Marie Hankel

Marie Hankel in 1911. Photographer: Hugo Erfurth

Marie Hankel , b. Julie Karoline Marie Dippe , (born February 2, 1844 in Schwerin , † December 15, 1929 in Dresden ) was the world's first Esperanto poet.

Life

Marie Hankel's grave in the Tolkewitz urn grove

Hankel was born in Schwerin in 1844 as the daughter of a teacher. In 1868 she married the mathematician Hermann Hankel and in the same year moved with her husband to Erlangen and in 1869 to Tübingen , where Hermann Hankel became professor of mathematics. Between 1869 and 1873 she gave birth to two daughters and a son; Margarete (1872–1947), Minna and Martin. Hankel's husband died in 1873 and she moved back to Schwerin with her two children who were still alive.

In 1902 Hankel first read about the planned language Esperanto and learned the language from 1905 first in Schwerin with Gotthilf Sellin . In autumn 1905 she moved to Dresden with her daughter and founded the Esperanto group Libera Unuiĝo Esperantista (Free Esperantist Association), which only existed for a short time. From the late summer of 1906, Hankel was active as an Esperanto teacher and taught Heinrich Arnhold , among others, the planned language. With Albert Schramm she founded the Dresden Esperanto Society Societa Esperanto Dresden and from 1907 organized the second German Esperanto Congress, which took place in Dresden. At this time she was already in contact with Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof , whom she met personally at the 3rd Esperanto World Congress Universala Kongreso de Esperanto in Cambridge . In 1908 she also sent him the first poems that she had written in Esperanto. Her play La renkonto , a comedy , appeared in the same year . She wrote articles on architecture and literature for international magazines and was co-organizer of the fourth Esperanto World Congress in Dresden from mid-1908, in which around 1,500 Esperantists took part. At the fifth Esperanto World Congress in Barcelona in September 1909, Hankel was chosen for her poem La simbolo de L'amo as the flower queen of the 1st International Flower Games, an Esperanto poetry competition, for the most beautiful love poem. This is considered to be the moment "which established Marie Hankel's historical fame as the first Esperanto poet".

From 1910 onwards, Hankel became involved within the Esperanto movement for women's rights and gave lectures on women's suffrage and the role of women in the Esperanto movement. In 1911 she was co-founder of the Esperanto literature association Esperantista Literatura Asocio , of which she became the first chairman. She translated the poem " La Espero " written by Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof . In the setting of Baron Félicien Menu de Ménil from Paris, this became the international anthem sung at all major Esperantist festivities in all countries.

In the following years she took part in numerous Esperanto congresses worldwide and was made an honorary member of the Esperanto Society Dresden and the German Esperanto Association in 1914. Until his death, Hankel was in written contact with Zamenhof and from 1917 also corresponded with Zamenhof's widow. In the 1920s, Hankel contributed forewords to several translations into Esperanto, such as Norbert Barthelmess ' Faust translation Goethe Fausto I from 1923. In 1924 she completed her biography Mein Leben .

Hankel died in Dresden in 1929 and was buried in the Tolkewitz urn grove . In August 2003 the city ​​of Dresden named Marie-Hankel-Strasse in Laubegast after her. The Esperanto Center "Marie Hankel" at the TU Dresden is named after the poet and in 2002 took over part of Hankel's estate. The center also initiated the naming of the streets. Around 2008, a street in Hankel's birthplace Schwerin was named after her.

Works

• La renkonto (The Encounter): komedieto originale Verkita, in: Tri unuaktaj komedioj: ludataj dum la 4a Internacia Esperantista Kongreso en Dresden . August 1908, pp. [87] -96.
• Tie ĉi oni parolas Esperante ( Esperanto is spoken here): unuakta komedio / de Thomas J. Williams. Trad. kaj aranghita de M. Hankel, in: Tri unuaktaj komedioj: ludataj dum la 4a Internacia Esperantista Kongreso en Dresden . August 1908, pp. [55] -86.
• La simbolo de l'amo (The symbol of love), in: Unuaj Internaciaj Floraj Ludoj . Barcelona, ​​September 1909, p. [3].
• Sableroj (grains of sand), Germana Esperanto-Librejo, Leipzig 1911, 91 pages .; muziknotoj. - (Internacia Librotrezoro; 2-4)

literature

• Hankel, Marie . In: 100 years of the crematorium and urn grove Dresden-Tolkewitz . Sax, Beucha 2011, p. 186.

Web links

• Literature by and about Marie Hankel in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Marie Hankel in the Kolekto por Planlingvoj kaj Esperantomuzeo
• Detailed biography of Bernhard Papst (PDF; 423 kB)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Esperanto in Dresden. The world's first Esperanto poet . In: Dresdner Latest News , April 14, 1997, p. 16.
2. ↑ Hankel, Marie . In: Street names in Dresden - a man's business? ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 413 kB) Part 2, p. 6.
3. ^ Esperanto course. XVII. by Albin Möbusz in: Vaterstädtische Blätter , year 1911, No. 23, edition of June 4, 1911, p. 92.
4. ↑ See inauguration of Marie-Hankel-Straße (PDF; 188 kB) , street names in Dresden, p. 3.
5. ↑ Street names in Dresden - a man's business? ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 413 kB) Part 2, p. 5.
6. ↑ Esperanto in Florence on the Elbe . In: Sächsische Zeitung , March 11, 2004, p. 20.