Paul Cruse

Paul Bernhard Hinrich Jacob Cruse (born June 4, 1885 in Friedrichsort , † February 18, 1977 in Flensburg ) was a German high school teacher and founder of the Low German stage in Flensburg .

education

Paul Cruse was a son of the master mason and accountant in the Imperial Navy Friedrich Ernst Joachim Cruse (* December 24, 1849, † June 25, 1934). His mother Johanne Henriette Catharina (* January 30, 1858; † July 31, 1925) came from Schwartau and was the daughter of the local wood turner Johann Wilhelm Dröger (around 1824-1859).

Cruse first grew up in Friedrichsort and started school at the local garrison school on Easter 1891. A little later his father was transferred to Kiel . Since the elementary school in the family's new place of residence no longer had any free places, he was initially denied further schooling. From Easter 1892 he studied at the pre-school of the Kiel School of Academics . In August 1895 the family had to move to Wilhelmshaven , where the father had been transferred. Cruse attended a high school here. His father was ordered again to Kiel, where Cruse again attended the Kiel School of Academics from 1899, which he left with the Abitur in 1904. He then studied German and classical philology at the University of Kiel. Here he heard in particular from Friedrich Kaufmann , Felix Jacoby and Siegfried Sudhaus . During his studies, Cruse spent one semester in Berlin and one in Munich.

In December 1910, Cruse passed the state examination in Kiel. He then lived for three months in Florence with Paul Peterich . This sculptor was a half-uncle on his mother's side. During this period, Cruse gained vivid impressions of antiquity and the Renaissance. He himself says that it was a "kind of spiritual awakening". In Florence he made the acquaintance of Sascha Schneider and Theodor Däubler .

In April 1911, Cruse began teacher training in higher education at the Kiel School of Academics. Half a year later he had to start his military service and served as a one-year volunteer in Kiel. From 1912 to 1914 he worked again as a candidate for the higher teaching post at the school of scholars, completed a probationary year at the cathedral school in Schleswig and finished his training. Because of his short-sightedness, he was considered unfit for field use during the First World War . Therefore he did his military service in Altona .

Working as an educator

At the beginning of October 1917, Cruse was transferred to the Royal High School and Realgymnasium in Flensburg. He was supposed to take over the position of senior teacher after the end of the war. His service in the army ended at the end of 1918. From January 1919 to 1926 he taught in Flensburg. In discussions about the Schleswig-Holstein question and the referendum in Schleswig , he advocated the German position in many ways.

Cruse attended a performance of a play by Gorch Fock by Richard Ohnsorg in Hamburg. Inspired in this way, he and other people founded the Norddeutsche Bühne Flensburg in March 1920. He also acted as an actor himself. For this he learned to sing and play the lute with Julius Steger, who worked as a cantor at St. Mary's Church in Flensburg . Cruse belonged to a stage ensemble that performed in the region between Rendsburg and Hadersleben and played an important role in German cultural work near the German-Danish border.

In 1925 Cruse published a reader. In August 1926 he was promoted to director of studies. From the beginning of October he headed the Schleswig Cathedral School, where he particularly supported the musical education of the students. During this time he campaigned for the German cultural work of the Schleswig-Holstein Federation. In doing so, he took particular care of maintaining contact with Tingleff , the north Schleswig sponsor town. As chairman of the Schleswig section of the German Language Association , he endeavored, among other things, to maintain the German language “through lively lectures”. On the basis of these activities, Wilhelm Abegg commissioned Cruse to provide expert opinions on the formulation of important decrees and ordinances for the Schleswig-Holstein administrative region.

In April 1932, Cruse changed to the state high school for boys in Flensburg as director, where he was appointed senior director at the end of 1933. He mainly wanted to keep the school type of the old-language grammar school. The school politicians of the National Socialists, however, preferred secondary schools. He publicly stood up for National Socialism and wrote in his memoir that he wanted to shape the humanist profile of his school in the context of his task as headmaster in a leading political position. In part-time he was in charge of the “Deutsche Bühne”, which followed the “Freie Volksbühne”. The facility was intended to bring the theater closer to broader sections of the population. Since the management of the visitor organization required membership in the NSDAP , Cruse joined on April 1, 1933.

Working in retirement

As part of a denazification process, Cruse had to resign in September and received no further salary. In December, the verdict followed that he was to be classified as a “fellow traveler” and had to forcibly retire. Cruse then gave private lessons, learned Danish and also concentrated entirely on the Low German stage. The number of visitors to the theater increased in the following years. In November 1951 theater groups appeared 27 times in Schleswig.

At the end of 1951, Cruse took over the management of the German Cultural Society . The organization in Flensburg wanted to cultivate the Germanness in Flensburg and the surrounding area. Cruse mostly took on organizational tasks. In addition, he lectured on philological issues himself and wrote for several newspapers from Schleswig-Holstein and created radio lectures for the NDR and Radio Bremen . He also worked as a Low German reciter for the broadcasters.

In 1965 Cruse was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st Class.

family

Cruse married Hanna Lundt on September 15, 1917 in Hamburg (born March 14, 1889 in Süderbrarup ; † April 7, 1971). Her father Theodor Lundt (1854–1910) came from Schleswig and worked as a farmer and hotelier in Süderbrarup. He was married to Maria Rasch (* 1858) from Tolk .

The Cruse couple had two sons.

literature

• Helge Berndt: Cruse, Paul . In: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 10. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1994, pp. 64-66.