Johannes Daniel Falk

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Johann Daniel Falk, pastel by an unknown artist, around 1800, Gleimhaus Halberstadt

Johannes Daniel Falk (born October 28, 1768 in Danzig ; † February 14, 1826 in Weimar ) was a German Protestant writer and hymn poet . He is considered the founder of the rescue house movement and youth social work .

Stations of his life

Danzig

Johannes Daniel Falk was born in Danzig in 1768 as the son of the wig maker Johannes Falk and his wife Constantia. His mother was a member of the Brethren . When he was ten years old his father took him out of school; henceforth he worked in his father's workshop. A teacher who recognized the boy's talent gave him private lessons. On the intercession of a pastor, he was finally allowed to go back to school in 1795, at the age of 16, first to the Sankt-Petri-Gymnasium, then from 1796 to the Academic Gymnasium in the Grau-München-Kloster . Already there he stood out for his talent for languages ​​and biting humor, which was directed against the excesses of the professional society.

Shaped by the dominant rationalist theology at this time and by his pious parents, he united throughout his life a sharp-sighted and intellectual criticism of the existing political and ecclesiastical conditions geared to reason with a pious awareness that was also capable of criticizing the socially destructive excesses of the Enlightenment philosophies .

Halle (Saale)

With a scholarship from the Danzig Senate, he began studying theology at the University of Halle in 1791 . The intention was to return to his hometown as a pastor. With the support of Christoph Martin Wieland , he instead expanded his field of interest to include other sciences. In 1795 he began working as a freelance writer and journalist without having completed his studies. In 1797 he married Caroline Rosenfeld, who was the same age.

Weimar

Weimar, Graben / Teichgasse: Monument to Johannes Daniel Falk

After the marriage, Falk moved to Weimar on Wieland's recommendation in 1797 , where he occasionally met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Johann Gottfried Herder . He earned his living as a publicist, including the publication of the paperback for Friends of Joke and the Satyre (1797-1803). During the French occupation of Weimar, from 1806 he performed political functions that led to the relief of the occupation. In 1807, Duke Carl August appointed him Legation Councilor with a fixed annual salary in gratitude for his commitment .

Already in the first half of 1813 Falk intended to found the Society of Friends in Need with the citizens of Weimar in order to alleviate the need in a civic and Christian spirit. He was also moved by the experience of the death of four of his children from typhus and his own serious illness. When Weimar was also affected by fighting in the vicinity of the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig and especially because of the social consequences of the Napoleonic wars that subsequently became apparent, society became a center of social work. Falk gave up his literary projects and campaigned practically and journalistically for the integration of orphans who had become homeless due to the wars . At first he took in over 30 children in his own apartment, which the Falk family could only support with difficulty. In his apartment he set up a school for these children as well as a Sunday school , a kind of vocational school for apprentices, and a sewing school for girls. During that time, Falk and his wife lost two more teenage children in 1819 and 1821. Because his landlord would not tolerate the many children, Falk acquired the dilapidated Lutherhof in 1821 and set up a rescue house there, which became the model for the Rauhe Haus in Hamburg.

In 1824 Falk received citizenship in Weimar. In the same year he completed the manuscript on Goethe from closer personal contact , which was only published years after his death in 1832. He died of blood poisoning in 1826; his wife survived him by 15 years. She continued the educational work together with Georg Renner, a former pupil, until it passed into state ownership in 1829 as the "Falksches Institut" and in 1830 moved to a new building. Of their 10 children, only two daughters survived.

meaning

His work had its own character, which was later expanded into the Inner Mission program by Johann Hinrich Wichern . In addition to the satisfaction of elementary needs, he provided vocational training for young people in order to enable them to lead an independent life. His non-violent pedagogy differed greatly from the contemporary way of dealing with (orphan) children. Numerous educators followed his example, for example Karl Reinthaler (1794–1863) founded the Martinsstift in Erfurt in 1820, the German Christianity Society in Basel founded the children's rescue facility at Beuggen Castle in 1833 and the Rauhe Haus in Hamburg in 1833. In addition, there was a religious instruction, which in its form entered Falk's characterization as a Pietist . Various pious publications that he published during these years identify him as such. In his written estate, which was not intended for immediate publication, there are, however, also considerable time-critical statements.

O you happy

In 1816 he composed the all- three-holiday song for the orphans , in which the three main festivals of the church year Christmas, Easter and Pentecost are sung about. Each stanza begins with the words “O you happy” and is followed by the name of the festival (“Christmas time, Easter time, Pentecost time”) as well as two lines about the festival content.

The song first appeared in the report of the Gesellschaft der Freunde in der Noth in 1817. Today, O du MERRY, as arranged by Heinrich Holzschuher in 1826, is one of the most sung Christmas carols. But it was only slowly becoming established as such in the 19th century. Theodor Körner's battle song - based on the same melody - continued for a long time.

Epitaph

Grave slab

The grave inscription in the Weimar cemetery reads, slightly different from Falk's will on the day before his death:

“Under these green linden trees / is free from sins through Christ / Mr. Johannes Falk. // Children who enter this quiet place from German cities / should pray diligently for him: // Father of Ewg, you command / I the father's poor soul / here in a dark grave cave! // Because he accepted children / let him come to you one day to all pious people / as your child. "

Appreciation

Numerous social institutions bear the name of Johannes Falk - including:

  • Johannes Falk Museum in Weimar
  • Johannes Falk House in Eisenach
  • Johannes Falk House in Heidelberg
  • Johannes Falk House in Hiddenhausen
  • Johannes Falk House in Stuttgart
  • Johannes Daniel Falk School in Warburg
  • Johannes Daniel Falk schools in Espelkamp
  • Diakonisches Bildungsinstitut Johannes Falk acc. GmbH Eisenach

The Evangelical Church in Germany commemorates Johannes Daniel Falk with a day of remembrance in the Evangelical Name Calendar on February 14th .

In 2003 the asteroid (48480) Falk was named after him.

Works (selection)

  • Our Father, accompanied by Gospels and ancient Christian chants, as sung, spoken through and lived with the children in the Weimar Sunday School. Eight sheets of text, with thirteen notes and ten copper plates. Attached is a short history of the institute for friends in distress in Weimar. For the sake of a prayer house and school house to be built by the children, edited by Johannes Falk. (Price up to New Year 1823 1 rthl. Saxon, or 1  fl. 48 Kr. Rhenish. Illuminated copies, on fine paper, in the case, with gilded cut, the piece 1 thl. 12 g. Sax. Or 2 fl. 42 Kr . Rheinisch.) To be found in the expedition of the friends in distress in Weimar, in Leipzig with Brockhaus, in Hamburg with Perthes and Besser, in Frankfurt in the Herrmannsche Buchhandlung. [1822].
  • Dr. Martin Luther and the Reformation in folk songs by Johannes Falk. [Small copper.] For the good of the blessed father's own orphans of poor children. [Edited by Karl Reinthaler.] In the Lutherhof in Weimar, in the Martinsstifte in Erfurt and at KH Reclam in Leipzig. 1830; contains a foreword by Reinthaler (1830), followed by Johannes Falk's last request to his friends to distribute the Volksbüchlein Dr. Martin Luther and the Reformation (1826); the main text: Luther's life and work in rhyming verses with songs, then the shorter texts: Leyden's siege by the Spaniards , The Armada or Spain's invincible fleet , Christ, a world hymn , then by Karl Reinthaler memorials and memorials of Luther , last 14 pages Notes (four-part movements)
  • Goethe depicted from closer personal contact. An abandoned work . Leipzig: Brockhaus 1832
    • Newly published and provided with an introduction by Gerhard Heufert. Lumpeter & Lasel, Eutin 2018; ISBN 978-3-946298-14-4 .
  • Goethe's first acquaintance with Schiller . In: Mondaysblatt, the Heimatblatt of Central Germany / Scientific supplement to the Magdeburgische Zeitung. Number 3, Magdeburg, January 16, 1933, year 75
  • Educational pamphlets , new ed. by Ralf Koerrenz , Alexandra Schotte, Jena 2012, ISBN 978-3-941854-84-0 .
  • Ingrid Dietsch (Ed.), Nicole Kabisius (Ed.): … Three thousand and two hundredth treasures of my heart . Letters from Caroline and Johannes Daniel Falk (1796–1826). Wartburg Verlag, Weimar 2018, ISBN 978-3-86160-551-5 .

literature

in order of appearance

Web links

Commons : Johannes Daniel Falk  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Johannes Daniel Falk  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ernst Schering: Johannes Falk. Life and work in the upheaval of times . Calwer Verlag, Stuttgart 1961, p. 15.
  2. ^ Ernst Schering: Johannes Falk. Life and work in the upheaval of times . Calwer Verlag, Stuttgart 1961, p. 11.
  3. ^ Ernst Schering: Johannes Falk. Life and work in the upheaval of times . Calwer Verlag, Stuttgart 1961, pp. 14-15.
  4. ↑ "Pedagogue of Feral Children"
  5. ^ Society of Friends in Need for 1816. Weimar 1817 Zweyter report. In it: songs that every pupil of Sunday school must know by heart and sing
  6. ↑ Gerd Bockwoldt: Story of a Christmas Carol, O you cheerful, o sanctissima ... ( Memento from October 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Süddeutsche Zeitung from December 24, 2007
  7. ↑ Testamentary disposition: "should therefore pray for him:"
  8. ↑ Johannes Daniel Falk in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
  9. ↑ Online publication
  10. ^ Goethe's first acquaintance with Schiller in the Gutenberg-DE project
personal data
SURNAME Falk, Johannes Daniel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German theologian and writer
DATE OF BIRTH October 28, 1768
PLACE OF BIRTH Danzig
DATE OF DEATH February 14, 1826
Place of death Weimar