Jörg Geuder

Jörg Geuder

Jörg Geuder , actually Hans Georg Geuder (born May 16, 1861 in Gnodstadt ; † March 12, 1935 in Marktbreit ) was a German teacher , language educator, poet and garden writer.

Training and working as a teacher

Born on the outskirts of the Ochsenfurt Gau in a Protestant rural environment, he attended the Marktsteft preparatory school from 1874 , then the teachers' seminar in Altdorf near Nuremberg . In 1879 he became a teacher in Zeitlofs (Rhön), in 1880 in Uettingen near Würzburg and from 1884 in Sulzdorf ad Lederhecke . In 1894 he took over the school in Oberlauringen in Haßberggau (today Lkr. Schweinfurt) for 28 years , where Friedrich Rückert spent his youth. In 1921 he became a senior teacher and one year later he moved to Segnitz am Main until he retiredand thus back to his homeland. As a pedagogue, he wrote for specialist journals such as the Bavarian teacher newspaper . Geuder was a close observer of nature, a sensitive flower lover, poet and humorous writer. Even as a schoolboy he wrote under the pseudonym Kurt Mull .

Poet and garden writer

He turned to the fruit and horticulture and became employees of the weekly Erfurt leaders in horticulture, the practical guidebook for fruit and horticulture, the garden joy and other magazines. He was so productive that he used a pseudonym , Hans Pfefferkorn , in order not to appear in competing publications with the same name.

Since 1904 he has been editing and delivering texts for the internationally active manufacturer of horticultural products and purveyor to the court Johann Christoph Schmidt ('Blumenschmidt'), which appeared in Schmidt's tear-off calendar, for example. This made the "garden uncle" known to all walks of life, including abroad. He delivered puzzles of all kinds to the Evangelisches Sonntagsblatt in Bavaria . A first collection of his works, Gartenunkel's Chats, received great attention in German-speaking countries in 1922. Jörg Geuder described the joy of gardening in his unmistakably cheerful style, without a recognizable instructive tone.

In addition to the vegetables , about the cultivation of which he wrote numerous specialist articles, as well as rare plants in niches and on dry stone walls , Geuder's particular love belonged to roses . In professional circles he was known under the honorary name of 'The Rose Uncle'. Saxifraga x Geuderi , a rock crushing and Johann Christoph Schmidt bred in Erfurt Hybrid Tea <Georg Geuder> ( "Georg-Geuder Rose") were named in his honor. In 1916 he was awarded the Ludwig Cross “for his services to national welfare” ; In 1931 he received the golden badge of honor from the Association of German Rose Friends .

His writing brought him recognition from well-known personalities, such as the literature professor and writer Eduard Engel , who edited the magazine for literature at home and abroad . For Engels Deutsche Stilkunst, which appeared in 31 editions between 1911 and the early 1930s, Geuder sent in numerous contributions on language maintenance . He was friends with the writer Michael Georg Conrad , u. a. Editor of the main body of "Munich Naturalism", Die Gesellschaft , which also came from Gnodstadt.

In addition, Jörg Geuder wrote numerous poems, some of which were set to music, such as the “Lenz, mein Lenz, what will you bring” (set to music by Chr. Hagen), which was published with other works by Geuder in the 1930 anthology Ein neu Gespiel .

The last few years

Jörg Geuder Saxifrage Saxifraga x geuderi

Jörg Geuder spent his old age in Marktbreit. Most recently, according to a newspaper report, he transformed the market-wide pharmacist's garden into an earthly paradise. However, he suffered from high blood pressure and arteriosclerosis , which accelerated his death on the threshold of 75 years despite the healthy gardening: on the way home from a poetry reading, he died on his doorstep. In the obituary he wrote himself, he again acknowledged his love of nature: "I thank God that he has given me a sense of the beauty of the earth and its creatures."

With one exception, the estate has been lost. It is a copy of the bibliophile volume Jörg Geuders Gartenfreude , with handwritten notes that can only come from the editor, Jörg Geuder's daughter. They prove the unauthorized change of text passages by his publisher in line with the National Socialist zeitgeist after Geuder's death.

rating

A connoisseur of Geuders work was the main author and editor of the Franconian yearbooks Im Bannkreis des Schwanbergs, Fritz Mägerlein. In an introduction he wrote about the gardening uncle:

“Jörg Geuder must not be overlooked among our poets in the Mainland. The rogue looked out of his eyes and kindness of heart guided his actions. We also feel that when we read his subtle poems and cheerful short stories. [...] "

The poet Ernst Luther wrote about him:

“In this country, the gardening uncle Jörg Geuder also worked for over 28 years, composing and growing roses of the most tender colors on the smallest patch of earth next to the church. This Jörg Geuder, born in 1861 as the son of a shepherd in Gnodstadt, is a rare man with a gray beard, funny and mischievous eyes and an eloquent tongue. "

Obituary of the publishing house Trowitzsch & Sohn , Frankfurt ad O .:

“He was a gardener, flower lover and connoisseur of things at the same time. He could inspire and spread great joy around him; for his language, his wisdom, his experiences were seldom beautiful, good and rich. Nothing was more obvious than that this great gardening friend should also seek and find collaboration in Germany's widespread gardening magazine, The Practical Advice in Fruit and Horticulture . For decades, until his death, he remained the loyal employee who was a contributor to the German gardening enthusiast and gardening culture in this magazine. "

literature

• Jörg Geuder: garden uncle chats. Cordially dedicated to the happy children of God. Ansbach: Verlag des Bayer. National Association for Fruit and Horticulture, 1922.
• Irmgard Reinlein (Ed.): Jörg Geuders Gartenfreude. Experienced and learned. With 74 illustrations. Frankfurt ad O .: Gartenbauverlag Trowitzsch & Sohn, 1936.
• Norbert Bischoff: ‹The cheerful, wise gardening uncle wrote“ rarely beautiful, good and rich ”.› The rewarding rediscovery of the teacher and garden writer Jörg Geuder. ›- ‹Feuilleton› No. 8 November 2009. Segnitz near Würzburg: Zenos Verlag, 31 -35. ISSN  1436-2120 , ISBN 3-931018-19-9 . (Contains an appendix with Geuder's poems as well as references for Geuder's texts in annual volumes of Im Bannkreis des Schwanbergs. )
• Ernst Luther: 'Roses in Jörg Geuder's garden.' B. in Fritz Mägerlein [ed.]: Im Bannkreis des Schwanberg 1971. Kitzingen 1970, 13.
• Segnitzer Schulchronik, sections 1913–1926 (page 48 f.) And 1926–1949 (page 25 f.). Although the chronicle was kept for the community, the document is in the parish office there.
• Karl Kelber, Karl Burkert (Ed.): A new game. Franconian song voices of the present. Leipzig 1930.

Web links

• 31 letters and cards from Jörg Geuder and a review of Gartenunkel's chats in the estate of Michael Georg Conrad in the Monacensia Literature Archive
• Description of the "Georg Geuder Rose"
• Image of the "Georg Geuder Rose"

Individual evidence

1. ^ Letter from Geuder to Michael Georg Conrad dated July 1, 1927 (in the Monacensia Literature Archive Munich, Conrad estate)
2. ^ Johann Christoph Schmidt