Krabat (Sage)

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Krabat (derived from Hrvat, Croatian ') is a legendary figure of the Sorbs . The Krabat saga is a variably composed collection of legendary to fairytale-like episodes of different origins and distribution, which were regionally attributed to a person named Krabat and linked by a likewise varying framework narrative. Krabat is portrayed as an ordinary mortal and resident of the region at first, who comes into possession of magical powers, which he mainly uses for good causes. The scene of the event is mainly the area between Hoyerswerda and Königswartha in Upper Lusatia .

Krabat statue in Groß Sarchen

Origin and transmission of the legend

The oldest written evidence for the existence of a Krabat saga can be found in the minutes of the meeting of the Academic Association for the History and Language of Lusatia, which was founded in 1838 by Upper Lusatian students at the University of Wroclaw . These documents show that on January 12, 1839, Awgust Bulank read stories about the “Särchner Krabat” and in 1840 Jan Awgust Warko recorded tales of the Krabat . However, the contents are no longer accessible, the entire bundle of the association's written work, including lecture scripts, is considered lost.

Only about ten years later, in the Khronika Kulowa , the chronicle of Wittichenau and the surrounding area , handwritten by Franz Schneider from 1848 to 1852 , a “Krabat” is mentioned again in writing. Schneider was a member of the association from 1838 to 1839 and, like A. Bulank and J. A. Warko, belonged to the Wendish Section . From 1847 he worked as a chaplain, later as a pastor in Wittichenau . Referring to entries in the Wittichenau church records, he writes the following in the German version of the chronicle:

Memorial plaque for Johann Schadowitz, model for the legendary figure Krabat, in the Catholic Church in Wittichenau (Sorbian Kulow)
The parish church of Wittichenau , the final resting place of the "historical Krabat"

"1704 d. On May 29th Colonel Johann Schadowitz , 80 years old, from Agram in Croatia , died at Särchen . He was buried in the parish church of Wittichenau below the presbytery on the bell. In 1795, when pastor Georg Brückner was buried in the same place, the colonel's sword was still found there. This Croat Schadowitz is the same one that is known in our area under the name Krabat: because “Croat” has changed into “Krabat” in the vernacular. The Croat was rich - Herr von Särchen - and had the reputation of a black artist. According to folk tales, he is said to have thrown a handful of oats into the tile pot at the parish in Wittichenau and conjured up a regiment of soldiers from them, who stood in the rectory. With the churf. v. Saxony and King v. Poland Fried. On August 1st the Croat lived in intimate friendship. He is said to have often dined with the king for lunch and once made the journey from Särchen to Dresden in the air. During this air journey he is said to have pushed his car to the top of the Kamenz church tower and bent it over. He is said to have saved the prince elector from Turkey through magic. - The register of the dead of the parish church in Wittichenau reports the death of the Croaten without further comment. "

Since Schneider does not name any sources for the “folk tale” and the possibly informative records of Bulank and Warko have been lost, it remains uncertain to what extent the people mentioned the occurrences at that time were actually attributed to a person named Krabat. The episodes Soldatenzauber and Luftreise are hiking motifs, which can be proven in numerous variants far beyond Oberlausitz. In the same combination they appear in a complex of legends that was published in the magazine Neues Lausitzisches Magazin as early as 1837 under the title From an evil gentleman to Groß Särchen . The name Krabat, the Elector and Turkey do not appear in it, on the other hand another widespread mythical motif, which initially did not go into the Krabat saga: The actor tries to create a river bed with the plow, which becomes very crooked because he does not have the draft animals controlled.

It is not known who conveyed the story of the "Bad Lord" to the New Lausitz Magazine . Editor Joachim Leopold Haupt only notes that he was informed of it. Soon afterwards it was included in the collection of folk sagas and folk monuments of Lusatia compiled by Heinrich Gottlob Gräve (published in 1839), although Gräve included it in the legends of the historical general Johann Paul Sybilski von Wolfsberg . In this version, but always with reference to JL Haupt 1837 as a source, it was then also published by Johann Georg Theodor Grasse in Der Sagenschatz des Kingdom of Saxony (1855), by Karl Haupt in Sagenbuch der Lausitz (1862) and by Edmund Veckenstedt in Wendische Legends, fairy tales and superstitious customs (1880) adopted. Karl Haupt (son of JL Haupt) separates the complexes Sybilski and Böser Herr zu Groß Särchen from each other again, but at least optionally maintains the connection: “It is also said that he [d. H. Sybilski] was that evil gentleman in Groß-Särchen who always drove from this village in the air to Dresden and on this occasion drove the top of the Kamenz church tower to shame. "

The name Krabat does not appear anywhere in the collections of sagas mentioned (all in German). The Krabat tradition developed exclusively in Sorbian-language publications until the end of the 19th century , whereby the Wittichenau chronicle remains the only one in which the Krabat legend is explicitly associated with the historical person Johann Schadowitz . None of the following adaptations come back to the Croatian officer or explain the exotic name Krabat. Instead, the protagonist is given an ever more detailed native biography. The localization of Krabat as the lord of the manor in Groß Särchen remains almost constant , while the events through which he comes to this position are presented differently in each processing.

Franz Schneider's Krabat excursus actually represents a foreign body within his chronicle and is accordingly kept short and distant. The oldest written story, the intention of which is actually to present a Krabat saga , was published by the Sorbian clergyman Michał Hórnik (Michael Hornig) in 1858 in the monthly supplement of the Sorbian weekly journal Serbske Nowiny under the title Krabat. Powjestka z ludu. (German analogous: Krabat. A story from the people. ). In addition to the soldier's magic and the air journey , Hórnik's first episodes from the childhood and youth of the protagonist appear: Krabat learns the art of magic in a black school in Leipzig. Every year one of the students falls for the devil, but Krabat is saved by his mother by recognizing him among his comrades, even though they are all turned into ravens. The fairy tale De Gaudeif un sien Meester , which has been featured in the children's and household tales of the Brothers Grimm since 1819, contains a similar complex of motifs .

The next version of the Krabat saga was written down in 1861 by students at the Wendish seminary in Prague, and it was only printed in 1865 by Georg Gustav Kubasch (Jurij Gustav Kubaš) under the title Khrabat. (Z luda.) (German: Khrabat. From the vernacular. ) In the journal Łužičan . In it, Khrabat is the son of a poor man, who was also called Khrabat, and has to tend pigs and calves in his childhood. The Turkey adventures are broadly executed. The circle of motifs around the magic book appears new - a complex of legends that is also widespread in many variants.

A few years later, Franz Schneider's Khronika Kulowa / Chronik von Wittichenau reflects the growing scope of the saga: In the version printed in 1878, the text passage relating to Krabat has been expanded a lot compared to the handwritten original from 1848/1852, including the destruction of the Magic book included.

The story Bajka wo Krabace (German: Story of Krabat ) by Johann Goltsch (Jan Gólč), printed in the magazine Łužica in 1885, is relatively simple, the episodes about Krabat's apprenticeship as a magician and the adventures in Turkey are missing.

Again in the Łužica published Christian Traugott Pfuhl (Křesćan Bohuwěr Pful) 1887 history Krabat. Po ludzacym powjedanju. (German: Krabat. After telling the people. ) In addition to a few other extensions, this version, which has also been considerably expanded in literary terms, for the first time contains the motif of the heavenly sign at Krabat's death: If a raven appears on the house where he died, this indicates that Krabat's soul is lost on the other hand, a white dove, is it saved. Pfuhl is the first Krabat author to provide at least a rudimentary commentary on his sources. With regard to the newly recorded motifs, he notes that in the folk tradition he found them inconsistent, partly related to Krabat, partly also related to other and nameless protagonists. He specifies the occurrence of the personal name Krabat only for the Delany area and the wider area, specifically the place Commerau , otherwise only vaguely: "on the field". At the end he writes: “This is how the reader sees that and how I composed the scattered remnants and fragments of the Krabater story into a coherent whole.” By what standards he identified alleged “remnants and fragments” as belonging to the Krabat saga, however, is not closer explained. For example, he integrated a variation of the story of the cock's beam, which was already part of the children's and house fairy tales . Pfuhl does not go into the previous versions of the Krabat saga either.

Georg Pilk (Jurij Pilk) finally collected a whole series of other motifs and episodes in 1896 in a version entitled The Wendish Faust Sage or Serbski Faust . For the first time, the village of Eutrich near Königswartha is mentioned as the place of Krabat's childhood, as is a black mill near Schwarzkollm as a place of magician training. Pilk elegantly circumvents the mystery of the strange name by introducing Krabat as the stepson of a poor Wendish cattle herder. In extensive preceding and following comments, Pilk remarks, among other things: "The legend, or rather the saga of the sorcerer Krabat, the Wendish Faust, is more familiar and familiar to the Slavic inhabitants of both Lusatia than any other such tradition." And: "[ ] that are ... have been printed from a living on everyone's lips sagas such as this until now only two small fragments. "for this purpose, reference is made (in the Sorbian translation) the collections main 1863 and Veckenstedt 1880, although these no Krabat occurs . The relevant reference at Haupt is the story of the evil gentleman in Groß Särchen. Veckenstedt means a story that was published by Hendrich Jordan in 1879 under the title Koklaŕski (German: The Sorcerer's Apprentice ) as a Niederlausitzer saga in the journal Časopis Maćicy Serbskeje , but very similarly with the title The Magic Competition as early as 1845 in German Fairy Tale Book by Ludwig Bechstein and in 1854 in Fairy Tales for the Young by Heinrich Pröhle . Since the same complex of motifs also appears in De Gaudeif un sien Meester , the Krabat legend now contains an almost complete duplicate of this fairy tale. Like Pfuhl, however, Pilk relies emphatically on oral folk tradition and assures: "[...] that the text of the Krabat saga is not in the least extended by extraneous additions." The Schneider Chronicle does not seem to have been known to Pilk at the time, because he reports on his own (unsuccessful) research to find a historical model of the Krabat.

In contrast to all previous arrangements, Pilk's Krabaterzählung first appeared in German in the magazine Sächsischer Erzähler , only then was it translated into Sorbian by Mikławš Andricki for the Łužica . The German-language version was included in the anthology Bunte Bilder aus dem Sachsenlande in 1900 . Through this work, which was also designed as a school reading and had more than twenty editions up to the 1920s, the Krabat saga was first spread throughout Saxony.

1903 brought Heinrich Andreas Schömmel with the essay The Lausitz magician Krabat (Johann von Schadewitz) in the journal mountain friend Croatian officer back to mind and added some biographical details, he also led some examples of Krabat episodes from different resources.

Also in 1903, Alfred Meiche, in collaboration with Georg Pilk, included the Krabat legend in the legends of the Kingdom of Saxony . The complex From an Evil Lord in Big Särchen was moved from the Sybilski saga to the Krabat saga, so that the episode of river bed plowing, which no author had previously associated with Krabat, also found its way into the latter. In addition, further episodes that did not exist in Pilk 1896 and different passages from the previous versions were woven in. The sources are Łužičan 1865 [= Kubasch], Łužica 1885 [= Goltsch], Gebirgsfreund XV. Jg. [= Schömmel] and Haupt vol. 1 No. 219 [= Karl Haupt 1862] are given. The written fixation of the popular crab legend was practically complete. The oral tradition, however, remained dynamic. For example, Paul Nedo (Pawoł Nedo) reported in 1956, after hearing old people in the region around Big Särchen tell him about Krabat stories, that new jugglers' motifs kept appearing in each of them.

Modern literary arrangements

Arcade and servants' house of the “Krabat-Mühle” adventure farm in Koselbruch near Schwarzkollm at the time of construction in 2008.

Měrćin Nowak-Njechorński

With Mišter Krabat (German title: Master Krabat the good Sorbian magician ), Měrćin Nowak-Njechorński published the first modern version of the Krabat material in 1954, initially in Sorbian, and a year later a German translation by Jurij Brězan appeared . Měrćin Nowak-Njechorński implemented the material in a socialist spirit.

Jurij Brězan

Krabat is the main character in three novels by the eminent Sorbian writer Jurij Brězan : The Black Mill (1968), Krabat or The Transformation of the World (1976) and Krabat or The Preservation of the World (1993).

Otfried Preussler

The legendary figure became known to a wider public outside the GDR primarily through the youth book Krabat by Otfried Preußler , which appeared in 1971 and is a popular school reading material. There are a few differences in the novel to the original legend: Krabat does not get lost in the forest, as at the beginning of the legend, and stumble upon the mill, but is called to the mill in three dreams by the master's voice. While the apprentices betray him to their master in the legend, in the book they are allied with him or behave passively. Nor is it his mother's love that saves him, but the love of a girl, the Kantorka ( cantor ). The book ends with the release from the mill.

Artistic adaptations

Krabat figure in Weißwasser , Jürgen Bergmann, 1989
Krabat as a clay raven on walls in Schwarzkollm

Stage processing

  • The children's opera Krabat (1982) by Cesar Bresgen based on Preußler's book was premiered in 1983.
  • Also in 1983, the play Krabat based on the book by Preußler was premiered in the Düsseldorf Marionette Theater and has been one of the regular productions ever since.
  • In 1997 the two-part opera Die Legende vom Krabat was premiered at the Neuköllner Oper in Berlin by Winfried Radeke (music and direction), Peter Lund (script and direction), Hans-Peter Kirchberg (musical direction).
  • In 1994 the play Krabat by Nina Achminow was premiered in the Prinzregententheater in Munich (production by Alexander Schulin , set design by Cornelia Brunn, music by Estampie ). Krabat: Konstantin Moreth, the master: Joseph Hannesschläger, Kantorka: Juliane Kosarev
  • In 2003 the Heimatverein Groß Särchen e. V. performed the play Nitscho around the legendary figure Krabat in Hoyerswerda.
  • In May 2007, Fredrik Zeller's opera Krabat , a setting of Preußler's novel, had its world premiere at the Nationaltheater Mannheim as part of the “Junge Oper” program.
  • The material for the stage was also used in the ballet opera Krabat and The Creation of the World by Enjott Schneider .
  • The Schweizer Theater-Pack ( Fabrikpalast ) staged Preussler's youth novel Krabat as a light and shadow theater with human shadows and masks.
  • The Erlebnishof Krabatmühle in Schwarzkollm has been organizing the Krabat Festival every July since 2012 , a performance of one of several specially written plays.
  • The German-Argentine choreographer Demis Volpi created his ballet Krabat based on the novel by Otfried Preußler for the Stuttgart Ballet. It premiered on March 22, 2013.

Movies

music

  • In 2001 the band Stillste Stund took up the legend of Krabat in their song "Mühle mahlt", from the album "Ursprung Paradoxon".
  • In 2006 the music formation ASP began implementing the legend in the form of a fifteen-part Krabat song cycle , which was released on August 29, 2008 as a concept album .

Radio plays

In August 2008, the 15-minute short radio play "Krabat and the black pump" (by Daniel Ebert and Sebastian Tschöpel) was made, which was one of the nominees for the "Premiere-im-Netz-2008" competition within the framework of the ARD radio play days. This is a reinterpretation with reference to the current opencast mining situation in Lusatia .

The old Krabat legend is told in the audio book "Krabat - The Magician". (October 2008, speaker: Heinz Drewniok , edition Sächsische Zeitung) The audio version is based on the version from the saga of the Kingdom of Saxony .

Krabat festival

Every year a Krabat festival takes place in the region around Hoyerswerda and Wittichenau.

Others

Krabat pillar in Wittichenau
  • Due to the subject of seduction by the devil, Krabat is also called the Sorbian Faust .
  • Krabat and the black miller are official ambassadors for Upper Lusatia .
  • In Wittichenau there is a sandstone pillar , the Krabat pillar , which reproduces the motifs of the legend.
  • There is also a Krabat elementary school in Wittichenau.
  • The German rock band Krabat (founded in 1992) takes its name from the folk tale.
  • In 2001, Krabat has returned, the first computer game (PC CD-ROM) was published in Upper and Lower Sorbian . It was developed by the RAPAKI (Sorb. The Ravens) project group on behalf of the Foundation for the Sorbian People .
  • On October 29, 2015, a follow-up game was published under the title Krabat and the Secret of the Wenden King (Windows PC). It also represents the second computer game ever developed in the Sorbian language. The game contains Upper Sorbian voice output as well as Lower Sorbian and German text versions.

swell

  • Marie-Luise Ehrhardt: The Krabat legend. Source studies on the tradition and effect of literary material from Lusatia , (= cultural and intellectual history studies of East Central Europe; Volume 1), NG Elwert Verlag, Marburg 1982, ISBN 3-7708-0715-4
  • Susanne Hose: Talking about Krabat. Fairy tale, myth and magic. Lusatia-Verlag, Bautzen 2013, ISBN 978-3-936758-81-8
  • Kristin Luban (Ed.): Krabat: Analyzes and Interpretations , Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, IKMZ University Library, Cottbus 2008. ISBN 978-3-940471-08-6 ( PDF; 4 MB )
  • Paul Nedo: Krabat. On the creation of a Sorbian folk tale. in: German yearbook for folklore. Second volume born in 1956 , published by the Institute for German Folklore at the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin by Wilhelm Fraenger, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, digitized at www.digi-hub.de (University Library of the Humboldt University Berlin)
  • Krabat - Aspects of a Sorbian Legend , Center for Teacher Education at the University of Potsdam, editor Martin Neumann; The document contains the contents of various Krabat sagas and historical references. (PDF; 10.9 MB; CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ From an evil gentleman in Groß-Särchen , published in: 1) Joachim Leopold Haupt: Neues Lausitzisches Magazin . No. 14, NF 2, Görlitz 1837, pp. 203–204 limited preview in Google book search 2) Karl Haupt : Sagenbuch der Lausitz. Volume 1: The Spiritual Realm. Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1862, pp. 184–185 limited preview in Google book search 3) Separately reprinted in: Neues Lausitzisches Magazin. Volume 40, Görlitz 1863, pp. 180-181 restricted preview in the Google book search
  2. ↑ Jurij Pilk, Adolf Anders: 1) Der Wendish Faust , 1896, in: Saxon narrator. Illustrated supplement, No. 14 2) Sorbian: Serbki Faust , 1896, in: Łužica. Year 15, Issue 5, pp. 26–29; P. 33–37 (translated by Mikławš Andricki) 3) The Wendish Faust legend. 1900, in: Colorful pictures from the Sachsenlande . Volume 3, Leipzig, pp. 191–201 ( digitized SLUB Dresden )
  3. ↑ The Theater Pack: Krabat - by Otfried Preussler
  4. ^ Website of the Krabat Festival
  5. ↑ ARD competition page ( Memento from October 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Krabatsage.de
  7. ^ Website of the Krabat primary school in Wittichenau
  8. ↑ Internet presence of the RAPAKI project group
  9. ↑ Bastian Pauly: Legendary Sorbs: PC adventure around Krabat completely in Sorbian. In: Märkische Allgemeine . November 4, 2015, accessed April 28, 2020 .

Web links

Wikisource: Krabat  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Krabat  - collection of images, videos and audio files