Fritz Marx (local poet)

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Fritz Marx in old age

Fritz Marx (born August 27, 1913 in Graz , Styria ; † December 15, 1984 there ) was an Austrian homeland poet . In verses and short stories, he authentically described the world of South Styrian small cuddles , single- shift farms and winegrowers in the post-war period.

Life

Fritz Marx was born out of wedlock to Viktoria Marx and Oskar Teich in Graz. Abandoned by his father and mother, he spent the first years of his life with an aunt. The boy fell seriously ill there due to insufficient care, had to go to the hospital for months and was then transferred to an orphanage in Leonhardstrasse in Graz.

A farmer from Tillmitsch near Leibnitz, who herself had many children, took the boy out of the orphanage and took him into the family (Fam. Feldbacher, commonly known as Schimpl, 2015 Gasthof Lassnitzdiele). Fritz got to know family life for the first time and was able to attend school. As was customary at the time, he had to work on the farm, mostly as a keeper boy .

He stayed on the small farm until he was 18, after which he earned his living as a Gaischitz (bread deliverer), farm worker and as a worker in the Guidissoni brickworks in Tillmitsch . In 1939 he was called up for military service as a medic. He was captured by the British, but was able to return home unharmed in 1945.

He managed to find a place to stay; In 1946 he married Therese Vollmann, who came from Wiesberg near Leibnitz. Daughter Waltraud (later married Waltraud Maurer) comes from this marriage. Gradually he got back in touch with his mother and stepfather and worked temporarily in their electrical shop. However, a close bond with his mother was no longer established. Marx worked as a night porter in the large garage of the Steirische Weinkellerei in Graz.

Since 1972, Marx had a second residence in Schirka , Lang municipality, in a house belonging to the Mitteregger family (former house for servants and maids). This small house with a picturesque location was the starting point for his creative work, as well as for his last job as an insurance agent for home insurance (Winterthur).

He was at home in all inns and taverns, liked to drink, was a passionate smoker and a sociable card player ( Schnapsen ). He died of lung cancer at the age of 72 and was buried in the St. Peter city cemetery.

Marx, the man of letters

Fritz Marx didn't like being in the foreground. He did not leave great works submitted to literary history. Ekkehard Hauer, Ernst Ludwig Uray and Franz Maria Kapfhammer were his literary supporters. He says of himself: “I have to write and I have to do it in dialect.” His thinking and speaking comes from the milieu from which he came and in which he worked. Fritz Marx commuted for many years between Graz and Schirka, municipality of Tillmitsch, but never described the city mileus of Graz, but exclusively the world of the farming villages and single-layer farms, the life of the petticoats and winegrowers under whom he grew up. His verses in dialect are poetic and not just rhyming.

The term "home" has a special meaning for Fritz Marx, as can be seen from a curriculum vitae ( Franz Maria Kapfhammer ):

For someone without a safe home, home is not a souvenir item, not a source of tears for maudlin films and romantic songs, but the epitome of security.

He preferred to have his poems and stories read to Karl Solderer, a spokesman for the Styrian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1957 he became a co-founder of the Association of Styrian Homeland Poets, and from 1960 he was a member of the Forum Stadtpark .

Works

  • Ba us home. Poems in South Styrian dialect. Self-published, Graz 1957. DNB 575009225
  • Drüban Roan. Poems in Styrian dialect. Verlag der Alpenland-Buchhandlung Südmark, Graz 1961. DNB 453235506

Poems set to music

  • Ba us at home is now a guide. It is one of the "New Steirerlieder", set to music by the Leibnitz composer Franz Koringer . First performed at the end of the 1990s, it is now part of the repertoire of Styrian choirs.
  • I am so fetched. (M: Egon Nesitka; T: Fritz Marx)
  • The living time. (M: Egon Nesitka; T: Fritz Marx)
  • The Geistamühl. (M: Egon Nesitka; T: Fritz Marx)
  • What was there. (M: Egon Nesitka; T: Fritz Marx)
  • Eat with me. (M: Reinhold Haring; T: Fritz Marx; Editor: Kurt Muthspiel)
  • Up there Olm. (M: Franz Fuchs; T: Fritz Marx)
  • various texts (M: Zoshnblues; T: Fritz Marx)

literature

  • Konrad Maritschnik: A great writer . In: Neues Land from July 8, 2005, p. 23 ( digital ).
  • Christian Teissl: A poetic portraitist of southern Styria . In: Kleine Zeitung of September 9, 2013 ( digital ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Source for date of death: death protocol No. 4601/1984 of the city of Graz
personal data
SURNAME Marx, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian homeland poet
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Graz , Styria
DATE OF DEATH 15th December 1984
Place of death Graz , Styria