I think of you so much

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I think so much of you is a book published in 1991 with the original Dutch title Ik denk zoveel aan jullie: Een briefwisseling tussen Nederland en Duitsland 1920–1949 ( I think so much of you. A German-Dutch correspondence 1920–1949 ), in which the editor Hedda Kalshoven-Brester (* July 30, 1930 - † March 31, 2016) exchanged letters between her mother, a German living in the Netherlands and married to a Dutchman, and her relatives and friends in Braunschweigreproduces. The correspondence dragged on over a period of almost 29 years, whereby from today's perspective the 1930s as well as the time of National Socialism and the Second World War and the German and Dutch perspectives of the events expressed therein are of particular interest.

prehistory

Hedda Kalshoven-Brester was born on July 30, 1930 as the daughter of the German Irmgard Brester, born in Braunschweig. Gebensleben (1906–1993) and her Dutch husband, the doctor August Brester (1900–1984), were born in Utrecht . She lived with her parents in Amersfoort with her three siblings . In 1985 she accidentally discovered the correspondence between her mother and her family and edited it for the original Dutch edition published in 1991.

Irmgard Gebensleben was one of two children of the Brunswick town planning officer Karl Gebensleben (1871–1936) and his wife Elisabeth, b. von Alten (1883–1937). Her younger brother Eberhard (* 1910) fell as a first lieutenant in the Wehrmacht on September 9, 1944 near Bruges in Belgium . Karl Enter life was, inter alia, for eight years deputy mayor of Braunschweig and took over after the Nazis operated dismissal of the SPD -Oberbürgermeisters Ernst Böhme between 13 March and 18 October 1933 a substitute, whose term of office until terminated by Wilhelm Hesse was replaced.

content

Due to the difficult economic and supply situation in the early years of the Weimar Republic shortly after the end of the First World War , thousands of children from Germany were sent to the Netherlands, where they were supported by host families and Dutch aid organizations. Some were taken in for several months and nursed back to life. In the spring of 1920, 13-year-old Irmgard Gebensleben was among these children.

After Irmgard returned to Braunschweig, she stayed in contact with her host family. In 1929 she finally married August Brester, the younger son of her foster family, and from then on lived with him in the Netherlands, where they had four children together, Hedda and another daughter and two sons.

Over a period of almost 29 years, the family members Gebensleben and Brester, as well as many of their German and Dutch relatives and friends, wrote more than 2,000 letters and postcards, almost all of which have survived. The first letter is dated June 11, 1920, the last from December 19, 1949.

Events mentioned in more detail

Since Hedda Kalshoven-Brester also researched her (German) family history in the course of preparing and processing the correspondence and came across numerous letters from the period between 1914 and 1920, these documents precede the correspondence between 1920 and 1949. In addition to the First World War , they mention the November Revolution in Braunschweig .

In the subsequent correspondence, but also in Irmgard Brester's notebook entries, which were used to bridge gaps, the following events are described in more or less detail in addition to events from the Weimar Republic, the Nazi era and the Second World War:

reception

In terms of scope, detail and openness, which at times borders on naivety on the part of people living in Germany during the National Socialist dictatorship , the correspondence represents a contemporary document of everyday history. Walter Kempowski described the book as a “... unique contemporary document that in its immediacy and Clarity impresses. ".

Radio play version

In 1999 I think so much of you was released as a radio play directed by Klaus-Michael Klingsporn . A. broadcast on Deutschlandradio Kultur .

plant

  • Ik denk zoveel aan jullie: Een briefwisseling tussen Nederland en Duitsland 1920–1949 , Amsterdam 1991, ISBN 90-254-1235-1 (Dutch original edition)
  • I think of you so much. A German-Dutch correspondence 1920–1949 , Luchterhand Verlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-630-86849-5

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary for Hedda Kalshoven-Brester
  2. ↑ Brief curriculum vitae at Olympus Verlag Amsterdam ( Memento of the original from December 17, 2011 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. (in Dutch)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.olympus-nonfictie.nl
  3. ↑ a b blurb of I think so much about you. A German-Dutch correspondence 1920–1949 , Luchterhand Verlag, Munich 1995
  4. ↑ Information about the radio play on HörDat
  5. ^ Note from Deutschlandradio Kultur

literature

  • Richard J. Evans : The Third Reich in Power. 1933-1939. Penguin Press, New York NY 2005, ISBN 1-59420-074-2 .
  • Katja Happe: Germans in the Netherlands 1918–1945. A historical study of national identification offers in the process of constructing individual identities. Dissertation, University of Siegen 2004 (PDF file, 2.36 MB) .

Web links