Olga Brand

Olga Brand (born August 14, 1905 in Buenos Aires , † July 14, 1973 in Solothurn ; resident in Ursenbach ) was a Swiss Germanist , writer and journalist .

Life

Olga Brand was born in Argentina in 1905 as the first of three children to the Swiss couple Robert and Hermine Brand-Zingrich . When war broke out in 1914, the family returned to Switzerland and settled in Solothurn . Olga Brand attended primary school in Solothurn. She then trained as a teacher at the seminary of the Sisters of the Holy Cross in Menzingen ZG . The teaching patent for primary and secondary school acquired in 1928 enabled her to enter a university.

Brand studied German, French and history in Besançon , Zurich and Münster . In 1932 she completed her studies in Münster with a dissertation on Hugo von Hofmannsthal .

After an attempt as a cultural journalist for the newspaper Der Bund , she passed the Solothurn district teacher examination in 1936, which qualified for teaching at lower secondary level. She did not find a permanent job as a teacher. Therefore she worked as a deputy at various schools. She also wrote poetry and worked as a journalist.

Olga Brand's life as a younger woman was characterized by impulsiveness and dreaminess, egocentricity, an uncompromisingly unbounded-romantic style. Financial worries, ever new love affairs, the discrepancy between a romantic worldview and the necessity to survive in a non-romantic world led her increasingly to a life that corresponded to the romantic topos of the misunderstood, starving artist.

With the help of a few friends, she has been living in a small apartment in Solothurn for the past few years. Two stays in the Rosegg psychiatric clinic in 1971 had a traumatic effect. She died in 1973.

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Poetry

In 1935 the first volume "Gedichte" was published by Schwabe AG in Basel. Olga Brand writes in the tradition of neo-romanticism. Nature poetry, night, dream and love are her themes. She works with free rhythms and classical elements such as rhymes, assonances and allitterations.

In 1945 her second and last volume of poetry, “Im Winde”, was published by Emil Oprecht .

Her professional work as a substitute, the failed love affairs and moving out of her parents' house with the overgrown garden troubled her in the post-war years. Concentration, critical and confident view for the fine work on her easy flowing inner melodies she brought less and less.

Since 1956, Olga Brand has been self-publishing her poems with the support of private individuals and politicians interested in art. She sold the booklets herself. There are still melodious passages in these poems, as well as successful images. In 1972 the last volume, “Magie der Gemelsteine”, was published, an order from a jewelery shop, which a Lucerne friend Cécile Lauber , a native of Solothurn, had procured.

The two Solothurn composers Alban Roetschi and Urs Joseph Flury have set poems by Olga Brand to music.

Biographical sketches

In 1949 the portrait volume “Stilles Wirken” was published with biographical sketches about Swiss women writers. Brand portrays Cécile Lauber and the young Silja Walter . This work shows one of Brand's talents, the quick, intuitive understanding of people and works of art.

Later, biographical attempts published in newspapers seem less concise, such as a report about a fictitious visit to Hermann Hesse, whom she admires .

Narrative prose

Brand wrote short stories for newspapers and calendars, and occasionally radio plays for children on the radio. Until 1958 she tried her hand at a novel with the title "Above all magic, love". She could not cope with the large shape and the material. As far as the plot can be reconstructed from the incompletely preserved manuscript, a young woman is being pursued by a dark person with a mysterious charisma, first on a boat trip from Argentina to Europe, later in Münster in Westphalia, where the main character is studying. It can be assumed that the dark, scary magic would have dissolved as soon as the young woman had experienced real love. The chapter on student life in Münster contains very lively scenes. It is probably autobiographical with little alienation, as two friends can be identified. The novel did not find a publisher.

estate

The texts and documents that Olga Brand had kept in her apartment were secured after her death by her composer friend Urs Joseph Flury and given to the Solothurn Central Library . She probably destroyed part of it when she moved out of her parents' house. The inventory includes life documents, typescripts of poems, radio plays and prose sketches, an incomplete bundle of the novel “Above all magic love” and correspondence.

Catalog raisonné

• Dream and reality with Hugo v. Hofmannsthal . Bottrop iW, Postberg book and art print shop 1932. Zugl. Diss. Phil. Munster, 1932.
• Poems . Basel, Benno Schwabe Verlag 1935.
• In the wind: new poems . Zurich, Oprecht 1945.
• Quiet work: Swiss poets . Zurich, Gutenberg Book Guild 1949 (Guild Library of Swiss Authors)
• Singing for Hungary. Self published in 1956.
• Courage and lament. Self-published in 1956?
• Eleven rain songs . Olten, Dietschi 1963.
• That was my garden . Self-published in 1964.
• Lyric boat . Self-published in 1970.
• Magic of gemstones . Solothurn, Vogt-Schild 1972.
• Night elf. Self-published in 1970.
• From the rose tree . Self published in 1971.
• Poems . Edited by Urs Joseph Flury and Ulrich Lips. Schwabe Verlag, Basel 2005, ISBN 3-7965-2139-8 (Schwabe horizons: testimonies, thoughts, visions)
• Solothurn classics . Published by Hans Brunner. Knapp Verlag, Olten 2011, ISBN 978-3-905848-42-7 ("Solothurn Classics" series)

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• Urs Joseph Flury: Foreword. In: Olga Brand: Poems. (= Schwabe horizons: testimonies, thoughts, visions). edited by Urs Joseph Flury and Ulrich Lips. Schwabe Verlag, Basel 2005, ISBN 3-7965-2139-8 .
• Gottfried Wyss: Forgotten Solothurn poet. Dr. phil. Olga Brand 1905–1973. In: Solothurn calendar. 2005, pp. 67-68.
• Johannes M. Zaugg: Estate of Olga Brand (1905–1973). Directory, version July 2009 with appendix: Enrichment 2003–2005. Central Library, Solothurn 2009.

Web links

• Doris Stump: Brand, Olga. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Publications by and about Olga Brand in the Helveticat catalog of the Swiss National Library