Ernst Lechner (pastor)
Ernst Lechner (born October 18, 1825 in Leipzig ; † December 12, 1912 in Thusis ) was a German Reformed pastor who was active in the Swiss canton of Graubünden as a newspaper editor and publisher as well as a regional historian.
Life
Ernst Lechner was born in Leipzig in 1825 . His father Sigmund, who originally came from Nuremberg, worked there as a school inspector .
After attending grammar school in Nuremberg, he studied philosophy in Leipzig and Tübingen. He successfully completed his studies in 1849 , during which he was actively involved in the fraternity . This was followed by a degree in theology in Zurich. Later he moved into the rectory in Celerina and worked there and in the neighboring parishes as a provisional (assistant pastor) and teacher. He preached alternately in Celerina and Pontresina and, according to Peider Lansel, also in Toggenburg .
After he was ordained in 1851 and accepted into the synod in Bergün , he took over the parish of Nufenen , but returned to Celerina in June 1853 and took over the parish there. At the same time he worked in St. Moritz . In a very short time he learned the Upper Engadin idiom of the Romance language and delivered his first Romance sermon in October of the same year. His teachers included the governor and lexicographer Zaccaria Pallioppi , the Celerin village school teacher and textbook author Giachem Heinrich and pastor Janett (Giannet) Menni from Samedan, later co-founder of the Romance newspaper Fögl d'Engiadina .
Together with his friend and pastor Nicholas (Nicolaus) Vital, he published the edification sheet Dumengia Saira from 1855 . After Vital retired into private life, Lechner obtained the 1858 year single-handedly and then discontinued the paper. He himself published numerous poems and smaller articles in it and later in the Fögl d'Engiadina . In 1857, together with schoolmaster Heinrich, he handed over the Istorgias della sencha scrittüra (Stories from the Holy Scriptures), which had long been used as school books in the Upper Engadin .
As early as 1855 he had a small catechism printed in Romansh. In 1857 the Chanzuns religiusas appeared in Chur with their own translations of Christian songs and those of others . These show in particular that he did not stubbornly learn the Romance language by heart, but penetrated their minds and feelings. Nobody would guess they were from a German.
In 1861 Lechner took over the Stampa parish , where he stayed until 1865. That year he reined in Thusis in Domleschg and preached there and in Masein . There he worked as an employee for the newspaper Der Volksmann, founded by Luzi Michel in 1872 . However, the paper died in 1877, about a year after Michel's death. As a result, Lechner founded the Rhaetian People's Messenger , where he was both editor and publisher. Both newspapers had to be printed in Chur; the Hinterrhein area only got a permanent printing house in 1886.
In 1898 or 1899 Lechner retired to Celerina, but worked on his books until his death. He died in Thusis in December 1912.
Travel guides and country descriptions
In his free time, Ernst Lechner went on extensive hikes through the Graubünden valleys and into the mountains. During his stay in the Engadin, he was often accompanied by J. Colani, hiking guide and son of the notorious hunter Gian Marchet Colani , and Landammann Gian Saratz . In 1857 there was an encounter with the Leipzig publisher and bookseller Wilhelm Engelmann , who was currently in Pontresina. This encouraged him to write a description of the area that could be of use to future visitors. Just one year later, Engelmann was able to have the volume Piz Languard and the Bernina Group printed at Pontresina . As Lechner mentions in the foreword, it was particularly important to him to clear up mistakes in earlier descriptions and to draw a picture of the Bernina region that was as realistic as possible . For this purpose he had his manuscript checked and revised by Saratz and Pastor Nicolaus Vital. The volume also contained two "views" in the form of copper engravings based on drawings by the painter Wilhelm Georgy . The most important addition, however, was a current map of the described area, corrected by Lechner himself, based on the then current Dufour map . Together with precise pronunciation instructions for the Engadine Romansh, especially the place names, future hikers should find their way around easier. The book was well received and was reprinted twice in expanded form; 1865 and finally 1900 under the title The Upper Engadine in the past and present . This edition pays great attention to the history and development of the valley.
In general, there is also a change in Lechner's works away from a pure travel guide and towards precise descriptions of the country and its people with extensive passages on history. So he writes in the preliminary remarks to the second edition of Thusis and the Hinterrhein-Thäler. Landscape and History Pictures (1897) include:
“Since last year the Rhaetian Railway has shortened the connection between Thusis and the north, traffic has increased significantly, and educated visitors to these areas will always want to learn more about the country and its people than the travel guides can contain. The present booklet is intended to be a guide for foreigners , but at the same time to offer local people a part of local history. [...] The exact details of the tours, the hotels and the like is left to the travel manuals. "
But around 1900 Lechner was asked again to write a travel guide; this time for the whole canton. The traffic bureau in Chur had bad experiences in the past due to inferior and simply made up travel literature and turned to the Chur publishers Manatschal and Ebner, who commissioned Lechner with the development of the book. Lechner was under time pressure, as his work should be ready for the opening of the Rhaetian Railway , which was expected to attract a growing number of visitors. In 1903 the band Graubünden lay . Illustrated travel guide through all the valley communities . It was supposed to replace Piz Languard (or, in the meantime, Das Oberengadin ) as Lechner's most successful work and was further edited after his death. The fifth and final edition appeared in 1920.
His work The Periodic Emigration of Engadinians and other Graubünden residents , a description of Graubünden's history and culture and, in particular, of the foreign work of the Engadinians and other Graubünden residents abroad (see Engadin confectioners ) was seen as a kind of thanksgiving to his adopted home, which sometimes brought great wealth to the country and was also reflected in the architecture. Lechner was just about to complete the second edition of this publication when the disease tore the pen out of his hands forever .
Lechner donated the proceeds of his works to good causes, for example for the two hospitals in the Upper and Lower Engadine at the time.
bibliography
- As an editor, publisher or editor
- (with Nicolaus Vital) Dumengia Saira
- (with Luzi Michel) The folk man
- Rhaetian People's Messenger
- topography
- Piz Languard and the Bernina Group near Pontresina
- Thusis and the Hinterrhein-Thäler. Landscape and history images
- The Upper Engadin in the past and present
- Local lore
- The periodic emigration of the Engadin and other Grisons
literature
- Jakob Rudolf Truog : The pastors of the Protestant communities in Graubünden and its former subjects. Speaker, Eggerling, Chur 1936 p. 140.
- Peider Lansel : Musa ladina. Antologia da la poesia engiadinaisa moderna, precedüda d'üna cuorta survista da nossa litteratura poetica. Engadin Press, Samedan 1910.
- Obituary in the Fögl d'Engiadina of December 21, 1912.
Web links
- Literature by and about Ernst Lechner in the catalog of the German National Library
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Lechner, Ernst |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Pastor, editor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 18, 1825 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Leipzig |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 12, 1912 |
| Place of death | Thusis |