Otto Boris

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Otto Heinrich Bernhard Boris (born December 24, 1887 in Lubjewen near Nikolaiken , East Prussia; † September 13, 1957 in Hamburg-Rahlstedt ) was a German painter and animal writer, previously a secondary school teacher.

Life

Otto Boris was born in the Masurian town of Lubjewen near Nikolaiken as the second son of a total of 4 children from Michael Boris, a primary school teacher, and his wife Wilhelmine. When he was two years old, his father was transferred to Gehsen in the Johannisburg district . To become a teacher, Boris first attended the preparatory institute in Lötzen and then the teachers' seminar in Angerburg after finishing school . After passing the final exam in 1907, he took up his first teaching position in Upalten / Lötzen . Subsequently, he briefly held the teaching position in Seehausen / Lötzen, then from 1909 to 1913 that in Garbassen in the Oletzko district . He then worked in Mysken near Drygallen until the outbreak of the First World War .

From here he was drafted for military service. On the war front he was shot in the lung and got typhus .

From 1920 Otto Boris completed several semesters at the Königsberg Art Academy , where he passed the exam in 1921. He then got a job as a drawing teacher at the state secondary school in Pillau / East Prussia. After a brief activity there, he retired in 1924 for reasons of illness (suffering from a lung attack) and became a freelance painter. His motifs were animal and landscape pictures, still lifes , portraits and caricatures, but above all pen drawings , which he particularly liked.

In 1927 he married Gertrud Pasternaci after his first marriage had been divorced. The next place of residence was Berlin , where his daughter Silke Boris was born in 1928.

From 1928 to 1930 he illustrated a large number of books of world literature, mainly text editions by the Dortmund-based Crüwell Verlag, including works by Defoe ( Robinson Crusoe ), Eichendorff ( From the life of a good-for-nothing ), Goethe ( Götz von Berlichingen, Egmont ) and others . He also illustrated many of his own books himself. As early as 1919/20, probably during a spa stay in the Harz region because of his war suffering, he made the well-known series of postcards Harz Dreams (18 pen drawings) and again in 1925, probably during a longer stay in Harz A total of 8 pen drawings for the two short stories A visit to the woodcutters and From cliff to cliff in the Oker Valley , which were published in the monthly magazine Der Harz .

In 1932 he and his family moved to Hanover , where they divorced again in 1934 . Boris went to Hamburg ; his daughter stayed with her mother. When she died four years later, the daughter came into the care of her aunt. In 1936 Boris moved to Hamburg-Rahlstedt, where he bought a house in 1941 (Am Friedhof 68). On May 15, 1944, Mrs. Kammeyer became his third wife. After that he created - with the interruption of being called up to join the Volkssturm - most of his works, some of which he provided with his own illustrations. After a short, serious illness, he died at the age of 70 and found his final resting place in the Rahlstedt cemetery .

The Otto Boris estate is in the home archive of the Rahlstedt Citizens' Association.

The literary work / recognitions

Otto Boris wrote over 50 books. Some reached a circulation of almost 200,000 pieces. Four animal stories ( Die Bärenkinder , Motu and Miromotu , Tod im Frühling and Worpel ) were transcribed in Braille , of which Worpel was also in short braille. Two animal stories were translated into foreign languages ​​- in 1944 Fuchs Schade into Dutch and in 1941 Motu and Miromotu into Czech, and one even in shorthand. Several works have not appeared in book form, but only as a series in newspapers or magazines such as Der Jungdeutsche .

In 1940 Boris received the second “ Hans Schemm Prize ” (award for young people's books) of 1000 Reichsmarks for his work “My Uhu Gunkel und seine Zeit” in Poznan . The Hans Schemm Prize was intended to promote texts in particular that educate people to be willing and ready to fight.

Boris' animal stories have been compared with those of Svend Fleuron , Paul Eipper and Hermann Löns .

In 2005, the “Otto Boris Support Group Germany 2005” was founded in Krefeld to preserve its memory.

Literary works

  • Around the border. a Masurian smuggler novel. 1927.
  • The serpentine priest. 1929.
  • Addi. the story of a stork, 1935.
  • Worpel. the youth story of a moose. 1936, translated into Braille, 2 volumes, 1947.
  • Motu and Miromotu. a bear story from Alaska. 1937, translation into Czech 1941, translation into Braille (normal type, 2 volumes, 1947, and shorthand, 1 volume, 1950).
  • Varg and his wolves. 1938.
  • Hans Böhlig. the story of a roebuck, 1939.
  • My eagle owl Gunkel and his time. 1939. Awarded the "Hans Schemm Prize", 1940.
  • The company dog ​​Piefke. 1939.
  • Riders for Germany's honor. Experiences about a colonial horse. 1940.
  • Werder and its secrets (= the raven Korrk). 1940.
  • Wandering giants. 1941.
  • The green skirt chats. Hunting stories. 1942.
  • The fishing island. Novel. 1942.
  • Humoresques. 1942.
  • Will-o'-the-wisps. Peasant stories. 1942.
  • Masurian forests rustle. Childhood and youth memories. 1942.
  • Simple souls. Stories from the forest and the field. 1942.
  • Death in spring. Animal stories. 1942. Transcribed in shorthand for the blind, 1 volume, 1949.
  • Fight on a small scale. Animal stories. 1942.
  • The border farmer. Novel. 1943.
  • Fuchs Schade (= little fox, watch out!) 1943. Translation into Dutch 1944.
  • In sun and ice. Animal and Hunting Stories, 1943.
  • Murzel. the story of a dachshund. 1943.
  • Backpack romance. Poet and painter experiences. 1943.
  • The jungle fright. the story of a gorilla (= mongoose), 1943.
  • Mbobo. a buffalo story from Africa. 1944.
  • The raven Korrk. 1944.
  • The loner. Jaguar novel. 1946.
  • Harz deer. 1947.
  • Rantis. a wolf story from Masuria. 1947.
  • Harz deer. Thienemann, Stuttgart 1947.
  • In the land of eternal summer, a story from Africa. 1948.
  • The bear children (= fight of the bear children ). 1948. Transcribed in shorthand for the blind, 2 volumes, 1950.
  • Murrner cat. 1948.
  • My garden. 1948.
  • Nanuk, the story of a polar bear. 1948.
  • What the trees rustle. Novel. 1949.
  • The beautiful Rahlstedt. In: Rahlstedter Heimatwoche. Sept. 24 to Oct. 2, 1949.
  • Giants of the wild, the story of a moose from East Prussia. 1950.
  • Arbo, the story of an elephant from Sudan. 1951.
  • The snake god from the Amazon. 1953.
  • Masurian nights, an exciting novel of fate. (= Rantis ). 1953.
  • A ride for your life. 1954.
  • Stallion Tarpan. 1954.
  • Mungi, the story of a gorilla. 1954.
  • Drumming in the jungle. 1954.
  • The wild fishermen. 1955.
  • Tiger hunter casturia. 1955.
  • Old Basse, hunting stories about a wild boar. 1955.
  • The eagle's revenge. 1956.
  • The Bookdüwel. 1956.
  • The eagles of Silverland. 1957.
  • Topas, the Trakehner. 1957.
  • Little fox, watch out. (= Fuchs Schade ). 1958.
  • Black gold in the Amazon. 1960.
  • Danger to life in the Indian jungle. 1963.
  • Alarm in the moor. 1974.
  • Battle of the bear children. (= The bear children ). 1978.
  • Otto Boris, his most beautiful animal stories. 1979.
  • Adler Schwork. after 1948.
  • European bison on the Elbrus. after 1948.

literature

  • F. Schmitt Otto Boris. In: FS: History of the German animal book. 1957.
  • R. Adam Otto Boris. In: K. Forstreuter, F. Gause (Ed.): Old Prussian Biography. 3, 1975.
  • A. Klotz: Otto Boris. In: Children - u. Youth literature in Germany, 1840–1950.
  • M. Rankl: Otto Boris. In: Bibliography on the literature of East and West Prussia with Danzig, 1945–1988.
  • German literary lexicon of the 20th century. KG Saur-Verlag, Zurich / Munich 2002.
  • German Literature Lexicon. Franke-Verlag, Bern / Munich 1968.
  • Who is who ? XII edition, Berlin 1958.
  • P. Josting: Otto Boris. In: The youth literature fight of the National Socialist teachers' association. Dissertation. University of Hildesheim, 1995.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The writer Otto Boris † . The Ostpreußenblatt of September 28, 1957, p. 12.
  2. Otto Boris - Past, but not forgotten! In: Hamburger Wochenblatt. - from Wansbek. 19 Sep 2012.
  3. a b Otto Boris - A writer in Rahlstedt! In: Rahlstedter Jahresbuch 2005.
  4. lexikon-drittes-reich.de
  5. Otto Boris - A proud life's work! In: Prussian general. Newspaper. Oct 20, 2007.