Käthe Papke

Käthe Papke (born July 4, 1872 in Cleveland , Ohio , † November 28, 1951 in Wernigerode ) was a native German writer .

Life

Käthe Papke was the daughter of a Bremerhaven merchant and was born in the United States when her father worked there for a while and his wife accompanied him. When the family returned to Germany in 1876, they settled in Elbing , then West Prussia , where relatives and maternal grandparents lived.

In her memoirs, Papke describes herself as an ailing, shy only child. She also remained a loner at the secondary school for girls in Elbing. The relationship with her parents, who ran a very hospitable home, was loving.

Papke lived through, in her own words, “a sunny youth in a happy family home”. She learned to play the piano as a child, but also loved ice skating.

Her father, who owned a small factory in Elbing, sold it and at the age of 36 decided to do missionary service. He received his training as a preacher at the St. Chrischona pilgrimage mission , where Käthe Papke followed with his mother. The family lived in Bettingen near Basel .

There the girl fell ill with typhus . The doctors had given up on her. After an anointing according to James 5:14, she got up on March 30, 1884. Four weeks later she was completely healthy. This "miraculous healing" led to a strengthening of the religious life in the family, in Bettingen and in the pilgrimage institute. Käthe Papke got the nickname “The Resurrected from Death”, which she got to hear for years. Chrischona became a second home for the family.

On June 10, 1884, the family moved to Berlin, where Papke's father accepted a position with the Inner Mission. There he worked together with Eduard von Pückler in the Michaelsgemeinschaft for ten years before the two broke up. Käthe Papke attended the Göbel'sche Schule, a private school for “higher daughters” on Weddingplatz. The parents' wish that their daughter could take up the teaching profession was not fulfilled in view of Papke's weak physical constitution. Instead she studied piano at the "Conservatory and University of Music", where she was taught by the piano virtuoso and composer Gustav Berger and the director E. Elsmann .

After only three years she passed her exams as a teacher. Six years of study and more were common. She kept coming back to visit Bettingen, where, according to Papke's mother, the family had spent "the happiest time of their lives".

Käthe Papke worked as a writer for the first time in 1891, with which she earned her living from then on. In 1916 she moved with her parents to Wernigerode, where she lived on Pulvergarten 5a until she died. Her father died in 1918 and her mother in 1935. She remained unmarried until her death in 1951.

Works

• On Roman soil. A story from the time of the persecution of Christians under the emperor Domitian. German Evangelical Book and Tract Society, Berlin 1895.
• The abbot of St. Celestine. German Evangelical Book and Tractate Society, Berlin 1900.
• The Hilligenlei Finder: a story from real life. Biermann, Barmen 1907.
• The last of rubella . Historical narrative. Koezle, Wernigerode 1910. Also: Christliches Verlagshaus, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-7675-3019-8 ; Illustrations by Franz Stassen .
• To his luck. Koezle, Wernigerode 1914.
• Just an educator . - Koezle, Chemnitz 1915.
• Gundermann family. Koezle, Wernigerode 1917.
• Wettergasse 18. A historical tale. Koezle, Wernigerode 1918. Also: Ed. Anker, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7675-7119-6
• The forester's house in Christianental . Historical story from the time of the Thirty Years' War. Koezle, Wernigerode 1920. Also: Christliches Verlagshaus, Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-7675-3038-4
• Balthasar Knauer. Koezle, Wernigerode 1923.
• The forest assessor von Tanne . A Harz story. Koezle, Wernigerode 1924. Also: Christian publishing house, Stuttgart 1955.
• Storm times on Lake Constance. Historical story based on old chronicles from the Lake Constance area. Koezle, Wernigerode 1925. Also: Christliches Verlagshaus, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-7675-3104-6 .
• Wrestling Worlds: a dark sheet of modern religious history. Mission extension "Light in the East", Wernigerode 1926.
• Count Sponheim's marriage. Wernigerode, ca.1927
• Triumphed in the defeat. Gütersloh 1928.
• Those who remained loyal. Historical narrative. Heinrich Majer, Basel 1928. Also: Christian publishing house, Stuttgart 1950.
• The new day. Christophorus-Verlag, Neumünster 1928.
• The iron Margrave of Sausenberg-Rötteln. A historical story from the Markgräfler Land. Heinrich Majer, Basel 1928. Also: Evangelische Buchgemeinschaft, Stuttgart 1962.
• The Empress of Rauracorum. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1929.
• Struggle for power. Christophorus-Verlag, Neumünster 1929.
• The castle spirit. Christophorus-Verlag, Neumünster 1930.
• The cross on Usedom. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1930. Also: Christliches Verlagshaus, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-7675-3153-4 .
• Centuries tell: from the chronicle of the Church "Our Lady". Schneider, Wernigerode 1931.
• The Sandlerhütte. Wandsbek 1931.
• From my attic. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1931.
• Gustav Adolf's first and last love. Christophorus-Verlag, Neumünster 1931.
• People on my way  : life memories. Brunnenverlag, Giessen 1932.
• In Danzig's gates. Christophorus-Verlag, Neumünster 1933.
• On the right street. Narrative. Publishing bookstore "Bethel", Wandsbek 1933.
• Ehrgutta . Ihloff, Neumünster 1934.
• The lady of the castle of Mainberg. Constance 1934.
• The hens from Henneberg. Historical narrative. Publishing house "Bethel", Wandsbek 1934.
• Prince Widukind, the Saxon leader. Christophorus-Verlag, Neumünster 1936.
• Elsi and her suffering . Narrative. Christian publishing house, Stuttgart 1936. Also: 1953.
• Junker Christoph Bernhard . Christian publishing house, 1938.
• Redeemed Love: After Life . Christophorus-Verlag, 1939.
• Hannes the dreamer . Christian publishing house, Stuttgart 1940.
• The treasure in the wheat field . Emigrant experiences in America. Christl. Publishing house, Stuttgart 1949.
• The forest house by the lake. Narrative. Christl. Publishing house, Stuttgart 1949.
• How my books came about. Christl. Publishing house, Stuttgart 1951.
• When God speaks. Cardboard picture book. Christian publishing house, Stuttgart 1960.
• Dark fortunes and views of the sun. Christl. Publishing house, Stuttgart 1965.
• Free of chains . Historical narrative. Christl. Verlagshaus, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-7675-3274-3 .
• The hermit of Stolberg. Christl. Verlagshaus, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-7675-3313-8 .
• The angel of Bregenz. Cristl. Verlagshaus, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-7675-7569-8 .
• Out of my life. Memories. Ed. Anker, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-7675-6942-6 .

literature

• Verena Vogel Müller: Augusta Raurica as the setting for novels, dramas and stories. In: Annual reports from Augst and Kaiseraugst, Volume (year): 23 (2002), pp. 153–168, on Die Kaiserin von Rauracorum. Pp. 157-160 digitized
• Petra Volkert: A window to history. Käthe Papke's novel “The Last of Rötteln” is eighty years old. In: Das Markgräflerland , issue 2/1993, pp. 159–160.

Web links

• Literature by and about Käthe Papke in the catalog of the German National Library
• Autobiography