George Circle

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The group around the poet Stefan George is called the George Circle . As early as 1890, a loose group had formed around him and from 1892 around his magazine Blätter für die Kunst , which - albeit with only a few personal continuities - consolidated into a solid group of followers of George at the turn of the century. George was their focus and was revered as a "master" and charismatic leader by his followers. In the 1910s and 1920s, the group also had an impact on German academic youth through its members' publications on intellectual and cultural history and their teaching activities at German universities. The actual circle came to an end with George's death in December 1933, but the former members perpetuated the myth of the poet even in the Federal Republic of Germany.

Basics and genesis

Stefan George, born in 1868, has published poems since 1890, which were initially based primarily on French symbolism . In 1892 he founded the magazine Blätter für die Kunst together with his friend Carl August Klein . In the period that followed, George's admiration for his own poems was a prerequisite for having young poets published in the magazine. The Belgian Paul Gérardy , the Pole Wacław Rolicz-Lieder , the Dutch Albert Verwey , and a little later also the patron Karl Wolfskehl and Richard Perls became regular employees . Above all, they submitted to George artistically. At the turn of the century, the Munich cosmists Alfred Schuler and Ludwig Klages also belonged to George's circle . The latter joined the circle of George in 1894. To his friend Theodor Lessing he described the “master” as a “highly modern and highly decadent artist and poet”.

In 1899, George's acquaintance with the young Friedrich Gundolf came to a high point in the order-like social construct of this cultic male world . He was not only connected with his admiration for his, George's, poetry and intellectual subordination to George's spiritual leadership, but also with personal love. Later, however, there was also philological collaboration in the Shakespeare project, a new version of the works in German translation, now also including the translation of the sonnets by George from 1909.

Before and after Gundolf, George always endeavored to gather talented (also outwardly attractive) young men around him and cast them under his spell. This also included Rodi Huch from 1899 , a cousin of Ricarda Huch , who was described by Fanny zu Reventlow as "Constantine, the sun boy". Around 1905, the lawyer Ernst Morwitz and the later administrator Georges Robert Boehringer (offspring of the Boehringer chemical dynasty) joined as young men. The most important of these acquaintances was undoubtedly the Munich youth Maximilian Kronberger , whom George met in 1902 when he was 14 years old. Since Kronberger died of meningitis in 1904 at the age of just 16, George transformed this unearthly appearance Maximin , as he called the boy, into a myth that was reflected in two of his books: Maximin. A memorial book and The Seventh Ring , both 1907. The Maximin myth from then on became a central identification and integration feature of the circle. With him, George also succeeded in differentiating himself more clearly from the “cosmists” Schuler and Klages and in realizing an independent life project. His tendency to attract young, promising men remained significant in George's intellectual environment. Thus, in 1919, members of the circle and himself met the later important historian Ernst Kantorowicz in Heidelberg , who, under George's guidance, wrote a biography of the German Staufer Emperor Friedrich II .

structure

The George Circle did not have a clearly named structure, nor was there a precise description of how new members should be constituted. Rather, it developed spontaneously from the group around the sheets for art published by George between 1892 and 1919 . If the group initially consisted of a gathering of students around the poet, over the years the George Circle became a group of elitist -minded young writers. Center, savior and chief censor was Stefan George with his publications and verbal statements. The common recitation of texts and the cultic veneration of individuals such as the aforementioned Maximilian Kronberger played an important role. The circle was not completely different from other elitist or esoteric groups in Munich at that time; One thinks of the circle of followers around the parapsychologist Albert von Schrenck-Notzing or of the mysterious meetings with Ludwig Derleth .

A specific aesthetic experience constituted the George circle and stood at the beginning of every contact between the later member and George himself. It preformed a quasi-religious relationship between master and disciple, a relationship that was to be continued through various imitation techniques of the circle. The impulse for this succession was triggered by an aesthetic first experience with George's poetry, which led to the unconditional recognition of his person and his work, as can be seen in the district's memory books. This is particularly evident in Gundolf, the first from George's circle to take on a formal disciple role.

The meetings of the George Circle had a ritual and cultic character and only selected people were allowed to participate. When the district lost six of its members after the First World War , Stefan invited George to the so-called Pentecost meeting in Heidelberg in 1919 . In the exam, which lasted from June 7th to 9th, 1919, to which twelve disciples were invited, Percy Gothein and Ernst Kantorowicz were also accepted into the George circle.

As the organization grew, the community was divided into further circles, which internally copied the structure of the actual George circle. A male bond constant was noticeable : women had no access to the inner circle, and only very few - mostly wives of other disciples - were able to assert themselves on the edge of the group. After taking power in January 1933 and George's death in December 1933, Percy Gothein and Wolfgang Frommel tried, initially in Germany and later in exile in Amsterdam, to maintain the tradition of the George circle in the Castrum Peregrini .

The circle also met with contemporary criticism. An outsider of the Schwabing bohemian, Otto Julius Bierbaum , made fun of the admiration of Stefan George as early as 1900: “It's all about being festive! Be stupid like a tuna, temperamental like a jellyfish, bull obsessed like an anesthetized frog, but be solemn, and you will suddenly see people around you who cannot say mow in admiration. ”Fanny to Reventlow, who is wrongly a membership is said in the circle (women were not welcome at all), is said to have mocked him with the nickname "Weihenstefan".

content

Secret Germany

In terms of content, George tried to build up an alliance structure with clear hierarchies under the title of a Secret Germany , which should be characterized by aesthetic superiority and set off from reality. It was obviously about a mystically founded, anti-modern society.

Das Geheime Deutschland , the title of a multi-layered poem from the last, historical prophetic cycle Das Neue Reich and first used by Karl Wolfskehl in the yearbook for intellectual movement , is a secret and visionary construct. It lies hidden beneath the surface of the real Germany and is supposed to represent a force that, as its undercurrent, remains secret and can only be grasped visually. Only the capable can recognize it and make it visible. It is a mystical transfiguration of Germany and the German spirit, based on a sentence from Schiller's fragment German Greatness : "Every people has its day in history, but the day of the German is the harvest of all time."

After 1945, Secret Germany was referred to several times as a possible model of resistance against National Socialism . It is reported that Count Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg , who belongs to the circle and for whom George's world of thought played a major role, through the poem Der Widerchrist from the Seventh Ring with his warning of the “Prince of the pest” in his resistance to Adolf Hitler I was encouraged and that he recited it several times in the days before the attack .

Because of its nature mysticism, its rejection of civilization and its elitist demeanor, the George circle also belongs to the sphere of influence of the Conservative Revolution . The George circle experienced a rather negative, but ambivalent reception in the NS sense in the dissertations of Hans Rößner and Max Nitzsche . According to Bruno Frei , the George Circle with its exaggerated, elitist aestheticism was one of the intellectual pioneers of National Socialism. For Walter Benjamin , Theodor W. Adorno and Thomas Mann , too, the George Circle was one of the pioneers of National Socialism.

Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg

In 1923, the twin brothers Alexander and Berthold Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg , shortly afterwards Claus, were introduced to the poet and introduced to the circle. In 1924 he wrote to the poet how much his work had shaken and roused him. The letter shows the intellectual development of the young Stauffenberg as well as his willingness to act for the secret Germany. He read a lot in the year of the soul , and passages that initially seemed distant and intangible to him "first sounded like that and then with their whole soul" nestled in his senses. “The clearer the living” stands in front of him “and the more vividly the act shows itself, the more distant the sound of one's own words and the rarer the meaning of one's own life”.

Against this background, the George Circle can be understood as an aesthetically oriented men's association that wanted to interpret and preserve the German spirit in a way that Schiller's aesthetic education was committed to. For Bernd Johannsen, this can be seen in the cipher of the Secret Germany , which shaped history and emerged in the assassination attempt. For this reason alone, George could not have been an ancestor of National Socialism.

Imitatio

George distinguished artists, whom he called primordial or primordial spirits , from derived beings . While the primal spirits were able to complete their systems without guidance, the work of the others was not self-sufficient, so that they were dependent on contact with the primal spirits and could only receive the divine in a derivative form. The opposing pair of primordial spirits - derived beings shaped the thinking and work of the George Circle.

Rudolf Borchardt was regarded as derived for Gundolf, while George himself was "nothing but being". Max Kommerell made a distinction between the original poet, who created new language signs directly from the material of life (mimesis), and the derived poet, who “continued to shape what is formed” (imitatio). Most of George's followers saw themselves as derived beings.

As George explained to Hofmannsthal's critical objections , these derived beings should take part in and participate in the creative achievements of the primordial spirits through an ethically and aesthetically specific way of imitation. For George, Karl Wolfskehl and Ludwig Klages were among the few original spirits .

The actual creation, the Creatio, does not refer to a new creation of the world, as in French symbolism , but to the language with which the world is described. The poet finds new signs for what is perceived, performing mimesis with which the archetypal being is recognized and represented. The derived beings, on the other hand, can write poetry in the gesture of the primal spirits, but cannot themselves accomplish any creation. Conflicts arise when followers mix up the levels or misperceive works. Hofmannsthal criticized this imitation model. It seems mendacious, it pretends to be “penetration, victory over the whole” by using the “new tone”.

charisma

In connection with the George circle and the Maximin cult, Max Weber mentioned the term charisma , which for him represents a "hub of the sociology of religion and domination".

Max Weber (around 1907 or earlier)

Since 1910 Weber had increasingly occupied himself with the question of the relationship between the individual and the group. Every order should be examined to determine "which human type it gives, through external or internal (motive) selection", the best opportunity to rise to rulership. In this context, the term charisma appeared for the first time in a letter to Dora Jellinek in June 1910 . The “Maximin cult” is characterized by the “need for redemption”. Five months later he wrote that the circle had the characteristics of a sect and "thus also the specific charisma of such a".

In science, everything depends on asking the right questions. The artistic sects were among the most interesting objects of investigation for Weber , as they had "just like a religious sect their incarnation of the divine." In a speech given in the same year he explicitly spoke of the George Circle as a sect: "I remember the sect Stefan Georges… ”and emphasized that he used the term value-free.

Weber's charismatic gifts include magical abilities, revelations or heroism, as well as the power of spirit and speech. The purest types of charismatic rule are those of the prophet and the great demagogue, whose association is the "communalization of the community or of the allegiance". While the type of the commanding is that of the leader , that of the obedient is found in the disciple , who follows the leader because of his extraordinary qualities. This willingness, according to Weber, only lasts as long as these qualities are ascribed to him and his charisma is proven. If the god leaves him, his rule collapses.

pederasty

To pederasty and homosexuality interviewed George circle, to Georges biographer commented Thomas Karlauf so:

“It would be enough for me if, when asked whether there was any sexual contact between George and some of his young friends, one answered with a very clear yes. How they enjoyed themselves in detail and what the older and the younger may have felt in terms of pleasure: I consider this question to be as superfluous as the question of which positions a couple prefer when they make love. The gradations with George were very large. There were certainly very intense relationships. "

"If you identify George as the person who, as Max Kommerell said, reestablished the archetype master-student relationship in the 20th century, including sexual acts, then your guess is correct."

"The Star of the Covenant was the monstrous attempt to explain pederasty with pedagogical zeal to the highest spiritual form of existence."

Members

Of the circle in the narrower sense, the best known are: Friedrich Gundolf , Friedrich Wolters , Robert Boehringer and his brother Erich Boehringer , Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg and his older brothers Alexander and Berthold , Karl Wolfskehl , Max Kommerell , Henry von Heiseler , Edgar Salin , Ernst Kantorowicz and Percy Gothein . They also included Ernst Bertram , Max Dauthendey , Paul Gerardy , Ernst Hardt , Norbert von Hellingrath , Kurt Hildebrandt , Erich von Kahler , Ernst Morwitz , Saladin Schmitt , Michael Stettler , Ludwig Thormaehlen , Woldemar Graf Uxkull-Gyllenband and Karl Gustav Vollmoeller . The painters Melchior Lechter and the couple Reinhold and Sabine Lepsius should also be mentioned . The art historian Botho Graef and the literary scholar Werner Vordtriede were also close to the circle.

literature

  • Carola Groppe : The power of education. The German bourgeoisie and the George Circle 1890–1933 . Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-412-03397-9 .
  • Thomas Karlauf : Stefan George. The discovery of the charism . Blessing, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-89667-151-6 .
  • Rainer Kolk: literary group formation. Using the example of the George Circle 1890–1945 . Tübingen 1998, ISBN 3-484-63017-5 .
  • Rainer Kolk: George Circle. In: Wulf Wülfing, Karin Bruns, Rolf Parr (eds.): Handbook of literary-cultural associations, groups and associations 1825–1933. (Repertories on the history of German literature 18). Stuttgart / Weimar 1998, pp. 141–155.
  • Bernhard Böschenstein et al. (Ed.): Scientists in the George circle. The world of the poet and the profession of the scientist. De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2005, ISBN 3-11-018304-8 .
  • Ulrich Raulff : Circle without a master. Stefan George's afterlife . CH Beck, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-406-59225-6 .
  • Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio in the George circle. De Gruyter, Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-025446-4 .
  • Achim Aurnhammer et al. (Ed.): Stefan George and his circle. A manual. 3 volumes. De Gruyter, Berlin et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-11-044101-7 . (especially vol. 3 (short biographies))

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Theodor Lessing, once and never again, life memories , Prague 1935, p. 240.
  2. ↑ Roderich Huch, "Die Enormen von Schwabing", in: Atlantis , vol. XXX, 1958, p. 143.
  3. ↑ in her key novel Herr Dames Aufzüge , Munich 1913.
  4. ↑ So in particular Stefan Breuer , Aesthetic Fundamentalism. Stefan George and German Antimodernism , Darmstadt 1995, ISBN 3-534-12676-9 , pp. 39-44.
  5. ↑ Ernst Kantorowicz, Kaiser Friedrich the Second , Berlin 1927.
  6. ↑ Manfred Dierks , Thomas Manns Geisterbaron , Gießen 2012.
  7. ↑ See Ludwig Derleth. Memorial book , ed. from the Castrum Peregrini Presse, Amsterdam 1958.
  8. ↑ Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio in the George circle. De Gruyter, Berlin 2011, p. 12.
  9. ↑ Martin Möbius (= Otto Julius Bierbaum) profiles Berlin, Leipzig (Schuster & Löffler) 1900, p. 55f. See also Judith Baumgartner, Bernd Wedemeyer-Kolwe (eds.): Awakening, Side Paths, Astray: Search Movements and Subcultures in the 20th Century. In: Festschrift for Ulrich Linse. Würzburg (Königshausen & Neumann) 2004, ISBN 3-8260-2883-X .
  10. ↑ The authorship for this witty ridicule is also claimed by Klages' friend Theodor Lessing.
  11. ↑ Bernd Johannsen: Reich of the Spirit, Stefan George and the Secret Germany. Publishing house Dr. Hut, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-89963-877-6 , p. 201.
  12. ↑ Gerhard Schulz: The antichrist. In: Marcel Reich-Ranicki (Ed.): From Arno Holz to Rainer Maria Rilke, 1000 German poems and their interpretations. Insel, Frankfurt 1994, p. 83.
  13. ↑ Joachim Fest , in: Staatsstreich, The long way to July 20. Chapter 8, Eve, Settlers, p. 144.
  14. ↑ Katja Marmetschke: enemy observation and understanding: Germanist Edmond Vermeil (1878-1964) in the French-German relations , Böhlau Verlag 2008, S. 433rd
  15. ↑ Gert Mattenklott, Michael Philipp, Julius Hans Schoeps, "Unknown Brothers" ?: Stefan George and the German-Jewish bourgeoisie between the turn of the century and emigration , G. Olms Verlag 2001, p. 260.
  16. ↑ Bettina Bannasch, Gerhild Rochus: Handbook of German-language exile literature: From Heinrich Heine to Herta Müller , Walter de Gruyter Verlag 2013, p. 616.
  17. ↑ Manfred Riedel: Secret Germany, Stefan George and the Stauffenberg brothers. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne 2006, p. 174.
  18. ↑ Quoted from: Manfred Riedel: Secret Germany, Stefan George and the Stauffenberg brothers. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne 2006, p. 176.
  19. ↑ Bernd Johannsen: Reich of the Spirit, Stefan George and the Secret Germany. Publishing house Dr. Hut, Munich 2008, p. 1.
  20. ↑ Quoted from: Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio outside the circle. De Gruyter, Berlin 2011, p. 195.
  21. ↑ Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio in the George circle. De Gruyter, Berlin 2011, p. 3.
  22. ↑ Quoted from: Gunilla Eschenbach: Imitatio im George-Kreis. De Gruyter, Berlin 2011, p. 5.
  23. ^ Joachim Radkau: Max Weber. The passion of thinking . Hanser, Munich 2005, p. 600.
  24. ↑ Quoted from: Thomas Karlauf: Stefan George, The discovery of the charisma, The charismatic rule. Karl-Blessing-Verlag, Munich 2007, p. 413.
  25. ↑ Max Weber : The three pure types of legitimate rule, sociology, world historical analyzes, politics. Alfred Kröner Verlag, Stuttgart 1964, p. 159.
  26. ↑ The father of reform pedagogy. Pederasty from the mind of Stefan George? a conversation with Thomas Karlauf In: FAZ . April 5, 2010 Online text version
  27. ↑ quoted from: Marita Keilson: Stefan George and his beautiful fans www.welt.de August 19, 2007.