Rosalie Koch

Rosalie Koch (born March 1, 1811 in Haynau , Silesia , † August 26, 1880 in Jauer ) was a German educator and writer for young people . She published numerous writings for a young, predominantly female readership.

Life

Koch was the daughter of a tax officer and enjoyed a high upbringing as a “higher daughter”. She remained unmarried all her life. From 1850, Koch headed an educational and teaching institution in Jauer. The encounters with Agnes Franz brought her to her writing activity. Koch's focus was on children's and youth literary works and encompassed stories , fairy tales , sagas , poems and songs .

Many of her works were aimed at a young female readership and had flower names such as Hageröslein or May flowers. This corresponded to the prevailing philosophy of the conception of a plant-like being in the feminine being.

At the time, girls' understanding of their roles was based on characteristics such as wisdom, piety, hard work, humility and care. In her stories, Koch conveyed the Biedermeyer-idyllic type of contemporary girls' literature. Koch's reality was also strongly shaped by religious moments, which are reflected in her texts: virtues such as trust in God , obedience , humility , contentment and patience were rewarded with wealth, while human vices such as arrogance , pride and recklessness meant worldly decline.

Rübezahl collection

In her work “ Rübezahl . The most beautiful fairy tales and legends of the mountain spirit in the Giant Mountains ” Koch tells stories between charity and revenge . The capricious character of Rübezahl is particularly evident in the story “Rübezahl punishes a mocker”, in which a journeyman insults Rübezahl as a “girl thief”, which angered him. So he decides to play a big trick on the journeyman. He takes the form of the journeyman, takes the bag of gold from a Jewish traveler and kills him half to death. When the Jew later comes into an inn, he recognizes the alleged culprit and reports this to some people. The journeyman is searched and the gold pouch is found with him. It is supposed to be hanged, but before that can happen it has to be introduced into Christianity , which is why the actual date is postponed. During this time, Rübezahl met the journeyman's wife, who took all the guilt on herself. This touches the mountain spirit so much that he promises that she will see her husband again that evening. In the form of the clergyman, Rübezahl gains access to the accused and helps him out of prison by exchanging clothes. Rübezahl would have to be hanged instead of the journeyman, but instead of him, a scarecrow hangs on the morning after the execution.

Rübezahl had not only given the journeyman freedom again, but also gave him a piece of bread, which, as it turned out later, contains a piece of embossed gold. The two take advantage of their new wealth and also do something good for weaker members of society.

Rübezahl doesn't just play tricks on individual characters. Koch also tells stories in which Rübezahl disturbs (parts of) society. For example, in the story “Die Wigs”, in which Rübezahl is surprised at the liking of Germans who buy wigs to cover up gray, white or missing hair. Rübezahl therefore also sells wigs, but after a while the wearers of his headdress become a mockery of all people, because his wigs are transformed into “a genius of moss, tow and hay”.

The stories always contain a moral which, however, is not explicitly presented in the formula “And the moral of the story '...”, but rather emerges implicitly from the stories between the lines.

Works

Rübezahl

• Rübezahl: mountain spirit in the Giant Mountains. Complete edition in two volumes. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1845-1879)
• Rübezahl (Volume 1). New collection of the most beautiful sagas and fairy tales of the mountain spirit in the Giant Mountains. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1845)
• Rübezahl (Volume 2). Continuation of the new collection of the most beautiful legends and fairy tales from Rübezahl. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1879)

Further works by year of publication

• The flower basket. Eat. (1834)
• Three dangerous days. The blind child. Berlin: Association bookstore. (1840)
• The ugly balms. (1846/1847)
• Faithful Nicolette: two stories in 1846 and 1847. Leipzig: Baumgärtner. (1846/1847)
• The school of experience: a story. Leipzig: Baumgartner. (1847)
• Fairy tales. Leipzig. (1847)
• Mayflowers. Stories and short stories for the female youth. (1849)
• Little Savoyard: a story for the youth. Wroclaw. (1850)
• Fritz Herold, or the temptation: a story. Leipzig: Baumgartner. (1851)
• Still life and world life. Breslau: Shepherd. (1852)
• Remember my Stories and short stories for the female youth. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1853)
• Astrea: short stories for the more mature female youth. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1853)
• Sowing and harvesting. Novellas for the more mature youth. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1857)
• Three stories for the young. Glogau: Flemming. (1857)
• Guided tours: a book for my young friends. Breslau: Shepherd. (1857)
• Louison and Hanna: two short stories for the young. Glogau: Flemming. (1858)
• Hageröselein. Novellas and short stories for adult female youth. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1861)
• August Hermann Francke, the poor friend and orphan friend. Breslau: Shepherd. (1863)
• Peaceful images: short stories and stories for the female youth. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1865)
• Dragonflies. Stories for children aged 8 to 12. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1867)
• Flowers and pearls: six stories. Breslau: Trewendt. (1869)
• The mailbag: story in letters, interspersed with songs, poems, fairy tales, games, puzzles and joke questions for happy girls aged 10 to 12. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1870)
• Play and work: stories. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1875).
• Occasional Poems for the Young: How the Children Wish Good Luck. Breslau: core. (1876)
• Childhood: stories. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1876)
• Veilchenmoos: Stories for the more mature youth. Glogau: Flemming. (1880)
• Legends and fairy tales from Silesia, Prussia, Saxony and Swabia. Golgau. (1888)
• New pictures: stories. Berlin: Winckelmann. (approx. 1900)
• The widow's son and other tales for boys and girls. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1893)
• The donkey boy or “Rejoice that your name is written in heaven”. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann. (1897)

Individual proof

1. ^ Shibboleth Authentication Request. Retrieved July 20, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Koch, Rosalie, 1811-1880 .: Hageröslein ... In: Hageröselein. Novellas and short stories for adult female youth. Berlin: Winckelmann. (1861) . Winckelmann, 1861 ( worldcat.org [accessed July 20, 2020]).
3. ↑ Koch, Rosalie: Maiblumen: Stories and short stories for the female youth . Winckelmann, 1849 ( worldcat.org [accessed July 20, 2020]).
4. ^ Shibboleth Authentication Request. Retrieved July 20, 2020 . 
5. ↑ cf. Rosalie Koch: Rübezahl. The most beautiful fairy tales and legends of the mountain spirit in the Giant Mountains. New edition. Published by Karl-Maria Guth, Berlin 2017./ First printing: Berlin, Winckelmann, 1845, pp. 40-46.
6. ↑ cf. Koch: Rübezahl, Berlin 2017./ First printing: Berlin, Winckelmann, 1845, pp. 47-48.
7. ↑ ibid., P. 48.

literature

• Asper, Barbara: Rosalie Koch / Barbara Asper, 2015. In: Children's and youth literature. - Meitingen: Corian-Verl., 1995-2017, available at: https://aspi19.exl.de/alipac/KAVLKPDXFVWQJWJAHXER-00025/full-set?NUM=000001&FRM=003
• Barth, Susanne. Rosalie Koch. In: Killy literary dictionary - authors and works of the German-speaking cultural area. Volume 6. Online access: author database. Frankfurt University Library: https://db-degruyter-com.proxy.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/view/VDBO/vdbo.killy.3342
• Brunken, O., Hurrelmann, B., Michels-Kohlhage, M., Wilkending, G. (Eds.). Handbook for children's and young people's literature. From 1850 to 1900. pp. 1279-1280. Metzler: Stuttgart.
• Rosalie Koch: Rübezahl. The most beautiful fairy tales and legends of the mountain spirit in the Giant Mountains. New edition. Published by Karl-Maria Guth, Berlin 2017./ First printing: Berlin, Winckelmann, 1845.