Hans Ostwald

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Hans Otto August Ostwald (born July 31, 1873 in Berlin ; † February 8, 1940 in Berlin) was a German journalist, narrator and cultural historian .

Life

Ostwald was the son of a blacksmith and grew up in Berlin and Stargard . After an apprenticeship as a goldsmith, he only worked for a short time in this profession until he became unemployed in 1893. Then he wandered around Germany as a wandering craftsperson for about 18 months. He kept a diary about his experiences in the vagabond milieu, which he later, encouraged by Felix Holländer , reworked into the novel Vagabonden (later under: Vagabunden. An autobiographical novel ). With this "first and real German, semi-autobiographical vagabond novel" (Ostwald) he had great success, so that from 1900 until his death he was able to live as a freelance writer in Berlin.

Hans Ostwald remained committed to his intention to "illuminate our culture from below" in all of his subsequent works. He became one of the most productive chroniclers of the lower social classes and fringe groups of the first half of the 20th century, as well as one of the most important popular cultural historians in Berlin.

The collection of songs from the gutter , in which the outcasts of society had their say with their mostly anonymous songs, was important for the creation of an independent social German chanson . Here language layers were made accessible for the lyric that were previously not represented in the folk song collections .

Between 1904 and 1908 he carried out the largest urban research project in German-speaking countries, the results of which he published in the form of a fifty-volume series of books entitled Großstadt-Documents . Numerous well-known authors, experts and journalists such as Julius Bab and Max Winter wrote the individual volumes in this series .

Hans Ostwald died in Berlin in 1940 at the age of 66. He was buried in the Zehlendorf cemetery . The grave has not been preserved.

Works

Erotic folk songs from Germany collected by Hans Ostwald, Eberhard Frowein (1910)

As the author (chronologically)

  • Vagabonds . Bruno & Paul Cassirer, Berlin 1900.
    • New edition d. 7th edition: Vagabonds. An autobiographical novel . Comino, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-945831-15-1 .
  • Discarded. Novellas. Berlin 1902  - Internet Archive (Illustrator: Hans Baluschek ).
  • Two journeymen. Novel. Egon Fleischel, Berlin 1904.
  • Gutter language. Lexicon of crooks, whores and vagabonds . Harmonie, Berlin 1906. Digitized at Internet Archive .
  • Tramp . Bard & Marquardt, Berlin undated [1906] (= Cornelius Gurlitt : Die Kultur. Collection of illustrated individual representations , vol. 8).
  • The Berlin prostitute . Walther Fiedler, Leipzig 1907 (complete edition in 2 volumes).
  • Berlin and the Berliner. A history of culture and morals . Hans Bondy, Berlin [1909] –1911 (initially in 10 individual deliveries).
  • Fresh, healthy and meshed. Purrs and anecdotes . Pauk Franke, Berlin 1928.
  • Hilarious animals. Paul Franke, Berlin 1928.
  • Der Urberliner in Witz, Humor und Anecdote , Berlin undated [1928]
  • The gallant Berlin . Klemm, Berlin undated [1928]
  • The laughing suitcase . Paul Franke, Berlin 1928. Digitized in the Gutenberg project .
  • From rascals and other little ones. Paul Franke, Berlin. Unknown date (between 1928 and 1933).
  • The Zille book . Paul Franke, Berlin 1929. Digitized in the Gutenberg project.
  • The Liebermann Book. Paul Franke, Berlin 1930.
  • Moral history of inflation. Cultural document from the years of the collapse of the market. Neufeld & Henius, Berlin 1931.
  • Berlinerisch. Piper, Munich 1931 (= Volume II of the series: What is not in the dictionary ).
  • From golden humor in pictures and words. Weise, Berlin 1938.

As editor

  • Songs from the gutter . Vol. 1 Karl Henckell, Leipzig 1903. Vol. 2 Karl Henckell, Leipzig 1904. Vol. 3 Harmonie, Berlin 1906
  • Big city documents . 50 volumes. Hermann Seemann successor, Berlin and Leipzig 1904–1908.
  • Harvest Festival October 1, 1933. The German farmers' day of honor . Reimar Hobbing, Berlin 1933.

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Hans Ostwald  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Hans Ostwald  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 677.
personal data
SURNAME Ostwald, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ostwald, Hans Otto August (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, narrator and cultural historian
DATE OF BIRTH July 31, 1873
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 1940
Place of death Berlin