Klara Köttner-Benigni

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Klara Köttner-Benigni

Klara Köttner-Benigni (born March 21, 1928 in Vienna ; † July 26, 2015 in Eisenstadt ) was an Austrian writer, publicist and conservationist.

Life

Klara Köttner was born as the daughter of the official director Ambros Köttner and his wife Stefanie, geb. Drahokupil, born and descended from a long-established Viennese family. Her older brother Ambros was born in 1920. One of her grandmothers was a - German-speaking - Bohemian, all the others from the Wiener family. Her father, who had started his career in the postal and telegraph service as a kk civil servant , thought in a Greater Austrian way. He was also open to Burgenland from the start. After 1930 he went to the Lockenhaus summer resort with his family, including three-year-old Klara .

After attending primary school with the Dominican women in Hütteldorf-Hacking , the women's secondary school on the Wiedner Gürtel and, towards the end of the war , the scientific branch of the secondary school for boys in Laa an der Thaya followed . Klara Köttner developed an interest in botanical studies as a child, and as a teenager she worked for a short time at the Wilhelminenberg Biological Station . During this time she made her first trip to Lake Neusiedl with Otto Koenig and his team . After an interruption due to the war and illness, she passed the Realgymnasium - Matura at the City School Board for Vienna in 1949 .

Education

Klara Köttner first studied psychology at the University of Vienna . The professor Hubert Rohracher was a scientist and could not captivate her. So she studied all over the place and trained as a speaker with the reciter Charlotte Zu der Luth . She also attended lectures and exercises from other faculties , including a. with Viktor E. Frankl . Klara Köttner dealt with philosophy and theology .

She made frequent trips to northern Burgenland because of the inclination to Lake Neusiedl and the people who lived and worked hard there. In order to be able to support these people professionally, she changed her main subject and studied sociology with August Maria Knoll . In this case the professor was unfortunately not an empiricist , but rather a philosopher. As she was preparing her dissertation, Knoll died.

As her successor, Leopold Rosenmayr corresponded to her interests; he had become a representative of empirical social research in the USA . Without further study, she tried a new dissertation, understood the additional wishes of the young " doctoral supervisor ", but found it pointless to fulfill them. The prerequisites for the job she was offered and desired as a career counselor in Burgenland had long been met, so that she graduated with an Absolutorium in 1954 .

In 1958 she moved her permanent residence to Burgenland, worked as a career advisor for the labor market administration in Neusiedl am See until 1971, most recently as a tenured federal civil servant .

In 1962 she married the civil servant and art photographer Walter Benigni .

Grave of Klara Köttner-Benigni

Like her husband's urn, her urn was buried in the city cemetery (urn grove no. 12) in Eisenstadt.

Bridge over Lake Neusiedl

Main article:Project Neusiedler See Bridge

From her youth she was active in animal welfare , later also in nature conservation . From 1970 onwards, the Köttner-Benigni couple turned with all their might against the project of a bridge over Lake Neusiedl , which was already anchored in the Federal Roads Act , which led them to official reprimands and other verbal attacks. For this reason, she resigned from federal service .

The construction of this bridge would have made the creation of the Neusiedler See-Seewinkel National Park impossible from the outset. This was the successful (ever) first citizens' initiative in the field of environmental protection in Austria.

After decades of hiding this topic, Köttner-Benigni wrote a treatise in 2007 about this - above all her - fight for Lake Neusiedl.

Cultural exchange between Austrian and Slovak writers and other artists

Since 1978, with the knowledge of the Federal Ministry for Foreign Affairs, she has been building up cultural relations as planned, especially between Burgenland and Slovakia, from 1983 in collaboration with Walter Benigni (literary readings, publications including her own adaptations, essays, exhibitions, concerts, theater performances, lectures Participation in symposia, etc.)

Magazine and radio contributions

The landscape around Lake Neusiedl, the municipalities in the area, and the village of Deutsch Jahrndorf on the border triangle between Austria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary , as well as Hungary itself were subjects of other articles. The contributions were published from 1956 in "People and Home" (now "Culture and Education") of the Burgenland Volksbildungswerk. In 1968 it was there for the first time that socially critical, unconventional poems by "KK-B." read. The "Magazine for International Cooperation Pannonia" ( founded and published by György Sebestyén ) was added later .

Her main job was to work as a freelancer for radio broadcasts at ORF , which resulted in hundreds of treatises on Czechoslovakia , Slovak and the Czech Republic, above all on culture and cultural exchange, literature and literary events. With this, Klara Köttner-Benigni covered the most urgent need for information far beyond Burgenland, which was very much appreciated in these neighboring countries.

In 1980 she wrote an extensive treatise on the Burgenland writer and artist Mida Huber in the " Burgenländische Heimatbl Blätter " (the journal of the Landesarchiv ), and in 1981 in the " Wortmühle " (edited by Günter Unger ) also a comprehensive treatise "On the development of Burgenland literature" , 1982 in "Austria in History and Literature" (Vienna) also on "Some Examples of Dialect and Ethnic Group Literature of Burgenland Comparative Literature" and in " podium " (one of Austria's leading literary journals) an article "On the Slovakian Poetry of the Present", 1984 in "Revue svetovej literatúry" (Revue of world literature , Bratislava) a larger contribution about the literature of Burgenland, 1986 and 1987 with Konrad Biricz in "Volk und Heimat" in 4 parts " The adventures of the good soldier Schwejk in Austria ". Also in 1989 in "Pannonia" "A scratched national shrine? News about Božena Němcová " (namely on the origin, the early years of the Czech national writer in Vienna). 1990 Collaboration on the anthology "Österreichische Lyrik - und kein Wort Deutsch" by Gerald Nitsche , Innsbruck. Your contribution: essay "Czechs in Austria" and selected examples. (Slovak lyric poets in Austria not available at the time).

Memberships and functions

Intensive collaboration in the

Lectures

Works

I have to write whether I am read or not, whether I am understood, understood or not, printed or not printed, whether it is useful or harmful to me, .. it is my only means of communication with "nothing" or with what " God "is called.

Book publications of own literature (mostly with photographs of the husband Walter Benigni)

  • "Nothing in which I set signs" (Lyrik, Bergland-Verlag 1976),
  • "Processes" (on Udo Weingart, Roetzer Eisenstadt 1983) ISBN 3-85374-10-7-X
  • "In the zone of the red wind" (Lyrik, Roetzer 1989) ISBN 3-85374-055-3
  • "Obrat / Wendpunkt / Turning point" (poetry with Ján Štrasser, Slovak, Modrý Peter Verlag, Levoča 1993) ISBN 80-85515-14-8
  • "Terminal" (poetry, translated by Peter Waugh , graphics by Walter Benigni, Labyrinth, Vienna-London, 1997) ISBN 3-9500556-0-6
  • "Lapidea '97 / Encounters" (Photos: Rüdiger Lam, among others, Verlag Majanum, Mayen 1997) ISBN 3-9802390-5-5
  • "From deep sources". (On the nature and landscape of Burgenland, Volksbildungswerk publishing house for Burgenland, Eisenstadt 1998) ISBN 3-900665-01-X .
  • "Time of the Setting Sun / Čas zapadajúceho slnka" (with Etela Farkašová, Edition Doppelpunkt, 2000) ISBN 3-85273-083-X
  • "Dedications / Venovania / Věnování" ( Colon Edition, 2004) ISBN 3-85273-149-6

She has published five anthologies , such as

  • "Poetry from Burgenland" , editor Klara Köttner-Benigni with Franz Forster and Helmut Stefan Milletich, Verlag Kremayr & Scheriau, Vienna 1970; first anthology outside of Burgenland by authors from the country. (Before that, women's anthology by Franz Probst in Eisenstadt.)
  • From Slovakia, poetry and graphics , editor Klara Köttner-Benigni, German / Slovak, Rötzer 1990, ISBN 3-85374-190-8

Klara Köttner-Benigni published further anthologies as well as individual volumes by authors, also in dialect, was included in national and international anthologies, she has also worked on audio books and, in addition to Austrian radio , she has produced radio plays on foreign broadcasters.

Prizes and awards

Elias Hill Decoration

literature

  • Kürschner's German Literature Calendar 2008, Vol. 1, Köttner-Benigni Klara , KGSaur, Munich, Leipzig 2009.
  • German Writer's Lexicon 2009, A cross-section through contemporary German-language literature. Köttner-Benigni Klara , publishing house of the Association of German Writers BDS eV Dietzenbach.
  • Who is Who in Austria and South Tyrol, Verlag für Personenenzyklopädien, Zug, Switzerland, 2008.
  • " Autorensolidarität " magazine , the "Börsenblattischer Authors, Authors & Literature". Editor Dieter Scherr: Depiction of her life and work, also in connection with her husband, with numerous photos , No. 2-3 / S 26-30, 2003.
  • "Natur und Land" magazine of the Austrian Nature Conservation Union in Salzburg. Ingrid Hagenstein: " Fight against a bridge over Lake Neusiedl ". No. 2 / S 9-10, 2009.
  • Helmut Stefan Milletich, Franz Forster, Sabine Milletich (eds.), Contributions to a literary history of Burgenland. Volume 1: Chronology , Böhlau Verlag Vienna Cologne Weimar 2009. ISBN 978-3-205-78308-4
  • Judith Duller-Mayrhofer, Der Neusiedlersee , Von Fischen und Fürsten, von Wein und Wind , S 142f, Kampf: als Frontfrau der Bewegungs ... , Metro Verlag 2013. ISBN 978-3-99300-127-8
  • Klara Köttner-Benigni, An educational institution reflected in a biography . On the occasion of her 80th birthday, Klara Köttner-Benigni wrote the following article for “Culture and Education” (1-2008), which documents her work. In “Culture and Education” 03/2015, pp. 8–11.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Details of the tombstone
  2. Hubert Rohracher rejected depth and expression psychology , etc., seemed to her more like a variant of brain physiology .
  3. ^ Statement by Klara Köttner-Benigni
  4. August Maria Knoll was strongly oriented towards political science and was hardly able to convey what she was looking for in the psychological or sociological field
  5. Klara Köttner-Benigni: The project of a bridge over Lake Neusiedl. In: Burgenland homeland sheets . 4/2007, pp. 214-231, PDF on ZOBODAT
  6. ^ Letter from Karel Velkoborsky, museum director, to Klara Köttner-Benigni in July 2011. .. for many years we have been aware of their extraordinary contribution to our region in the field of historical research in literature .
  7. Fritz Werf , author and publisher, Andernach FRG , letter 1983 .. "Processes" is much more than an homage to the artist Weingart, to the complex (stone as a challenge for the artist - cultural landscape / art landscape Mayen / St. Margarethen - description of the disease - literary-musical discoveries, etc.) is precisely what fascinates me so much. The book is an admirable montage.
  8. Ernst Schönwiese , Vienna, letter 1983 .. A contemporary document of unusual status, far more than a documentation! A poet's view of a contemporary life in which the truth and probably hopelessness of today's existence is reflected more tangibly and convincingly than in any other .
  9. " Rhein-Zeitung ", BRD, 1983 .. The author succeeds in expanding the purely monographic and using subtle intuition to trace flora and rock formations in the vicinity of the Eifelstadt . A plea for the preservation of testimonies from two thousand years of tradition .
  10. Alois Vogel in "podium", Baden bei Wien 49/50 1983 .. This book gives a fascinating example of how complex any approach to another person would have to be if one wants to understand it only approximately. The author takes this approach in ever new attempts .
  11. Klaus Basset, Stuttgart , Oslip , in " Literarisches Österreich ", Vienna 2/1984 .. The uncommonly precise complexity of "processes" results from the special literary optics with which Weingart is perceived; not only with the eyes of the author affected by his fate , but from the most varied of directions. This has the effect that the object itself and our knowledge of it are rounded off and that we gain an objective picture of it despite all personal concern . The term "forensic evidence" occurs to me in connection with the author's extremely original procedure. .. Issues must be circled, traversed in all directions, viewed from different levels of vision, before connections can be recognized .
  12. Emmerich Lang in "Writing + Reading", Berlin , December 1984. Weingart's existence probably found the purest echo in the meditative lyrical statements that Köttner-Benigni owes to the encounter with him .
  13. Ján Lenčo in "Revue der Weltliteratur", Bratislava 3/1985 .. The book by Köttner-Benigni is a novelty, a discovery for the reader, thanks to the carefully considered and well thought-out conception of the whole that the author "invented". It is an extremely complicated composition of passages of an almost professional kind, with philosophical reflections , excerpts from correspondence , poetry, personal memories, etc. And the author's spheres of interest are just as varied: The book writes about geology , mineralogy , psychiatry , sculpture and politics . Very clever and discreet, at a high technical level and at the same time emotionally and extremely captivating. .. The book is one of the top works of progressive and humanistic western literature of a thought and intellectual character, it belongs to a movement that creates tradition.
  14. Kurt A. Schantl, author, Sauerbrunn near Wiener Neustadt , Statement 1986 .. "Processes" - the soul landscape is reflected in the quarry landscape: tectonic layers, broad layers, restlessly towering columns, erratic blocks ..
  15. Ernst Schönwiese's letter of November 26th, 1989: Can you imagine the particular dismay with which I read your new book of poems in view of the historical changes we are witnessing (namely in the countries of Eastern Europe and especially in Czechoslovakia ) ? Your hope for visible success did not remain "illusory", as you feared. .. How deeply must your conversations between "Lenin's son" and "Buddha's daughter" touch me - especially me ! How often when reading again do I quote your line " Your heart speaks .." .. Your radical emotionality in the poem about the " Kobersdorfer Friedhof" was shattering, upsetting . With the few but convincing pictures and phrases you will find that it hurts the reader, as in "Result" (p. 37), which for me is one of the strongest pieces in the collection; or in "Rescue" (S 45) and "Findings" (S 49). .. Thank you very much for your truly human book! Even laypeople can feel: man and work are identical "
  16. Eva Loewenthal in "Literarisches Österreich" 4/1989 .. There are a hundred injuries to people, creatures and the environment all around, there are hundreds of such crystal-clear, popping examples from the author that hit you, tear you open and perhaps make you think and act? One-way, striking? They are smart, honest and true in their challenge and relentless cynicism . Whether it's about prisoner torture or animal abuse, atomic bombs or racial hatred . ..
  17. Albert Janetschek in "podium" 74, 4/1989, p. 35 .. because the author's poetry is mainly about highlighting unfortunate and therefore in need of change, from the often arbitrary drawing of boundaries to the encroachments we see in the area allow our environment, especially with animals exposed to our impetuous urge to research. The poems Klara Köttner-Benigni are often postulates that it raises, appeals to our human dignity , it is one of the first of all that we must not let the bare expediency us .. The excellent photomontages Walter Benigni give the band an additional artistic weight.
  18. Peter Zajac, Bratislava, in "Revue svetovej literatúry" 5/1989, p99 .. The poetry of Klara Köttner-Benignis reflects the inner changes in Austrian poetry over the past decades. It stands between two lines of German-written poetry, between the natural-magical tracing of indented lines, nature-related poetry, and committed poetry of interpersonal relationships. This is the poetry of the crossing of borders between people, a poetry of overcoming prejudices and false knowledge, a poetry of vulnerability at the borders of the waking and dreaming landscapes , a poetry "on thin threads". German by Edita Peitlová and the author herself
  19. ^ Anton Schumich in his letter of January 1st, 1990: It touched me deeply. I would probably consider the little book to be the most important in truth, even if I had read all the literary bestsellers .
  20. ^ Herbert Kuhner , Reviews for Biblos. Terminal is the first bilingual of poetry in the Labyrinth series. The editors have chosen well by starting theis program off with Klara Köttner-Benigni. Her poems are sharp, concise and effective, yet they are imbued with a translucent delicacy. Köttner-Benigni writes with economy, without a touch of embellishment. The dominating themes are ecology and the Holocaust. This is poetry that deals with the phenomenon of life and the destruction of life. Köttner-Benigni is not among those who are shedding crocodile tears an cashingin on the Holocaust. Her commitment is sincere and genuine with no sentimentality. Here is a sample:
    Ad infinitum - On the lime / the years / a dead finger / the nail / scratches / on the walls / until they / become permeable / for light.
    Ad infinitum - Along / the calcified years / runs the finger / of the dead / The nail / scratches / at the walls / till they / become pervious / to the light.
    Peter Waugh , the translator, deserves credit for transforming the poems into English. They have lost nothing in the process. He is a poet in his own right and editor of the Vienna-based English language quarterly for poetry, Subdream. Köttner-Benigni too is active as a translator. She has translated and edites collections Czech and Slovak poets . The design and graphics of Terminal have been provided by Walter Benigni, the poets' husband. The packing is excellent .. Terminal deserves to find a large readership .
  21. Gottfried W. Stix in "Literarisches Österreich" organ of the Austrian Writers' Association, 2/98 .. "From deep sources" draws a book that should be recommended to everyone today, because Klara Köttner-Benigni still has her own poetry in it Sixteen authors gathered together, who with scientific, essayistic and graphic contributions to the nature and landscape protection of their Burgenland homeland complement what is seen in the verses of the poetry and certainly increase the value. Initially, the author refers to the German poet Siegfried Lenz when she says that every artist - one could also think: every sensitive person - experiences a strong "inner experience" when dealing with nature, which in its often very colorful imagery is not rarely leads to insights that do not allow certain sentimentalities to arise in the first place. Klara Köttner-Benigni has wandered her homeland and was able to explore "the small, less noticed, almost impassable protected areas" in this way, without, as she claims, ever being able to "predict" whether and when her ideas would come about come and what kind they would be, whether poetic, satirical or even critical ... Actually, everything should be left as it is. In the end, nature would be the last resort, in a size and effect up to the belief in an all-dominating will. We humans, it goes on, lose a part of our being and our being with every destruction of the landscape, which certainly also means that we put our hands on ourselves. The "having mercy" could of course surround everything and would be of extremely existential importance .
  22. ^ Alfred Warnes in "Literarisches Österreich", 2/2004 .. The most extensive volume of poetry by Klara Köttner-Benigni to date is available. The additional value is that the translation into Slovak or Czech is printed next to each of the poems, thus creating a multilingualism that corresponds to the attitude to life and the decades-long efforts of the author to achieve Central European neighborhood and extensive, planned cultural exchange is fair. The almost entirely absurd poemes relate to everyday issues such as being late, staying overnight, farewells, messages, discovery or here as well as landscapes and buildings ( Bohemian Forest , Danube near Hainburg , Wenceslas Church in Lundenburg ) or thoughts of the ghetto or the Jews from Prague . Motherhood , old age, nature conservation, nuclear politics , border station and border area, travel, the turning point of 1989 and the connecting power and effect of music are cited as word signals and waypoints for further content. Klara Köttner-Benigni wants to highlight the importance of the Norwegian poet Björnstjerne Björnson , a contemporary of Henrik Ibsen who, as a committed journalist and political activist, was not only important for the Scandinavian countries at the beginning of the 20th century, but was consequently important demanded equal treatment of the Slav peoples vis-à-vis the powerful and stood up for oppressed Slovakia ...
    Slovaks // Everyone knew better: / Hungarians / Czechs / Germans / Russians / Everyone knew / what is right for you // Now finally / you have breathed a sigh of relief / Finally you are going your own way.
  23. Immediately after the political change in Czechoslovakia, an anthology of older and more recent Slovak poetry and graphics, the former including the ethnic groups of Slovakia, was published in German transmissions, partly by Klara Köttner-Benigni. In the not particularly large circle of interested people who did not only perceive the political changes and certain advantages they provided, she was the first of her kind to receive a lot of recognition, although the editor was aware that other selection criteria might have been possible under more favorable conditions. Edition Roetzer in Eisenstadt made a significant contribution to the creation of a successful, representative work in terms of furnishings. The presentation of the book in Burgenland took place on June 29, 1990 in Rust on Lake Neusiedl in front of a selected group. The editor had invited her colleague from the ORF regional studio, Martha Wedral, to act as the speaker. One of the most important German scholars, Jozef Bžoch, also appeared. In "Kultúrny život" (Cultural Life, Bratislava July 25, 1990) he wrote under the title "Slovenská poézia v Burgenlande" (Slovak poetry in Burgenland)
  24. Kürschner's German Literature Calendar 2008
  25. Klara Köttner-Benigni's collaboration with Kaisersteinbruch is documented from the beginning in 1991. In: Helmuth Furch , Historisches Lexikon Kaisersteinbruch , 2nd volume. Index: Köttner-Benigni Klara. 2004. ISBN 978-3-9504555-8-8 .
  26. http://www.sn.at/wiki/index.php?title=Ingrid_Hagenstein&oldid=1246812