Rolf Italiaander

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rolf Italiaander (right) in conversation with George Mosse in 1983

Rolf Italiaander (born February 20, 1913 in Leipzig , † September 3, 1991 in Hamburg ) was a German writer , translator , art collector, explorer, ethnographer and activist of the homophile movement .

Life

Rolf Italiaander was born in Leipzig as a Dutchman. At a young age he developed an interest in literature and aviation . In 1928, at the age of 15, he learned to fly and described his experiences in a first book for young people ( How I learned gliding, 1931). As a 19-year-old student he went on a bike tour through North Africa , which brought him into contact with the people and culture of Africa at an early age . His lifelong love for Africa was born and the basis for numerous research trips, including to Albert Schweitzer . During several lecture tours through Germany, he reported on his expeditions.

During the Third Reich - partly on the advice of the aviator general Ernst Udet , in order to spare him and his family difficulties with the regime - works on aviation such as Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen , the best fighter pilot of the great war (1938) and the Allied air heroes of the First, were created World War ( Asse, 1939) and a. Some of them were banned and crushed by the regime. Books such as Der Junge Nettelbeck (1938) and Götz von Berlichingen were classified as nationalistic after the war , but did not correspond to the norms of National Socialism . Questioning by ministries and the Gestapo followed. Italiaander's friendly relations with opponents of the regime ( Albrecht Haushofer , Ulrich von Hassell , Carl Friedrich Goerdeler and others) contributed to this. The occupation of the Netherlands resulted in new threats, arrests and deportations of family members.

After the war, Italiaander settled in Hamburg, where he founded the Free Academy of the Arts in Hamburg with Hans Henny Jahnn and others . In 1968 he had to resign from this office for more than twenty years as General Secretary, after the journalist Horst-Dieter Ebert had accused him of being a “student assistant of fascism”. In 1948 he published together with Ludwig Benninghoff: And let a pigeon fly. An almanac for art and poetry , initiated the First Hamburg Reading Theater in 1950 and founded the Association of German-Language Translators of Literary and Scientific Works in 1954 , of which he was appointed Honorary President in 1962. His great interest in Africa is also reflected in its commitment to the rediscovery and rehabilitation of the Hamburg African explorer Heinrich Barth , who had almost been completely forgotten Germany.

Gravestone of Rolf Italiaander and Hans Ludwig Spegg

The expertise of the writer, ethnologist, art collector, museum founder and lecturer at universities in many countries was also valued by German governments, which became apparent in 1984 with the award of the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class. Italiaander was seen as an “adventurer of the spirit against all conventions” ( Hanns Theodor Flemming ); he saw himself as a “polyhistor in the age of specialists”.

The headline of his obituary corresponded to Italiaander's ideal: “ Be embraced, millions! This kiss for the whole world. “Rolf Italiaander was buried in the Ohlsdorf cemetery.

Activist of the homophile movement

On the occasion of the Frankfurt homosexual trials, Italiaander wrote the play “ The Right to Self ” in 1951 , which premiered on April 2, 1952 at the Kammerspiele Hamburg - the first time that homosexuality was discussed on a German stage after the Second World War .

Italiaander regularly published texts, photographs and drawings in the homophile magazines Der Kreis and Club 68 and in 1968 pleaded for the abolition of Section 175 , which criminalized homosexuality, with the essay collection “Neither disease nor crime - a plea for a minority” .

Museum Rade

Museum Rade in Reinbek (until 2017)

In order to give his art collection a permanent place, Rolf Italiaander founded the Museum Rade in the Oberalster Nature Park in 1970 in an old farmhouse on the outskirts of Hamburg, which he had acquired together with his long-term partner Hans Ludwig Spegg. It is here that the children's days, which have become a tradition, were created to promote artistic talent with the accompaniment of renowned artists.

In 1987 the museum was relocated to a Wilhelminian style villa on Reinbeker Mühlenteich, but the old name was retained. Since Italiaander's death it has been managed by the Rolf Italiaander / Hans Spegg Collection Foundation . The museum has been permanently closed since summer 2017, and the collection was moved to Reinbek Castle at the end of 2018 .

To commemorate artists from various fields associated with Leipzig, streets are named after them. According to the decision of April 16, 1997 by the city administration, a Leipziger Strasse was named after Rolf Italiaander in 1997.

Works

Political and ethnographic writings

  • Youth in Front of Life , 1933
  • Wolf Hirth tells , 1935
  • Gliding around the world , 1936
  • Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen, the best fighter pilot of the great war , 1938
  • (Ed. :) Joachim Nettelbeck. The first 25 years of the great seafarer's life , 1938 (with a preface by Bogislav von Selchow )
  • Götz von Berlichingen , 1939
  • Banzai! , 1939
  • Three German female pilots. Elly Beinhorn, Thea Rasche, Hanna Reitsch , 1940
  • Pioneer of German air recognition. Nine Life Pictures , 1941
  • Italo Balbo , 1942
  • Land of Contrasts , 1953
  • When are you leaving white man , 1954
  • In the country of Albert Schweitzer , 1954
  • The restless continent , 1958
  • Black Wisdom , 1958
  • Congo: Pictures and Verses , 1959
  • The new men of Africa , 1960
  • Black skin in the red grip , 1962
  • The New Men of Asia , 1963
  • The peace makers: three negroes received the Nobel Peace Prize. ( Ralph Bunche , Martin Luther King , Albert John Luthuli ) , 1965
  • Racial Conflicts in the World , 1966
  • Heinrich Barth - In the saddle through North and Central Africa. Travels and discoveries in the years 1849–1855. Wiesbaden 1967 (with a biography of the Africa explorer)
  • Peace in the world - but how? , 1967
  • Life choice for Israel , 1967
  • Neither disease nor crime. Plea for a minority , 1968
  • Terra dolorosa - Change in Latin America , 1969
  • Albania - China's Outpost in Europe , 1970
  • Seek and Pursue Peace , 1970
  • (Ed. :) Heinrich Barth - He opened up a part of the world for us. Unknown letters and drawings by the great Africa explorer. Bad Kreuznach 1970
  • Jews in Latin America , Tel Aviv 1971
  • The new masters of the old world , 1972
  • (Ed. :) Hot Land Niugini - Contributions to the Changes in Papua New Guinea , 1974
  • Hugo Eckener - World Show of an Airship , Husum-Verlag, 1980 ISBN 3-88042-110-2
  • My African Photo Album , Brigg Verlag, Augsburg 1981, ISBN 3-87101-163-0
  • (Ed. :) We experienced the end of the Weimar Republic: Zeitgenossen report , Droste, Düsseldorf 1982, ISBN 3-7700-0609-7 (with a contribution by Rolf Italiaander: "How our people could be culturally active", p. 225– 234)
  • Exchange of thoughts: experienced cultural history in testimonies from 6 decades. Edited by Harald Kohtz. Droste, Düsseldorf 1988, ISBN 3-7700-0754-9

Books for children and young readers

  • Hello boys! Model aircraft , 1932
  • The Lenz brothers on a tipple tour. A story of two boys , 1933
  • River gypsies. Two boys, a folding boat, a raft , 1934
  • Desert foxes. A boy's story from North Africa , 1934
  • My Bicycle and I , 1935 (1941)
  • Under the sign of the white elephant. The fate of a boy from our time , 1936
  • By bike through North Africa. Experiences of a Nineteen Year Old , 1938
  • The wonder horse. A fairy tale , 1947
  • Hans and Jean. Novel young people of that time , 1951
  • Heaven without limits. Aviation stories , 1952
  • The raid on the Sahara school. A novel for young people , 1953
  • The white oganga. Albert Schweitzer. A story from Equatorial Africa , 1954
  • Mubange, the boy from the jungle , 1957
  • Bingo and Bongo from the Congo , 1967
  • Kiri, spirits of the South Seas. Fantastic Stories , 1975
  • Kalle and the shoeshine boy , 1980

Works related to his collection

  • From hooves to museums. Museum Rade in the Oberalster Nature Park , Tangstedt 1973
  • Have fun with Freud. Sunday painters and naive painters. Unknown talents and celebrities , Hamburg 1974
  • Naive art and folklore. Edition Museum Rade in the Oberalster Nature Park , Tangstedt 1977
  • Art Collectors, Happy People. Experiences with artists, pictures, sculptures all over the world , Düsseldorf 1985

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hamburg Bibliographies. Vol. 20: Rolf Italiaander. Edited by the Free Academy of the Arts in Hamburg . Hans Christians, Hamburg 1977, contains a list of forbidden manuscripts and a timetable.
  2. ↑ Dieter E. Zimmer on leave until further notice . In: Die Zeit , November 1, 1968.
  3. ^ The grave of Rolf Italiaander
  4. ↑ Elmar Kraushaar: Fornication in court . In: Elmar Kraushaar (Ed.): Hundred years of gay. A revue . Berlin 1997. ISBN 3 87134 307 2 , p. 64.
  5. ↑ 2mecs.de: Rolf Italiaander (1913–1991) - 2mecs , accessed on May 17, 2020
  6. ↑ Christian Thiesen: Museum Rade is considering moving to Reinbeck Castle. August 23, 2018, accessed June 9, 2020 (German).
  7. ↑ JFMedia: ROLF ITALIAANDER. In: Italiaander Collection. Accessed June 9, 2020 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Italiaander, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer and art collector
DATE OF BIRTH February 20, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH 3rd September 1991
Place of death Hamburg