Ida Dehmel

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Ida Dehmel (before 1916), photograph by Jacob Hilsdorf

Ida Dehmel (born January 14, 1870 in Bingen am Rhein as Ida Coblenz , † September 29, 1942 in Hamburg ) was a Jewish-German art patron, founder of artistic associations and women's rights activist . During the time of National Socialism she was ostracized and disenfranchised as a “Jew” due to the ruling racist and anti-Semitic state doctrine. She evaded the imminent deportation and murder by suicide .

life and work

Ida Dehmel was born in Bingen in 1870 as the daughter of the Jewish-German wine merchant Simon Zacharias Coblenz. Already in her youth she showed great interest in literature, music and painting. In 1892 she made friends with the poet Stefan George and developed a keen interest in poetry and literature. Despite the familiar atmosphere, there was no love affair with George.

At her father's request, she married the Berlin merchant and consul Leopold Auerbach in 1895. In the same year, the only child, Heinz Lux Auerbach-Dehmel (born December 26, 1895, † January 6, 1917) was born. The marriage was unhappy, but provided Ida with the material prerequisites to run a progressive salon in her apartment at the Tiergarten. So she was able to create an audience for modern artists because of her social relationships. Among them were Edvard Munch , Conrad Ansorge and Stanisław Przybyszewski . She met the poet Richard Dehmel and inspired him to write sensational poems, such as B. on Transfigured Night , which Arnold Schönberg set to music.

Richard Dehmel and his wife Ida in the Nietzsche Archives, 1905

In 1901 Ida and Richard Dehmel, who had both divorced their spouses, got married and moved into an artfully furnished apartment in Blankenese near Hamburg. The couple moved in artistic circles in Darmstadt, Weimar and Vienna, and numerous artists came to Blankenese in this way. Ida Dehmel attended national art events and supported, encouraged and inspired writers and visual artists. Close ties arose with the poet Alfred Mombert and the painter Julie Wolfthorn , whom she portrayed several times. In 1903 Richard Dehmel's successful book Zwei Menschen appeared , and readers saw the poet and his wife as its role models. Two people inspired several painters to create new pictures, including Karl Schmidt-Rottluff and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner . From 1906 Ida Dehmel became involved in the newly founded Hamburg women's club. Like her sister Alice Bensheimer , she fought for women's suffrage.

In 1912 the Dehmels moved into a new house built by the architect Walther Baedeker in Blankenese (today Dehmelhaus ), which they designed into a total work of art. Ida Dehmel ran a workshop for artistic beadwork, participated in exhibitions and became a member of the German Werkbund . In 1916, together with Rosa Schapire , she founded the “Women's Association for the Promotion of German Visual Art”, which placed works by not yet recognized artists such as Franz Marc or Oskar Kokoschka in museums. As editor of the organ woman and state , Ida Dehmel continued to campaign for women's rights. She wrote newspaper articles and reviews. The First World War brought drastic changes, as both husband Richard and son Heinz Lux were in the field as soldiers, the former volunteering despite his advanced age. She was inconsolable about the loss of her only son, who had fallen on January 6, 1917, and found her way back to life with difficulty thanks to her husband's spiritual support and her work.

Stumbling stone in Bingen in front of Ida Dehmel's former home
Stolperstein in Blankenese on Richard-Dehmel-Straße

On February 8, 1920, Richard Dehmel succumbed to phlebitis, which first appeared in autumn 1915 and required several weeks of hospitalization followed by a two-month convalescent leave. After the death of her husband, Ida Dehmel devoted herself to looking after his literary estate. The sale of the Dehmel archive she created to the city of Hamburg made it possible to keep the Dehmelhaus as a place of remembrance. The approximately 40,000 archive items remained in the house under her administration. Ida Dehmel organized tours, lectures and receptions. In 1926 she founded the GEDOK female artists' association , which brought together female artists from all fields and art sponsors, and took over the chairmanship of the umbrella association. She was also on the board of the first German Zonta club .

From 1933 Ida Dehmel was ostracized as a Jew. She had to resign from her offices and was no longer allowed to publish. Many artist friends left the country. Although she made several sea voyages, emigration was out of the question for Ida Dehmel. Instead, she stayed in the Dehmelhaus to preserve her husband's estate. Submissions from various people, including Peter Suhrkamp , and above all the commitment of the lawyer Robert Gärtner, the husband of her niece Marianne Gärtner geb. Neumeier initially prevented their expropriation and deportation when this was initiated in Hamburg with the evacuation order of Wednesday, October 22, 1941. In view of the fate of her Jewish-German fellow citizens and the life situation increasingly determined by fear, loneliness and impaired health, Ida Dehmel committed suicide on September 29, 1942.

Honors

The GEDOK , Federal Association of Artists and Art Sponsors e. V., lends u. a. the following prizes: Ida Dehmel Literature Prize and Ida Dehmel Art Prize. Stumbling blocks have been laid in front of their homes in both Bingen am Rhein and Hamburg-Blankenese .

literature

  • Gereon Becht-Jördens: An unknown letter of condolence from Hans Carossa to Ida Dehmel on the death of the Jewish-German poet from Heidelberg, Alfred Mombert, who died in exile in Switzerland. In: Mannheimer Geschichtsblätter, 33, 2017 (Dr. Grit Arnscheidt on her 80th birthday), ISBN 978-3-95505-055-9 , pp. 41-46.
  • Therese Chromik : Ida Dehmel. A life for art. Husum Verlag, Husum 2015, ISBN 978-3-89876-783-5 .
  • Elisabeth Höpker-Herberg (Ed.): Ida Dehmel 1870–1942. Exhibition, Jan. 14 - Feb. 27, 1970, Staats- u. University Library, Hamburg. [Exhibition catalog] . State and Hamburg University Library, Hamburg 1970.
  • Elisabeth Höpker-Herberg: Ida Dehmel. Realtor in rebus litterarum. In: Inge Stephan, Hans-Gerd Winter: Love that drops anchor in the abyss. Authors and the literary field in Hamburg in the 20th century. Argument, Hamburg 1990. ISBN 3-88619-380-2 .
  • Margarete Sorg and Margarete Sorg-Rose (Eds.): Counterpoint GEDOK yesterday - today: Documentation by GEDOK Rhein-Main-Taunus on the 50th anniversary of the death of GEDOK founder Ida Dehmel (1870–1942) / [GEDOK exhibition "Counterpoint I" , Painting - Sculpture from September 28 to October 11, 1992 in the Villa Sachsen winery, Bingen; GEDOK exhibition "Kontrapunkt II" for fine, applied arts from October 11th to November 8th 1992 in the Wilhelm-Kempf-Haus, Wiesbaden-Naurod]. GEDOK, Mainz Rhein-Main-Taunus, Mainz Wiesbaden-Biebrich 1992 ISSN  0934-2435
  • Helmut Stubbe da Luz : The city mothers Ida Dehmel, Emma Ender , Margarete Treuge. Verlag des Verein für Hamburgische Geschichte, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-923356-55-2 .
  • Friedrich Thiel : Four Sunday streets. A study of the Ida Coblenz problem in the works of Stefan George. Lang, New York et al. 1988, ISBN 3-261-04800-X .
  • Carolin Vogel: Richard Dehmel in Blankenese. Edition AB Fischer, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-937434-82-7 .
  • Matthias Wegner : But love. Ida Dehmel's lifelong dream. Claassen Verlag, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-546-00202-4 .

Web links

Commons : Ida Dehmel  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Ida Dehmel  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Elisabeth Höpker-Herberg: Ida Coblenz. Testimonials to their George experience. In: Ute Oelmann, Ulrich Raulff (ed.): Women around Stefan George. Wallstein, Göttingen 2010, pp. 84-102; and Jürgen Viering: Not out of vanity - because of the general appearance. About the relationship between Stefan George and Ida Coblenz. In: Euphorion , Volume 102, Issue 2, 2008, pp. 203-239.
  2. ↑ Fallen on the French front near Souchez, Département Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais. (Cf. allegro.sub.uni-hamburg.de ); Ida Dehmel, Richard Dehmel (eds.): In memory of our dear Heinz Lux † January 6, 1917. Private print no. O, no. J. [1917?]; Matthias Wegner: But love. (See literature below) pp. 319–323, who seems to know neither this extremely rare print nor the place where Heinz Lux fell.
  3. ↑ See Wegner: But love. (see literature below) p. 305; Pp. 333-339.
  4. ↑ Cf. Jan-Pieter Barbian: “I can't take it long without Germany.” The correspondence between Annemarie and Ida Seidel from 1933 to 1947. In: Monika Estermann, Ernst Fischer, Ute Schneider (Ed.): Buchkulturen . Contributions to the history of literary communication. Festschrift for Reinhard Wittmann. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 978-3-44705260-3 , pp. 355-380, here p. 369, note 43.
  5. ↑ See Therese Chromik: Ida Dehmel. A life for art. (see literature below) pp. 81f .; Matthias Wegner: But love. Ida Dehmel's lifelong dream. (see literature below) pp. 381-383; 386-393; Elisabeth Höpker-Herberg: Ida Dehmel. Realtor in rebus litterarum. In: Inge Stephan, Hans-Gerd Winter (ed.): "Love that throws anchor in the abyss". (see literature below) p. 33.
personal data
SURNAME Dehmel, Ida
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Coblenz, Ida
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German poet and women's rights activist
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH Bingen am Rhein
DATE OF DEATH September 29, 1942
Place of death Hamburg