faith. The Jacobson family from Stader ran a paper and product store in the small town for several generations. Harthern's father, David Jacobson, left the family early and immigrated to the United States. The mother, Johanne Jacobson (née Frenkel) came from a Jewish family from Varenholz and died when the boy was nine years old. From then on, Harthern grew up with his aunt, Frieda Freudenstein (born Frenkel, 1864–1942, died in Treblinka). Ernst Ludwig Jacobson graduated from the Athenaeum grammar school and left the small town in Lower Saxony at the age of 16 to begin an apprenticeship at a bank in Halberstadt .

Years of traveling, Copenhagen and Norway

The young first Ludwig had to break off his banking apprenticeship after six months because of financial problems at the bank. This was followed by moderately successful years of professional and personal self-discovery with stations in Berlin , Weimar , Solingen , Munich and Vienna . He was arrested several times for arrears in rent and alleged embezzlement, was acquitted and later convicted again on the same matter. In a desperate situation, he attempted suicide and traveled - physically injured and often penniless - through Germany and Holland. The half-orphan with artistic ambitions received little recognition and support from his own family during this time. He tried to get self-affirmation from his writing and journalistic activities, which he never gave up against all odds. After further setbacks, which almost resulted in another suicide attempt, he was at the end of his strength, suffered a collapse and had to be treated for several months in the Hamburg harbor hospital .

On the mediation of the journalist Kurt Küchler , editor of the Hamburger Fremdblatt , Ernst Harthern was able to travel to Copenhagen in 1910 and found accommodation with friends. From 1911 he was a correspondent for the Frankfurter Zeitung almost constantly abroad. In 1912 he began translating Scandinavian literature, including a. a. Classics by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson and Knut Hamsun . He published under the pseudonym Niels Hoyer . Scandinavia became his second home, he married the Norwegian Martina Willberg and had two children. His past caught up with him in Scandinavia as well. He tried several times to regulate his affairs as a man of honor.

In the autobiographical essay Notschrei from 1913, Ernst Harthern confessed himself relentlessly at that time by giving up his pseudonym Niels Hoyer . It had been eight years in which he had "never had a happy day".

Return to Germany, Denmark

The family returned to Stade for a few years (1919–1924). Born Ludwig Jacobson at his family's headquarters in 1921, his name was finally changed to Ernst Harthern. For many years this was the last visit to his hometown. Ernst Harthern went abroad again and last visited Stade in 1954 - the year his cousin died - to research the death of his mother.

From 1926 he lived mainly in Denmark, where he married the Danish actress Maria Garland on May 6, 1931. Trying to promote a German-Scandinavian cultural exchange, Ernst Harthern began to translate German works into Scandinavian in Denmark. He is said to have significantly promoted the publication of the novel " Jud Süß " by Lion Feuchtwanger at the Danish publisher Gyldendal .

Prohibition and exclusion in Germany, exile

Ernst Harthern remained active for German publishers until the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. At the German national Scherl-Verlag under the direction of the major Berlin publisher Alfred Hugenberg , for whom Harthern was working at the time, he was dismissed in April 1933 due to his Jewish descent. For Harthern, who was previously rather attached to the national movement in Germany, this was obviously the reason to critically evaluate National Socialism and to turn to his own Jewish roots. As a result, Ernst Harthern traveled to Palestine , whose impressions he later processed in two novels.

After his works were banned in Germany in 1933, Harthern was also personally marginalized. In 1935 he was expelled from the alumni association of the high school he attended in Stade. In 1936 he was expatriated from Germany. Harthern's adopted home Denmark was now in exile - the all-important ties to the German homeland were finally severed.

After the occupation of Denmark, Ernst Harthern narrowly escaped persecution by the National Socialists and was able to emigrate to Stockholm in 1943 as part of a “night and fog” campaign to rescue the Danish Jews .

1945–1969

Even after the end of the war, Sweden remained the geographical home of Ernst Harthern. On July 9, 1951, he got his third marriage there with the Swede Anna-Britta Jönsson. In Sweden he worked as a journalist for various newspapers, continued to translate works of Scandinavian literature and worked in the archive.

He did not aim to return to Germany. He visited his home town of Stade, with which he remained emotionally connected throughout his life, for the last time in 1954. After a serious illness, Harthern died on June 8, 1969 in Sigtuna (Stockholm province).

Writing

Edition of the first novel "Axel Mertens Heimat" from 1913 with a dedication by the author; Holdings: Stade City Library

The focus of the literary work was in the journalistic area and in the translation of Scandinavian literature. Ernst Harthern says he has translated 70 works into German, making many authors accessible to a German-speaking audience for the first time. In his role as a correspondent for German and Scandinavian newspapers, he is particularly important for intercultural exchange.

The literary work - compared to the total volume of its publications - takes up a relatively small part.

In 1913 the first novel by Axel Mertens Heimat was published , which is set in the Stader region.

The book Lili Elbe was published in 1932 . A person changes sex through the story of the Danish painter Lili Elbe (born as Einar Mogens Wegener), who was one of the first transsexuals to undergo sex-change surgery. Because of its unusual topic, the book caused a stir around the world, and not just among the artistic avant-garde of the 1930s.

The novel Heimwärts , in which Harthern processed the impressions of a three-month trip to Palestine , received greater attention and attention in literary circles . Harthern describes the meeting of different characters during the pre-founding phase of the State of Israel in the area of ​​the League of Nations mandate at the time . The central theme is the search for home and the inner turmoil that arose especially for German exiles after immigration ( Alija ) in the new cultural area. Thomas Mann is said to have rated the book as "a really original and moving work".

His last novel, Home at Last (Engl. Title Home at last ) first appeared in Danish, Swedish and English translation.

Ernst Harthern's translations of Halldór Laxness ' works were often rated positively by German literary critics, but contrary to the information in the books, they were not directly translated "from Icelandic" into German. Since Harthern did not speak the Icelandic language, his Laxness translations were made through a detour via Danish and Swedish translations. This led to shortcomings; the literary scholar Guðrún Hrefna Guðmundsdóttir states that it is known "that his laxness translations sometimes deviate very far from the original".

A "forgotten writer"

Most of Ernst Harthern's works are no longer available in Germany. His extensive estate - numerous manuscripts and over 3,500 letters - is kept in the Västerås Abbey and State Library (Sweden).

In 2008, the city archive of the Hanseatic City of Stade published a selection of his works.

In his home town of Stade, a memorial plaque on the house where he was born at Bungenstrasse 14 reminds of this forgotten writer.

Reception and effect

Ernst Harthern is considered a "forgotten" writer. His name and works are almost unknown in his home country. Only recently has a culture of remembrance established itself in the vicinity of his hometown Stade, after this promoter of cultural exchange between Scandinavia and Germany was ignored and kept silent for decades.

Home, forlornness, search for identity

One of the main motifs of Ernst Harthern's work is seen as his intensive examination of the concept of home . It is already reflected in the first novel, which describes the protagonist's search for his mother, who died in childbirth, in Norway. In later works, the German expatriated author particularly addresses the homelessness of a "German Jew" who is inwardly torn between the deep, but ultimately disappointed, connection to his native country and the longing for the origin of his Jewish roots in Erez Israel .

Gender history: Lili Elbe - Man Into Woman

The only remaining historical evidence: the name change of the artist Einar Mogens Andreas Wegener to Lili Ilse Elvenes.

The publication of the Confessions of the Danish painter Lili Elbe (Lili Ilse Elvenes, Einar Wegener) had the broadest impact . The book has been published several times under the English title Man into woman and is sometimes considered the genesis of gender revolution . A current edition was only published again in 2004. In addition, excerpts from Man into woman appeared in an anthology in 2005 under the title Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs

With his first work The Danish Girl , which is largely based on the original of the Confessions published by Ernst Harthern (Niels Hoyer) , the American author David Ebershoff was able to land a bestseller success in 2002. The book was in 2015 by director Tom Hooper with Eddie Redmayne in the title role of Lili Elbe filmed .

It is unclear whether the events described correspond to the real circumstances or whether it is a literary processing of one's own search for identity - not uncommon for Harthern's work.

Cultural mediator

As a foreign correspondent for German newspapers and a translator of Scandinavian literature, Ernst Harthern was able to provide some impetus for mutual cultural understanding. A memorial plaque was dedicated to him in Stade expressly for this commitment.

Works

Own works

• Niels Hoyer: Axel Merten's home . Rütten & Loening, Frankfurt a. M. 1913 ( DNB entry ).
• Lili Elbe: A person changes his gender; A life confession; From papers left behind , ed. by Niels Hoyer. Reissner, Dresden 1932 ( DNB entry )
  • English translation: Man into woman: an authentic record of a change of sex; the true story of the miraculous transformation of the Danish painter Einar Wegener ed. by Niels Hoyer. Transl. from the German by HJ Stenning. Introd. by Norman Haire. Dutton, New York 1933 ( DNB entry )
• Niels Hoyer: Home . Kruseman, Den Haag / Leo, Vienna 1936. ( DNB entry )
  • English translation: Ernst Harthern: Going home . Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis / New York 1938 ( DNB entry )
• Ernst Harthern: Finally at home - only published in Danish, English and Swedish translations.
  • Danish translation: Landet som fortærer sine Mennesker . Fremad, København 1937. ( DNB entry )
  • English translation: Home at last . Transl. by Kenneth C. Kaufman. Bobbs-Merrill, Indianapolis / New York 1939 ( DNB entry )
  • Swedish translation: Äntligen hemma . Övers. av Lennart Göthberg. Nature and culture, Stockholm 1944.

Translations of works of Scandinavian literature

Matti Aikio

• The Hebrew's son . Roman (German edition by Niels Hoyer). G. Müller, Munich 1914 ( DNB entry )

Martin Andersen Nexø

• Memories (from the Danish, translated by Ernst Harthern). Dietz, Berlin 1948 ( DNB entry )

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson

• Legends (German by Niels Hoyer; Hanns von Gumppenberg). G. Müller, Munich 1913 ( DNB entry )
• Synnöve Solbakken . Narrative (with an introduction by Walther Staudacher. Translated by Niels Hoyer). Verl. Deutsche Volksbuch, Stuttgart 1942 ( DNB entry )

Halldór Laxness

• World light . Roman, (from the Icelandic by Ernst Harthern). Suhrkamp, ​​Berlin 1955 ( DNB entry )
• Atomic station . Roman, (translated by Ernst Harthern). Rowohlt, Hamburg 1955 ( DNB entry )
• Iceland bell . Roman (from the Icelandic by Ernst Harthern). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt a. M. 1951 ( DNB entry )
• Salka Valka . Roman (from the Icelandic by Ernst Hartnern). Rowohlt, Hamburg 1957. ( DNB entry )
• The fish concert . Roman (from Iceland by Ernst Harthern and H. Kurt Birger). Rowohlt, Reinbek b. Hamburg 1961 ( DNB entry )
• The good virgin and other stories (from Iceland. Translated by Ernst Harthern). Rowohlt, Hamburg 1958 ( DNB entry )

Lars Hansen

• Tromsoe monkfish . Roman (from Norway by Niels Hoyer). Schaffstein, Cologne 1939 ( DNB entry )
• Fight for life . Roman (from the Norwegian v. Niels Hoyer). Schaffstein, Cologne 1941 ( DNB entry )

Knut Hamsun

• The final joy . Roman (translated from Norway by Niels Hoyer). Langen, Munich 1914 ( DNB entry )
• Hunger (German by Niels Hoyer). G. Kiepenheuer, Potsdam 1921 ( DNB entry )
• Children of their time (from the Norwegian by Niels Hoyer). Langen, Munich 1914. ( DNB entry )

William Heinesen

• The damn musicians . Novel from the Faroe Islands (translated by Ernst Harthern). Schünemann, Bremen 1952, ( DNB entry )

Hans Jaeger

• Ill love - (multi-part work) (German edition by Niels Hoyer). Kiepenheuer, Potsdam 1920 ( DNB entry )
• Kristiania-Boheme - (incorporated and author. Transferred by Niels Hoyer). A. Harms, Hamburg 1921 ( DNB entry )
• Olga (an intellectual seduction) - drama, (imported and transferred by Niels Hoyer). A. Harms, Hamburg 1921 ( DNB entry )

Aksel Sandemose

• The Klabautermann . Roman, (translated by Niels Hoyer). Safari-Verlag, Berlin 1928 ( DNB entry )

Karl Schlueter

• Derailed - drama in 3 acts (7 pictures), (from the Danish transferred to the German stage, edited by Niels Hoyer). Pfeffer, Vienna / Leipzig around 1935 ( DNB entry )

Harry Søiberg

• The sea king . Roman, (German by Niels Hoyer). Schaffstein, Cologne 1929 ( DNB entry )
• The daughter . Roman, (from Danish by Niels Hoyer). Schaffstein, Cologne 1930 ( DNB entry )
• The last way . Roman, (from Danish by Niels Hoyer). Schaffstein, Cologne 1931 ( DNB entry )

Sigfrid Siwertz

• Sam, Beth and the car: people and fates from contemporary life (from Sweden by Niels Hoyer). C. Schünemann, Bremen 1930 ( DNB entry )

Peter Adolph Tutein

• One man too many - (from Danish by Niels Hoyer). Schaffstein, Cologne 1930 ( DNB entry )

Editing

• The prints of the beautiful rarity series (edited by Niels Hoyer), Hamburg: A. Harms; Leipzig: W. Opetz, ( DNB entry )
  • Alfons Paquet , The Embassy of the Rhine , Hamburg: A. Harms, 1922
  • Karl Lorenz , The four Madonnas , Hamburg: A. Harms, 1922
  • Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , Hymn to Nature , Hamburg: A. Harms, 1922
  • Ernst Harthern , Nachtlied , Hamburg: A. Harms, 1922
  • Kasimir Edschmid , speech to a poet , Hamburg: A. Harms, 1922
  • William Shakespeare , Sonnets to the Beloved Boy , Hamburg: A. Harms, 1922

literature

• Ernst Harthern (1884–1969). In: Helmut Müssener, Impulse: Thanks to Gustav Korlén on his 60th birthday , German Institute of Stockholm University, 1975, DNB entry , pp. 97–114
• Ernst Harthern - A Jewish Writer. In: Hartmut Lohmann, The district of Stade in the time of National Socialism , Stade 1991, ISBN 3-9802018-1-3 , pp. 331–334
• Always home in my arms like an orphan: cultural exile in Scandinavia and the importance Ernst Hartherns as cultural mediators between Scandinavia and Germany Ed .: City Stade, the city manager, Ed .: Jürgen Bohmbach, Stade 1995 DNB entry , table of contents at the German National Library
• Ernst Harthern: journalist, author, translator. A selection from his works , (publications from the Stade City Archives, Volume 26), edited by Jörn Bosse, Stade 2008, ISBN 3-938528-03-6
• Birgit S. Nielsen: Ernst Harthern (1884–1969). Writer, journalist, translator. In: Willy Dähnhardt ; Birgit S. Nielsen (Ed.): Exile in Denmark: German-speaking scientists, artists and writers in Danish exile after 1933 , Heide: Westholsteinische Verlagsanstalt Boyens, 1993 ISBN 3-8042-0569-0 , pp. 513-519
• Harthern, Ernst. In: Lexicon of German-Jewish Authors . Volume 10: Güde – Hein. Edited by the Bibliographia Judaica archive. Saur, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-598-22690-X , pp. 190-198.

See also

• German-speaking emigration to Denmark 1933–1945
• Rescue of the Danish Jews across the Øresund in 1943
• German-speaking emigration to Sweden 1933–1945

Web links

Wikiquote: Ernst Harthern  - Quotes

• Literature by and about Ernst Harthern in the catalog of the German National Library
• Västerås library website
• Uwe Ruprecht, "The bullet in the back" Ernst Harthern's Visitation , lecture at the event series "Persecuted Secret Forgetting" in the Pastor Behrens House in Stade on May 8, 1995 Online version

proof

1. ↑ cf. Federal Archives: "Memorial Book - Victims of the Persecution of Jews under the National Socialist Tyranny in Germany 1933–1945" Frieda Freudenstein
2. ^ Notschrei appears in February 1914 in the Süddeutsche Monatshefte
3. ↑ cf. J. Bohmbach: They lived with us - Jews in the Stade district from the 18th to the 20th century , (publications from the Stade City Archives), Vol. 21, Stade 2001, p. 27
4. ↑ cf. J. Bohmbach: They lived with us , Stade 2001, p. 40
5. ↑ cf. Entry about Maria Garland in "Den Danske Film Database"
6. ↑ cf. Entry about Maria Garland in "Den Danske Film Database"
7. ↑ cit. According to Hartmut Lohmann: The district of Stade in the time of National Socialism , Stade 1991, ISBN 3-9802018-1-3 , p. 333
8. ↑ Guðrún Hrefna Guðmundsdóttir: Halldór Laxness in Germany (=  contributions to Scandinavian Studies . Volume 8 ). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main etc. 1989, ISBN 3-631-40767-X , p. 45 .
9. ↑ ^{a b} Guðrún Hrefna Guðmundsdóttir: Halldór Laxness in Germany (=  contributions to Scandinavian Studies . Volume 8 ). Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main etc. 1989, ISBN 3-631-40767-X , p. 42 .
10. ↑ cf. Hamburger Abendblatt from February 13, 2009 In the footsteps of Ernst Harthern
11. ↑ Quotation: Forgotten because he was a Jew , Hartmut Lohmann: Der Landkreis Stade in the time of National Socialism , Stade 1991, ISBN 3-9802018-1-3 , p. 331
12. ↑ Source: Kirkebog Velje, St.Nicolai, Opslag 20 at: www.danishfamilysearch.dk
13. ↑ from the synopsis for Man into woman , 2004:

    “ This new edition of Man into Woman, the birth, life and confessions of Lili Elbe, is a story of a marriage and of love and romance that paints a fascinating portrait of a 1930's European artistic community. Compiled fron Lili's own letters and manuscripts, and those of the people who adored her, Man into Woman is the Genesis of the Gender Revolution. "

    , Text on GoogleBooks (accessed September 8, 2014)
14. ↑ Sexual Metamorphosis: An Anthology of Transsexual Memoirs , New York: Vintage Books, 2005 ISBN 1-4000-3014-5 ; parts available online at GoogleBooks
15. ↑ Position for an authentic description:

    "Lili herself is the actual author of the book. The friend, sometimes mistakenly described as the author, was actually her editor "

    , Review of Man Into Woman at OII Australia - Intersex Australia , April 17, 2009 (accessed September 9, 2014)
16. ↑ Uwe Ruprecht takes a literary position:

    “Lili Elbe takes the motif of home as a search for identity to extremes. And not in the novel, but like Notschrei as a literarily designed, as a dramatic document. Lili Elbe is a milestone in the history of transsexuality and is quoted as such on the Internet. "

    Ernst Harthern's Visitation , Stade 2009 (accessed September 9, 2014)
17. ↑ cf. Search entry for this title in the online search of the library Västerås (accessed on 6 September 2014)