Fehrs Guild

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Fehrs Guild
legal form registered association
founding 1916
Seat Glinde ( Germany )
main emphasis Society for Low German Language Maintenance, Literature and Language Policy
Action space Northern Germany, worldwide
Chair Marianne Ehlers
Website /www.fehrsgilde.de

The Fehrs-Gilde is a registered association for the promotion of the Low German language. Since 2007 the full name has been Fehrs-Gilde - Society for Low German Language Maintenance, Literature and Language Policy. V. or Fehrs-Gill - Sellschop för nedderdüütsche Spraakpleeg, literature un Spraakpolitik i. V.

Foundation, assignment to the Low German movement

The Fehrs Guild was founded in Hamburg in 1916 . It is named after the writer Johann Hinrich Fehrs . In addition to the general promotion of the Low German language, the association intended when it was founded to keep the work of the namesake alive. In the course of the association's history, the focus shifted to the publication of Low German books. In addition, new editions of older Low German authors and publications on the popular political self-image of the guild appeared. This was served by a separate publishing house in Kiel. Jacob Bödewadt was the founder and long-time chairman of the guild .

Fundamental to the self-image was the activity of the guild as part of the Low German Movement . Racism was part of their “iron stock” of “Low German ideology” until at least the end of National Socialism . The guild chairman Bödewadt had already emerged during the First World War with a profile of racial ideology which, from a Low German perspective, justified annexations from the "West in Vlanders" to the "East in the Baltic provinces". This is because it is "Old Low German" or "Germanic-Low German" soil.

The guild represented racist positions up to “open anti-Semitism”, “so that in the end there was agreement with the fascist politics in its most brutal form.” So she formulated in 1926 in the völkisch magazine Volk und Rasse as her goal, “in the end ... to look for the Low German people ”, for which purpose anthropology should be used. She found confirmation of the real existence of such a peculiar type of human being in the person of the person who gave it its name, because Johann Hinrich Fehrs was "a type of Nordic man in terms of his entire body and character." In a description of the association's goals ( goals and tasks of the Fehrs-Gilde ) in 1927 Otto Wachs, acting chairman of the “Guild Day”, complained in anti-Semitic coding that “our entire culture” was “permeated and partly dominated by un-German, international nature”. Even "in the very own areas of German nationality" are "foreigners leading and decisive". These “false prophets” would “beguile” “large groups of the people” who then “pay homage to an educational culture that is all possible”, “but certainly not German”.

An example of the guild's position in the political spectrum of the Weimar Republic is the text Was ist Niederdeutsch? Contributions to tribal studies , in which well-known representatives of racist and anti-Semitic views such as Adolf Bartels and Christian Boeck or the "later notorious racial researcher" Hans FK Günther ("Rasse-Günther") contributed. In the closing words, with reference to Günther, Boeck assigned the “down-to-earth” people living in northern Germany to the “Nordic race”, assuming them to have a “tribal character”, a racially given “certain mental shape” and, moreover, the widespread folk stereotypes such as special “creative ones” “Talent or the production of great personalities“ in many fields ”. In terms of terminology and content, it thus moved in close proximity to views shared by the National Socialists.

National Socialism

After the National Socialists and their conservative allies had taken over political power, the "Committee for Low German Culture", which the Fehrs Gilde and the Low German Quickborn Association had founded, turned to Hitler with an address and declared through the chairmen of the two associations their devotion to new leadership. The goal of her long-term work has been achieved through the “national awakening”. “The German character and the German nature have now moved back into the center of our intellectual life.” This common ideological basis was not called into question when conflicts over organizational independence arose as a result in competition with the Kampfbund für deutsche Kultur . According to the authors Dohnke, Hopster and Wirrer in their analysis of the Low German movement under National Socialism, the papers of the Fehrs Guild now took “the most extreme position” in the interpretation of Low German “folkism”. They thanked Adolf Hitler for his groundbreaking considerations and saw the guild in terms of racial ideology and in practice as an early foreman of “today's state”.

After the end of National Socialism

In 1949 a new publishing house was founded, which was integrated into Wachholtz Verlag in 1989 . From the 1940s to the beginning of the 1980s , authors continued to be published here with texts by Christian Boeck, Hans Heitmann , Moritz Jahn and Hermann Claudius who were burdened by their activities in the ethnic Low German movement and under National Socialism. A volume of poetry by Claudius, a particularly exposed representative of Nazi literature, was published in 2000. The Nazi-polluted authors now mostly avoided political statements. But Hermann Claudius, for example, continued to position himself as a folk author, for example by participating in the “Lippoldsberger Dichtertage” re-established by Hans Grimm in 1949. In the years 1957–1959, the guild published three volumes of selection texts by Fehrs. Your Low German-High German dictionary by Johannes Saß has appeared in numerous editions since 1956.

Fehrs-Gilde today

The current (2017) chairperson is Marianne Ehlers , the deputy chairperson is Heinrich Thies and treasurer Dr Rolf Niese.

Until 2006, the Fehrs-Gilde referred to itself as the "Association for the Promotion of Low German eV". Since then it has been called "Sellschop för plattdüütsche Spraakpleeg, Literatur un Spraakpolitik iV". This name reflects the expansion of the field of activity initiated by the then chairman Heinrich Thies. The association publishes the sheets of the Fehrs-Gilde , which have been published in "New Series" since July 1998 and have been published on the Internet since 2004.

“Literature” stands for the continuation of the literary work of the Fehrs-Gilde, especially the publishing activity.

“Language maintenance” names efforts to maintain and develop the language. Products in this field are

  • Dictionaries with the simple, standard German-like spelling rules by Johannes Saß as well as a modern, contemporary vocabulary, namely
    • "Der kleine SASS" by Heinrich Thies with 2,700 High German and 3,300 Low German keywords
    • "The new SASS" by Heinrich Kahl and Heinrich Thies with 9,000 High German and 9,000 Low German keywords
  • the "SASS Plattdeutsche Grammatik" (also online) by Heinrich Thies. It shows the internal structure of the Low German language and gives a number of stylistic references. It is clearly structured, contains many highlighted, easy-to-remember examples and highlights important characteristic Low German language properties
  • the "SASS Low German Spelling" (also online) by Heinrich Thies
  • Teaching materials for educators and primary school teachers by Marianne Ehlers and Renate Poggensee. The materials such as games and songs primarily serve as the basis for well-attended seminars by the authors.

The "language policy" refers to the efforts of the guild to improve the framework for Low German (Low German campaign in the European Language Charter , preservation of Low German on television, Low German in the state constitution of Schleswig-Holstein , Low German in the schools in Schleswig-Holstein) Holsteins) as well as the cooperation of leading members of the guild in the Low German interest groups such as the Federal Council for Low German and the Low German Council for Schleswig-Holstein . The Fehrs-Gilde regrets the racist and nationalist positions in the first almost 30 years of existence and operates its language policy on the basis of the Basic Law.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. See the short note in: Blätter der Fehrs-Gilde / Fehrs-Gill, Sellschop för nedderdüütsche Spraakpleeg, Literatur un Spraakpolitik i. V., No. 42, March 2009 .
  2. Monika Schürmann / Reinhard Rösler (eds.), Literature and literary politics in the Third Reich. The Doberaner Dichtertag 1936–1943, Rostock 2003, p. 128.
  3. Kay Dohnke / Norbert Hopster / Jan Wirrer (eds.): Low German in National Socialism. Studies on the role of regional culture in fascism. Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1994, p. 47.
  4. Kay Dohnke / Norbert Hopster / Jan Wirrer (eds.): Low German in National Socialism. Studies on the role of regional culture in fascism. Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1994, p. 48.
  5. Claus Schuppenhauer: Eulenspiegel also has time and place ... Notes about Erich Klahn and the Low German idea. In: Erich Klahns Ulenspiegel. Series of illustrations for Charles de Coster's novel (exhibition catalogs of the Herzog August Bibliothek 52), Wolfenbüttel 1986, pp. 13–26, here: p. 20.
  6. ^ Fehrs-Gilde (Ed.): What is Low German? Contributions to tribal studies, Kiel 1928; Kay Dohnke / Norbert Hopster / Jan Wirrer (eds.): Low German in National Socialism. Hildesheim 1994, p. 288; Monika Schürmann, Reinhard Rösler (ed.): Literature and literary politics in the Third Reich. Doberan Poets Day 1936–1943. Rostock 2003, p. 128.
  7. On Boeck: “racist conceptions” and “obvious sympathy for the National Socialists”, see: Kay Dohnke / Norbert Hopster / Jan Wirrer (eds.), Low German in National Socialism, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1994, p. 245.
  8. Monika Schürmann / Reinhard Rösler (eds.), Literature and literary politics in the Third Reich. The Doberaner Dichtertag 1936–1943, Rostock 2003, p. 128.
  9. Kay Dohnke / Norbert Hopster / Jan Wirrer (eds.), Low German in National Socialism, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1994, pp. 60f.
  10. Kay Dohnke / Norbert Hopster / Jan Wirrer (eds.), Low German in National Socialism, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1994, p. 84.
  11. See the self - declaration essence of the Fehrs-Gilde , 1933/34, based on: Kay Dohnke / Norbert Hopster / Jan Wirrer (eds.): Low German in National Socialism . Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 1994, p. 101 f.
  12. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 , p. 98.
  13. All information according to the bibliography of the Fehrs-Gilde: Blätter der Fehrs-Gilde. New episode: [1] .
  14. Marianne Ehlers Vörsittersche vun de Fehr-Gill
  15. Web site of the Fehrs Guild: [2] .
  16. Sheets of the Fehrs-Gilde No. 66, Dec. 2016 http://www.fehrsgilde.de/blaetter/bfg066.pdf Festschrift 100 Johr Fehrs-Gill
  17. Leaves of the Fehrs Guild. New series: [3] , [4] .
  18. a b http://www.sass-plattdeutsches-woerterbuch.de
  19. http://www.sass-plattdeutsche-grammatik.de
  20. http://www.sass-plattdeutsche-rechtschreibung.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.sass-plattdeutsche-rechtschreibung.de  
  21. http://www.coe.int/de/web/conventions/full-list/-/conventions/rms/090000168007c089
  22. http://www.gesetze-rechtsprechung.sh.juris.de/jportal/?quelle=jlink&query=Verf+SH&psml=bsshoprod.psml&max=true
  23. https://www.schleswig-holstein.de/DE/Fachinhalte/S/schule_und_unterricht/niederdeutsch.html
  24. http://marless.de/pdrat/hd/wir.htm
  25. See HP of the Fehrs-Gilde: [5] .