Ludwig Schödl

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Ludwig Schödl (born October 31, 1909 in Berlin , † February 20, 1997 in Neuruppin ) was a worker Esperantist who worked illegally for the German Workers' Esperanto Association (AEB) after 1933. He played a central role in the Esperanto language community that developed in the GDR despite the Esperanto organization and publication ban (1949–1961) . As a school director in Neuruppin, he taught Esperanto, published the first Esperanto textbook in the GDR (1967) and supervised the correspondence course based on it.

Life

1909–1930 apprenticeship, Walz and Esperanto

As the son of a locksmith, Ludwig Schödl aspired to training as a craftsman. That is why the young person broke off his high school attendance after a year and learned the trade of toolmaker from 1924 to 1928 at the Schwartzkopff company in Berlin during a four-year training course .

Then he went on the roll for two years . He wandered through Austria , Switzerland , Czechoslovakia , France , Spain and Portugal , gained work and life experience on the way and learned the language Esperanto. He always had a textbook with him. He later recalled: “Time passed, we left France, came to Spain, and finally we met the first Esperantists in Valencia . I was able to talk to them poorly, and that was the victory of Esperanto for me personally. "

1930–1933 Worker Esperantist and translator of proletarian Esperanto correspondence (PEK)

In 1930 he returned to Berlin and, since he was unemployed, devoted his time and energy to the AEB, of which he became a member.

The AEB, founded in 1911 in the context of the SPD as a workers 'cultural organization, has belonged to the "Interest Group for Workers' Culture " (IfA) since the Congress in Essen (1930) and now had a communist orientation. Schödl did not notice any contact with the neutral or social democratic Esperanto movement. He later confessed: “Unfortunately I have to say today that I didn't know anything about it and didn't notice anything. I had no idea from many Esperantists whom I later learned to respect. "

Schödl, who lived on Bellermannstrasse, was mainly employed at Dircksenstrasse 42, where the AEB office was located from 1930 to 1933. He transported parcels of books and magazines, learned to write typewriters and did paperwork. He worked with Alice Wiebach (1906–2000, his wife from 1944), with Ernst Kissler, József Batta (1900–1937). Wilhelm Wildebrand (1904–1998), and Herbert Murawkin (1905–1937). In 1932 he joined the KPD.

In the same year he was elected chairman of the Berlin AEB group with around 250 members. Above all, he organized Esperanto courses, the Proletarian Esperanto Correspondence (PEK) and the resulting contacts abroad

Schödl later emphasized: “Today every newspaper, if it is self-respecting, has foreign correspondents, whether it is in Japan, China, America or Brazil. That was not the case back then, especially for the workers' press. "

As part of the PEK, worker Esperantists from other countries sent letters with reports to Dircksenstrasse. Schödl translated and typed them together with Alice. Then they were given to the workers' press in Germany. In addition, PEK booklets with reports in Esperanto about Germany were published and sent to other countries.

The office of the SAT opposition (Communist Opposition in the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda - SAT, the Anational World Association) had been at the AEB in Berlin since 1930. The magazine "Internaciisto" appeared there as a reaction to the SAT newspaper "Sennaciulo".

Ludwig Schödl and his future wife Alice were involved in the preparation and organization of the founding congress of the IPE in 1932 in Berlin. In the International Proletarian Esperantists - IPE, communist-oriented workers' Esperanto organizations had come together internationally.

1933–1945 illegality, prison and starting a family

When the AEB office was closed by the police in 1933, Schödl was able to leave without arousing suspicion and warn others. He now lived tucked away on Reinickendorfer Strasse and illegally continued his work for the banned AEB

He was involved in the organization of secret meetings of Esperanto friends at Pentecost in Tiefensee and regular meetings in Jungfernheide / Saatwinkel until the summer of 1933 . With Hans Schwendi, the participants learned to teach Esperanto. With his methodological material, Schödl taught successfully himself. Together with Adolf Schwarz (1906–1996) he produced camouflaged fonts with the help of a duplicating machine rescued from Dircksenstrasse - externally advertising for Nivea and internally PEK reports in Esperanto about life in Germany.

As a courier, he rode his bike through Germany to make contact with GLEA and IfA friends and groups.

Because of the danger of discovery, Schödl had to emigrate in the summer of 1933. He received the order from the AEB to visit the IPE office in London and went illegally across the Ore Mountains , through Czechoslovakia and Austria to France, where he was arrested and expelled to Switzerland. He returned to Berlin via Vienna and was sent to France to take part in the 1934 IPE Congress in Lille . Then he organized a conference of functionaries of the former workers' Esperanto movement in Bad Ischl .

Since the beginning of the war he was in several internment camps in southern France, most recently in Montauban . In 1941 he left the unoccupied zone of France to contact the Resistance , but was arrested on the train and transferred to the Gestapo police prison on Alexanderplatz in Berlin and then to the Lehrter Strasse remand prison . The process followed.

He returned home at Christmas 1941 and went to work at “E. Schroth, teachings and tools ”. He was declared for UK (indispensable) and was able to evade military service.

He was briefly imprisoned again in 1944 while visiting relatives in Vienna. In the same month Ludwig and Alice Schödl married. The shared apartment at Markgrafendamm 30 was bombed out in February 1945, so they lived with his parents in Berlin-Wittenau for some time . In 1945 the daughter Ingrid was born.

1945–1949 new teacher with Esperanto lessons

Ludwig Schödl, now with his wife and child, reoriented himself professionally. In the Villa Borsig in Berlin-Tegel he set up a home for 30 young people whose parents were victims of fascism. He looked after them until the arrival of the French troops.

Schödl then moved to Großzerlang in the Soviet occupation zone (today a district of Rheinsberg ). He became a school trainee and a new teacher . He continued this activity in the village of Linow (1946–1949). He taught in "a one-class village school ... pupils of all 8 grade levels, always several levels in one room, in all subjects."

He taught Esperanto in both villages.

At that time the Esperanto movement flourished in the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ). On September 29, 1946, Esperanto speakers from 38 cities founded the “Working Group of German Esperantists in the Soviet Zone - AES” in Dresden-Neustadt .

But in 1949 a decree proclaimed a ban on Esperanto organization and publication in the Soviet Zone, which continued to apply in the GDR until 1961.

1949–1965 From new teacher to Esperanto - lessons to school director and committed advocate of the lifting of the Esperanto ban

In 1949 Schödl moved with the family to Neuruppin to work as a mathematics teacher at the Fontane School. It was a girls' school, but it soon went over to common lessons for girls and boys. In addition to teaching, Schödl successfully completed his studies as a mathematics teacher.

1951-1969 he was the director of the school, which from 1953 was called "School of Peace". In the historic building at the old Gymnasium 14 (today: Montessori Children's House) was his director's room on the first floor, in the anteroom his wife Alice, a trained clerk , worked as a school secretary.

Schödl founded and led a school peace council. Through his extensive Esperanto correspondence (including with Jicuro Nakamura, Isao Hukunaga, Josiharu Sindo, A. Chambers, Asen Grigorov, G. Holmkvist, Marcelle Robineau, Kavenius, Karl Kvist, Rosa Wiendl, Pàl Balkanyi, Marjo and Peter von Bentum, Niko Tunni, Ja. A. Kokuschkin, A. Sokolova) he had materials from different countries that he used for exhibitions and lectures.

His lecture “The whole world in one suitcase” is legendary. The documents in this case included a letter of thanks from Bertolt Brecht , for which Schödl established contact with the theater in Turku ( Finland ) through his Esperanto friends - the Kavenius family , and also the contact between the Rostock Volkstheater and the Turku City Theater, so that " The Caucasian Chalk Circle " could be listed there.

Another lecture - with photographs, often given, was about a family who witnessed the atomic bombing of Hiroshima .

Schödl headed an "interest group for international relations" at the school, which was actually the pupil Esperanto group. He taught Esperanto and encouraged the children to exchange letters with children from other countries.

At the same time he published articles in the French Esperanto newspaper “La Esperantista Laboristo” (The Worker Esperantist) and arranged subscriptions in consultation with Asen Grigorov (1903–1985), editor-in-chief of the Esperanto magazine “Nuntempa Bulgario” (Bulgaria today) for this magazine in the GDR.

Schödl was the contact person for more than 800 subscribers from the GDR and thus became a central figure in the Esperanto movement that was forming in the GDR despite the ban.

One of his subscribers and Esperanto friends was the well-known photographer Julius Groß , who lived in Berlin-Rahnsdorf . He had contacted the “Deutsche Buch-Export und Import GmbH” in Leipzig about a subscription to the magazine “Nuntempa Bulgario” and received the answer: “We inform you that on the basis of the ordinance“ For the transfer of folk art groups and folk art associations in the existing mass organizations “the distribution of Esperanto magazines in the GDR is prohibited from January 12, 1949…“ At Schödl, Groß got his subscription, and Groß corresponded with his friend about his photographic work, about personal issues, about how the The situation for Esperanto practice could be improved and agreed with him to work in the framework of the peace councils. This and other correspondence only suggests the enormous burden Schödl took on in addition to his work as school director.

From many places and cities he received information about courses, attempts to promote Esperanto, the ban on Esperanto events, visits by the police to Esperantists' homes, the reaction of official bodies to requests from Esperantists, arguments and counter-arguments. Esperantists asked him for help and he responded when customs, for example, seized Esperanto magazines. He conveyed his own experiences and gave advice.

Together with the Berlin dentist Karl Maier, who looked after around 300 subscribers to the Esperanto magazine “El Popola Ĉinio” (From People's China), he worked energetically for the abolition of the Esperanto ban in the GDR.

He wrote to instances of the party and the state, and made representations himself to criticize the ban and to argue for legal employment with and for Esperanto.

Schödl later recalled: “At first I was often told by the official side, by the party and also by the State Security, that what I was doing was illegal and that I had to stop. My answer, especially when I had a visit from the Stasi from Berlin, was: If that doesn't suit you, then you have to put me on trial to clarify the matter. ” That didn't happen.

Schödl became a member of the District Peace Council and its Pedagogical Commission (until 1958), then the German Peace Council and its Commission for International Relations. In 1959, the Esperantists achieved the participation of a 10-person delegation at the World Esperanto Congress in Warsaw under the direction of Schödl, officially sent by the German Peace Council, which in 1960 published a 10-page GDR edition of the magazine "PACO" (Peace).

In the same year Schödl initiated a meeting of Berlin Esperantists at Müggelsee and the founding of a Berlin Esperanto group, which now met regularly in the “Faltins Gaststätte” restaurant in Berlin-Köpenick , organized by Karl Maier and Rudolf Hahlbohm. Every time a police permit had to be applied for.

In March 1960 Schödl received an invitation to the meeting of an "Informgrupo pri Esperanto en GDR" (Informal group on Esperanto in the GDR) under the direction of Georg Sörgel (1911–1961), national prize winner in Quedlinburg , who, among other things, made the proposal to the Ministry of Popular Education had made to allow Esperanto within the framework of the Kulturbund .

In the 1960s, the structure of the German Peace Council changed. It lost the character of a mass organization. The German Cultural Association now appeared more suitable as a roof for an Esperanto activity.

In the "Law Gazette of the GDR, Part II of December 15, 1961", page 425, the "Resolution on the repeal of legal provisions in the field of culture" was proclaimed and with it the repeal of the Esperanto ban.

In his book "Die Esperanto-Jugend in der DDR" (The Esperanto Youth in the GDR), Torsten Bendias points out that, despite the lifting of the ban, it was actually still observed until 1965 because the Central Committee of the SED only decided to legalize Esperanto as part of the Kulturbund at the end of 1964.

Legal Esperanto life began in the GDR in 1965 with the establishment of the Central Esperanto Working Group in the German Cultural Association (ZAKE) in March and the subsequent establishment of the district working groups and Esperanto groups. Ludwig Schödl was a founding member of the ZAKE.

1965–1997 Schödl works with and for Esperanto in the Kulturbund and publishes the first Esperanto textbook in the GDR

Legalization did not mean the end of restrictions, but Schödl immediately took advantage of the new freedoms and opportunities to act.

The Esperanto group of the "School of Peace" in Neuruppin now acted as a Kulturbund group. In 1967 she had 19 Esperanto friends, including 12 young people. Wife and daughter were also there.

Classes, cultural and tourist activities and peace activities have been intensified. Schödl organized the correspondence and visits to Esperanto events abroad. He continued his extensive international correspondence and sent Esperanto publications that appeared in the GDR.

1977–1981 he was deputy chairman of the ZAKE. After founding the Esperanto Association in 1981, he was a member of its central board. He was a member of the International Committee of the World Peace Esperanto Movement (MEM), was active in the Potsdam District Board of GDREA, organized or participated in Esperanto events, gave lectures and performed with his Esperanto student group.

In 1967 his textbook “We learn Esperanto to speak” was published, which was reprinted several times and was also published in Braille (for the blind and severely visually impaired) in Leipzig . On the basis of the textbook, he developed and supervised a correspondence course. He taught course leaders in seminars.

He also published song books with folklore, love songs, battle songs and chansons with music notes (see bibliography). He himself loved to sing and played the mandolin.

Schödl took part in the AEB meeting of GDREA and talked about his experiences as a worker Esperantist. He also conveyed his life experiences at the 1st Esperanto youth meeting in Biesenthal in 1988. In 1978 he gave the opening speech at the International Esperanto Fair Meeting (IFER) Leipzig, which in the following years became a popular international Esperanto event.

In the 1990s, Schödl's health deteriorated. He stopped traveling, but still corresponded.

"I think my efforts in particular show that you can and must continue despite all odds," he said in a 1993 interview.

Almost four years after his death in 1997, his wife Alice passed away on December 6, 2000.

Documents including the correspondence from Ludwig Schödl's estate are in the Federal Archives : BArch NY 4604 at the Foundation Archive of Parties and Mass Organizations of the GDR in the Federal Archives (SAPMO), Berlin-Lichterfelde, Finckensteinallee 63, 12205 Berlin

Honors

Publications

For Esperanto lessons

  • We learn to speak Esperanto. A pocket textbook (languages ​​for everyone). VEB Verlag Enzyklopädie, Leipzig 1967 (1st and 2nd reprints 1972 and 1975, Central Working Group in the Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin)
  • Koncernas niajn kursgvidantojn. referaĵo dum seminario en novembro 1967. der esperantist n-ro 20/21: 14–15, Deutscher Kulturbund, Berlin 1968 (advice for course instructors)
  • Correspondence course Esperanto, 14 lessons. Central Esperanto Working Group in the Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 1981
  • Esperanto song books
  • with Harald Micheel: ni kantas esperante 1st Central Esperanto Working Group in the Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 1972
  • with Harald Micheel: ni kantas esperante 2nd Central Esperanto Working Group in the GDR Cultural Association. Berlin 1973
  • ESPERANTO - Ni kantas. Central Esperanto Working Group in the Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 1980
  • ESPERANTO - Ni kantas. Esperanto Association in the Kulturbund of the GDR (2nd edition), Berlin 1989

memories

  • Memoraj Ŝpruceroj. In: PACO 155, p. 8, Deutscher Kulturbund, Berlin 1966
  • Nivea. In esperantist 50, pp. 6-8, Deutscher Kulturbund, Berlin 1972
  • El dokumentoj kaj memoroj pri la laborista Esperantomovado. In: PAC O 4, pp. 9-10, Deutscher Kulturbund, Berlin 1973
  • Esperantomovado - IfA - Kulturligo de GDR. In: der esperantist 61/62, pp. 10–13, Deutscher Kulturbund, Berlin 1973
  • Ŝiboleto. In: PACO - GDR-eldono, p. 27, Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 1975
  • Renkontiĝoj kun amikoj, In: PACO - GDR-eldono, pp. 24-25, Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 1985
  • En la kvindekaj jaroj, In: PACO - GDR-eldono, pp. 26-27, Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 1989

various

  • Kiel ni vivas en la rusa zono. Letero el Germanio. In: La Esperantista Laboristo Nova Serio n-ro 9. Paris 1948
  • La nova lernejo en la rusa zono. Letero el Germanio. In: Le Travailleur Espérantiste Nova Serio n-ro 10–11. Paris 1948
  • El kampara vivo de Sovetia Zono Germania. In: La Esperantista Laboristo Nova Serio n-ro 18. Paris 1949
  • Monda Paca Konsilantaro kaj la poresperanta laboro. In: La Esperantista Laboristo Nova Serio n-ro 34. Paris 1952
  • with Karl Maier (red.): PACO (GDR edition), German Peace Council, Berlin 1960
  • Esperanto serve peace! Esperanto servu la pacon! In: der esperantis t 5/6, pp. 35–37, Deutscher Kulturbund, Berlin 1966
  • Argumentoj por kaj contraū Esperanto. In: der esperantist 52, pp. 20–21, Deutscher Kulturbund, Berlin 1972

literature

  • Fritz Wollenberg: Interview with Ludwig Schödl. With an introduction by Detlev Blanke (transmission of the video text by Sebastian Hartwig). Working group to research the history of the Esperanto Association in the Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 2008.
  • Christian Schönberg: A heart for Esperanto. In: Märkische Oderzeitung . Neuruppin, December 29, 2015.
  • Fritz Wollenberg: La kuraĝulo el Neuruppin. Ludwig Schödl - elstara germana esperantisto kaj pedagogo kun civitana kuraĝo. (German: The courageous von Neuruppin. Ludwig Schödl - an outstanding Esperantist and educator with moral courage ). In: En la mondon venis nova lingvo. Festlibro por la 75-jariĝo de Ulrich Lins. Universala Esperanto-Asocio, Rotterdam 2018.
  • Detlev Blanke : Sketch of the history of the Esperanto Association in the GDR. Translated from Esperanto into German by Ino Kolbe. Esperanto Association in the Kulturbund e. V., Berlin 1991.
  • Ulrich Lins : The dangerous language. The persecution of the Esperantists under Hitler and Stalin. Bleicher Verlag, Gerlingen 1988.
  • Torsten Bendias: The Esperanto Youth in the GDR. On the practice and lifeworld of social currents in state socialism. LIT-Verlag Dr. W. Hopf, Berlin 2011.
  • Alexander Korshenkow: Historio de Esperanto, Publisher: Sezonoj, Kaliningrad 2005
  • Enciklopedio de Esperanto, reprint of the first edition, Hungara Esperanto-Asocio, Budapest 1979

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fritz Wollenberg: Interview with Ludwig Schödl. With an introduction by Detlev Blanke (transmission of the video text by Sebastian Hartwig). Working group to research the history of the Esperanto Association in the Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 2008, pp. 13-14
  2. ↑ The lawyer and Esperantologist Bernhard Pabst leads in his article “The Esperanto Collection of Gustav Kühlmann - Danish Worker Esperantist 1912–1999. In: Planned Language Libraries and Archives. Contributions to the 17th annual conference of the Society for Interlinguistics, 23. – 25. November 2007 in Berlin, Ed. Detlev Blanke, Berlin 2008, pp. 87-90 “on a PEK magazine.
  3. ↑ After the Essen Congress in 1930, many non-communist members left the AEB and founded the Socialist Esperanto Association (SEA), which soon numbered 1,500 members. Ulrich Lins: The dangerous language. The persecution of the Esperantists under Hitler and Stalin. Bleicher Verlag, Gerlingen 1988
  4. ^ Fritz Wollenberg: Interview with Ludwig Schödl. With an introduction by Detlev Blanke (transmission of the video text by Sebastian Hartwig). Working group to research the history of the Esperanto Association in the Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 2008, p. 18
  5. ↑ Alice Wiebach was a member of the AEB board and member of the IPE secretariat (from 1932) Alexander Korshenkov: Historio de Esperanto, publisher: Sezonoj, Kaliningrad 2005, p. 84
  6. ↑ Ernst Kissler was a member of the AEB board and general secretary of IPE (from 1932) Alexander Korshenkov: Historio de Esperanto, publisher: Sezonoj, Kaliningrad 2005, p. 84
  7. ↑ József Batta was editor of the journal Internaciisto (from 1930 journal of the SAT opposition, from 1932 journal of IPE). Alexander Korshenkov: Historio de Esperanto, Publisher: Sezonoj, Kaliningrad 2005, p. 84
  8. ↑ Wilhelm Wildebrand was chairman of the AEB 1930–1933 and became its deputy chairman when the Central Working Group in the German Cultural Association was founded in 1965. Enciklopedio de Esperanto, reprint of the first edition, Hungara Esperanto-Asocio, Budapest 1979, p. 575
  9. ↑ Herbert Murawkin was a member of the IPE secretariat from 1932. Alexander Korshenkov: Historio de Esperanto, Publisher: Sezonoj, Kaliningrad 2005, p. 84
  10. ^ Fritz Wollenberg: Interview with Ludwig Schödl. With an introduction by Detlev Blanke (transmission of the video text by Sebastian Hartwig). Working group to research the history of the Esperanto Association in the Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 2008, p. 16
  11. ↑ Ludwig Schödl: Nivea. In: der esperantist 50, pp. 6-8, Deutscher Kulturbund, Berlin 1972
  12. ↑ Ludwig Schödl: Renkontiĝoj kun amikoj, In: PACO - GDR-eldono 24-25, Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 1985
  13. ↑ Ludwig Schödl: En la kvindekaj jaroj, In: PACO - GDR-eldono 26-27, Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 1989
  14. ↑ Ludwig Schödl: Memoraj Ŝpruceroj. In: PACO 155, p. 8., Deutscher Kulturbund, Berlin 1966
  15. ↑ Ludwig Schödl: En la kvindekaj jaroj. In: PACO - GDR-eldono, pp. 26–27, Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 1989, p. 27
  16. ^ German book export and import GmbH - history
  17. ^ Letters from Julius Groß to Ludwig Schödl from 1957/1958. Federal Archives (SAPMO) NY 4604, preliminary 161.
  18. ↑ Fritz Wollenberg: "... without Esperanto I would have felt very lost here ..." - Karl Maier travels to America (1930) and returns from China (1955). In: Fritz Wollenberg (Red.): Esperanto. Language and culture in Berlin and Brandenburg. 111 years, anniversary book 1903–2014, Mondial, New York - Berlin 2017, pp. 101–109
  19. ^ Fritz Wollenberg: Interview with Ludwig Schödl. With an introduction by Detlev Blanke (transmission of the video text by Sebastian Hartwig). Working group to research the history of the Esperanto Association in the Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 2008, p. 34
  20. ↑ with Karl Maier (red.): PACO (GDR edition), German Peace Council, Berlin 1960
  21. ↑ Detlev Blanke: Sketch of the history of the Esperanto Association in the GDR. Translated from Esperanto into German by Ino Kolbe. Esperanto Association in the Kulturbund e. V., Berlin 1991, p. 7
  22. ↑ Torsten Bendias: The Esperanto Youth in the GDR. On the practice and lifeworld of social currents in state socialism. LIT-Verlag Dr. W. Hopf, Berlin 2011, p. 91
  23. ↑ Günter Heil: La blinduloj de GDR Uzas Esperanton. In: der esperantist No. 52, Deutscher Kulturbund, Berlin 1972, p. 2
  24. ^ Fritz Wollenberg: Interview with Ludwig Schödl. With an introduction by Detlev Blanke (transmission of the video text by Sebastian Hartwig). Working group to research the history of the Esperanto Association in the Kulturbund der DDR, Berlin 2008, p. 45
personal data
SURNAME Schödl, Ludwig
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German worker Esperantist
DATE OF BIRTH October 31, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1997
Place of death Neuruppin