Karl Gideon Gössele

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Karl Gideon Gössele , originally Karl Giselher Gössele , (born February 27, 1902 in Cannstatt , † December 11, 1996 in Wolfurt in Vorarlberg ) was a German and Austrian writer and Austrian radio editor.

Life

Gössele grew up in Heidenheim / Brenz . After his father's death in 1915, he had to leave high school. He completed an apprenticeship as a precision mechanic in Pforzheim . He then worked in agriculture, as a leather and miner and as a storyteller. In the Dürerschule Hochwaldhausen , he later passed the Abitur and began studying art and literary history.

Gössele joined the SPD in 1920 and married in 1924. He had six children with his wife Susanne. He had to break off his studies for financial reasons. During this time he earned his family's living as a bookseller in Stuttgart , Hamburg , Kiel , as a dramaturge in Kattowitz , Breslau , Berlin and as a journalist and columnist in Kiel, Hamburg with the Hamburgischer Correspondent and in Berlin with Vorwärts and the Vossische Zeitung .

In 1934 he was banned from his profession "because of political unreliability" and several arrests. An emigration attempt to Switzerland failed due to the refusal of Switzerland to take the kids. Gössele found shelter with his family on the grounds of Achberg Castle . In 1937 he moved to Stuttgart and worked for Kohlhammer Verlag . Several stories were published there between 1939 and 1944 under the name of Karl Giselher Gössele . However, there was again an occupational ban and arrests.

From 1939 to 1945 Gössele was a soldier at the front. With the help of Jewish friends in Praschnitz , he organized food transports to the Warsaw ghetto , which he carried out himself for months with a truck from his unit. He was covered by his superior Richard Sander.

In 1948 Gössele's novel The Promised Land was published . From now on he took the author's name Karl Gideon Gössele . From 1948 to 1952 Gössele made a permanent weekly column as a freelance journalist under the title Man and His Inner World in the St.Galler Tagblatt , in the Reutlinger Generalanzeiger and 11 other newspapers.

In 1952 Glössele moved to Austria and worked as a journalist and theater critic. Since 1954 as a freelancer at the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation , he was later employed there. He became a member of the SPÖ and was chairman of the radio and television section of the Austrian Federation of Trade Unions . For this activity he was awarded the Golden Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria in 1973. In 1984 he received the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art .

It was not until 1972 that further literary publications appeared. After his retirement in 1972 Gössele went on several lecture tours through the USA . In 1977 he was awarded the title of honorary professor. He lived in his adopted home Vorarlberg . Gössele's literary estate was handed over to the Bregenz Franz Michael Felder Archive by the heirs .

Literary work

Gössele was apparently friends with Hermann Hesse and named him in an interview as an important literary influence. On the same occasion he said: "In my books I want to show that in a bleak world is not meaningless life and is hopelessly The main questions are:. What is the meaning of my life? , What is my job? - It's worth it. to live, to grow beyond nature and to penetrate into creative realms. "

The promised land

A poetically and spiritually dense developmental novel about a boy from difficult socialization conditions. For Joshua, the path to the "promised land" of a humane life is based on individually experienced truth and human mindfulness, even when faced with the worst social experiences. Possibly Gössele's most important work.

The Balzar story

The story of a Jewish girl is described who grew up in a small Polish country town and lost friends and parents during the Hitler invasion and was raped. A daughter comes from this rape, the presence of which in the mother triggers a tragic conflict: the original mother's love collides with the memory of the rapist, whom the girl looks like. The daughter becomes a concert pianist. At a concert that the mother attends after initial reluctance, the traumatic hardening dissolves.

The Giliberti case

It is about a young man who was convicted of murder on the basis of circumstantial evidence, of which he is innocent. After his release he only has to strive to find the real culprit. After wandering across Europe, he faces an old man tormented by his bad conscience. The book is dedicated to the memory of the criminal law reformer Gustav Radbruch .

And the light shone in the darkness

This old work describes the fate of a family in the years 1920–1950. It is based on autobiographical moments and is dedicated to Hermann Gmeiner .

Works (selection)

  • The Promised Land (Hamburg 1948)
  • Mary Read - An adventurous life (Heidenheim / Brenz 1952), new edition under the title: On the Schindanger of Providence - Mary Read's life picture, recounted (Vienna 1982)
  • The Balzar Story (Vienna 1975)
  • The Giliberti Case (Vienna 1977)
  • And the light shone in the darkness (Vienna 1983)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The course of existence , original in the Franz Michael Felder archive of the Vorarlberger Landesbibliothek / Vorarlberger Literaturarchiv.
  2. ↑ Affidavit from Gösseles' then Wehrmacht superior, Richard Sander, dated November 26, 1946. Copy of the declaration in the Gössele estate of the Franz Michael Felder archive.
  3. ↑ Interview with Josef Helfer, in: d'Üla Heft 1/1984, copy in the Franz-Michael-Felder-Archive
  4. ^ Review DIE ZEIT September 30, 1948
personal data
SURNAME Gössele, Karl Gideon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gössele, Karl Giselher
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH February 27, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH Cannstatt
DATE OF DEATH December 11, 1996
Place of death Wolfurt , Vorarlberg