Georg Harro Schaeff-Scheefen

Georg Harro Schaeff-Scheefen (born February 12, 1903 in Ansbach , † May 20, 1984 in Kirchberg an der Jagst ) was a writer , local poet, publicist and founding chairman of the Franconian authors' association.

Live and act

Born in 1903 as Georg Schäff in Ansbach , the son of a innkeeper grew up in close family relationships. The junior high school left-Schaeff Scheefen prematurely to work as office assistant, and later as a bookkeeper at a local timber merchant. The Ansbach judicial councilor Dr. Adolf Bayer (1876–1962), a well-known homeland researcher, infected the young clerk with his passion for Franconian history. Schaeff-Scheefen joined the Christian Association of Young Men (CVJM) and joined the Wandervogel movement during the First World War .

In 1923, Schaeff-Scheefen moved to Würzburg with the intention of establishing himself as a writer, where he earned his income primarily through extensive lecturing. He also worked as a company consultant. A short time later he moved to Kitzingen, where he met Caroline Osberger (1904–1997), his future wife. After Schaeff-Scheefens had initially tried in vain for orders for radio stations, from 1934 he was able to give regular radio lectures on regional topics and readings by Franconian poets at the Nuremberg Radio Station of the Reichsender München . In 1934 Schaeff-Scheefen played a key role in founding the Würzburg Max-Dauthendey Society; his attempt to found an association of Franconian writers was unsuccessful for the time being. He writes short stories and radio plays, journal articles on local history and publishes two volumes on unknown young Franconian poetry (1934/1937).

The financial returns from his writing ventures have declined since the mid-1930s; Schaeff-Scheefen went out of fashion, and his efforts to adapt to the tone of the new rulers were unsuccessful, so that he had to rely on the income of his partner, who worked as a teacher in Würzburg. In 1935 the couple moved to Kirchberg an der Jagst , where they were able to buy a hut on the edge of the forest that was converted into a modest summer cottage. After military service and imprisonment, Schaeff-Scheefen resumed lecturing as a lecturer at adult education centers and adult education centers in 1951 . From 1958 he was head of the Volksbildungswerk at his place of residence in Kirchberg. At the same time he took over the editing of the Holstein publishing house in Rothenburg ob der Tauber and wrote for the Hohenloher Tagblatt. From the Franconian Authors' Circle initiated by Schaeff-Scheefen, the Association of Franconian Writers was created in Würzburg in 1964, with Schaeff-Scheefen as the founding chairman.

With his anthologies of Franconian poets, his city guides and the countless articles on local history, Schaeff-Scheefen became an institution for regional art and cultural history in the post-war period. Honored with many prizes and awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, the writer was also honored in 1983 at his place of residence in Kirchberg, when he and his wife Caroline, who worked there as headmistress, were made honorary citizens for their services . The couple bequeathed their estate to the Sandel Museum in the former Kirchberg Latin School while they were still alive .

Selection of works

• Beloved Franconia . Collection of articles, Bergatreute: Eppe, 1990
• Experience and interpretation. Four altars by Tilman Riemenschneider , Rothenburg ob der Tauber: Peter, 1959
• The colorful valley. Hikes in the Taubergrund from Rothenburg ob der Tauber to Wertheim , Rothenburg ob der Tauber: Peter, 1953
• Love ride in the Taubergrund , Rothenburg ob der Tauber: Peter, undated (1950)
• The summer house , Rothenburg ob der Tauber: Peter, 1941
• Beloved in Franconia , Rothenburg: Peter, 1940
• Heinrich Toppler. Questions about the great mayor of Rothenburg ob der Tauber , Nuremberg: Spindler, 1937
• Call from the district , Würzburg: Triltsch, 1936
• Drummer and saint. A prelude to the German peasant liberation , Würzburg: Triltsch, 1936
• The unknown. Young Franconian Poetry , 2 volumes, Nuremberg: Spindler, 1934/1937
• City guide to Bad Mergentheim, Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen, Schwäbisch Hall am Kocher and Wertheim

estate

In addition to partial estates in the Würzburg University Library and the Nuremberg City Library , the most extensive holdings from the possession of Schaef-Scheefen's widow can be found in the Sandelschen Museum in Kirchberg an der Jagst . In 2018/19, parts of the Kirchberg estate of Dietrich Gonser and Heinrich Eppe were recorded.

literature

• Hartmut Schötz: In memory of the Franconian author Georg Harro Schaeff-Scheefen, in: Frankenland. Journal for Franconian regional studies and cultural maintenance 79 (1991), p. 75f. PDF
• Wilfried Conrad: A life in Franconia. G. Harro Schaeff-Scheefen , ed. from the authors' association Franken eV, oO, oJ (2009)
• Heinrich Eppe: Where Georg Harro Schaeff-Scheefen's muse lived , Südwestpresse from February 17, 2018 online version

Web links

• Literature by and about Georg Harro Schaeff-Scheefen in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ In the mid-1920s, Schaeff-Scheefen added that of an older family branch to his birth name; The nickname Harro is also chosen.
2. ↑ The society, which is reminiscent of the Würzburg poet Max Dauthendey , was dissolved in 2015 following a resolution at the last general meeting. Mainpost of May 13, 2015
3. ↑ See Rothenburg under the swastika, ed. by Oliver Gußmann and Wolf Stegemann website
4. ↑ Because previously only single persons were allowed to practice the teaching profession, the marriage did not take place until 1938.
5. ↑ Verlag JP Peter Gebr. Holstein GmbH & Co. KG website
6. ↑ 2001 renamed in Authors' Association Franken eV based in Nuremberg website . Since 2009, the association has been awarding the Schaeff Scheefen Prize for the best Franconian short story every two years, which is presented at the end of the annual book market in Kirchberg.