Grabbe Society
The Grabbe Society is a literary society for the preservation of the legacy of Christian Dietrich Grabbe , an important playwright of the Vormärz . Its seat is in Detmold , the place of birth and work of Grabbe.
purpose
The purpose of the foundation is to develop and preserve the literary work of Christian Dietrich Grabbe, to research and document his life, to give the author and his work an appropriate place in literary history and in the public consciousness and other poets of the region and of the time, in particular Ferdinand Freiligrath and Georg Weerth . Since 1994 the company has been awarding the Christian Dietrich Grabbe Prize in conjunction with the city of Detmold and the Lippe regional association . The prize, endowed with 5,000 euros, is given to young dramatists.
history
The Grabbe Society was founded in 1937/38 by National Socialist officials who wanted to incorporate Grabbe and his work for the National Socialist ideology. In charge was about Heinrich Hollo , a Detmold teacher who previously the Nazi cultural community ( "NS-KG") was founded in Detmold. Gauleiter Alfred Meyer , Reich dramaturge Rainer Schlösser and Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels were also involved in the establishment. Thanks to the support of the Nazi regime and frequent reporting in national media, the company quickly gained national recognition.
In 1936 the so-called "Grabbe Weeks" took place for the first time at Heinrich Hollos' initiative and on the occasion of the centenary of Grabbe's death. Grabbe's dramas were re-enacted and lectures on the writer were given. The Grabbe Weeks gave the National Socialists the opportunity to use Grabbe's work, which actually contains nationalist and anti-Semitic elements, for propaganda purposes. The Grabbe Weeks were such a success that from now on they should take place every year in Detmold. This is how the Grabbe Society came into being with the aim of holding the Grabbe Weeks every year.
The statutes of the new association were passed on September 12, 1937; the entry in the Detmold register of associations took place on February 16, 1938. Despite the national importance of the society, the association only had a total of 442 members in the years 1937/38–1945. The expansion of the society throughout Germany was also rather moderately successful - only the local group in Hamburg reached a number of about 100 members.
By contrast, the Grabbe Society's finances were in good shape. The main source of income was renting out the Grabbe House in Detmold, which the company owned. Other sources of income were the membership fees, various donations and the grants and subsidies of the Nazi regime. The Grabbe Weeks, which attracted attention throughout the empire, also remained an extremely important event.
After 1945, the future of the foundation was uncertain due to the political burden and the confiscated property. It was finally re-established in 1948 under the leadership of Alfred Bergmann . Initially, the orientation of the newly established foundation was primarily scientific. The foundation later opened up to the public, for example by holding lectures and trips to external Grabbe performances.
literature
- Steffen Kathe: The Detmold Grabbe Society. Prehistory and foundation . In: Rosenland. Zeitschrift für Lippische Geschichte 3, 2006, pp. 2–14 ( online as PDF ).
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ See Kathe, Die Detmolder Grabbe-Gesellschaft , p. 10f.
Coordinates: 51 ° 56 '8.5 " N , 8 ° 52' 34.4" E