Hermann Plagge

Hermann Plagge (born June 11, 1888 in Weener , † September 16, 1918 in Mainz ) was a German writer.

Live and act

Hermann Plagge was the fourth oldest child of the farmer and cattle dealer Otto Plagge and his wife Margaretha Henderika. He had nine siblings and was the only child in the family to attend university.

Plagge first went to an elementary school in his birthplace and then to the royal high school in Leer . At Easter he passed the Abitur exam here. From the summer semester 1908 to the winter semester 1908/09 he completed a degree in modern philology in Munich . From May 1, 1909 to March 6, 1913 he continued his studies at the Royal Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin . In the spring of 1913 he finished his studies without a degree with a leaving certificate.

When the First World War broke out , Plagge immediately joined the army and fought mostly on the front lines. He survived the war and drowned while bathing in Mainz.

Works

Since 1910, Plagge wrote reviews and essays that could be read in Hannoverland , “Das Land” and the Weser newspaper . Initially, he primarily dealt with regional issues. There were also reviews of new Expressionist works by authors such as Arno Holz , Paul Zech , Paul Boldt and Max Pulver .

During the time in Berlin, Plagge met Oskar Kanehl , who published the "Wiecker Boten". Kanehl put a contact to the magazine Die Aktion von Franz Pfemfert here. Before the outbreak of war, Plagge's first poems could be read in this magazine, which are reminiscent of the works of Georg Heym and Alfred Lichtenstein .

In contrast to the majority of his poet colleagues, Plagge was not happy about the outbreak of the First World War. He immediately noted his experiences as a soldier in a very distant manner and recorded his observations soberly. The pathos typical of that time remained alien to him. He avoided abstruse exaggerations, did not cling to traditions and wrote without rhymes and extremely freely. He developed his own form and moved in the early transition from Expressionism to New Objectivity.

Plagge always wrote lively and knew how to present his observations graphically and grippingly for the reader. His works still appear modern today. In the area of ​​secondary literature, he formulated funny and ironic. He himself never printed a book during his lifetime. A first, less extensive selection volume came out in 1992. His texts were reprinted repeatedly even after the Second World War .

literature

• Peter Salomon: Plagge, Hermann. In: Martin Tielke (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon für Ostfriesland . Volume 1. Ostfriesische Landschaftliche Verlags- und Vertriebsgesellschaft, Aurich 1993, ISBN 3-925365-75-3 , pp. 285-286 ( online , PDF).
• Hermann Plagge, expressionist . A selection from the estate edited and given an introduction by Peter Salomon. Eggingen, Edition Isele 1992 (replica 1)
• Peter Salomon: The stars are freezing. To Hermann Plagge . In: Wiecker Bote (Greifswald), No. 16–18, 1998 (with an unpublished poem from the estate)
• Peter Salomon's collection on Hermann Plagge is in the German Literature Archive Marbach aN It contains parts from the estate (diary, unpublished texts, photos and Salomon's working materials)