Mathilde von Rohr
Mathilde Sophie von Rohr (born July 9, 1810 in Trieplatz ; † September 16, 1889 in Dobbertin ) was a friend and trusted correspondent of Theodor Fontane .
Life in the Ruppin district
Mathilde von Rohr was a daughter of Captain Georg Moritz von Rohr . His wife Antoinette Charlotte Friederike Henriette was a born Baroness von Hünecke. Mathilde grew up as the sixth of eight children in Trieplatz and Brunn in the Ruppin district . Gut Trieplatz was sold by relatives to Georg Moritz von Rohr in 1752 and was the headquarters of the house until 1888.
Eight years after Mathilde's birth, and thus unusually delayed, Captain von Rohr enrolled his daughter in the Dobbertin monastery as a noble women's monastery. The late registration of his daughter may have been due to wartime; Also the Trieburst von Rohr may have been in the military more often than on his rather small estate during these years. In order to be accepted into the Dobbertiner Damenstift, the quick registration of the first-born daughter within two to three days, the proven aristocratic origin on the paternal and maternal side and the written declaration of the domestic descent of the candidate were very important. The Prussian von Rohr family was able to fulfill these requirements for the possessions in the state of Mecklenburg with an ancestral estate in Speck near Waren and in Tramnitz, the Mecklenburg enclave on Prussian territory until 1937. On the pedigree for registration on July 19, 1818, Mathilde's father Georg Moritz von Rohr notes with his own signature and seal that my ancestors descended from Mecklenburg, most recently from Speck further up from Priborn.
After the father's death in 1832, the mother and her daughters moved to Berlin. Fontane was introduced by Bernhard von Lepel to her literary salon there at Behrenstrasse 70 . Mathilde received the first full uplift from Dobbertin that year , with which her financial support was secured. In the Berlin years she was particularly involved in the boards of the toddler schools, the kindergartens at Dönhoffplatz there and in Luisenstrasse.
When her mother died in 1853, Mathilde was still living with her sister Antoinette at Behrenstrasse 70 in Berlin. In the address books, her name was already given the addition of Konventualin - a title that gave its wearer a high reputation and a considerable degree of social independence . The cash payment for conventual women was staggered and, after a longer period of entitlement, was paid in full and for life. After moving into the Mecklenburg women's monastery, the increase was expanded through fixed donations in kind.
The call from Dobbertin reached Mathilde von Rohr in January 1869.
Life in the women's pen
As a rule, 32 conventual women lived in Dobbertin, two to three of whom were supposed to be of the civil class. If a place in the monastery became vacant by leaving , the next young lady was allowed to move in according to the registration list .
Life in the women's abbey did not only mean secure care in old age. The ladies lived in an orderly community. The apartments were very spacious, they usually had six to eight rooms, a kitchen with a pantry, two to three attics, a cellar and a woodshed. A front garden and considerable garden land on the monastery grounds were also part of it. Each women's household had one or two servants. The maids of the conventual women had to clean and often cook for their rule. Errands had to be done and bread, meat, fish and grain had to be picked up for the ladies on time. The "lady servant" also helped with hard work in the house. "When waiting" he had to appear in a suitable suit. But the ladies were also well taken care of in a variety of other ways.
In the early summer of 1869 Mathilde von Rohr was able to move into one of the most beautiful monastery apartments of the convent in the south wing of the former enclosure. The large apartment on two floors had a total of seven rooms, a kitchen and a chamber. The old refectory, once the nuns' dining room, was now their living and reception area. The splendid tulip tree could be seen through the ancient, pointed wooden windows. A door from Mathilde von Rohr's corridor led to the cloister; from there she could get to the monastery church and the apartment of the dominatrix, the head of the convent.
Domina Hedwig von Quitzow was already 90 years old at that time. Even a Prussian by birth, she now had a compatriot by her side in Mathilde von Rohr, who was immediately accepted into the circle of friends.
Mathilde von Rohr in the Dobbertiner monastery
Until all formalities for engagement were processed Mathilde von Rohr as Konventualin by Dobbertiner steward, months passed. She was only able to move into her monastery apartment in the early summer of 1869. Theodor Fontane addressed his birthday congratulations to Mathilde on July 9, 1869 in Dobbertin.
On December 2, 1869, the 35-year-old Christian Joachim Hugo Graf von Bernstorff in Wahrensdorf near Grevesmühlen was elected as the new monastery captain in the state parliament in Sternberg . Bernstorff had been married to Freiin Adelheid von dem Busche-Ippenburg for six years, who had previously been lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie of Hanover. It soon became clear that this choice would also influence the life of the Prussian Mathilde in Dobbertin, who celebrated her first Christmas in 1869, far from Berlin, at the Damenstift.
On February 7, 1870, the new monastery captain, Count von Bernstorff , was solemnly inaugurated in front of the assembled ladies in the monastery hall. In addition to the now 91-year-old Dominatrix Hedwig von Quitzow and the 69-year-old Prioress Helene von Lützow, Ilsabe Sophia von Stralendorff, Louise Friderike von Lützow, Lousia Friderica von Holstein, and Wilhelmine Caroline von belonged to the nuns of the monastery or simply called Fräuleins Preen , Sophia Ida von Weltzien , Anne Elisabeth von Graevenitz, Sophia Wilhelmina von Schack, Johanna Wilhelmine von Bülow, Georgine Marie von Plessen, Ida Dorothea von Pentz, Amalie Friederike von der Lancken and three bourgeois ladies called "Demoiselles" .
The community of these predominantly very elderly women did not always live in harmony and piety in Dobbertin. Many rivalries and disputes took place, from which Mathilde von Rohr in particular suffered as a foreigner . Only two strange-looking conflicts are worth mentioning here:
- The illegal sale of inedible meat from a cow infected with the lung disease by the Goldberg butcher to Mathilde von Rohr and
- The violation of the monastery governor, Count von Bernstorff, against the monastery rules when he arbitrarily assigned the deer (as a back piece, a coveted tender muscle meat of the deer) from a regular game delivery to supply the monastery ladies.
Since Mathilde von Rohr moved into Dobbertin, the country mailman Albert Nebe had to carry more mail to the monastery, because Theodor Fontane was now continuing the long, friendly Berlin conversations in writing.
On August 1, 1870, the Brandenburg poet visited his girlfriend for the first time in the Dobbertin monastery. Coming from Warnemünde on vacation, he stayed there for a week. When he left, Mathilde sent a generous donation to Berlin for wounded soldiers in the 1870 war against France with him.
In the summer of 1871, 47-year-old Wilhelmine Louise Janette von Bülow, daughter of the Royal Prussian forest master from Thale in the Harz region, came to Dobbertin. As a conventual she was immediately accepted into Mathilde von Rohr's close circle of friends and was to remain a very good friend of them until her death.
On August 25, 1871, Theodor and Emilie Fontane came from Berlin via Güstrow to Dobbertin by stagecoach. It was during these days that the poet probably made his first notes on the Dobbertiner monastery and its history. Theodor Fontane did not travel to Warnemünde until September 11th, where he stayed again at the Hotel Hübner on the beach promenade. For Janette von Bülow this was the first encounter with Fontane. This acquaintance was to be maintained until after Mathilde's death. During her monastery years, Mathilde von Rohr continued to maintain the old contacts in Berlin. She was there again on November 20, 1871, and the very next day Fontane wrote: “My dear Fraulein. First of all, welcome to your home country a thousand times. "
The year 1875 brought an important decision for Mathilde von Rohr, but also an important turning point for the entire convent. On May 29, 1875, the 96-year-old Domina Hedwig von Quitzow, who had presided over the convent for 37 years, died. Due to appendicitis, Mathilde von Rohr could neither take part in the funeral service nor in the preparation of the election of a new dominatrix. On July 28, 1875, Hedwig von Schack was elected the new head of the convent with 20 votes, Mathilde received only 10 votes. Recovered from her serious illness and the effects of choosing a dominatrix, she made her annual trip to Berlin in the fall. Despite Mathilde's open manner and the great respect that some of the conventual women showed her, in the following years there were repeated differences with the dominatrix and the monastery master. Fontane wrote to his friend with understanding, but also not without caution: “Such neighborhoods are more than uncomfortable. I will not go into it further here, because the fate of letters, for which curious eyes can sometimes be found, can never be predicted. "
There was a lot of building activity in the monastery in 1877, which even affected Mathilde von Rohr. She was very worried and excited because it was about the drawing room , her living room. Because at the request of the local committee, the state parliament committee, "the refectory, which has been disfigured in its internal architectural style , should be restored to look like in the days of the nuns" . The plan was postponed until “it was believed the time was right” . In addition, another 128 years should pass before the refectory was able to present itself again in 2005 as in the days of nuns .
Some of the conventuals in the women's monastery were particularly committed to education, music and art in Dobbertin. Prioress Helene von Lützow was the head of the infant care facility in the village. Mathilde von Rohr was also helpful at this toddler school, which is now a kindergarten. Mathilde had already been involved in the board of directors of the toddler schools at Dönhoffplatz and in Luisenstrasse during her time in Berlin .
In 1881 she made her trip to Berlin at the end of March to meet with Theodor Fontane and his family, because she was godmother Rohr to Fontane's youngest son Friedrich . In November, the 54-year-old Grand Ducal Mecklenburg-Strelitz Chamberlain and Feldberger District Administrator Wilhelm Fritz Julius Heinrich Thedwig von Oertzen auf Lübbersdorf, Cosa and Barsdorf was elected as the new monastery captain at the Sternberg state assembly.
In June 1882 Fontane's 22-year-old daughter Martha (Mete), whom Aunt Rohr had known from childhood, visited Mathilde von Rohr in the Dobbertin monastery. Mete wrote to the parents: "I've been here since yesterday evening, Aunt Rohr is indescribably good to me and we have already chatted a lot and in depth ..."
Mathilde von Rohr was 74 years old in July 1884. She was often ill, suffered from coughs and was rarely able to travel. But at the beginning of April 1886 she went to Potsdam to attend the funeral of her younger sister Emma. In the summer, both of their late sister's daughters came to Dobbertin to relax.
In the monastery church it was too dark for the older women and the two small 150-year-old chandeliers were no longer sufficient for lighting. The Berlin builder Dörflein and the art locksmith Marcus were commissioned to manufacture new chandeliers. To the annoyance of the conventuals, including Mathilde von Rohrs, who thought the new black chandeliers were a beast of ugliness , they were too big and couldn't get through the church door. After a violent dispute, the Dobbertiner master mason Andreas was identified as the culprit, but Mathilde von Rohr was also blackened for her statements by the monastery captain . Thedwig von Oertzen insulted Mathilde in her apartment as a troublemaker and treated her there like a cattle girl . The argument hit her so hard that her heart condition made itself felt again and the monastery doctor had to be called.
Theodor Fontane, who did not hear a word about these incidents and the unworthy appearances, congratulated Mathilde von Rohr on July 8, 1887 on her 77th birthday from the seaside resort of Rüdersdorf with the words "Dobbertin could also be called a seaside resort" .
When Mathilde's illness and her asthma attacks worsened again in the autumn of 1888, it was only the careful medical care of the monastery doctor Dr. Thanks to Havemann that the 78-year-old recovered again. During these weeks, her confidante Janette von Bülow took over her care and care.
Contact with Fontane
Fontane's first surviving letter to Fraulein von Rohr is from New Year's Eve 1859. A total of 230 of these letters have survived and are archived in the Berlin State Library. It appears that the other half of the correspondence did not survive. Mathilde von Rohr provided Fontane with numerous anecdotes and details that Fontane used in his literary works.
In 1892 Fontane published a biographical essay on Mathilde von Rohr in the family magazine Daheim under the title Mathilde von Rohr, Konventualin zu Dobbertin Monastery . This text was first inserted in 1903 in the 8th edition of Die Grafschaft Ruppin ( Walks through the Mark Brandenburg. Part 1) .
literature
- Theodor Fontane: She only had love and kindness for me. Letters to Mathilde von Rohr. Edited by Gotthard Erler . Structure of the Taschenbuch Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-7466-5287-1 .
- Horst Alsleben (with the assistance of Gabriele Liebenow): Mathilde von Rohr and the Dobbertin monastery. Festschrift for the 200th birthday of a friend Theodor Fontane's. Dobbertin 2010, OCLC 844784971 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Mathilde von Rohr in the catalog of the German National Library
- Family tree Mathilde von Rohr on www.einegroßefamilie.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f Horst Alsleben (with the collaboration of Gabriele Liebenow): Mathilde von Rohr and the Dobbertin monastery. Festschrift for the 200th birthday of a friend Theodor Fontanes, Dobbertin 2010, p. 20 ff.
- ↑ a b c d Theodor Fontane: She only had love and kindness for me. Letters to Mathilde von Rohr. Edited by Gotthard Erler, Berlin 2000.
- ↑ Brigitte Birnbaum: In the footsteps of Theodor Fontane through Mecklenburg. (Part 3) MM regional supplement of the SVZ, No. 10, 1992, p. 4.
- ↑ Horst Alsleben: Close confidante Fontanes. SVZ, Mecklenburg-Magazin, September 13, 2019.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Rohr, Mathilde von |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Correspondence partner Theodor Fontanes |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 9, 1810 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Trieplatz |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 16, 1889 |
| Place of death | Dobbertin |