Johannes Semper

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Johannes Semper (1930)

John Semper (born March 10, jul. / 22. March  1892 greg. In Pahuvere , then rural community Tuhalaane today Landsgemeinde Viljandi , Viljandi County ; † 21st February 1970 in Tallinn , then Estonian SSR , Soviet Union , today Estonia ) was an Estonian Writer and translator as well as communist politician .

Life

Early years

Johannes Semper was born into a family of teachers. From 1901 to 1905 Semper attended the Heine-Progymnasium in Viljandi , from 1905 to 1910 the grammar school in Pärnu .

From 1910 to 1914 he studied philology at the university in the Russian capital Saint Petersburg . In 1915/16 he took the subject of architecture at the Riga Polytechnic , which had been relocated to Moscow due to the war . In 1916/17 he was drafted into the Russian armed forces. He graduated from military school in Moscow with the rank of ensign .

politics

With the collapse of tsarist rule in Russia, Semper joined left-wing revolutionary circles. In 1917 he was deputy chairman of the Estonian Soldiers Main Committee ( Eesti Sõjaväelaste Ülemkomitee , Главный комитет войнов эстовъ).

Semper became a member of the Central Committee of the Estonian Party of Socialist Revolutionaries ( Eesti Sotsialistide-Revolutsionääride Party , ESRP), founded in 1917 , the Estonian secession of the Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party (Партия социалистов-ревелюроно).

In 1919/20 Semper was a member of the Constituent Assembly of the Republic of Estonia ( Asutav Kogu ), which drafted the first constitution for the young state. The ESRP was the left-most party in the Constituent Assembly. They received seven of the 120 seats in the election for the Constituent Assembly . In March 1920, the ESRP formed with the left wing of the Estonian Social Democratic Party , the Estonian Independent Socialist Workers 'Party ( Estonian Independent Socialist Workers' Party , ISTP).

literature

But then Semper decided not to become an active politician and to pursue a literary-scientific career. From 1921 to 1925 he studied at the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin . From 1925 to 1927 he lived in Paris .

In 1928, Semper submitted his master's thesis at the University of Tartu in the subject of literary history on "The Structure of the Style of André Gide ". Until 1940 he remained active as a lecturer at the University of Tartu. At the same time he was from 1930 to 1940 editor of the Estonian cultural newspaper Looming, founded in 1923 . From 1928 to 1940 Johannes Semper was chairman of the Estonian PEN Club .

In the Soviet Socialist Republic of Estonia

With the Soviet occupation of Estonia in June 1940, Semper sided with the new Stalinist rulers. In 1940 he became minister of education in the first communist government . In the same year entered the CPSU .

During the German occupation of Estonia from 1941 to 1944, Semper lived behind the front in the Soviet Union . From 1941 to 1948 he was in charge of culture for the Estonian SSR. From 1940 to 1951 he was a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR. From 1946 to 1950 he held the post of chairman of the Estonian SSR Writers' Union . In 1945 he became "Honored Writer of the Estonian SSR". In 1947 he received the State Prize of the Estonian SSR.

In 1950, Semper fell out of favor with the Soviet authorities and was expelled from the Communist Party. He was accused of both “bourgeois nationalism” and “cosmopolitanism”. During this time, Semper made his way as an anonymous translator. Not until 1955, after Stalin's death, was he rehabilitated.

From 1963 until his death in 1970, Semper was again a member of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR. In 1962 he received the Order of Lenin . In 1964 he was awarded the "Popular Writer of the Estonian SSR" award.

He also wrote the text of the anthem of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic .

Johannes Semper died in February 1970. He is buried in the forest cemetery in Tallinn.

Works (selection)

  • Pierrot (novel, 1917)
  • Hiina kett (collection of short stories, 1918)
  • Jäljed liival (poems, 1920)
  • Maa ja mereveersed rütmid (poems, 1922)
  • Viis meelt (poems, 1926)
  • Sillatalad (collection of short stories, 1927)
  • Ellinor (collection of short stories, 1927)
  • Päike rentslis (poems, 1930)
  • Armukadedus (novel, 1934)
  • Tuuleratas (poems, 1936)
  • Lõuna risti all (travelogues, 1937)
  • Kivi kivi peale (novel, 1939)
  • Ei vaikida saa (poems, 1943)
  • Risti-rästi läbi Euroopa (travelogues, 1953)
  • Punased nelgid (Roman, 1955; German Rote Nelken , Rostock 1969)
  • Kuidas elaksid? (Poems, 1958)
  • Mööda maid ja meresid (travelogues, 1958)
  • Näidendid (collection of novels, 1961)
  • Matk minevikku I (memories, 1969)

A twelve-volume edition was published between 1962 and 1978.

Semper also translated Dante ( Vita nova , 1924), Boccaccio , Stendhal , Hugo ( The Hunchback of Notre-Dame , 1924), Zola , Whitman , Verhaeren and Blok into Estonian, among others .

Private life

From 1920 Johannes Semper was married to the Estonian music critic Aurora Semper (1899–1982). Both daughters were the pianist Lilian Semper (1933-2007). The first daughter Siiri-Mall (1930-1944) died early.

literature

Web links

Commons : Johannes Semper  - Collection of images, videos and audio files