Liewer düd ate Slavic

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coat of arms of North Friesland based on ideas from the area around Christian Feddersen

Liewer düd aß Slaawe ( German : "Lieber tot als Sklave "; Low German : "Lever dood as Slav") is a political motto in Frisian that was first documented in the 19th century . It has since been used in numerous Frisian dialect variants and spelling versions, such as Leewer duad ü (ü) s slaaw or Lever duad as Slav , but also in Low German or Standard German.

history

prehistory

The Frisian history and culture is shaped, among other things, by the medieval Frisian freedom , which originally only referred to the Frisians living south of the North Sea. The Dutch pastor Adriaan Westerman from Workum published a collection of sermons in 1653, in the appendix he described the battle of Warns - also: Battle of Stavoren - fought in 1345 , in which the West Frisians killed the Dutch Count Wilhelm IV . In it Westerman writes that the motto of the victorious Frisians Phriso pro Libertate mortem appetit, dat is: Liever doot dan onvrij (literally: "The Frisian accepts death for freedom, that is: Better dead than unfree.") be. He took up the Latin phrase that Enea Silvio , later Pope Pius II , had noted in the 15th century with reference to the Frisians in his work Historia de Europa . In 1671 the motto was also published in a Dutch collection of proverbs.

In 1666, the first of two volumes of Anton Heimreich's work Nord Fresische Chronick ("Nordfriesische Chronik") appeared, in which he first gave the saying in German as "Lieber Tod als unfrey!" And for the first time also referred to the North Frisians. Instead of the reference to the Battle of Warns, Heimreich relocates the validity of the saying to the time of Charlemagne and the Frisian freedom .

In 1819 a new edition of Heimreich's Chronicle was published by Niels Nikolaus Falck . This made the forgotten saying accessible to the public again.

Emergence

In 1839 Gustav Waldemar Gardthausen mentions the Frisians and their strivings for freedom in the appendix to his work Die Ostsee, Poem in Three Songs . He quotes the Latin saying of Enea Silvio, but translates it for the first time as "Dear dead as a slave!"

In the period of Romanticism , around 1844, the " Frisian Movement " emerged in North Frisia , which campaigned for the preservation and further development of a Frisian identity and against Danish rule. Christian Feddersen was one of the main actors . In his Five Words to the North Frisians , already written in 1842 and published in 1845, the Frisian phrase “Liewer düd aß Slaawe” is found for the first time, if he even takes up the saying to warn against a wrong concept of freedom. In 1844 the first home festival of the North Frisians took place in Bredstedt . There the saying was used in Frisian and German on flags and gates of honor , documented by Theodor Storm , among others , who took part in the festival. A few months later, the saying was also well received at a similar festival in Schleswig . In 1845 Knut Jungbohn Clement , who is considered one of the initiators of the Heimatfest, used the saying in his work The Life and Suffering of Frisen, especially the Frisen north of the Elbe . There he already writes on the imprint page : “Lewer duad üs Slaw! Better to die than a sklaw! ”This is the“ motto of all Frisen ”. In a later chapter he notes, with reference to the North Frisian past: "Our motto [was]: Lewer Duad üs Slaw".

use

Inscription on the "Hartwarder Friesen" in Rodenkirchen from 1914

The Sylt Christian Peter Hansen reported in his Chronicle of the Frisian Uthlande published in 1856 that the North Frisians swore in 1252 before the battle of Oldenswort , in which they defeated the Danish King Abel , "in accordance with their old motto (Lewer duad üs Slaaw!)" "To win or to die".

In the ballad Pidder Lüng by the German poet Detlev von Liliencron about the fisherman of the same name from Sylt, this saying ends every line of a verse in the spelling “Lewwer duad üs Slaav”. In the poem The Frisian Home of the East Frisian Harbert Harberts , the saying is mentioned as Lever dood as slav .

The memorial (1946) for the victims of National Socialism in Itzehoe has the inscription "LEWER DUAD ÜS SLAAW"

In the Weimar Republic , “Better dead than a slave” with reference to the Treaty of Versailles became the motto of right-wing parties up to right-wing social democrats. The use of the saying is also attributed to the National Socialists. The SA used it in a song. However, the saying was also used in 1946 on a memorial for the victims of National Socialism in Itzehoe .

An album released in 2009 by the right-wing rock group Freiheitskampf is called Lewwer duad üs Slaaw! In 2015, the hardcore punk band COR released an album entitled Lieber tot als Sklave.

On the Schlüttsieler lock in the outer dike of the Hauke-Haien-Kooges , the saying “Lewer duad as Slaav” is written below the Frisian coat of arms.

The saying “Liewer düd aß Slaawe” can be found in different spelling, depending on the respective dialect, on Frisian memorial stones that were set in honor of the freedom struggles of the Middle Ages in Frisian settlement areas. He is quoted in Warns to commemorate the Battle of Warns, on St. Vitus Hill to commemorate the Battle of Altenesch , on the "Hartwarder Friese" in Rodenkirchen and in North Friesland on the Königskamp in Oldenswort for the battle of 1252.

In East Frisia , the saying Lever dood as Slaav is shouted as a ritual answer to the motto Eala Frya Fresena (for example: "Stand up, you free Frisians").

See also

literature

  • Rudolf Bülck: Lewer duad üs Slaw - history of a political catchphrase. In: Between Eider and Wiedau. Heimatkalender Nordfriesland 1979, Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum undated, without ISBN, pp. 163–193; originally in: Low German Yearbook of the Association for Low German Language Research. Booklet 74. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1951, pp. 99–126.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Bülck: Lewer duad üs Slaw - History of a political catchphrase. In: Between Eider and Wiedau. Heimatkalender Nordfriesland 1979, Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum undated, without ISBN, p. 177.
  2. ^ A b Rudolf Bülck: Lewer duad üs Slaw - history of a political catchphrase. In: Between Eider and Wiedau. Heimatkalender Nordfriesland 1979, Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum undated, without ISBN, p. 169.
  3. ^ Rudolf Bülck: Lewer duad üs Slaw - History of a political catchphrase. In: Between Eider and Wiedau. Heimatkalender Nordfriesland 1979, Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum undated, without ISBN, p. 165.
  4. ^ Rudolf Bülck: Lewer duad üs Slaw - History of a political catchphrase. In: Between Eider and Wiedau. Heimatkalender Nordfriesland 1979, Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum undated, without ISBN, p. 175.
  5. ^ Rudolf Bülck: Lewer duad üs Slaw - History of a political catchphrase. In: Between Eider and Wiedau. Heimatkalender Nordfriesland 1979, Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum undated, without ISBN, p. 179.
  6. ↑ Gustav Waldemar Gardthausen: The Baltic Sea, poem in three songs. S. 144. Digitized at books.google.de
  7. ^ History of the motto at nordfriesland.de , accessed on June 3, 2016
  8. ↑ Christian Feddersen : Five words to the North Frisians. Flensburg 1845, p. 12. Digitized at books.google.de
  9. ^ Rudolf Bülck: Lewer duad üs Slaw - History of a political catchphrase. In: Between Eider and Wiedau. Heimatkalender Nordfriesland 1979, Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum undated, without ISBN, p. 182.
  10. ↑ Knut Jungbohn Clement : The life and suffering story of the Frisen, especially the Frisen north of the Elbe . Christian Bünsow, Kiel 1845, p. 3. Digitized at books.google.de
  11. ↑ Knut Jungbohn Clement: The life and suffering story of the Frisen, especially the Frisen north of the Elbe . Christian Bünsow, Kiel 1845, p. 26. Digitized at books.google.de
  12. ^ Rudolf Bülck: Lewer duad üs Slaw - History of a political catchphrase. In: Between Eider and Wiedau. Heimatkalender Nordfriesland 1979, Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum undated, without ISBN, p. 170.
  13. ^ Christian Peter Hansen : Chronicle of the Frisian Uthlande. Altona 1856, p. 40; 2nd ed., Garding 1877, p. 43
  14. ^ Rudolf Bülck: Lewer duad üs Slaw - History of a political catchphrase. In: Between Eider and Wiedau. Heimatkalender Nordfriesland 1979, Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum undated, without ISBN, p. 163.
  15. ^ Text Pidder Lüng
  16. ↑ Text Die Frisische Heimat at mumag.de , accessed on June 5, 2016
  17. ↑ Karl-Joseph Hummel, Christoph Kösters: Church, War and Catholics: History and Memory in the 20th Century. Herder, Freiburg / Breisgau 2014, ISBN 978-3-451-80223-2 . Excerpts from books.google.de
  18. ^ Speech by Julius Lebers on October 19, 1929 , accessed on June 4, 2016
  19. ↑ "Fertile soil for Nazis". The daily newspaper of January 30, 2008, accessed on June 4, 2016
  20. ↑ Entry of the album on discogs.com , accessed June 5, 2016
  21. ^ Astrid Paulsen, Ulrike Looft-Gaude: The black leaders Hamburg - Schleswig-Holstein. Eulen Verlag, Freiburg 1998, ISBN 3-89102-426-6 , p. 89
  22. ^ Harry Kunz: Places of remembrance in North Friesland . Nordfriisk Instituut, Bredstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-88007-355-5 ( husumer-stadtgeschichte.de [PDF; 137 kB ; accessed on 23 September 2013] p. 164 (memorial stone to the battle of Oldenswort)).
  23. ↑ Description of the coat of arms at botschaft-ostfriesland.de , accessed on June 7, 2016