Georg Hermann Nellius

Georg Hermann Nellius (born March 29, 1891 in Rumbeck ; † November 8, 1952 ) was a German composer , choir director and music director . At times highly valued as a composer, Nellius is now a controversial personality as a mediator of ethnic and National Socialist ideas. Efforts are being made to reverse the naming of streets after him.

Life

Early years

Georg Nellius was the son of Franz Nellius and his wife Maria. He had six siblings. The father was the Stadtkapellmeister in Neheim . One of his older brothers also held this office.

During his primary school days, Nellius received private lessons from the priest, poet and composer Caspar Berens . He spent his high school in the boarding school of the Sacred Heart Missionaries in Hiltrup . After six semesters of philosophy and theology at the order's own university in the Oeventrop monastery , he began studying professional music at the Conservatory in Cologne in 1912 and in the same year passed his state examination as an academic music teacher and the schoolmaster's examination with distinction at the Music Academy in Berlin. In 1913 he moved to Saarbrücken and worked there as the director of a private music school, after which he was a private teacher for two years. In 1915 he married.

As a gunner and later in a watch command, Nellius was a soldier on the Western Front of the First World War from 1916 to 1918 . In June 1918, while still a soldier, he composed his oratorio “Totenklage”. After the war he returned to Saarbrücken and worked as a director of various choirs, including the local synagogue choir, and as a music teacher. In 1919 he was appointed by the city of Saarbrücken as a music teacher at the teachers' seminar . After his German nationalist and anti-French choral work Saartrutz was performed with his consent despite the ban, the French administrative authorities expelled him from Saarland in 1920.

As a “fighter for German rights” he did not receive any compensation, but was made music director by a special permit. In 1921 he passed the state examination for "singing teacher in high schools".

Professionally, Nellius has been working as a music teacher at St. Ursula Lyceum in Neheim since 1920. In addition, he studied musicology and art history in Münster from 1921 with the aim of obtaining a doctorate, but broke off this course. In addition to his work as a music teacher, he was leader of various choirs in Neheim. He also re-founded the Neheim music association. In 1923 he became the director of the federal choir of the Sauerland singer association.

In 1923 Nellius founded the Sauerland music and art publisher König & Co. In 1926 he organized the first Sauerland music festival, which helped him gain great recognition beyond Neheim.

Volkish movement

Nellius is considered to be the discoverer of the poet Christine Koch . In the Trutznachtigall , magazine of the Sauerland Heimatbund , he came across poems by Koch. He set some of their dialect texts to music and published them. Together with Josefa Berens-Totenohl , he encouraged Koch to continue her literary work. She published her main works, published between 1924 and 1929, in the Nellius publishing house and motivated him to set Sauerland dialects to music, including a large number of those by Koch. A total of over a hundred compositions for texts by Koch belong to his work. He also set the texts of other Low German authors to music. With the Duitsken Mass he was one of the first composers in German Catholicism to create a dialect mass . His Low German choral singing has a long history of impact. He had no illusions about the fact that Low German was a dying language.

Nellius was a supporter of the Heimat movement and belonged to the Sauerland Heimatbund. There he represented the Volkish wing and propagated the Volkish concept of " Heimatkunst ". At the end of the 1920s he founded the Sauerland Artists' Circle (SKK), which also included the “political activists” (town hall) Josefa Berens-Totenohl and Maria Kahle . In the following years, the circle was headed by Hans Menne, NSDAP member since 1924. After the transfer of power, the SSK was viewed by the NSDAP as a representative association of the Sauerland culture bearers. The “National Socialist Revolution” filled its members “with great joy”, as they announced in a joint declaration in the Westphalian Central-Volksblatt of the center . The SKK was a member of the Rosenbergs Kampfbund for German culture .

In 1930 Nellius published the lecture “Art as a basic force of the home movement” as a kind of program for the SKK. In it he spoke of the spiritual turnaround in the Heimatbund and emphasized the "evolution of the robust, healthy tribal culture into a comprehensive fatherland culture with the perception and strongest emphasis on tribal idiosyncrasies". As a result, the “German national body sick with the world war” should recover. He contrasted the “negro blood” of jazz with the “vital forces of unconsumed homeland blood”. In 1932 he was awarded a state prize from the Reich Minister of the Interior in conjunction with the Prussian Minister for Science, Art and Education. Even contemporaries expressed the suspicion that the reason for this success was not so much his music as the right-wing political tendency of the subjects, including the Nellius biographer Esther Wallies: “The suspicion suggests that Nellius' works primarily because of their folkish oriented text selection and not because of the musical ability of the composer. "

National Socialism

At the beginning of 1933 Nellius became a teacher and conductor in Herne. In 1934 he was appointed to the post of Gauchor leader. He was promoted by the National Socialist Lord Mayor Albert Meister , whose intimate friend he was considered to be and who in 1934 became the leader of the German Choir Association. Nellius received his previous office as head of the Westphalian Singers Association. He was introduced by Meister to Adolf Hitler at the song festival in Breslau.

Some of Nellius' compositions were explicitly based on National Socialist texts, such as Volk und Führer (1935) or Heil dem Third Reich. Songs from Germany's great times . A song to a text by Walther Filbrey was entitled Der Ruf des Führer . Since 1933 Nellius belonged to the National Socialist Teachers Association (NSLB), the Reich Music Chamber and the Reich Chamber of Culture. After the four-year membership ban had expired , he was accepted into the NSDAP in 1937. It is not yet known when he applied for membership. As a special tribute, the local press in Herne described the fact that Nellius was received by Adolf Hitler after a concert in 1937 . The Nazi organ of the Heimat movement Heimat und Reich called him "Hitlermann". He gave choir concerts in almost all major German cities. Nellius was actively anti-Semitic by attempting to identify “thoroughbred Jews” in musical programs and then threatening to ask the choir director to change the program. Nazi and war propaganda by Nellius can be documented until 1944.

After the end of National Socialism

After the collapse of National Socialism , Nellius was dismissed from school. In the denazification process it was initially (1946, 1947): “is an active Nazi” and “may not be employed”. In 1946 the committee stated: "a man like Nellius is not a fit person to be trusted with the education of our youth". It was classified in the most unfavorable exposure category III in the mass proceedings. In the course of the following years it was gradually improved in revisions to V / “May be employed”, the cheapest category (1949). Nellius lived in Neheim again in the last few years and was again active as a choir director. More recent research on the denazification process makes it clear that the discharge of 1948, based on courtesy reports and Persil certificates, cannot invalidate the evidence of Nellius' ethnic and National Socialist convictions and the resulting practice.

Honor, criticism, withdrawal

Street sign for Nelliusstraße in Hachen after it was renamed

• 1932: State Prize for Composers "for the acquisition of new valuable choral works" by the Reich Minister of the Interior in conjunction with the Prussian Minister for Science, Art and Education for the oratorio Von deutscher Not (main prize; text Maria Kahle ), the Duitse Misse (text Christine Koch ) and the choral work "Ruhr" (based on poems by Josef Winkler and M. Weinand), as well as the Prussian State Special Prize for the Liederkreis Deutschland
• 1937: Reception by Adolf Hitler after a concert in Herne
• 1959: Nellius music for the inauguration of Federal President Heinrich Lübke , to whom the singers of MGV Eintracht Hachen and MGV Cäcilia Sundern performed a birthday song in Bonn several times in the 1960s (including "Meyn Duarp" or "Hilleken, stilleken" and "Vam häogen Astmerg ", texts by Christine Koch)
• 1972: Nellius music for the funeral of Federal President Heinrich Lübke

After 1945 streets in three Westphalian towns were named after Nellius. These were the Georg-Nellius-Weg in Wickede , the Georg-Nellius-Straße in Arnsberg- Rumbeck and the Nelliusstraße in Sundern- Hachen . In Sundern, Christine-Koch-Straße was renamed accordingly in 1975 as part of the municipal reorganization. In 2013, in view of the high burden of their Nazi involvement, Nellius-, Maria-Kahle- and Karl-Wagenfeld-Strasse were renamed by the city's cultural committee, which was supported by the local Heimatbund. The street names were also changed in Arnsberg and Wickede in 2013.

A citizens' initiative tried to prevent the renaming in Hachen with the help of a referendum . 50.8% of the participants in the referendum spoke out against renaming the Nelliusstrasse in May 2015. The referendum was still invalid, as only 15% instead of the necessary 20% voted for the name Nelliusstrasse.

Works (selection)

In total, the work comprises over 450 compositions. He belonged to the generation of Hindemith and Stravinsky . The neo-romantic influence in his compositional style is unmistakable .

• Lamentation for the Dead - an oratorio , was written on the Western Front from 1916 to 1918
• Saartrutz - a choral work composed in 1920
• Goethe Symphony - this 500-page work was premiered in Saarbrücken after his death
• Nellius also wrote pieces that were clearly Nazi-oriented, including the setting of a song “Der Ruf des Führers” (op. 63, no. 15)

literature

• Peter Bürger: The national wing of the Sauerland homeland movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - also a contribution to the street name debate , Eslohe 2013, pp. 28–38 (PDF file)
• Peter Bürger, Werner Neuhaus, together with m. Michael Gosmann (Arnsberg City Archives): “Georg Nellius (1891–1952). Ethnic and National Socialist cultural activity, anti-Semitic music policy, denazification - presentation and documentation in the context of the current street name debate. "Arnsberg / Eslohe 2014. (PDF file)
• Ernst Rehermann, Heinrich Schnadt: Georg Hermann Nellius , in: Yearbook Hochsauerlandkreis 1991. Podszun, Brilon 1990, ISBN 3-923448-71-6 , pp. 140f.
• Esther Wallies, Georg Nellius (1891–1952). National-conservative currents in music of the first half of the 20th century using the example of a composer (= contributions to Westphalian music history, published by the Westphalian Music Archive in Hagen, issue 22), Münster / New York 1991

Web links

• Literature by and about Georg Hermann Nellius in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Peter Bürger : The völkisch wing of the Sauerland homeland movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - at the same time a contribution to the street name debate. Eslohe 2013, p. 28f.
2. ^ Peter Bürger: The völkisch wing of the Sauerland homeland movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - at the same time a contribution to the street name debate. Eslohe 2013, p. 29f.
3. ^ Peter Bürger: The völkisch wing of the Sauerland homeland movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - at the same time a contribution to the street name debate. Eslohe 2013, p. 30f.
4. ^ Peter Bürger: The völkisch wing of the Sauerland homeland movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - at the same time a contribution to the street name debate. Eslohe 2013, p. 31f.
5. ^ Peter Bürger, The völkisch wing of the Sauerland homeland movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - at the same time a contribution to the street name debate, in: daunlots. Internet contributions from the Christine Koch dialect archive at Museum Eslohe, No. 60, Eslohe 2013, p. 30, see: [1] .
6. ^ Peter Bürger, The völkisch wing of the Sauerland homeland movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - at the same time a contribution to the street name debate, in: daunlots. Internet contributions from the Christine Koch dialect archive at Museum Eslohe, No. 60, Eslohe 2013, see: [2] .
7. ↑ Steffen Stadthaus, Heinrich Luhmann. Homeland poet and National Socialist ?! Expert opinion on behalf of the city of Hamm, o. O. (Hamm) o. J. (2012), p. 5, see: [3] .
8. ↑ All information in this section based on: Steffen Stadthaus, Heinrich Luhmann. Homeland poet and National Socialist ?! Expert opinion on behalf of the city of Hamm, o. O. (Hamm) o. J. (2012), see: [4] .
9. ^ Peter Bürger: The völkisch wing of the Sauerland homeland movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - at the same time a contribution to the street name debate. Eslohe 2013, p. 33f.
10. ↑ Quoted from: Peter Bürger: The völkisch wing of the Sauerland homeland movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - at the same time a contribution to the street name debate. Eslohe 2013, p. 33f.
11. ↑ Information from the NRW State Archives, Rhineland Dept., based on the denazification file.
12. ↑ All information up to this point: Peter Bürger, Der völkische Flügel der Sauerland Homeland Movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - at the same time a contribution to the street name debate, in: daunlots. Internet contributions from the Christine Koch dialect archive at Museum Eslohe, No. 60, Eslohe 2013, see: [5] .
13. ↑ Peter Bürger, Werner Neuhaus, together with m. Michael Gosmann (Arnsberg City Archives): “Georg Nellius (1891–1952). Ethnic and National Socialist cultural activity, anti-Semitic music policy, denazification - presentation and documentation in the context of the current street name debate. ”Arnsberg / Eslohe 2014, pp. 23–32 and 93–102, see: [6] .
14. ↑ State archive NRW, Dept. Rhineland, based on the denazification file.
15. ^ Peter Bürger: The völkisch wing of the Sauerland homeland movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - at the same time a contribution to the street name debate. Eslohe 2013, p. 36.
16. ↑ Peter Bürger, Werner Neuhaus, together with m. Michael Gosmann (Arnsberg City Archives): “Georg Nellius (1891–1952). Ethnic and National Socialist cultural activity, anti-Semitic music policy, denazification - presentation and documentation in the context of the current street name debate. ”Arnsberg / Eslohe 2014. (PDF file) p. 41
17. ^ Peter Bürger, The völkisch wing of the Sauerland homeland movement. About Josefa Berens-Totenohl, Georg Nellius, Lorenz Pieper and Maria Kahle - at the same time a contribution to the street name debate, in: daunlots. Internet contributions from the Christine Koch dialect archive at Museum Eslohe, No. 60, Eslohe 2013, see: [7] .
18. ↑ ^{a b} Allies saw Nellius as a follower. In: WAZ . 20th November 2013.
19. ↑ Matthias Schäfer: Culture Committee without ifs or buts for a renaming. In: Westfalenpost . 2nd June 2013.
20. ↑ Torsten Koch: Citizens' petition for Nelliusstrasse. In: Westfalenpost. October 31, 2013.
21. ↑ Torsten Koch: referendum in the matter of Nellius. In: The West . February 7, 2014.
22. ↑ Much discussed in Sundern, little agreed in: The West . May 7, 2015, accessed April 12, 2015
23. ^ Georg Nellius: Westphalian song book. Heidelberg, 1935.