Hermann Gutmann (journalist)

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Hermann Gutmann (born October 4, 1930 in Bremerhaven ; † November 10, 2013 in Bremen ) was an author and journalist from Bremen .

biography

Gutmann lived in Bremen since 1957. He first became known as an editor for the Weser-Kurier , mainly with the column about his alter ego Felix , and as the author of articles and glosses for the radio and television program of Radio Bremen .

He later worked for the Hamburg magazine essen & Trinken , before he started working as a freelance journalist and author in 1985 and wrote numerous books on northern Germany, especially Bremen. Here Gutmann achieved above all with his extensive story (s) , z. Partly appeared as a series in Edition Temmen , and great popularity with his books about Bremen .

Gutmann was married.

Gutmann's historical picture of Bremen

Due to Gutmann's high popularity, his books contribute a lot to the formative self-image of the people, especially in the broader classes in Bremen.

Gutmann allows people to participate in a world that almost disconnectedly disintegrates into individual stories and anecdotes. It is an apparently childlike, naive world in which “ we […] of course cannot clarify the question of how it is possible that evil is still happening in the world, since all people from their very personal point of view are like that are obviously good ”. It is this ostensible lightness of his anecdotal narrative style that makes his books so attractive to many people, but has been criticized by some reviewers.

Works

His entry in the German National Library includes over 120 publications, from 1998 to 2008 alone he published more than 50 books, mostly with more than 100 pages. Many of these books are collections of short stories that have been grouped under a specific theme and have been reissued as such several times.

Marriage stories

Internet reviewer Ursula Breit-Silvester sees the marriage stories from 2002 as a book with short stories in the “typical style” of Gutmann. The everyday situations are exaggerated, but not heavily distorted and presented with "clearly recognizable truth content". The stories are extremely “amusing” and “even tempted the reader to laugh out loud in between”. The simple, easy-to-understand style makes the book “a particularly pleasant and relaxing bedtime reading”, which even makes it possible to read the stories multiple times without getting bored.

The reviewer appears to be the "only downer" (sic!) Of the book that "every punch line is at the expense of the female sex", although in marital relationships "there is certainly enough material for the opposite case".

War and Peace in Bremen. Pictures from 1914-1939

In the book War and Peace in Bremen from 1999, Döll-Verlag precedes the copyright information with a brief explanation - instead of a preface by the authors: The intention of the two authors is to "primarily let the pictures speak". There are enough history books, but fewer history books. You say yes: "A picture is worth a thousand words". As a precaution, the publisher refers the “readers who want to find out more about all the background to the events” to a “competent book [...] by Herbert Schwarzwälder ” published by the publisher.

The two authors let the book end with the beginning of the war in 1939, but at the end show a view of the inner city of Bremen, which was destroyed at the end of the war. In the brief description of the picture, they give the numbers of 14,000 fallen soldiers from Bremen and 4,000 city residents killed in air raids. The suffering of thousands of forced laborers in Bremen during the Second World War , which was already comprehensively described when the book was published, is not mentioned with a single syllable . The question of the causes of these events in the development before 1939 in Bremen does not arise in this book.

In his 1997 book Zeitreise durch Bremen , Gutmann mentions the "Valentin submarine bunker that was built by people who were brought to the Lower Weser as work columns from all over Europe" and says that "many of them [... ] from the inhuman treatment ”.

Haus Seefahrt and its Schaffer meal

The book Haus Seefahrt in Bremen and his Schaffermahlzeit , published in 1999, was heavily criticized by Heinz-Gerd Hofschen because of its uncritical view of history . Gutmann recounted pages from Karl H. Schwebel's book and made only the few direct quotations recognizable, whereby Gutmann left out Schwebel's critical passages about the autocratic conditions and social tensions in Haus Seefahrt. The question why the Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler, whom he mentioned , was staying as a guest at the Schaffermahlzeit in 1936 did not even occur to Gutmann.

Hofschen's conclusion about Gutmann's book: “ glossing over to hagiography ”. The fact that towards the end of the book there is a “slightly ironic undertone about the exclusion of women from the Schaffermahl” is discussed in no way.

Time travel through Bremen. Excursions into the past

In his review, Hartmut Müller found the book published in 1997 to be very good and admits the “ delightful way ” of approaching Bremen's past in a different way. After his excursions in initially general historical contexts, Gutmann tells “ his very special story ” with a “ tangible and tangible hook ” in the region . Müller compares the book with an attractively designed, bulky travel guide.

But the book is " sloppily worked ". " With all understanding for [...] wanting to make history popular and entertaining ", " despite all the colors, the facts should be correct and not be made consistent with the story ". This is where " the nuisance begins in many places ". Müller thus cites a number of twisted historical facts from the Middle Ages. " Many of the oh-so-popular Bremen legends " about the Middle Ages are thoughtlessly spread here, the list of which Müller does not consider to be complete.

Other works (selection)

  • The Ratskeller in Bremen
  • What the people of Bremen tell each other around the hearth fire
  • 600 years of the Ratskeller
  • Bremen Freimarkt
  • Bremen history (s). Or: Please never forget to spit into the Weser before you leave Bremen (in the 12th edition)
  • Bremerhaven story (s). Or: tell a little from earlier (in the 4th edition)
  • Marriage stories (3rd edition)
  • Felix and the everyday things. or: ... it wasn't that common ...
  • Stories from the Schnoor
  • Port story
  • Hamburg history (s). Or: What the Bible keeps from us
  • Haus Seefahrt in Bremen and its Schaffermahlzeit
  • Heini Holtenbeen, Mudder Cordes & Co. Bremer Originals. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8378-1106-3
  • Kiel stories. Smiled a bit through the centuries
  • Cabbage & pee stories
  • War and Peace in Bremen: Pictures from 1914 to 1939
  • Be careful not to get stained . Tavern stories. Luisental Verlag, Bremen 1990
  • Roland with the sharp knees or: A little rummaging in Bremen's good room. Marketplace stories (3rd edition)
  • Legends and stories from Bremen
  • Legends and stories from Bremen-Nord
  • Sailor stories. From Captain Johann Bradhering's logbook
  • Verden story (s)
  • Christmas stories , Edition Temmen 2002

Web links

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hermann Gutmann has died ( Memento of the original from May 19, 2014 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. , radiobremen.de, November 12, 2013, accessed on November 12, 2013  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.radiobremen.de
  2. ^ Biographical data of Hermann Gutmann in: Kürschner's German Literature Calendar 1998/1999. Volume AM , Walter De Gruyter, 1999, ISBN 3-598-23581-X , page 391
  3. ^ Hermann Gutmann: The Böttcherstraße. A reading book ; Döll, Bremen 1993, ISBN 3-88808-077-0 , p. 32.
  4. ^ German National Library: Publications by Hermann Gutmann
  5. ↑ webcritics.de: Books - Marriage Stories: Review by Ursula Breit-Silvester (from December 30, 2004)
  6. ^ Hermann Gutmann, Sophie Hollanders: War and Peace in Bremen. Pictures from 1914–1939 ; Johann Heinrich Döll Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-88808-246-3 .
  7. ^ Hermann Gutmann: Time travel through Bremen. Excursions into the past . Wartberg, Gudensberg-Gleichen 1997, ISBN 3-86134-329-0 , p. 75.
  8. ^ Hermann Gutmann: Haus Seefahrt in Bremen and his Schaffermahlzeit . Johann Heinrich Döll, Bremen 1999, ISBN 3-88808-244-7 .
  9. ↑ Heinz-Gerd Hofschen is a historian and department head for city history at the Bremen State Museum for Art and Cultural History (Focke Museum)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.fockemuseum.de  
  10. ^ Karl H. Schwebel : House of seafaring Bremen: his merchants and captains . Krohn, Bremen 1947.
  11. ^ Hermann Gutmann: Haus Seefahrt in Bremen and his Schaffermahlzeit . Johann Heinrich Döll, Bremen 1999, ISBN 3-88808-244-7 , p. 121.
  12. ^ Book review by Heinz-Gerd Hofschen: Bremisches Jahrbuch , Volume 79 . Self-published by the Bremen State Archives, Bremen 2000, p. 301 f.
  13. ^ Book review by Hartmut Müller: Bremisches Jahrbuch Volume 77 . Self-published by the Bremen State Archives, Bremen 1998, ISSN  0341-9622 , p. 312 f.
  14. ↑ Circulation thicknesses 05/2009 according to the DNB catalog.
personal data
SURNAME Gutmann, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Felix
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH 4th October 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Bremerhaven
DATE OF DEATH November 10, 2013
Place of death Bremen