Hugo Boeschenstein

Hugo Boeschenstein (also Böschenstein ) (born July 5, 1900 in Stein am Rhein , † March 20, 1983 in Konstanz ) was a Swiss - German graphic and book decoration artist. During the time of National Socialism , he acquired German citizenship and was an active member of the NSDAP .

life and work

Hugo Boeschenstein came on July 5, 1900 as the son of the confectioner Arthur Boeschenstein and his wife Emilie, nee. Schulch, born in Stein am Rhein. After graduating from high school , he studied graphics at the Basel Art School and from 1921 to 1923 at the Karlsruhe Art Academy ; there he was a master student with Ernst Würtenberger .

In 1924 he moved to Wangen on the Untersee , where Boeschenstein, coming from Stein am Rhein, was officially registered from January 1, 1925 and settled down as a freelance graphic artist. He had been married to Mathilde Hauß from Darmstadt since 1923 , with whom he had a daughter in 1925. The originally Protestant couple left the church after 1933 and were henceforth considered to be believers in God . Boeschenstein belonged to the second generation of Höri artists and to the artists' association Der Kreis .

He had a close friendship with the writer and doctor Ludwig Finckh , who lives in neighboring Gaienhofen , since 1925. Finckh supported Boeschenstein's efforts to establish himself as a graphic designer. He wrote the "accompanying words" for several of his woodcut portfolios with motifs from the Hegau and Lake Constance landscapes, which were published as signed handprints by the artist between 1925 and 1935 in small editions and distributed by Finckh. With these small-format woodcut vedutas , Boeschenstein slowly made a name for himself as a graphic artist in the Lake Constance region, relying on " tourism ", which was just beginning, as a sales market. For the “Tourist Guide” published in 1927 by the Höri tourist office, Gaienhofen headquarters, Boeschenstein designed the cover and made several woodcuts for the text. Boeschenstein also contributed the text illustrations for Finckh's story Bricklebritt and designed the book cover. Since sales of the original graphics remained below expectations despite Finckh's intensive support and Boeschenstein could not live from his artistic work alone, he also worked as a photographer in Wangen , who created a sideline source of income in the sale of passport photos.

time of the nationalsocialism

After the takeover of the Nazis in 1933, he welcomed and their anti-Semitic ideology , he said, Boeschenstein was the 1936 German citizenship acquired, a member of the Nazi party . According to Finckh, Switzerland “ostracized him because he became a German and from day one on the German side fought on many fronts”. As a non-commissioned officer in the Wehrmacht , according to Finckh at least, Boeschenstein was "probably the only Swiss" who " fought as a German soldier against France, England and Russia " in World War II no secured knowledge.

According to Hannelore König, the daughter of the Jewish doctor Dr. Nathan Wolf , Wangen, is Boeschenstein, who sold his graphics - including a woodcut from the Wangen synagogue - mainly to Jews before 1933 and also designed a book cover for his friend, a Jewish writer Erich Bloch , "completely swiveled" and a "real ( Ober) Nazi ”. As a Hitler Youth leader in Wangen, he was also a functionary of the party and, along with NS Mayor Josef Denz and NSDAP local group leader Richard Schweizer, was one of the “worst” NS representatives and anti-Jews in town.

The synagogue of Wangen destroyed in 1938 (center), contemporary postcard (detail), around 1930

Erich Bloch, who lived in Wangen from 1922 to 1929 and in Gaienhofen-Horn from 1933 until he emigrated to Palestine in 1939 , had to experience for himself how his former "good friend" developed into a "malicious Nazi" after 1933 : “Even after we were gone, he should not have done the Jews any good. The twelve or fifteen Jews who were still living in Wangen were all deported in 1940, and he (Boeschenstein) is said to have made sure that they all came with us. "

According to Andrea Hofmann, Boeschenstein “also learned a 'bread job' at the age of almost forty” and then left Wangen. In 1939 he is said to have found employment as a " surveying technician " with the city of Überlingen . While the population register of Wangen still listed him as a “graphic artist” in 1938, he and his family were officially registered in Überlingen from mid-1937; in the Überlinger registration documents, however, his occupation is indicated as “financial employee”.

From 1945

According to Bloch, he did not move to Überlingen (again?) In 1945 after he was banned from entering Switzerland and his Swiss citizenship had previously been revoked. Moreover, he had been banned from moving to Wangen for life. As a former party member, he had to face a denazification procedure before the French military government , the outcome of which is not yet known. In Überlingen he worked as a financial employee until his retirement in 1965 and founded the "Kleine Galerie". In 1976 Boeschenstein moved to Konstanz , where he died in 1983 at the age of 82. His grave is in the main cemetery there .

Publications

Fonts, graphics (selection)

• Towards the bank. 12 small woodcuts from the Untersee. Hand prints v. Hugo Boeschenstein. Accompanying word from Elga Kern . Self-published, Wangen 1926.
• The Höri peninsula. 12 woodcuts. Hand prints v. Hugo Boeschenstein with accompanying words by Ludwig Finckh. Self-published, Wangen 1927.
• Stone at the Rhein. 10 woodcuts by Hugo Boeschenstein with accompanying words by Ludwig Finckh. Self-published, Wangen 1928.
• Schaffhausen. 10 woodcuts by Hugo Boeschenstein with accompanying words by Ludwig Finckh. Self-published, Wangen 1929.
• City of Constance. 10 woodcuts by Hugo Boeschenstein. Stadler, Constance 1929.
• Cheeks on Lake Constance. 10 woodcuts by Hugo Boeschenstein with a preface by Karl Blanck. Self-published, Wangen 1930.
• Gaienhofen on Lake Constance. 10 woodcuts by Hugo Boeschenstein with accompanying words by Ludwig Finckh. Self-published, Wangen 1931.
• Stone at the Rhein. 10 woodcuts by Hugo Boeschenstein with a preface by Ernst Bacmeister . Self-published, Wangen 1932.
• The Hegau. 10 woodcuts by Hugo Boeschenstein. Self-published, Wangen 1934.
• City of Radolfzell. Woodcuts by Hugo Boeschenstein with a preface by Ludwig Finckh. Self-published, Wangen 1935.

Illustrated books, book decorations (selection)

• Erich Bloch : Voices of Life. Poems. Cover design by Hugo Boeschenstein. Buch- und Kunstverlag Konstanz, Konstanz (1925).
• Verkehrsverein Höri (ed.) / Zimmermann Joseph (text): Guide through the Höri peninsula on Lake Constance (Germany). Hugo Boeschenstein, graphic artist in Wangen on Lake Constance (Untersee) provided the equipment. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart (1927).
• Gustav Grunau (Ed.): O my homeland. Chronicle for Swiss Art and Literature. Publishing house Dr. Gustav Grunau, Bern 1927.
• Ludwig Finckh: Bricklebritt. Binding drawings and woodcuts by Hugo Boeschenstein. German publishing company Stuttgart / Berlin / Leipzig 1926.
• Reinhard Frauenfelder (ed.): Legends and legends from the canton of Schaffhausen. Collected and edited by Dr. phil. R. Frauenfelder. With illustrations by Hugo Boeschenstein. Karl Schoch, Schaffhausen 1933.
• Ludwig Finckh: The Unknown Hegau. With photos by Hilde Wilcke and others. Cover illustration (color woodcut), title and overview map drawn by Hugo Boeschenstein. Konkordia Publishing House, Bühl-Baden 1936.
• Ludwig Finckh: Gaienhofen idyll. Memories of Hermann Hesse. With illustrations by Hugo Boeschenstein and Max Bucherer . Knödler Verlag, Reutlingen 1981, ISBN 978-3874211079 .

literature

• Erich Bloch: Paradise lost. A life on Lake Constance 1897–1939. Konstanz historical and legal sources. New series of the Konstanz city law sources, Volume XXXIII. Edited by the Konstanz City Archives. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1992, ISBN 3-7995-6833-6 .
• Manfred Bosch : "Hitler was gone and we were there" - Manfred Bosch in conversation with Hannelore König. In: Hegau. Journal of history, folklore and natural history of the area between the Rhine, Danube and Lake Constance , vol. 64, Hegau Geschichtsverein, Singen 2007, ISBN 978-3-933356-46-8 , pp. 239-310; here p. 274.
• Andrea Dietz: Artists of the Höri. Hermann-Hesse-Höri-Museum, Gaienhofen (no year).
• Ursula Fuchs: painter and sculptor. In: Herbert Berner (Ed.): Öhningen 1988. Contributions to the history of Öhningen, rails and cheeks. Singing 1988.
• Edeltraud Fürst: The artists' association “Der Kreis”. Painter and sculptor on Lake Constance 1925–1938 (= Kunst am See , vol. 24). Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen 1992.
• Andrea Hofmann: Hugo Boeschenstein. In: Artists on the Höri. Refuge on Lake Constance in the first half of the twentieth century. Friedrich Bahn Verlag, Konstanz 1989, ISBN 3-7621-8003-2 , pp. 20 f., 156.
• Dorothee Kuczkay, Guntram Brummer: 100 years of art in Überlingen. Exhibition catalog. Überlingen 1996.
• Eva Moser and Ingrid Schättin: Modern classics in the southwest. Images and texts on regional art history. Inventory catalog of the Bodenseekreis Gallery, vol. 1. Robert Gessler, Landratsamt, Friedrichshafen 2002, ISBN 978-3-86136075-9 , p. 132.
• Anne Overlack: A stranger at home. The life of a German Jewish family in the 20th century. Memories and documents. Klöpfer & Meyer, Tübingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-86351-419-8 ; here p. 72.
• Dieter Staedele: Hugo Boeschenstein - artistic chronicler of the western Lake Constance, the Höri and the Hegaus (1900 to 1983). In: Delphin-Kreis (Ed.): Das DelphinBuch . Volume 5: All about Constance and there itself (= Constance contributions to the past and present ; New Series, Volume 5). Labhard-Verlag, Konstanz 1999, ISBN 3-926937-21-1 .
• Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz (Ed.): See-Blick. German artists on Lake Constance in the 20th century. Stadler, Konstanz 1998, ISBN 3-7977-0437-2 .
• Dankmar Trier: Boeschenstein, Hugo . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 12, Saur, Munich a. a. 1995, ISBN 3-598-22752-3 , p. 193.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The information on life and work in the following mainly from: Andrea Hofmann: Hugo Boeschenstein. In: Artists on the Höri. Refuge on Lake Constance in the first half of the twentieth century. Friedrich Bahn Verlag, Konstanz 1989, ISBN 3-7621-8003-2 , pp. 20 f., 156.
2. ↑ Cf. Edeltraud Fürst: The artists' association "Der Kreis". Painter and sculptor on Lake Constance 1925–1938 (= Kunst am See, vol. 24). Robert Gessler, Friedrichshafen 1992; see. also the exhibition catalog: The Circle. Painter and sculptor on Lake Constance. Exhibition, Altes Rathaus Lindau, July – September 1932. JN Teutsch, Bregenz 1932; Pictured therein: Hugo Boeschenstein: Woodcuts from the Gaienhofen am Bodensee portfolio (1931): Am Strand , Gaienhofen , Landungssteg , Hermann Hesse-Haus , Ludwig Finckh-Haus .
3. ↑ See Ludwig Finckh: Heaven and Earth. Eight decades of my life and new poems. Silberburg-Verlag, Werner Jäckh, Stuttgart 1961, on Boeschenstein here p. 125.
4. ↑ Verkehrsverein Höri (ed.) / Zimmermann Joseph (text): Guide through the Höri peninsula on Lake Constance (Germany). Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart (1927).
5. ↑ Ludwig Finckh: Bricklebritt. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt Stuttgart, Berlin / Leipzig 1926; "Cover drawing and woodcuts by Hugo Boeschenstein".
6. ↑ Cf. Städtische Wessenberg-Galerie Konstanz (ed.): See-Blick. German artists on Lake Constance in the 20th century. Stadler, Konstanz 1998, p. 141.
7. ^ Ludwig Finckh: Small town on Lake Constance. Konkordia, Bühl-Baden 1943 (2nd edition), p. 52.
8. ↑ The graphic titled Synagogue , created before or in 1930, shows the western entrance area of ​​the building in winter, in front of the gate an older man in profile (typified "Country Jew" (?), Possibly a portrait of a Wangen Jew) after visiting the synagogue ; see: Wangen am Bodensee. 10 woodcuts by Hugo Boeschenstein with a preface by Karl Blanck. Self-published, Wangen 1930; depicted in: Franz Hofmann: The synagogues in Gailingen, Randegg, Wangen, Worblingen and Konstanz. In: Hegau. Journal for the history, folklore and natural history of the area between the Rhine, Danube and Lake Constance. Vol. 64. Hegau Geschichtsverein, Singen 2007, pp. 47–72, here p. 67.
9. ↑ See the note and the illustration in: Manfred Bosch : Bohème am Bodensee. Literary life on the lake from 1900 to 1959. Libelle, Lengwil 1997, ISBN 3-909081-75-4 , p. 66.
10. ↑ Cf. Manfred Bosch: "Hitler was gone and we were there" - Manfred Bosch in conversation with Hannelore König. In: Hegau. Journal for the history, folklore and natural history of the area between the Rhine, Danube and Lake Constance. Vol. 64, Singen 2007, pp. 239-310; on Boeschenstein here p. 274; see. the slightly different variant of the interview transcription: “And Boeschenstein is in 1933, I would say: completely turned around and became a real head Nazi. (...) Boeschenstein was the chief boss of the Hitler Youth, who ran past here with the Hitler Youth in shorts, even while singing ugly songs, and he didn't even look at us. He then became German and, I think, went to war too. ”In: Anne Overlack: In the home a stranger. The life of a German Jewish family in the 20th century. Memories and documents. Klöpfer & Meyer, Tübingen 2016, ISBN 978-3-86351-419-8 ; the section about Boeschenstein here p. 72.
11. ↑ See Erich Bloch: The lost paradise. A life on Lake Constance 1897–1939. Konstanz historical and legal sources. New series of the Konstanz city law sources. Volume XXXIII. Edited by the Konstanz City Archives. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1992, ISBN 3-7995-6833-6 , here p. 106.
12. ^ Andrea Hofmann: Hugo Boeschenstein. In: Artists on the Höri. Refuge on Lake Constance in the first half of the twentieth century. Friedrich Bahn Verlag, Konstanz 1989, p. 21.
13. ^ Friedrich Stadler (Ed.): Address book of the city of Radolfzell on Lake Constance and the surrounding area 1938. Friedrich Stadler Verlag, Konstanz 1938
14. ↑ Erich Bloch: Paradise lost. A life on Lake Constance 1897–1939. Konstanz historical and legal sources. New series of the Konstanz city law sources. Volume XXXIII. Edited by the Konstanz City Archives. Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen 1992, p. 106.