Peter Schmitz (writer)

Peter Schmitz (born December 27, 1887 in Eupen , † February 4, 1938 ibid) was a Belgian writer, journalist, art dealer and secret agent from the Eupen-Malmedy border area . With Golgotha (1937) he wrote the only novel published in Belgium on the First World War in German.

Artist and soldier

After training as a wood carver with the sculptor Christian Stüttgen, Peter Schmitz worked as an artist and art dealer in his hometown of Eupen. In 1907 he completed his military service and experienced the First World War as a volunteer in the trenches of northern France. There he was wounded several times, interned and finally released in 1918 "for work purposes".

Journalistic activity

After Eupen-Malmedy had been awarded Belgium on the basis of the Versailles Treaty , he co-founded the local history association (of which he was temporarily president) and the Liberal Association in Eupen. Right from the start he was involved in the region's 'pro-Belgian' newspapers, which campaigned against the gradually re-emerging militarism in Germany and German subversion work in his homeland. This included the monthly newspaper L'Invalide and the Grenz-Echo , which still exists today, both of which maintained ties to the German peace movement . So published Heinz Kraschutzki and Berthold von Deimling in Grenz-Echo , and L'Invalides occasionally took critical contributions from the other Germany .

Act as a writer

Initially the author of local historical narratives, Schmitz wrote his anti-war novel Bataillon Eupen-Malmedy in 1931 , which was published in series in the East Belgian edition of L'Invalide and as part of his , influenced by reading Ludwig Renns Krieg and Erich Maria Remarques Nothing New in the West Admission to the Association des Écrivains Combattants belges (AECb) . Since publication in National Socialist Germany was virtually impossible, the work was published in 1937 by the small Paul Kaiser Verlag in Eupen in a revised book form under the title Golgotha . The anti-militarist message is obvious. "Probably never", was the verdict of the pacifist Prof. Dr. Birgel, “a book was written that records and characterizes the inhumanity of the madness of war in such a gripping way. No work that has appeared so far is more suitable to carry the disgust for war into the masses of the people than the new book Golgotha. "

Secret service agent activity

Parallel to his journalistic, literary and artistic activities, Schmitz developed into a key figure for the Belgian, French and British secret services from the beginning of the 1930s by sending out sub-agents to obtain information about the secret armament of the 'Third Reich' . The Gestapo monitored him from 1936 and only a few weeks before his premature death he was placed on the special wanted list together with Rodolphe Lemoine , one of his employers .

Book destruction and desecration of graves

After the Wehrmacht marched into Belgium on May 10, 1940, his widow was interrogated several times, his daughter was sent to a labor camp and his grave was removed from the city's cemetery of honor in a night-and-fog operation. All findable copies of the novel were destroyed, so that the work and the author were almost forgotten.

Works

• The May Night. A buck rider story . Tilgenkamp, ​​Eupen 1921.
• Hero hump . In: Eupener Nachrichten , January 1928.
• Battalion Eupen-Malmedy . In: L'Invalide , 1931-32; 1937-38.
• Golgotha. A war novel . Paul Kaiser Verlag, Eupen 1937.
• Golgotha. A war novel , new edition with an introduction by Philippe Beck, with an afterword by Helmut Donat , Donat Verlag, Bremen 2014, ISBN 978-3-943425-32-1

literature

• Leo Wintgens: "Peter Schmitz", in Ders .: Foundation of a history of literature in Ostbelgien. Picture of the linguistic interactions in the intermediate country , Eupen 1986, pp. 170–171.
• Philippe Beck: “The image of Germany in the German-language literature of Belgium in the interwar period. The East Belgian war novel Golgotha ​​by Peter Schmitz ”. In: Hubert Roland, Marnix Beyen & Greet Draye (eds.): Pictures of Germany in Belgium 1830-1940 , Waxmann, Münster 2011, pp. 446–465.
• Philippe Beck: Controversial border region. Images of self and others by Josef Ponten and Peter Schmitz, 1918-1940 , PIE Peter Lang, Brussels et al. 2013 (Comparatism & Society 21), especially Part III.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Philippe Beck: Disputed borderland. Self- and external images by Josef Ponten and Peter Schmitz, 1918-1940 . PIE Peter Lang, Brussels et al. 2013 (Comparatism & Society 21), p. 231.
2. ^ Philippe Beck: Controversial Border Country , p. 232.
3. ^ Philippe Beck: Controversial Border Country , p. 234.
4. ↑ Philippe Beck: Controversial Grenzland , p. 236 ff.
5. ^ Philippe Beck: Controversial Border Country , p. 247.
6. ^ Philippe Beck: Controversial Border Country , pp. 243-310.
7. ↑ See Philippe Beck: Controversial Grenzland , among others pp. 272, 298, 302.
8. ^ Philippe Beck: Controversial Border Country , p. 348.
9. ↑ Ecrivains belges du front. Groupements, revues, littérature de guerre et antimilitarisme entre 1920 and 1940. Text by Philippe Beck in Les écrivains et le discours de la guerre, Interférences littéraires No. 3 , December 2009, ed. v. François-Xavier Lavenne & Olivier Odaert
10. ↑ Book cover text by Peter Schmitz: Golgatha. A war novel . Paul Kaiser Verlag, Eupen 1937, emphasis in the original.
11. ^ Agents secrets à la frontière belgo-allemande. Text by Philippe Beck & Etienne Verhoeyen in Cahiers d'histoire du temps présent / Bijdragen tot de eigenijdse geschiedenis , No. 21, Brussels, CEGES / SOMA, 2009, pp. 93-134.
12. ^ Philippe Beck: Controversial Border Country , p. 339.
13. ↑ Philippe Beck: Controversial Grenzland , p. 383 ff.
14. ^ BRF : Report on the official presentation of the new edition.

Web links

• Schmitz, Peter. CV on the website of Donat Verlag .