Harro von Hirschheydt

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Harro Ernst Hermann von Hirschheydt (born  April 14, 1925 in Riga ; †  May 30, 2017 in Wedemark ) was a German-Baltic publisher , bookseller and multiplier for Latvian and German-Baltic literature. He was considered a well-known expert on the culture and history of the entire Baltic region .

Harro von Hirschheydt giving a literary lecture to a Latvian audience in Lemsal ( Limbaži ), 1999.

Life

Harro von Hirschheydt came from a German-Baltic pastor family. Since 1931 he spent his childhood in the small town of Hasenpoth ( Aizpute ) in Courland , where his father Walter worked as a pastor and teacher. He received his first school instruction from his mother Benita. From 1933 to 1939 he attended the German elementary school in Hasenpoth and then the grammar school in the neighboring town of Goldingen ( Kuldīga ). At the end of 1939, the family had to leave the country as a result of the German-Soviet border and friendship treaty . The relocation took the family to the Warthegau . From 1940 to 1943 he attended high school in Gniezno ( Gniezno ). In 1943 he was drafted into military service and in 1944 he became an American prisoner of war, which lasted until 1946. It was not until 1947 that he was able to take the Abitur in Hildesheim .

He was active for the German-Baltic country team from an early age . In the 1970s he was state chairman in Lower Saxony and in the 1980s he was executive chairman of the federal government alongside Rudolf von Wistinghausen and Klas Lackschewitz.

Professional career

Harro von Hirschheydt in Berlin, around 1982

From 1947 to 1949 he did an apprenticeship as a bookseller in Goslar and from 1950 began as an independent bookseller with a focus on Baltica. The hard-to-find editions of the publishers and the destroyed collections of the libraries caused a brisk demand for out of print books. This shortage led to a major shift in business to the second-hand bookshop. By reprinting such rarities, a lively publishing activity developed.

Together with the Baltic bookstores E. Bruhns in Füssen and Kluge & Ströhm in Meine , he formed a publishing association for Baltic literature such as literature, poetry, memories, calendars, cookbooks and postcards. In 1953, this community, together with Wolf J. von Kleist, published the first post-war edition of the Yearbook of Baltic Germanism (now the German-Baltic Yearbook ), which has been published annually since then.

The Baltic cookbook by Brigitte von Samson-Himmelstjerna, produced in small editions, first in 1954, became the long-term success, which will be launched again and again had to.

In 1955 he founded the quarterly journal for contemporary issues , culture and science of the Baltic region under the name of Baltic Hefte . From the 11th to the 21st year they appeared in the form of annual volumes. Well-known authors from fiction and science were part of the permanent group of employees.

His book tables , lectures and readings at events in Germany and the Baltic states spread knowledge of German-Baltic and Latvian authors. He received invitations from Latvians in exile and later also from Latvia, which had become independent.

As a result of Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik and the resulting treaties with the East , the Soviet Union opened up to visits from the West. The Wencelides brothers organized regular trips to the Baltic States. Since 1972, Hirschheydt was able to reach the cities of Reval ( Tallinn ) and Riga . In the following years he led tour groups to the previously closed cities. This made it possible to maintain contact with authors, artists, scientists and church circles. The areas outside the narrow areas around the capital cities were initially closed to foreigners. It was not until the time of perestroika that there was an opportunity to visit his hometown of Hasenpoth.

Intensive contacts with the head of the Representation of Authors 'Rights of the Soviet Republic of Latvia, the Writers' Union and with translators and illustrators enabled the publication of contemporary Latvian authors in the West. Prof. Ojārs Spārītis from Riga remembers: I am certainly not the only one who can boast of having made acquaintances with well-respected personalities since the first years of the thaw and who tried to justify the trust placed in me. These include the publisher Harro von Hirschheydt, who has already translated and published poems and prose by Latvian authors into German during the Soviet era - and has therefore received accusations of collaboration with the Soviet regime [...].

This was followed by invitations from the Latvian Writers' Association to its anniversary events:

With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the re-establishment of the Latvian state , access to all parts of the country became possible for the first time. Hirschheydt acquired a permanent residence in Aizpute and founded the Apgāds Harro von Hirschheydt publishing house there in 1993 .

Baltic authors such as Werner Bergengruen , Oskar Grosberg , Else Hueck-Dehio , Eduard von Keyserling , Manfred Kyber , Peter Zoege von Manteuffel, Louise Pantenius, Elisa von der Recke , Siegfried von Vegesack are completely unknown in their homeland due to the ban in the Soviet era. Hirschheydt selected suitable short stories, short stories and fairy tales and had them translated into Latvian. Latvian authors in exile also had their say in free Latvia.

Hirschheydt expanded his translations to include classics that had been banned for a long time in Latvia and were therefore forgotten.

In total, more than 500 titles were published by his German and Latvian publishers.

The publisher as an author

For many years, Hirschheydt has reviewed the books published around the world on Baltic topics in the journal Baltische Briefe and published the new publications from the Baltic States in the German-Baltic Yearbook . In addition to his knowledge of Latvian, he also benefited from his English and Swedish language skills. For his own publishing houses he has often written a foreword with biographical information for the works of his authors. Here are examples of larger posts:

  • The Baltic States in 120 pictures . With explanatory text by Ernst Hermann [pseudonym of Harro von Hirschheydt]. Harro von Hirschheydt, 1969.
  • Latvia in words and pictures today / Latvija šodien / Latvia today . Text by Arnolds Markss / Harro von Hirschheydt / Wolf von Kleist. Harro von Hirschheydt Publishing House, Döhren 1983.
  • Mirdza Birzniece: Aizpute ceļvedis pa pilsētu un tās apkārtni (Aizpute and surroundings guide). Aizpute 1996 (German version by Harro von Hirschheydt).
  • Harro von Hirschheydt: Mana bērnības Aizpute (The Aizpute of my childhood) in: Aizpute 750 (On the city anniversary 1998).
  • Santa Sproģe-Valdmane: Aizputes Sv. Jāņa baznīcas vēsture. / The history of the St. Johanniskirche in Hasenpoth . (German version Harro von Hirschheydt) Verlag Harro von Hirschheydt, Aizpute 2000.
  • Harro von Hirschheydt: The Baltic Germans in Hasenpoth and Libau and the resettlement in 1939 . In: Florian Anton and Leonid Luks (eds.): Germany, Russia and the Baltic States . Contributions to a history of changeful relationships. Verlag Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2005. ISBN 3-412-12605-5 reading sample
Harro von Hirschheydt (left) with the Latvian writer Vladimirs Kaijaks , 1989.

Honors

  • 1988 Certificate of Honor from the Latvian Writers' Union during a festive event.
  • November 18, 1998: Entry in the city of Hasenpoth's book of honor.
  • In 2001 the children's book by Juris Zvirgzdiņš: Bebru atgriešanās (Arrival of the Beavers) with the illustrations by Signe Ērmane won the competition for the best children's book of the year in Latvia.
  • February 17, 2004: Honorary doctorate from the Latvian Academy of Sciences , Riga.
  • July 1, 2013: Culture Prize 2013 of the German-Baltic Society for his outstanding services to the care of the German-Baltic cultural heritage .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Baptism announcement with the full name in the Rigaschen Rundschau .
  2. ^ Jānis Stradiņš: Harro fon Hiršheita piemiņai (1925-2017) . Latvijas Zinātņu akadēmija, Zinātnes Vēstnesis, July 3, 2017 (obituary of the Latvian Academy of Sciences with a detailed biography). German translation: In memoriam Harro von Hirschheydt in Mitteilungen aus Baltic Leben , 63rd volume, issue 2 (August 2017).
  3. No Latvijai un Aizputei tuvâ atvadoties . In: Aizputes Avīze of July 3, 2017 (obituary from his hometown on page 7, Latvian).
  4. Vēsture.eu: Hiršheiti Harro v. Hirschheydt with family coat of arms.
  5. Walter Gustav Robert von Hirschheydt with family is listed in the Lexicon of Baltic German Theologians since 1920 by Wilhelm Neander and C. Helmut Intelmann, Hanover 1988.
  6. Mirdza Birzniece: Ar Aizputi un novadu saistītie. Biogrāfiskā vārdnīca. Biographical data about Harro von Hirschheydt (Latvian).
  7. ^ Hathi Trust Digital Library Baltic booklets with read-only access.
  8. Gottzmann et al .: Lexicon of German-Language Literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . This contains 77 references to original publications in the Baltic Hefts .
  9. Federal Institute for Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe The bibliography of the historian Georg von Rauch alone shows ten publications in Hirschheydts Verlag, including six in the Baltic Hefts .
  10. The manuscripts of his numerous lectures were not published.
  11. Jānis Stradiņš: On the Baltic German problem area in the cultural history of Latvia. in: Jahrbuch des Baltic Deutschtums, Volume 37 (1990) quotes the German-translated editions of Latvian authors published by Harro von Hirschheydt and encourages the translation of German-Baltic writers for the Latvian public. At that time the publishing house in Aizpute did not yet exist.
  12. Ojārs Spārītis: Speech of thanks on the occasion of the awarding of the 2017 Culture Prize of the German-Baltic Society eV in Messages from Baltic Life , Volume 63, Issue 2 from August 2017.
  13. German biography: Nikolaus Mollyn [1]
  14. DIENA daily newspaper from February 22, 2002 Nora Driķe: Aizputes patriots izdod grāmatas (Patriot from Aizpute publishes books) .
  15. Ilva Skulte: Grāmatas, kas nenoveco (books that are not out of date). In the daily Neatkarīga from September 5, 2002.
  16. LAIKS from July 19, 2003 The exile author Viktors Straubs published by Harro von Hirschheydt, Aizpute [the caption confuses author and publisher].
  17. Jaunā Gaita Latvian books published by Apgāds Harro von Hirschheydt in Aizpute.
  18. OPAC of the Herder Institute Marburg shows 257 Baltica titles from the Harro von Hirschheydt publishing house.
  19. German-Baltic Yearbook 2013 ( Memento of the original from July 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Example 2013: New publications from Latvia.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.carl-schirren-gesellschaft.de
  20. Latvijas Rakstnieku savienība .
  21. Cover picture of the first prize
  22. ^ Latvijas Zinātņu akadēmija Directory of Honorary Doctors of the Latvian Academy of Sciences.
  23. Gert von Pistohlkors : Harro von Hirschheydt in commemoration in Baltic letters No. 7/8, July / August 2017.