Leo Weismantel

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Leo Weismantel (1954)

Leo Weismantel (born June 10, 1888 in Obersinn im Spessart ; died September 16, 1964 in Rodalben / Rhineland-Palatinate ) was a German writer and educationalist .

Live and act

Leo Weismantel was born as the seventh child of the businessman August Weismantel and his wife Barbara in Obersinn , a village in what is now the Main-Spessart district.

After attending the Gymnasium in Münnerstadt , which he left after his serious illness with tuberculosis without an Abitur but with the primary school leaving certificate, he had received special permission from the Ministry to be able to do his Abitur, which he succeeded within nine weeks. After 1908 in Würzburg recorded studying philology , philosophy and natural sciences , he was in 1914 with a geographical monograph on the Haßberge summa cum laude at the University of Würzburg Dr. phil. PhD . Weismantel was a member of the Catholic student association KDStV Cheruscia Würzburg in the Cartell Association , which had its pub with a garden at Weingartenstrasse 8.

After initial publications, Weismantel, who lived at Blumenstrasse 10 (today Eichendorffstrasse), was listed as a "writer" in the Würzburg address book as early as 1912. In his subsequent time as a teacher ("Realthrer") for German, geography and history from 1915 to 1919 at the Adam Institute, a private commercial and secondary school for boys at Sanderglacisstrasse 27 (renamed in 1946 in Friedrich-Ebert-Ring) he married and lived on the second floor at Friedenstrasse 51, not far from the school, and published his first novel Mari Madlen in 1917 . This "novel from the Rhön" established his reputation as a writer.

Weismantel left school in 1920, became the "publishing director" of the newly founded Patmos publishing house and moved to Marktbreit am Main , where he worked as a freelance writer as well as educationally and politically.

With his novel Mari Madlen and especially with the stage play Der Totentanz (1921), Leo Weismantel met the feelings of the time and the youth after the First World War . The Quickborn youth invited him to Rothenfels Castle at the beginning of the 1920s . Here met Weismantel the two youth leaders Romano Guardini and Heinrich Kahlefeld from Quickborn, and the first still in federal New Germany (ND), and later with the Norman Steinern active Alfons Maria Lins . The spiritual closeness to this group of people led to a lasting friendship based on mutual esteem, which resulted in a number of further visits to Rothenfels. The fruits of the connection to Alfons Lins, the later pastor of Bad Orb , are the story Der Richter von Orb and the Orber Ballade , which Weismantel wrote for the 900th anniversary of the spa town.

From 1924 to 1928, Weismantel represented the Christian Social Party (renamed “Christian Social Reich Party” in 1925) as a member of the Bavarian State Parliament without being a party member.

Photo taken around 1930 by Max Glauer

In his private teaching and research institute "School of the People", founded in Marktbreit in 1928, he devoted himself primarily to reform pedagogical topics until 1933. In 1931 he was one of the co-founders of the German section - "World Association for the Renewal of Education" - in the New Education Fellowship .

His institute did not fit into the time of National Socialism with the political persecution that began in 1933 and limited publication options, which is why he had to close it in 1936. He moved back to Würzburg, first in a house belonging to his connection at Cheruscia at Zeppelinstraße 3, then from 1939 to a house built by Balthasar Neumann in 1746 for the sculptor Lukas van der Auwera at Theaterstraße 4. Nevertheless, he was one of the 88 writers who signed the pledge of loyal allegiance to Adolf Hitler in October 1933 . In the same year he wrote The Solstice Celebration of Young Germany .

In Würzburg he turned to religious subjects and wrote biographies of saints and artists. The New Book , the review magazine of the Borromeo Association , praised his biographies, but pointed out that Weismantel described "church grievances with great openness" (as in the biography of Vincent de Paul ) and that he emphasized Francis of Assisi "in deliberate opposition to The Church and its dignitaries' lust for pomp and power ”. The new book therefore recommended that the Catholic libraries “reserve these books for readers who are capable of judgment”. His novel “Judgment on Veit Stoss”, published in 1939, is particularly influenced by his Catholic attitude. The values ​​of individualism and humanism represented in this work could be understood as a critique of the prevailing worldview. His commitment to Catholicism led to his first imprisonment in 1939. In 1942 a publication ban was issued for his works. In 1944 he was arrested for the second time by the Gestapo and interned in a special camp in Würzburg.

During the bombing of Würzburg on March 16, 1945 by the British Royal Air Force , his apartment at Theaterstrasse 4 was also destroyed, so that, after three days after the bombing, Weismantel returned to his birthplace in Obersinn returned.

As early as the fall of 1944, the Americans drew up a “white list” of personalities who were to be won over to participate in the democratic renewal. This also included Weismantel, who was being considered as Bavarian minister of education. Weismantel refused this post and became a school councilor in the former district of Gemünden. From 1947 to 1951, Weismantel was Professor of German and Art Education at the Pedagogical Institute in Fulda .

His rejection of the denominational school and the Pope's attitude towards it ( concordat judgment of the BverfG 1957 ), his protests against the rearmament of the Federal Republic of Germany and finally his warnings for an understanding with the GDR and the USSR as well as the applause from this camp led Weismantel in the Federal Republic of Germany to the isolation. A local newspaper called him "listening to communists". In December 1954, the city of Würzburg invited him to speak again for the 150th anniversary of the city ​​theater after his participation in a writers' meeting at the Wartburg (Thuringia) became known. From 1955 his works were also published by Union Verlag Berlin , in 1957 he attended the World Youth Festival in Moscow, in 1961 he was a guest of honor at the V German Writers' Congress in East Berlin.

From 1949 to 1954 he was a member of the German Academy for Language and Poetry and from 1950 of the German PEN Center (Federal Republic).

Leo Weismantel died after a heart attack. He is buried in Jugenheim an der Bergstrasse . His literary estate is in the archive of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. He left behind two children, Gertrud (1916–1989) and Werner Weismantel (1920–1992).

Honors

Works (selection)

Novels

  • 1918 Mari Madlen
  • 1922 The unholy house
  • 1925 The Elector .
  • 1928 The old village
  • 1932 The history of the Herkommer house
  • 1932 rebels in the name of God
  • 1933 Dying in the streets
  • 1934 The plague of 1633
  • 1936 Eveline. The novel of a marriage
  • 1938 The Sibyl. The story of a seer
  • 1940 The heirs of the relaxed Jeanette
  • 1940 years of becoming
  • 1941 The forerunner (novel about the piper von Niklashausen )

Biographical novels

  • 1931 Elisabeth . The story of a memorable life. Sebaldus, Nuremberg 1931; Augustinus, Würzburg 1949
  • 1936 Dill Riemenschneider . The novel of his life . Herder, Freiburg i. Br. 1936; 6-8 Edition Karl Alber, Munich 1940–1941; Kerle, Heidelberg 1958; Union Verlag Berlin (GDR) 1962 and 1968
  • 1937 The good works of Mr. Vincent . Herder, Freiburg, four editions until 1954 (about Vinzenz von Paul )
  • 1938 Lionardo da Vinci . The story of a painter who dared to look God and the world in the face. Staufen-Verlag, Cologne 1938 and 1947; Union Verlag, Berlin (GDR) 1963
  • 1938 Franz and Clara . The story of the love of two great people . Rauch, Innsbruck 1938; Kerle, Heidelberg 1947 and 1950
  • 1939 Judgment on Veit Stoss of an honorable council of hopelessly restless citizens. A carver's tragedy . Karl Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1939, 1941, 1947; Union Verlag, Berlin (GDR) 1958, 1962, 1970; Verlag Nürnberger Presse 1983; Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1988
  • 1941 The love-dead couple. Roman from childhood and formative years of Mathis Nithart who falsely Matthias Grünewald was named . Karl Alber, Munich 1941
  • 1941 The colorful rock in the world. Roman from the hiking and early masters years of Mathis Nithart who falsely Matthias Grünewald was named . Karl Alber, Munich 1941
  • 1943 The infernal trinity. Roman from the years of the completion of the Master Mathis Nithart who falsely Matthias Grünewald was named . Karl Alber, Munich 1943; 2nd edition Karl Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1950; Union Verlag, Berlin (GDR) 1966
  • 1949 Elisabeth . The story of a memorable life. FA Kerle, Heidelberg; 1957 St. Benno-Verlag GmbH, Leipzig
  • 1950 Albrecht Dürer . The young master. Karl Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1950; Union Verlag 1950, 2nd edition 1954; Union Verlag, Berlin (GDR) 1956, 1957
  • 1950 Albrecht Dürer's bridal trip around the world. Childhood, apprenticeship and years of traveling. Karl Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1950; Union Verlag, Berlin (GDR) 1956

stories

  • 1923 The witch
  • 1923 musicians and pilgrims
  • 1924 The foolish suitor
  • 1926 The distress of the peasants. The fate of Hans Böhm , the Timpanist from Niklashausen
  • 1927 The story of the Orb judge
  • 1936 Holy the Reich - the last battle
  • 1940 Venus and the antiquarian
  • 1940 The last of Sankt Klaren
  • 1940 The heirs of the relaxed Jeanette
  • 1941 Tertullian Wolf. The story of the pastor of Sparbrot

Stage plays

  • 1919 The Horsemen of the Apocalypse
  • 1920 The guardian under the gallows
  • 1921 The dance of death. A game of life and death in our day . Patmos, Frankfurt 1921
  • 1924 The pilgrimage to Bethlehem
  • 1925 The Elector. A Rhenish festival
    The Elector. A game from the fatherland. (Version of the world premiere in the Kaiserthermen (Trier) on July 18, 1925)
  • 1933 The solstice celebration of young Germany. A game of consecration to the new folk race
  • 1941/42 Salas y Gomez (tragedy)

Non-fiction

  • 1924 The book of puppet shows. Publishing house of the Bühnenvolksbund, Frankfurt a. M.
  • 1929 shadow play book. Shadow plays of the secular and spiritual year and instructions for making a shadow play stage and for shadow play. Filser, Augsburg
  • 1935 From the basics of a popular art education. Schwann, Düsseldorf
  • 1937 The Adoration of the Lamb. A little book on the purity of life. Rauch, Innsbruck / Leipzig
  • 1947 The young Dürer . Lux-Jugend-Lesebogen 2, Verlag Sebastian Lux, Murnau / Munich
  • 1949 The loom - about farmers, weavers, factory workers and their need. Glock and Lutz, Nuremberg

Children's book

  • around 1935/40 Wunderschön-Magnificent - A life of Mary in songs and pictures , illustrated by Andreas Meier

Autobiography

  • My life . Junker and Dünnhaupt, Berlin 1936

Others

  • About Würzburg's future. Review and planning. In: Main-Post from August 2, 1946.
  • As (co-) editor: Today and Tomorrow. Monthly magazine for art, literature, science, current affairs. LW, Jean-Paul Sartre , Hanns Jacobs, Hans F. Secker, Carl Niessen, Manfred Pahl-Rugenstein. Progress-Verlag Johann Fladung, Düsseldorf
  • As co-editor: sheets for German and international politics
  • As an employee: spirit and time. A two-month publication for art, literature and science. Johann Fladung as editor. With the collaboration of Fritz Helling , Hanns Jacobs, Hanna Meuter , Franz Paul Schneider , Hans F. Secker, Leo Weismantel, Walter Wenzel . Edited by Katharina Fuchs-Arndt. Progress, Darmstadt 1960
  • 1985 (posthumous) lamentation over a city
  • 1988 The castle in the Sifth. Legends and traditions from the Rhön. Selection and editing Gertrud Weismantel. Parzeller publishing house, Fulda 1988.

literature

Essays
  • Gerhard Armanski: The warning from the Rhön. Leo Weismantel, man of letters and educator . In: Ders .: Fränkische Literaturlese. Essays on poets between Main and Danube; Max Dauthendey , Elisabeth Engelhardt , Gisela Elsner , Friedrich Rückert , Süßkind von Trimberg , Moritz August von Thümmel , Leo Weismantel . Verlag Königshausen & Neumann, Würzburg 1998, pp. 113–128, ISBN 3-8260-1497-9 .
  • Ernst Klee : Leo Weismantel . In Ders .: The cultural lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5 .
  • Arno Klönne: Leo Weismantel. A Frankish poet and educator . In: Mainfränkisches Jahrbuch für Geschichte und Kunst , Vol. 37 (1985), pp. 162-173, ISSN  0076-2725 .
  • Regina Rinke: Leo Weismantel. A poet from the Rhön . In: Rhönwacht. Journal of the Rhön Club , 2008, No. 4, pp. 170–171.
  • Michael Stark, Leo Weismantel (1888-1964) . In: Franconian pictures of life . New series of images of life from Franconia, volume 12. Commission publisher Degener, Neustadt / Aisch 1986, ISBN 3-7686-9093-8 , pp. 293-305.
  • Hermann Heim, Alfons Maria Lins, A life for the people , Catholic parish St. Martin, Bad Orb, 2018
Monographs
  • Ernst Iros: Leo Weismantel, the poet and cultural politician. Psychokosmos Verlag, Munich 1929.
  • Leonie Flab-Lichtenberg (Ed.): Leo Weismantel. Life and work. A book for the poet's 60th birthday . Würzburg 1985 (Unchanged reprint) by:
    Rudolf Reuter (Ed.): Leo Weismantel. Life and work. A book of thanks for the poet's 60th birthday. A. Nauck, Berlin 1948
  • Franz Gerth: Leo Weismantel (Christian in the world; Vol. 21). Union-Verlag, Berlin 1968.
  • Arno Klönne: Leo Weismantel. A portrait on the 20th anniversary of his death . Bayerischer Rundfunk, Nuremberg 1974 (manuscript for broadcast on September 16, 1984).
  • Arno Klönne (Red.): "But God doesn't like those who creep". The poet and popular educator Leo Weismantel. Festschrift for the 100th birthday . Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 1988, ISBN 3-8204-1153-4 .
  • Kurt Illing, Irene Lorenz: Franconian way and lament for the dead. Leo Weismantel. In: Kurt Illing (Ed.): In the footsteps of the poets in Würzburg. Self-published (print: Max Schimmel Verlag), Würzburg 1992, pp. 111–119.
  • Robert Küppers: The pedagogue Leo Weismantel and his "School of the People", 1928–1936 (studies on pedagogy, andragogy and gerontagogy; vol. 12). Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt / M. 1992, ISBN 3-631-44429-X (also dissertation, TH Aachen 1991).
  • Karl-August Helfenbein: Leo Weismantel's poetic art education at the Pedagogical Institute in Fulda . In: Buchenblätter - supplement of the Fuldaer Zeitung for Heimatfreunde, 88th volume, number 24 of December 21, 2015, p. 96.
Lexicons

Web links

Commons : Leo Weismantel  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ House No. 71, today Hauptstrasse 54 The "Weismantelhaus"
  2. ↑ a b Christiane Schlötzer: Where the spirits live. The black bread of home: an homage to the Rhön . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of September 30, 2017, p. 51.
  3. ↑ Kurt Illing, Irene Lorenz (1992), pp. 112-115.
  4. ↑ Kurt Illing, Irene Lorenz (1992), p. 115 f.
  5. ↑ Kurt Illing, Irene Lorenz (1992), p. 116.
  6. ↑ Hermann Heim, Alfons Maria Lins, A Life for People , Katholische Kirchengemeinde St. Martin, Bad Orb, 2018, pp. 61, 62, 70
  7. ↑ Hermann Heim, "Alfons Maria Lins, A Life for People", Catholic Church Community St. Martin, Bad Orb, 2018, p. 61
  8. ↑ Alfons Lins, Rudolf Reuter (ed.): Leo Weismantel. Life and work. A book of thanks for the poet's 60th birthday. A. Nauck, Berlin 1948
  9. ↑ Hermann Heim, Alfons Maria Lins, A Life for People , Katholische Kirchengemeinde St. Martin, Bad Orb, 2018, p. 98
  10. ↑ Kurt Illing, Irene Lorenz (1992), pp. 112 and 117.
  11. ^ Ernst Klee : The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 653.
  12. ^ Ernst Klee: The culture lexicon for the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2007, p. 653.
  13. ↑ Quoted from Guido Bee: What Catholics were allowed to read. The magazine "Das Neue Buch" as an instrument for guiding reading in the church library system . In: Communicatio Socialis , Vol. 43 (2010), 252–269, citations p. 266.
  14. ↑ Kurt Illing, Irene Lorenz (1992), p. 112.
  15. ↑ Thoughts on the Christian examination of conscience on the occasion of the Christmas message of December 23, 1956. In: Sheets for German and international politics . Special issue 1)
  16. ^ Leo Weismantel at the German Academy for Language and Poetry
  17. ↑ Obersinn has a Leo Weismantel Museum. Bayerischer Rundfunk , July 19, 2019, accessed on July 19, 2019 .
  18. ^ Documented for issue 11, 1955
  19. ^ Sheets for German and International Politics 12/2006, p. 1462
  20. ↑ occupied for volume 1, Jan / Febr. 1960
personal data
SURNAME Weismantel, Leo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Obersinn , Lower Franconia
DATE OF DEATH September 16, 1964
Place of death Rodalben