Johann Friedrich Krafft

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Johann Friedrich Krafft (pseudonym; actually Feist or White ?; * under unknown circumstances; † July 23, 1785 in Jena ) was a presumably former Prussian civil servant who worked under a new identity for Goethe as a factotum , i.e. reporter and secretary.

Life

Johann Friedrich Krafft's earlier identity has not yet been clarified. According to the scanty information provided by Goethe, he had fallen into disgrace and poverty in his earlier years as a civil servant due to “complicated fates not without his fault”. Krafft had a good education, spoke French and had previously traveled extensively. In his misery, the depressive and hypochondriacal Krafft wrote to Goethe at the end of 1778 and was admitted to Weimar in 1779 . Goethe installed his protégé, who had taken the name Johann Friedrich Krafft in Weimar, into the office of Ilmenau , an exclave of the Duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach , as a personal informant and reporter. According to calculations, Goethe spent 200 thalers a year from 1781, one seventh of his own salary, on Krafft. In Ilmenau, Krafft was also responsible for the supervision and education of Goethe's ward Peter in the Baumgarten . Krafft was repeatedly commissioned by Goethe to research and make copies. After Krafft's sudden death in Jena in 1785 as a result of a stroke, Goethe immediately went to Jena and arranged the funeral, for which he was personally responsible. The small estate was received by Goethe's secretary.

Correspondence

Twenty letters from Goethe to Krafft from the years 1778 to 1783 have survived.

literature

  • Rudolf Diezel: Goethe's mysterious protégé Johann Friedrich Krafft. In: Yearbook of the Vienna Goethe Association. Volume 94, 1990, pp. 23-44.
  • Fritz Ernst: From Goethe's Circle of Friends - Studies around Peter in the Baumgarten. Eugen Rentsch, Erlenbach-Zurich 1941, p. 48 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nicolas Boyle: Goethe: The poet in his time. Volume 1: 1749-1790. CH Beck, 1999, p. 314
  2. ^ Fritz Ernst: From Goethe's Circle of Friends - Studies around Peter in the Baumgarten. Eugen Rentsch, Erlenbach-Zurich 1941, p. 48 ff.
personal data
SURNAME Krafft, Johann Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Goethe's rapporteur
DATE OF BIRTH 17th century or 18th century
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1785
Place of death Jena