Hans Fiehler

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hans Fiehler (around 1920):
Even today I am not a coward,
as a European or as a man.
I plan, wait, act, keep silent.
Maybe someone will recognize me after all.
Handwritten poem
(lower margin)

Hans Fiehler (actually Johannes Baptist Fiehler , also Hans im Glück ; born June 8, 1890 in Bayreuth , Upper Franconia ; † July 8, 1969 in Weinsberg , district of Heilbronn ) was a German painter , song poet and original pacifist , who singing, making music and painting sought to spread his vision of a “spring of nations” marked by peace. Unlike his brothers, who were enthusiastic supporters of Adolf Hitler very early on , he rejected National Socialism and saw himself as a European.

Life

Hans Fiehler (No. 4) with parents and siblings (around 1910)
Paulsche Villa - seat of the Bruderhöfer and frequent residence of Hans Fiehler
Card designed by Hans Fiehler (front)
Card designed by Hans Fiehler (back)

Hans Fiehler was the second oldest child of the Baptist pastor Heinrich Fiehler (1858–1945) and his wife Emma, ​​née Wulff. He had four brothers and two sisters. Among them were the Hitler putsch participants Werner (1889–1952) and Karl , who later became the Nazi Lord Mayor of Munich. His brothers Otto (1892–1936) and Gerhard (1893–1950) were members and profiteers of the National Socialist movement.

The Baptist congregation in Bayreuth, the birthplace of Hans Fiehler, was his father's first office. Shortly after the birth of his second son Johannes Baptist (called Hans ), Heinrich Fiehler accepted an appointment from the Baptist community of Neuplanitz (today a district of Zwickau ) and stayed there with his family until 1894. Further moves followed: Braunschweig (until 1902) and Munich (until 1914). The parents then moved to Flensburg. Hans Fiehler initially stayed in Munich and then settled in Heilbronn , where he earned his living as Rudolf Kraemer's secretary , the “lawyer for the German blind” and chairman of the Württemberg Blind Association . An Art Nouveau art card designed by Fiehler originates from this period , which invited in Braille and printed letters to “ Flower Day 3 May 1914” in preparation for the International Blind Day in 1915 (see picture).

At the beginning of the First World War , Hans Fiehler was drafted into the Navy. He was promoted to battery chief in the coastal artillery in Flanders . A poem has come down to us from this period, which was printed in the war newspaper “An Flanderns Coast” and which praises the defensive strength of the German artillery against an enemy aircraft. The initial “nationalistic passion” with which Fiehler went to war gave way to severe disillusionment due to the realities of the war. Later he reported to the Bruderhöfer Johann Heinrich Arnold about a close combat in which he had killed his opponent. This event triggered strong feelings of guilt in him and "changed his whole worldview". Fiehler became a pacifist. He rejected political conditions that had been created by war and armed violence. Hence a protest action that he undertook against the Allied Control Commission in 1920 in Flensburg , the last place where his father worked . He exchanged the British Union Jack and the French tricolor that were blowing on the police headquarters for the German and Schleswig-Holstein flags . The "flag swap" was discovered and reversed. A permanent armed flag guard was ordered and while Hans Fiehler remained undetected, the city of Flensburg had to pay a heavy fine.

Hans Fiehler left Flensburg and led an "adventurous hiking life". During these years, the contact point was always the Sannerzer domicile of the New Hutterite Bruderhof movement. Emmy Arnold, the co-founder of the Bruderhof, described his peculiar appearance: “He had a red pointed cap, shorts and a red vest with 'Hans im Glück' written in capital letters on the back”. He also carried an Italian violin and a sheet metal violin with him, as well as four ocarinas , which he called "great-grandmother, grandmother, mother and child" - presumably in order of their age. One picture shows that he was transporting his belongings in a handcart. He preferred to show up at the Bruderhof at night and announce his arrival by playing on one of his ocarinas. After the door was opened for him, he always introduced himself with the same words: "I am Hans in happiness and I am looking for peace between the peoples!"

During his wanderings through towns and villages, it was mainly the children who were the first to hear his "messages of peace". With his speeches and songs suitable for children, he tried to give his young listeners a new perspective on the future. Most of them were war children, some of them were orphans. They had not only experienced hunger and deprivation during the war. He therefore told them contrasting stories "of the future of human beings and all creatures and that one day the whole earth would be heaven". You should therefore not look back, but look ahead. In order to practice this gaze directed at the future, they would have to fix the time and date not to the past, but to the future; they should no longer say: “20 past four, but 40 to five”, no longer “1925 (after the turning point), but 75 years before 2000” and so on. The ritual end of these events was always the Sunday school song written by Fanny Crosby (1820–1915) : Let hearts always be joyful and filled with thanks. Because Heavenly Father calls us his little children! [...] . Not only his appearance should draw attention, but also some pranks that he sometimes played to annoyance on the one hand and to joy on the other on his fellow human beings. He proposed to a general who was accused of complicity in the lost war, that the goulash cannons should be fetched from the barracks and brought into town. A large-scale feeding of the poor would definitely restore his lost reputation. He would then also be there with a camera to photograph the action and then make the images available to the newspaper. The general agreed to this and even served the numerous people who appeared personally when the food was distributed the next day. When he asked for the exposed film from Hans Fiehler after the action, he showed the empty camera and apologized with the words: “I must have left the film at home!” While the general and his team reacted with violent anger, Fiehler had the crowd on his side.

Hans Fiehler earned his living with odd jobs and probably also with art painting. Presumably he also received donations during his public appearances as "Hans im Glück". All that is known so far is that he worked as a tourist guide and souvenir seller in the Harz Mountains during a summer in the early 1920s . He had also leased an observation tower that could be climbed for a fee. Now and then, Fiehler was forcibly committed to psychiatric institutions (then called “insane asylums”) for a short or long period. With the beginning of the Nazi era, his stays in these institutions increased. According to the Munich address books of the 1930s, Fiehler lived on the second floor of Konradstrasse 2 in 1935 and, from 1940, on the first floor of Willroiderstrasse 10 . His parents Heinrich and Emma Fiehler spent their twilight years there. The building was the so-called "Tannhof", the guest house of the city of Munich and the residence of the mayor. In the last years of the Third Reich, Hans Fiehler lived under one roof with his brother and his family, as well as with his parents. It is not yet known where he spent the following years. He lived in Heilbronn by 1964 at the latest . His last address was Bahnhofstrasse 20 in Weinsberg, where he died at the age of 79.

family

Hans Fiehler was married twice. On May 28, 1925, he married the businesswoman and later alternative practitioner Helene Friederika Innerbener in Freudenstadt . The marriage ended in divorce in 1937. She had a daughter: Maria Anita Nirwana (1925–2013). His second marriage was in Weinsberg with Anna Obermayer. She died on October 12, 1965.

Songs and Poems (selection)

Hans Fiehler wrote, composed and improvised incessantly. Some of his songs found their way into various collections, some even in the Sonnenlieder , the Bruderhöfer's hymnbook , or in their English counterpart, the Songs of Light .

Here is a selection of the better-known Fiehler songs:

Title (german) Title Song collections / hymn books (selection)
Come on, brother, let go of the stupidity . Come brother, quit the cheerless mood, and leave your dull old house To the tower of the blue horses (Ed. Kurt Heerklotz). Issue 8, 1992. S. 42
Gone traces (Ed. Kurt Heerklotz). Issue 6, 1990. p. 20
Sonnenlieder (Eds. Emmy Arnold, Gertrud Dalgas). Sannerz 1924. No. 83
Dear, loyal lute. Songs to the guitar . No. 82
Mankind's ice age had come Mankind's ice age had enclosed us Sonnenlieder (Eds. Emmy Arnold, Gertrud Dalgas). Sannerz 1924. No. 83
sing joyfully (compiled by the Hutterite Brethren). 1985. No. 20
Sing along happily (Ed. Bruderhöfer ). 1993. No. 39
Songs of Light. The Bruderhof Songbook . Plow Publishing House: New York 1977. No. 120
Fireflies, glow! Glow, firefly glow! Songs of Light. The Bruderhof Songbook . Plow Publishing House: New York 1977. No. 380
Sing joyfully (Ed. Bruderhofgemeinschaft). Plow Publishing House / Rifton, NY, 1985. No. 484
Sing along happily (Ed. Hutterische Bruderhof-Gemeinschaft eV Michaelshof / Birnbach Ww.). 1993. No. 279
Through the gate of the new time Through the gates to man's new age Sing joyfully (Ed. Hutterian Brethren (Bruderhof). Plow Publishing House / Rifton, NY). 1993. No. 11
happily sings along (Ed. Hutterische Bruderhofgemeinschaft). 1993. No. 25
When the zeppelin comes back (children's song) Printed by Emmy Arnold: Against the Current. A life in the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount . Plow Publishing House: Rifton New York (et al.) 2012. p. 48

Literature (selection)

  • Peter Mommsen: Homage to a broken Man. The Life of Johann Heinrich Arnold . Plow Publishing House: Farmington 2007. pp. 29-30
  • Peter Mommsen: Radically compassionate. The life of Johann Heinrich Arnold - a story of faith and forgiveness, devotion and community (translated from American English by Christopher Groß). Neufeld Verlag: Cuxhaven 2017. ISBN 978-3-86256-078-3 . P. 40
  • Emmy Arnold: Against the Current. A life in the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount . Plow Publishing House: New York 2012. ISBN 978-0-87486-887-6 . Pp. 47-50

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Yearbook for the city of Weinberg, combined with a calendar for 1970 with information about the official, church and cultural life, schools, associations, civil advertisements, an advertisement section of the Weinsberg industry, the crafts and tradespeople and the register of residents of the city of Weinsberg . Weinberg 1969. p. 63; there it says: "Johannes Fiehler, painter and writer, used, 78 years, residing in Weinsberg, Bahnhofstrasse 20, died July 8, 1969."
  2. ↑ Short biography of Hans Fiehler ; accessed on March 16, 2021
  3. ↑ The family picture from 1910 shows Hans Fiehler with parents and siblings; (1) Werner Fiehler, (2) Gerhard Fiehler, (3) Otto Fiehler, (4) Hans Fiehler, (5) Karl Fiehler, (6) Elisabeth Fiehler, (7) Frieda Fiehler
  4. ↑ Otto Fiehler was a blood medalist ; see Heidelberg Latest News - Heidelberger Anzeiger of May 12, 1936: Otto Fiehler †
  5. ↑ For Gerhard Fiehler see for example Jüdische Allgemeine.de: Gedenken am Gärtnerplatz (August 8, 2019) ; There it says: "The Leopold Schwager leather shop and shaft manufacture fell to Gerhard Fiehler, the brother of Munich's NS mayor Karl Fiehler, in 1939 through aryanization ."
  6. ↑ A. Holzmann: 50 years in the service of the word . In: Journal of Truth Witnesses . Oncken-Verlag: Kassel, No. 47/1937. P. 376
  7. ↑ Christhard Schrenk: Lawyer for the German blind. Rudolf Kraemer (1885–1945). In: Christhard Schrenk (Hrsg.): Heilbronner Köpfe II. Life pictures from two centuries. Heilbronn City Archives, 1999. ISBN 3-928990-70-5 . P. 71
  8. ↑ Hans Fiehler: Air Defense . In: On the coast of Flanders. War newspaper for the Marine Corps . No. 27 (April 15, 1917).
  9. ↑ Hymnary.org: Short biography of Hans Fiehler ; accessed on March 16, 2021
  10. ↑ Peter Mommsen: Radically Merciful. The life of Johann Heinrich Arnold - a story of faith and forgiveness, devotion and community (translated from American English by Christopher Groß). Neufeld Verlag: Cuxhaven 2017. S. 40
  11. ↑ Walter Schinkel (1925–2015), nephew of Hans Fiehler, reported on this event in the Flensburger Tageblatt of June 13, 1998: Grenzkampf 1920: “Union Jack” and “Tricolore” against “Black-White-Red” and “Blue-White” -Red". Illegal flag exchange in Flensburg .
  12. ↑ Antje Vollmer : The new work movement. Between youth movement and religious socialism . Herder Verlag: Freiburg, Basel, Vienna 2016. ISBN 978-3-451-31504-6 . P. 96; Note 5
  13. ↑ Emmy Arnold: Against the Current. A life in the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount . Plow Publishing House: New York 2012. p. 47
  14. ↑ The picture from 1925 can be found at Emmy Arnold: Gegen den Strom. A life in the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount . Plow Publishing House: New York 2012, p. 49
  15. ↑ Peter Mommsen: Radically Merciful. The life of Johann Heinrich Arnold - a story of faith and forgiveness, devotion and community (translated from American English by Christopher Groß). Neufeld Verlag: Cuxhaven 2017. S. 39f
  16. ↑ The original song title was Let our hearts be always cheerful ; the translation into German was provided by JA Reitz (1838–1904)
  17. ↑ Emmy Arnold: Against the Current. A life in the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount . Plow Publishing House: New York 2012. pp. 47f
  18. ↑ Peter Mommsen: Radically Merciful. The life of Johann Heinrich Arnold - a story of faith and forgiveness, devotion and community (translated from American English by Christopher Groß). Neufeld Verlag: Cuxhaven 2017. S. 40
  19. ↑ Unfortunately no catalog raisonné is known. Every now and then, however, pictures of Hans Fiehler appear at auctions; for example here: Mehlis.eu: Hans Fiehler, farmer
  20. ↑ Emmy Arnold: Against the Current. A life in the challenge of the Sermon on the Mount . Plow Publishing House: New York 2012, p. 49
  21. ↑ Antje Vollmer: The new work movement. Between youth movement and religious socialism . Herder Verlag: Freiburg, Basel, Wien 2016. S. 96; Note 5
  22. ^ Ancestry.de: Address books from Germany ... Munich 1935 ... ("Johs. Fiehler, Kunstm.") ; accessed on March 19, 2021
  23. ^ Ancestry.de: Münchner Stadtadreßbuch 1940 . Second column above (“Fiehler, Johs. Kunstm.”). In the first column below you can also find his father ("Fiehler, Hch. Prediger iR") ; accessed on March 19, 2021
  24. ^ Munich City Archives: Tannhof House, Munich City Guest House in Harlaching ; accessed on March 19, 2021
  25. ↑ Munich City Archives: House Tannhof (mayor Karl Fiehler's apartment) at Willroiderstraße 10 ; accessed on March 19, 2021
  26. ↑ Address book of the city of Heilbronn 1964 . Association printing: Heilbronn 1964. p. 61; Sp II: "Fiehler, Johannes, painter and writer, Deutschhofstraße 39"
  27. ↑ Familienangebote.org: death announcements from the Weinsberg area ; accessed on March 19, 2021
  28. ↑ Address books from Germany and the surrounding area ... Munich 1935 . Third column in the middle: “Fiehler Helene Strick.ei u. Wollw. Dachauer Str.12 Whg. Konradstrasse 2 “ ; accessed on March 19, 2021
  29. ^ German telephone books ... Telephone book Munich 1957 . Fifth column below: "Innerebner Helene Heilpraktikerin M13 Konradstrasse 2".
  30. ↑ Familienangebote.org: death announcements from the Weinsberg area ; accessed on March 19, 2021
  31. ↑ Peter Mommsen: Radically Merciful. The life of Johann Heinrich Arnold - a story of faith and forgiveness, devotion and community (translated from American English by Christopher Groß). Neufeld Verlag: Cuxhaven 2017. S. 40
  32. ↑ See short biography of Hans Fiehler and list of songs ; Deutsches Lied.com: song search (Hans Fiehler) ; accessed on March 17, 2021
  33. ↑ The title line is also reproduced at Hymnary.org as follows: Mankind's ice age had enclosed to us . Since there is obviously both a metrical and a grammatical error here, the title line changes to Song of Light. The Bruderhof Songbook (1977), no.120, quoted.
personal data
SURNAME Fiehler, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fiehler, Johannes Baptist
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, song poet and pacifist
DATE OF BIRTH June 8, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Bayreuth , Upper Franconia
DATE OF DEATH July 8, 1969
PLACE OF DEATH Weinsberg , Heilbronn district