Heinz Brandt the Foreign Legionnaire
Heinz Brandt the Foreign Legionnaire , subtitle: Adventure, Struggles, Sorrows and Secrets in the Foreign Legion , was a German magazine series in medium format that appeared in 332 volumes from 1914 to 1921. After the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, the title was changed to Heinz Brandt the former Foreign Legionnaire . The series was published by Mignon-Verlag in Dresden . The selling price was 10 pfennigs , in Austria 10 hellers . No information is available about the author (s) of the booklet.
content
The protagonist of the series is the young and intelligent German national Heinz Brandt, who serves in the French Foreign Legion. He is level-headed and loyal to his French superiors, but also a German patriot :
It is a shame for every German who bears his bones for France, but since we are French soldiers, Foreign Legionnaires, we have to prove that a German soldier knows no fear.
With the outbreak of World War I, the concept of the series was changed. Apparently Heinz Brandt deserted from the legion and joined the German army. Up to volume 80, the action was located in the Legion, where Brandt worked in French colonies in North and West Africa ( Die Rache des Kabylen , Vol. 2, The Amazons von Dahome , Vol. 51), on Madagascar ( In den Urwäldern Madagascar , Vol . 10) or in Indochina ( The Melon Merchant of Ha-Noi , Vol. 36) or the West Indies ( The Negro Uprising of Fort de France , Vol. 74) fought against rebels, pirates and robbers.
From volume 80, Heinz Brandt was deployed as a German soldier, later a sergeant , on all fronts of the World War, in France ( Mit den Bayern bei Metz , Vol. 87), in Flanders ( Die Wacht in Flandern , Vol. 119), in Russia ( The Adjutant of the Tsar , Vol. 155), in Serbia ( In the fight with Serbian Komitatschis , Vol. 183), Romania (On hunting command into Romania, Vol. 200) to Syria , Palestine , Egypt and Mesopotamia ( The spy of Damascus , Vol. 238, In the battle turmoil of Gaza , Vol. 247, Captain Johannsen in Egypt , Vol. 251, The fort on the Euphrates , Vol. 267). After the war, Brandt is apparently active as an adventurer in Latin America ( Die Flusspiraten vom Amazonas , vol. 327). There the series ends with volume 332: A Lost Man in the Wild .
Historical context
The series is apparently in the context of a German campaign against the Foreign Legion, which was forced in 1908 due to the Casablanca affair , when numerous German legionaries deserted from the legion with the help of the German consul in Casablanca. The relevant text was found on the back of the booklet:
The Foreign Legion is a modern slave troop, contrary to culture, as cannon fodder for the French in the constant fight against bloodthirsty and rebellious native tribes. As an urgent warning for the adventurous, Heinz Brandt relentlessly reveals the true character of the Foreign Legion in the present booklet, with such hair-raising details about the inhumane, barbaric, health and morality highly endangering life in the Foreign Legion that the undersigned publisher has made a decision A reward of 500 Mk. To be offered and to be guaranteed to the person who convicts the first recruiter for the French Foreign Legion in German territory and thus reports that he can be arrested and punished by the courts.
literature
- Peter Wanjek: Bibliography of the German booklet novels 1900–1945. Wilfersdorf 1993, pp. 191-194.
- Heinz J. Galle: Folk books and book novels, Volume 2: From the Empire to the “Third Reich” - 40 years of popular reading material. Lüneburg 2006, ISBN 3-8334-4314-6 .
- Eckard Michels: Germans in the Foreign Legion 1870-1965. Myths and Realities. Schöningh, Paderborn et al. 1999, ISBN 3-506-74471-2 .