Georg von Schulpe

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Georg von Schulpe (contemporary photography)

Georg von Schulpe de Törökkanizsa (born October 7, 1867 in Törökkanizsa on the Tisza , Torontál County / Austria-Hungary ; † October 7, 1936 in Pressburg / Czechoslovakia ) was a writer and social reformer.

Life

Origin, first years

The workers' houses in Preßburg ("Schulpe Colony") built on the initiative of the social reformer Georg von Schulpe in 1904

Georg von Schulpe was born as the third child on the noble seat of the Imperial and Royal Officer Emil von Schulpe in Törökkanizsa on the Tisza in what was then the Torontal County of the Kingdom of Hungary. Today the place is called "Novi Kneževac" and belongs to Vojvodina in Serbia . The family comes from Westphalia on the paternal side and emigrated to the Kingdom of Hungary at the beginning of the 19th century . The male ancestors of the family were almost without exception officers. His mother Mathilde was born Countess Nyáry .

The family is wealthy and well-educated, and in Törökkanizsa they own a pompous castle with a splendid porcelain collection and a library of 3,000 volumes.

In 1885 the family moved to Preßburg and moved into an apartment on Gaistorgasse. In the same year Georg von Schulpe enrolled as a law student at what was then the Royal Academy of Law in Preßburg , where he became a student of the historian of Preßburg, Theodor Ortvays . He then continued his studies at universities in Germany , where he also earned the title of Doctor of Law.

As a young man he discovered his talent as a writer. He was mainly concerned with the history of literature as well as German sagas and legends (e.g. Germanic sagas of the gods , Leipzig 1887). He also worked as an excellent translator, including translating the works of one of the greatest Hungarian poets Sándor Petőfi into German (A. Petőfi: Lyrische Dichtungen , Minden in Westf. 1886).

The social reformer

In the early 90s of the 19th century, Schulpe began to be interested in social issues in what was then the Kingdom of Hungary. Due to his basic Christian-social attitude, he began to study the life of the workers, who at that time belonged to the poorest social classes in Pressburg. Its intention is to improve their social position. As a lawyer, he was very well aware that the only way to improve the social conditions of workers was to change the legislature . He summarizes his program of social reforms mainly in the following works:

A munkásvédtörvényhozásról [ Eng . “Draft law for the protection of workers”], published by Wigand, Pressburg, 1901

Munkásügyi reformok. Állami törvényhatósági és társadalmi szociálizmus. [German “Reforms of workers' affairs. Communal political and social socialism ”], 2 vol., Published by S. Steiner, Preßburg, 1908

Social-ethical studies (attempt to establish a social worldview based on moral law), published by the printing house of the Katholische Literatur AG, Pressburg, 1909

The program of his social reforms, which at that time was considered pioneering and exemplary throughout the Kingdom of Hungary, comprised the following priorities:

  • Healthcare
Georg von Schulpe's grave in the Gaistor cemetery in Pressburg
  • Social welfare
  • Housing problems
  • Education and culture

His socio-ethical program for workers and the poorest sections of the population not only remained gray theory, but he also sought to put into practice the experience he had acquired in the theoretical field. And here he achieved groundbreaking success! In 1894 he started a movement to found healthy and affordable housing.

In the vicinity of the (former) tobacco factory he founded and built - at his own expense - his first housing estate for workers on Schanzstrasse, which initially consisted of 7 one-story houses with front gardens. From today's point of view, these were simple but healthy "room - kitchen" apartments. At that time, it was a huge step forward in the field of workers' welfare! In addition, an infirmary with a first-aid room, a library with reading room, bathroom and a daycare center were set up on the area of ​​the settlement. This property was demolished in 1971.

The city council of Pressburg was so enthusiastic about this facility at the time that it decided in its session on June 7, 1904 to officially rename this workers' settlement to "Schulpe-Kolonie". As a result of the extraordinary success, Schulpe very quickly found imitators in the circles of manufacturers in Pressburg at that time (Klinger, Kühmayer, etc.), so that in the following years another approx. 500 similar apartments could be built in different parts of the city.

Late years

After the collapse of the Danube Monarchy in 1918, there was no place in public life in the newly founded Czecho-Slovakia for men like Georg von Schulpe, the bearer of the Franz Joseph Order , an honorary member of the Hungarian Petőfi Society in Budapest and the Royal Hungarian Privy Council . The regime of the new rulers established by force in Pressburg was not well-disposed towards people of his social class. Schulpe, who spoke very poorly Slovak, was forced to withdraw into private life. He spent his last years quite lonely as a “private scholar” in Pressburg. He had to self-publish his late work Weltfriedensprogramm in 1924 because he could not find a publisher for it in the new ČSR . As he gradually got into financial difficulties, he was forced to sell the workers' houses, which were ultimately his property, to the city; the city of Bratislava played a rather inglorious role in this. Nevertheless, Schulpe bequeathed his entire fortune to the city of Pressburg in a will. The hardship forced him to move into one of his workhouses, because apart from the installments the city paid for the “Schulpe Colony”, he had no income at all. He died lonely and abandoned, only looked after by his housekeeper Viktoria Knapp, on March 27, 1936 in Pressburg and was buried two days later at the Gaistor cemetery .

Works (selection)

  • Stranger. Flowers, 1888 (translation)
  • Harp and armor, 1888
  • Nordic sounds, 1888
  • Longing and Searching, 1894 (poem)
  • The social reform movement in Hungary, 1901
  • A munkástörvényhozásról (On Labor Legislation), 1902
  • Social eth. Stud., 1909
  • Városi szociálpolitika (Urban Social Policy), 1909
  • Védekezés a ferőző betegségek ellen (Protection against Infectious Diseases), 1913
  • Altars of Mankind (Ged.), 1922; World Peace Program, 1924
  • numerous articles in: Híradó etc. Ed .: Germanische Göttersagen, 1887

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gabriela Dudeková: Juraj Schulpe, Vedec a humanista. 1994, p. 4.
  2. ^ A b Anton Klipp: Georg von Schulpe. In: Pressburg, New Views on an Old City. Karlsruhe 2010, ISBN 978-3-927020-15-3 , pp. 197ff.
  3. ↑ Gabriela Dudeková: Juraj Schulpe, Vedec a humanista. 1994, p. 37.
  4. ↑ Due to financial disagreements with his own family, most of whom now lived in the Serbian Novi Kneževac, he got into financial difficulties that forced him to sell the workers' houses in the city of Bratislava. The city played an inglorious role here, as it refused Schulpe the amount for the actual value of the houses and also demanded enormous tax refunds, which were to be deducted from the purchase price. The rest - which was nowhere near the real value of the houses - was to be paid in installments. In the court order of November 12, 1934, it was also stipulated that Schulpe was allowed to live in an apartment in his own "colony". (see Gabriela Dudeková: Juraj Schulpe, Vedec a humanista. 1994, p. 38)
personal data
SURNAME Schulpe, Georg von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schulpe de Törökkanizsa, Georg von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Writer and social reformer
DATE OF BIRTH October 7, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Törökkanizsa , Torontál County , Austria-Hungary
DATE OF DEATH October 7, 1936
Place of death Pressburg , Czecho-Slovakia