Josephine Scheffel

Josephine Scheffel, frontispiece of the selection edition of her poems from 1892. The caption reads “Josephine Scheffel Krederer”.

Josephine Scheffel (born October 22, 1805 in Oberndorf am Neckar as Maria Josepha Krederer , † February 5, 1865 in Karlsruhe ) was a German salonnière and author of plays, poems and fairy tales. In addition, she worked as a philanthropist and was involved in the Baden women's movement . Her son Joseph Victor von Scheffel became famous as a writer.

Josephine Scheffel's birthplace in Oberndorf am Neckar. See also the detailed illustration of the memorial plaque , which is attached to the level of the first floor.

Life

Origin and childhood

Maria Josepha Krederer, who later called herself Josephine, was one of seven children of the wealthy merchant and city ​​school leader of Oberndorf am Neckar, Franz Joseph Krederer (born February 28, 1770 in Oberndorf am Neckar; † July 19, 1816 in Baden-Baden ) , and his wife Katharina Eggstein (born October 30, 1774 in Rielasingen , † June 29, 1851 in Karlsruhe). The mother remarried after the early death of the father; The marriage with Ignaz Isenbiehl on May 24, 1819 was divorced after long conflicts and Katharina Krederer moved in 1826 to her daughter, who meanwhile lived in Karlsruhe.

Most publications give Maria Josepha the year of birth 1803, but the baptismal register of the Catholic community in Oberndorf and a letter show that she was born on October 22, 1805. She was baptized by Pastor Ludwig Anton Haßler , the godparents were Theresia Gerberin and the later city scholar Franz Joseph Frueth. Her six siblings died early, so she was the only one to survive childhood.

Marriage and children

Maria Josepha Krederer met Philipp Jakob Scheffel (born June 29, 1789 in Gengenbach; † 1869) from her aunt Anna Stolz (née Krederer) in Gengenbach when he was visiting his parents who lived in this town. He was an engineer and served as a captain in Baden. The two married on June 8, 1824 and had an overall harmonious marriage until Josephine's death over 40 years later. The couple had three children: the eldest son Joseph Victor (born February 16, 1826 in Karlsruhe; † April 9, 1886), who became famous as a writer, was made strong by the Swabian origins of his parents and grandparents as well as his literary talent and love His mother's care. He later explained: “If you want to understand my poetic nature, you don't have to look for the reason in my life; it went very easily. It all came from within. You should have known my mother: whatever I have poetic in me, I get from her. ”The couple's second son, Karl (* 1827; † 1879), was mentally and physically disabled. The only daughter Marie (born June 27, 1829 in Karlsruhe, † February 18, 1857 in Munich) worked as a freelance landscape artist and belonged to the group of artists around Alexandra von Berckholtz , but was unhappily engaged and died early. Josephine Scheffel herself was buried next to her in Karlsruhe on February 5, 1865.

Literary salon

The painters Moritz von Schwind , Feodor Dietz and Carl Ludwig Frommel , among others , their daughter Marie and possibly hers , visited the literary-artistic salon of the "Frau Majorin" Scheffel at Stefanienstraße No. 18, one of the first in Karlsruhe Son Joseph Victor taught. Music and singing were also cultivated in the salon. Josephine Scheffel herself was primarily active in literature; she wrote poetry, partly in Latin or also in Swabian dialect, on various festive occasions and wrote locally performed plays and fairy tales that have been preserved through her older son's estate.

Josephine Scheffel made a deep impression on her artistic environment. She is portrayed as "a beautiful and lively woman, with a fresh, graceful face, clever, mischievous eyes, amiable humor, agile handling, fine conversational skills and a cheerful outlook on life, the ideal of a German woman."

Writing

Of Josephine Scheffel's theater plays, eight have been preserved in their entirety and 19 in excerpts. She is also considered the author of two plays that were found in the estate of the writer Alberta von Freydorf , a friend of the family. Her most famous comedy is entitled "Lorle und Dorle", is written in Swabian dialect and was performed with great success in Heidelberg and Karlsruhe in the early 1850s. The play "Die Gastronomen" was performed in 1854 at the Heidelberg City Theater.

The traditional poems also cover a wide range of topics; they deal with a wide variety of motifs from contemporary history, art (for example, “Zuruf an Liszt”) and personal matters (for example, “A word for Joseph” on the son's tenth birthday). She also wrote the congratulatory poem, which a deputation of Baden veterans recited at the celebrations for the silver wedding anniversary of Karl Egon II zu Fürstenberg and Amalie von Baden. Often the poems were casual poems , which, according to contemporaries, were written down very spontaneously and without much thought. In 1892 a collection of some poems by Josephine Scheffel was published posthumously, edited by her grandson Victor von Scheffel junior.

Alberta von Freydorf published a fairy tale collection in 1886, also a few years after the death of "Frau Majorin" Scheffel, under the title "In der Heißblattlaube" . Three of the texts contained in it came from the deceased ("The trodden children's shoe", "Strifriffel", "Fairy tale of millet porridge"), the rest Freydorf had written. Many of Scheffel's other fairy tales, however, remained fragments, such as “Das Märchen vom Fingerhut”, which was only completed posthumously - also by Freydorf - and printed in 1905 with illustrations by M. Egremont. The stories were created at the children's request and were told in private, but apparently not always written down.

Social Commitment

Josephine Scheffel was an avowed patriot , devout Catholic and, according to the circumstances of her time, an emancipated wife. Her grandson described her as "a core German woman in her innermost feelings and thoughts, filled with deep trust in God and glowing patriotism, with warm, hard-working charity and great enthusiasm for everything beautiful and noble." She was particularly involved in the Karlsruhe women's movement .

Elisabethenverein and Sophien-Frauenverein

After the German Revolution , in the outbreak of which social grievances had played a central role, Scheffel initiated the foundation of the charitable "Elisabethenverein" on May 1, 1848 . Under the official name "Virgins' Association for the Support of Oppressed Working Families", this organized charitable cultural events to support the lower class. The short form of the name was chosen with reference to the medieval saint Elisabeth of Thuringia .

For a long time, Scheffel was president of the Elisabethenverein and the "Comite", its central organizational body. The work of the organization supported disabled and sick workers of the city, regardless of their religious beliefs. After Josephine Scheffel's death in 1865, Grand Duchess Luise von Baden donated and dedicated a book to the association in memory of the deceased, in which her previous history and in the following years his further development was recorded.

In addition, Scheffel was an active member of the Sophien-Frauenverein Karlsruhe, which had existed since 1831 and which had also committed itself to supporting poor working-class families. Founded by Grand Duchess Sophie von Baden , it ran, among other things, a "soup establishment", an industrial and sewing school and a club shop that sold or gave away fabrics to poor Karlsruhe residents so that they could earn their living by knitting and spinning.

Baden women's association

When the Sardinian War broke out between the Kingdom of Sardinia (supported by France ) and Austria in 1859 , Germany saw its own security interests threatened (especially in the southwestern territories bordering France) and feared the fighting would spread to their own country. That is why 14 women from the upper classes of the state of Baden , including Josephine Scheffel, signed an appeal for donations on May 26th, through which the care of the wounded soldiers and the support of the disabled should be financed.

The Baden Women's Association emerged from this movement on June 6, 1859, chaired by Grand Duchess Luise , of which Scheffel was one of the 18 founders. Even when the association reached a significant size in the following decades (several hundred branch associations with a total of 90,000 members in 1914), it remained active in the “Central Committee” of the nationwide organization. After her death in 1865, her portrait was hung in the meeting rooms of the women's association. Her son also remained connected to the association and presented his famous cycle of poems " Waldeinsamkeit " to the public for the first time at one of its charitable lecture evenings in 1877 .

Works

• Rhodopis. A fairy tale. Published by Alberta von Freydorf. Braun, Karlsruhe 1884.
• Alberta von Freydorf (ed.): In the honeysuckle arbor. A fairy tale bouquet in the garden of my mother's friend Mrs. Josephine Scheffel, twisted and supplemented; with portrait and manuscript sample. Meinhold, Dresden 1886.
• Josephine Scheffel: Poems. Edited by Viktor von Scheffel. Adolf Bonz & Comp., Stuttgart 1892.
• with Alberta von Freydorf: Malcha and Thorild. A Black Forest song from the 30 Years War. Josef Singer, Strasbourg 1905.
• The fairy tale of the thimble. Started by J. Scheffel; continued, completed and written as a manuscript by A. von Freydorf; illustrated by M [aud] Egremont. Josef Singer, Strasbourg 1905.

literature

• History of the Badischer Frauenverein. Festschrift for the celebration of the silver wedding of Her Royal Highnesses the Grand Duke Friedrich and Grand Duchess Luise and the marriage of Her Grand Ducal Highness the Princess Victoria with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Oscar Gustav Adolf of Sweden and Norway on September 20, 1881. G. Braun'sche Hofbuchdruckerei , Karlsruhe 1881.
• J. Braun:  Scheffel, Victor von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 30, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 777-791.
• Adolf Brinzinger: The poet's mother Mrs. Majorin Josephine Scheffel, b. Creditor. Born Oberndorf am Neckar October 22, 1805, d. Karlsruhe February 5, 1865. In: Württembergische Vierteljahreshefte für Landesgeschichte , New Series, Volume 1, 1892, pp. 365–371.
• Natalie Gutgesell: "Painting as one's own full thinking moving in colors". On Joseph Victor von Scheffel as an artist. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle an der Saale 2015, ISBN 978-3-95462-412-6 , pp. 15-19.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Josephine Scheffel: Poems. Edited by Viktor von Scheffel. Adolf Bonz & Comp., Stuttgart 1892, p. II.
2. ↑ Adolf Brinzinger: The birthday of Scheffel's mother. In: Joseph Stoeckle (Ed.): Don't rest and don't rust! Yearbook of the Scheffelbund for 1892. Adolf Bonz & Comp., Stuttgart 1892, p. 5.
3. ↑ Adolf Brinzinger: The poet's mother Frau Majorin Josephine Scheffel, b. Creditor. Born Oberndorf am Neckar October 22, 1805, d. Karlsruhe February 5, 1865. In: Württembergische Vierteljahreshefte für Landesgeschichte , New Series, Volume 1, 1892, pp. 365–371, here p. 365.
4. ↑ Julius Klaiber: A German folk poet. In: Daheim , 4th year, 1867, 43rd edition.
5. ↑ Natalie Gutgesell: “Painting as one's own full thinking moving in colors”. On Joseph Victor von Scheffel as an artist. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle an der Saale 2015, ISBN 978-3-95462-412-6 , p. 17.
6. ↑ Hansgeorg Schmidt-Bergmann , Hansmartin Schwarzmaier (ed.): Joseph Victor von Scheffel. Inventory of the estate and collection (= writings of the Museum for Literature on the Upper Rhine. Volume 2). Volume 2, self-published, Karlsruhe 2001, ISBN 3-930314-40-1 , pp. 645-655 ( PDF; 1.3 MB ).
7. ↑ Adolf Brinzinger: The poet's mother Frau Majorin Josephine Scheffel, b. Creditor. Born Oberndorf am Neckar October 22, 1805, d. Karlsruhe February 5, 1865. In: Württembergische Vierteljahreshefte für Landesgeschichte , New Series, Volume 1, 1892, pp. 365–371, here p. 369.
8. ↑ Natalie Gutgesell: “Painting as one's own full thinking moving in colors”. On Joseph Victor von Scheffel as an artist. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle an der Saale 2015, ISBN 978-3-95462-412-6 , p. 19.
9. ↑ Adolf Brinzinger: The poet's mother Frau Majorin Josephine Scheffel, b. Creditor. Born Oberndorf am Neckar October 22, 1805, d. Karlsruhe February 5, 1865. In: Württembergische Vierteljahreshefte für Landesgeschichte , New Series, Volume 1, 1892, pp. 365–371, here p. 370.
10. ↑ J. Braun:  Scheffel, Victor von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 30, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 777-791.
11. ↑ Josephine Scheffel: Poems. Edited by Viktor von Scheffel. Adolf Bonz & Comp., Stuttgart 1892, p. VI.
12. ^ To summarize the Elisabethenverein Kerstin Lutzer: The Badische Frauenverein 1859-1918. Red Cross, Welfare and Women's Issues (= publications of the Commission for historical regional studies in Baden-Württemberg . Series B: Research. Volume 146). W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-17-017034-1 , p. 339.
13. ^ History of the Badischer Frauenverein. Festschrift […]. G. Braun'sche Hofbuchdruckerei, Karlsruhe 1881, p. 262 f.
14. ^ History of the Badischer Frauenverein. Festschrift […]. G. Braun'sche Hofbuchdruckerei, Karlsruhe 1881, pp. 248–260.
15. ^ Kerstin Lutzer: The Badische Frauenverein 1859-1918. Red Cross, Welfare and Women's Issues (= publications of the Commission for historical regional studies in Baden-Württemberg . Series B: Research. Volume 146). W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-17-017034-1 , p. 30 f.
16. ^ Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux, Munich 1963, p. 410.
17. ^ History of the Badischer Frauenverein. Festschrift […]. G. Braun'sche Hofbuchdruckerei, Karlsruhe 1881, p. 23 f.
18. ^ History of the Badischer Frauenverein. Festschrift […]. G. Braun'sche Hofbuchdruckerei, Karlsruhe 1881, p. 164.