Rudolf Lavant

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Rudolf Lavant
Rudolf Lavant Signature.svg

Rudolf Lavant , actually Richard Carl Cramer (born November 30, 1844 in Leipzig ; † December 6, 1915 there ) was a German writer .

Rudolf Lavant was the oldest of five children. His father Carl Eduard Cramer was close to the tribune Robert Blum . Johann Georg August Wirth , the organizer of the Hambach Festival , was Rudolf Lavant's great-uncle.

Life

After graduating from the secondary school in Leipzig, Lavant initially worked as a commercial assistant in his hometown. In the war of 1866 he voluntarily participated as an emperor hunter on the Austrian side. He then became an accountant, and finally an authorized signatory, at Dürbig & Co., a yarn shop in Leipzig. He learned Gabelsberg shorthand and was the author of the magazine Illustrierte Zeitung for Gabelsberger'sche stenographers , the editor of this specialist magazine was his friend Emil Trachbrodt . Lavant also devoted himself to the study of foreign languages ​​(English, French, Italian), which he often needed for business and private trips abroad. Heinrich Wuttke , his father's friend, made the rich treasures of his library available to him, so Lavant came across the poetry volumes of his favorite poets Byron , Tennyson , Béranger , Victor Hugo , Herwegh and Freiligrath , the latter two being his role models in work.

Participation in the German War of 1866

Richard Cramer as Kaiserjäger in a night out adjustment from 1866.

On June 14, 1866 Richard Cramer leaves with 22 years Leipzig to volunteer for Austria , for this country, he had great sympathy, against Prussia in the German war draw. He had nothing but a wallet with a few hundred thalers , his birth certificate, the secondary school leaving certificate , a passport and what he was carrying on his body. He first drove to Schwarzenberg and from there to Prague via Karlsbad and Eger . On arrival in Prague, his way led to the Ferdinand barracks in the Karolinenthal district and to the Brigade of Lieutenant Field Marshal Alexander Benedek to join the Kaiserjäger “First Jäger Battalion” as a cadet . After being examined for his physical fitness, he was dressed in military clothing.

The uniform of Richard Cramer consisted of the tunic of pike-gray cloth with epaulettes, Achselwülste, collar and cuffs of grass green. The buttons were yellow and marked with the battalion number. His blouse and trousers were the same color as the tunic, the latter with grass-green lampasses. The hat made of matt black, waterproof felt served as a parade headgear. It was equipped with a green round cord, the hunter's emblem and a plume of black rooster feathers.

His first mission from Prague led to the battle of Königgrätz in Sadowa on July 3, 1866 , where he and a handful of men were supposed to scout out enemy scouts of the Prussians. In the further course of the fight, the Benedek brigade should be the III. Corps under Archduke Ernst was subordinate to keep the heights of Lipa and Chlum occupied. Around noon there was heavy fighting in the Swiepwald against the Prussian 7th Division under Major General Fransecky . Now the III. Army corps intervene in the battle for the Swiepwald. During the storming of the forest, Cramer was seriously injured by a shot in the leg and had to be treated at the first aid station.

He lost a lot of blood, developed wound fever, and only woke up in a van. He was on a slowly rolling train in the direction of Znojmo . It was only in Znojmo that he found out from an extra sheet of Austria's defeat. Once again succumbed to wound fever and unconsciousness, he only came to in Vienna . An elderly couple took care of the wounded Cramer and nursed him back to health. On July 20, he made his way home. He got to Hof and from there to Leipzig via numerous cruises through Austria and Bavaria .

Writer and publicist

In addition to his job, Lavant led a second life as a writer and publicist for the proletariat. His lyrical work, which he began at the end of the 1960s, had a decidedly anti-Prussian, socialist tendency since 1871, the year the German Empire was founded and the Paris Commune . The first poem found with the title "Friede!" Dates from 1871, appeared in the People's State and was on the title page of number 7 from January 21, it is signed Richard C. In the "History of German Social Democracy" named him Franz Mehring together with the best and then most famous representatives of early socialist literature, with Leopold Jacoby and Max Kegel . And Mehring described him as the perfectly formed Sten of this group, a judgment that Lavant certainly did justice.

The Schillerstr. 6 in Leipzig , that was the headquarters of Dürbig & Comp. from 1865 to 1892. Richard Cramer worked here as an authorized signatory. The company then moved to Centralstr. 12, until it was dissolved in December 1900. Before that, the company had been at Katharinenstrasse 16 for decades, where Richard Cramer was an apprentice from 1860 to 1864.

Richard Cramer acquired in 1873 as commercial officer of the company. Dürbig & Co., the civil rights of the city of Leipzig. His poems in the social democratic press (“ Die Neue Welt ”, “ Deutscher Jugendschatz ” and “ Der Wahre Jacob ”) appeared consistently under the pseudonym Lavant (the green valley of the Lavant gave me my nom de Plume) because the author was his private Did not want to endanger existence. 180 poems by Lavant were found in “Wahren Jacob”, many unsigned poems could be assigned because they appeared in the poetry collection “In Rank and Link”, but there must be a further number of unsigned poems. From August Bebel the revision of 1876, he was forward transfer printing. During the time of the Socialist Act 1878–1890, when Lavant often published political “leitmotifs” in the illegal “ Social Democrat ” and at the same time continued to work unrecognized in his commercial profession, his double life came to a head. The social democrat was produced abroad, first in Zurich and later in London, and smuggled into Germany via the “ Rote Feldpost ”.

From 1884 to 1886 the anthology “ Vorwärts ”, a collection of poems for the working people, was published in Zurich . Rudolf Lavant wrote the foreword and was editor; it contained workers' poems by various authors. The book was initially published in six issues, issue 1–2 / 1884, issue 3–6 / 1885, all of which were forbidden by socialist law. It was not until 1886 that the anthology was published as a book by the publishing house of the Volksbuchhandlung in Hottingen . This volume of poetry also only got to Germany by secret routes with the “Red Field Post”.

Lavant illustrated his work in a quote in the preface to the volume of poetry “ In rank and file ”: "I have never wanted to be more than a simple soldier of the great liberation army; I fought rank and file and did my duty , and the names of the common soldiers are known to appear only in the casualty lists ".

His work was also printed in the “ Leipziger Volkszeitung ”, “ Das Lämplein ”, “ Die Fackel ” and the workers' calendars “ Omnibus ” and the “ Illustrated New World Calendar ”. He also wrote poems for the “Royal Saxon Ant Calendar” . Lavant wrote political Leitgedichte for various May and commemorative festival newspaper of the Social Democratic labor movement. Lavant wrote poems to support the textile workers in Crimmitschau , who were on strike from August 7, 1903 to January 17, 1904 for the ten-hour day and higher wages. Lavant began his productivity as a socialist writer at the age of 27, and it continued until the end of his life. He did not become a member of the SPD until his death.

Lavant wrote ideological-agitational verses, thought poetry, ballad-like poems, but also humorous-satirical verses in Saxon dialect as "Fritzchen Mrweessesnich". As a dialect poet, he brought his talent to the Leipziger Volkszeitung from 1901 to 1914. Many of these poems (approx. 400) have been reprinted by foreign newspapers and have thus found a wider distribution, what joy it was for him to satirically scourge the petty Saxon police spirit. At the beginning of the First World War, many of his anti-war poems, which tried to fight against the terrible, anti-cultural sedition that was flooding all over the world, were not published for reasons of censorship. In addition, he worked as a travel reporter, translator ( Alphonse Daudet , Adrien Dézamy), editor and journalist.

Due to the dissolution of the Dürbig & Co. company on December 31, 1900, the company headquarters moved to England, Richard Cramer became unemployed and worked for this company for almost 41 years. In 1901 he found work again as an independent, sworn book auditor for the city of Leipzig, which he carried out until his death.

The real Jacob

Rudolf Lavant,
wood engraving from 1885
Rudolf Lavant in mountaineering outfit
around 1886

In the spring of 1884 Heinrich Dietz planned innovations: The bookstore "will be reorganized and should be managed according to reasonable business principles, including contacting the bookstore, with which it previously had no contact," Karl Kautsky reported to London. There was enough money in the meantime. Because the decision to take the old “True Jacob” back in Stuttgart turned out to be a great success. The editors took over first again Wilhelm Blos as ' seat editor ' acted Rudolf Seiffert, from Leipzig to Stuttgart with übergesiedelter and Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Dietz active as a proofreader former typesetter. Max Kegel and Rudolf Lavant were won as employees . The head of the Hamburg humorous monthly newspaper was retained, it appeared in an enlarged format from January 1884. The rapidly increasing circulation resulted in enormous surpluses. "It is astonishing that at that time" The True Jacob "was sold as one of the first and most important political-satirical magazines with a circulation of 227,000 copies". The “True Jacob” was never banned under the Socialist Act, although the police authorities carefully checked its content.

Rudolf Lavant wrote poetry for 30 years (from 1885 to 1915) for the satirical magazine “Derreal Jacob”.

societies

He was interested in various clubs, such as the gymnastics and sports club 1867 Leipzig Westvorstadt, where he was a song master. In 1901 " Eichenlaub und Fichtenreis ", a treasure of songs by the Leipzig gymnastics club, was published. Songs, they were sung from 1868 to 1900, written by Rudolf Lavant for the Leipzig gymnastics club Westvorstadt. He was also a member of the "Singing Department of the Leipzig Gymnastics Club Westvorstadt" founded in 1901, and they met in the Lederhof Hainstrasse 17 (today Jägerhof) . At the Leipzig Workers' Education Association around 1870 he gave lectures on witch trials , German royal courts, Percy Bysshe Shelley the English poet and taught workers free of charge in French and in shorthand, where Lavant became acquainted with Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel , who also worked for the association. In the association "Society for the care of Gabelsberger'schen Stenographie" founded on May 14, 1879, he was part of the board of directors, the club was the Café Merkur . As a secretary and teacher, he worked in a language course for Italian, the club "La Grotta Azzurra" with the addition "Association for Italian conversation".

One club deserves special mention, the Leipzig section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club , for which he made several trips. He joined the association on October 26, 1886 and was a member until the end of his life. Lavant accompanied several activities in the association, he was chairman and secretary of the hut and festival committee, hut warden or deputy hut warden of the Mandronhütte, Grasleitenhütte and Vajolethütte . At that time, the hut warden had the task of organizing manual activities, i.e. no catering for guests, that was the job of the shepherd owner. In the Alpine Association he gave lectures on trips to Bozen , the Brenta , the Mandronhütte in the Adamello area , Lake Garda and Monte Baldo , the Grasleitenhütte and Vajolethütte in the rose garden . Lavant also often used his poetic talent at festivities for the Leipzig Section. A card from the Schlern to his wife from 1894 says that he hiked the Schlernhaus , today's Schlernhaus only consisted of a small hut. With Johann Santner and his daughter, the first to climb the Santnerspitze am Schlern, named after him , Lavant went on a mountain tour in 1899 to inspect the Grasleiten and Vajolethütte, empty the coffers and pick up the hut books. In the travel description “A mountain trip in South Tyrol” from 1900, Lavant wrote of a mountain hike in the Val Gardena to the Geisler peaks , where he climbed the Sass Rigais (3025 m) and stopped at the Regensburger Hütte . His tours took him to Verona and Venice , and he was able to make good use of his Italian language skills on all the trips to the south. In 1911 he was awarded the silver badge of honor for 25 years of membership in the DÖAV. In 1906, R. Cramer became a full member of the DÖAV affiliated "Association for the Protection and Care of Alpine Plants" .

Rudolf Lavant died in Leipzig on December 6, 1915 . The funeral took place on December 9, 1915 in the Leipzig South Cemetery .

family

Richard Carl Cramer was baptized in the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig on December 16, 1844. He married on Sep 19. 1869 Christine Albertine Louise Helene Cramer née Odrich in the Evangelical Lutheran parish church in Wachau .

Richard Cramer with family (ca.1886)

Helene Cramer was born on December 12, 1847 in Leipzig and was baptized on December 19, 1847 in the St. Thomas Church. Her father Christian Friedrich Louis Odrich was a commercial clerk in Leipzig, her mother Livia Ida was a born swan.

In old age Helen Cramer, b. Odrich still some honors. On her 90th birthday, she received the warmest congratulations from the Lord Mayor of Leipzig. The very best wishes for reaching the age of 90, on behalf of the Leipzig Section of the German and Austrian Alpine Club . On May 21, 1939, she was awarded the Mother Cross of Honor. Helene Cramer died in Leipzig on November 23, 1941.

The couple had five children, and his eldest son, Curt Cramer, attended St. Thomas School , a grammar school in Leipzig's Bachviertel , after finishing school. After high school, Curt Cramer studied medicine at the University of Leipzig .

The businessman Otto Berthold Max Cramer, a brother of Lavant, was a co-founder of the Fortbindungsverein für Arbeiter ( Fortbindungsverein für Arbeiter) in 1879 , he took over the post of chief cashier, in a spy report from 1881 about the association, the police described him as a "silent socialist ". Otto BM owned a drugstore in Leipzig. He was also on the board of the "Association for the Justification of a Workers' Home" in Leipzig. Otto BM is mentioned in the Chronicle of Reudnitz in 1890, where he worked on the finance committee of the local council from 1881 to 1886.

Several members of the family were pastors and teachers, Richard Cramer's father, Carl Eduard Cramer (1817–1886), studied theology and philosophy at the University of Leipzig, but then became a private scholar and petty-bourgeois, democratic publicist. The grandfather of R. Cramer, Johann Friedrich August Cramer (1767–1837) and his great-grandfather Johann Heinrich August Cramer (1739–1808) were first teachers then pastors in Langenbach (Vogtland) and Langenbuch (Schleiz) , his great-great-grandfather Johann Christoph Friedrich Cramer (1709–1746) was a cantor and teacher in Mühltroff .

Works

  • A lost cause . In: The New World . 3rd year, 1878 No. 14 ff. (Autobiographical novel, published as a sequel). Published in paperback by the publisher: Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing 2019 ISBN 978-1-7036-9740-7 .
  • Uncle and nephew . Narrative. In: German youth treasure with the supplement: health care and youth education . Verlag Leipzig W. Fink. 1st year 1879 No. 1 pp. 2–7, No. 2 10–14, No. 3 18–23, No. 4 28–29. Contained in the paperback: “Erzählungen und Reden” ISBN 978-1-7066-8943-0 .
  • Idealists. Novella . In: The New World . 5th year, 1880, No. 33 ff. (Published as a serial novel). Published as paperback by the publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 27, 2015) ISBN 978-1-5141-1340-0 .
  • Pike gray and green . “Memories of an 1866 cadet on the length of the war”. (Main article, Biographical Notes v. Lavant). In: Neue Illustrirte Zeitung for Gabelsberger'sche Stenographen, 1885/1886, No. 1–12, pages 2–179.
  • Forward. A collection of poems for the working people . Publishing house of the Volksbuchhandlung in Hottingen, Zurich 1886.
  • Christmas of two happy people . Narrative. In: Illustrirtes Unterhaltungsblatt für das Volk , Verlag JHW Dietz in Hamburg, 1st year 1887, No. 12 and No. 13. Contained in the paperback: "Erzählungen und Reden" ISBN 978-1-7066-8943-0 .
  • A day in Central Java . In: Illustrirter Deutscher Jugendschatz. A festival for boys, young men, girls and virgins . Hrsg. Hasenclever, Verlag Leipzig: E. Thiele, 1st edition 1887, pages 65-69. Contained in the paperback: “Erzählungen und Reden” ISBN 978-1-7066-8943-0 .
  • Commemoration of the unveiling of the Gabelsberger monument in Munich on August 10, 1890 by Richard Cramer. Published by Friedrich Geissler Leipzig 1890.
  • A mountain trip in Welschtirol In: Neue Illustrirte Zeitung for Gabelsberger'sche Stenographen, 1891/92, Volume 8, No. 1–10, Pages 4–151.
  • Lined up in order. Poems by a nameless man . In: German workers' seal . Volume 3, Verlag JHW Dietz, Stuttgart 1893. Published in paperback by the publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 27, 2015) ISBN 978-1-5141-1351-6 .
  • Autumn forays in Welschtirol . In: Neue Illustrirte Zeitung for Gabelsberger'sche Stenographen, 1894/95, Volume 11, No. 1–8, Pages 2–136.
  • Autumn days in the Alps and on the Adriatic In: Neue Illustrirte Zeitung for Gabelsberger'sche Stenographen, 1898/99, Volume 15, No. 5–12, Pages 85–226.
  • An autumn trip to the "rose garden" . In: The New World . Volume 24, 1899, No. 36f. (published as a serial novel)
  • A mountain trip in South Tyrol . In: The New World . 25th year, 1900, No. 33 ff. (Published as a serial novel)
  • Oak leaves and spruce rice. Song treasure of the Leipzig gymnastics club . Wilhelm Achilles, Leipzig 1901 (collection of poems)
  • A hut inspection with obstacles . In: The New World . 28th year, 1903, No. 5 f.
  • Manfred Wittich : songs of a traveling student . With a foreword by Rudolf Lavant. Edited by Anna Wittich, Leipziger Buchdruckerei in Komm., Leipzig 1904.
  • Rudolf Lavant (d. I. Richard Cramer): Poems . Edited by Hans Uhlig. With a foreword by Manfred Häckel, Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1965. (Text edition on early socialist literature in Germany, Volume VI)
  • Rudolf Lavant's estate . Edited by Gerd Cramer. Pro Business, Berlin 2011 ISBN 978-3-86805-866-6
  • Rudolf Lavant the working-class poet . On the 100th anniversary of the death of Rudolf Lavant, actually Richard Cramer. Edited by Gerd Cramer. Pro Business, Berlin 2015 ISBN 978-3-86460-303-7
  • Rudolf Lavant: Travelogues from South Tyrol in the 1890s . Edited by Gerd Cramer. With an introduction by Johannes Uhlig. Pro Business, Berlin 2018, 3rd edition, ISBN 978-3-96409-080-5
  • Rudolf Lavant: Pike gray and green . War memories of the writer and poet at Königgrätz in 1866. In memory of the 175th birthday of Rudolf Lavant. Edited by Gerd Cramer, 1st edition 2019, Pro BUSINESS Verlag Berlin. ISBN 978-3-96409-124-6
  • Rudolf Lavant collection of poems from the satirical magazine 'Der Wahr Jacob' 30 years 1885 - 1915 . Editor Gerd Cramer 1st edition 2019. BOOKONDEMAND. ISBN 978-3-96004-042-2
  • Rudolf Lavant collection of poems 'Lose Blätter Leipziger Linden' 1871 - 1915 . Editor Gerd Cramer 1st edition 2019. BOOKONDEMAND. ISBN 978-3-96004-041-5
  • Rudolf Lavant 'Stories and Speeches' 1877-1892 . Published in paperback by the publisher: Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing 2019 ISBN 978-1-7066-8943-0 .

Obituaries

literature

  • Karl Henckell : Book of Freedom . Berliner Volksblatt, Berlin 1893, pp. 355, 357.
  • Konrad Beißwanger: Voices of Freedom. The flowering of the most outstanding creations of our worker and folk poets . Litterarisches Bureau, Nuremberg 1901, pp. 779f.
  • Franz Diederich : From below. A new book of freedom collected and designed . Vol. 1. Verlag Buchhandlung Vorwärts, Berlin 1911 preface
  • Franz Diederich : From below. A new book of freedom collected and designed . Vol. 2. Verlag Buchhandlung Vorwärts, Berlin 1911 pp. 254f.
  • Wilhelm Blos : Memories of a Social Democrat . Vol. 1. birk, Munich 1914, p. 148.
  • Wilhelm Blos: Memories of a Social Democrat . Vol. 2. Birk, Munich 1919, pp. 155, 156.
  • Lavant, Rudolf . In: Franz Osterroth : Biographical Lexicon of Socialism. Deceased personalities . Volume 1. JHW Dietz Verlag Nachf., Hannover 1960, pp. 160, 161 and 181.
  • Lavant, Rudolf . In: Lexicon of Socialist German Literature. From the beginning until 1945 . Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig 1964, pp. 317–319 (with bibliography p. 319)
  • Hans Uhlig: Life and work of Rudolf Lavants. A contribution to the research of the “New Beginnings of Socialist Literature” . Greifswald 1965 ( Univ., Phil. Diss. Of February 15, 1965 )
  • Wolfgang Friedrich: Rudolf Lavant. Poems . In: Weimar Contributions, 13 Heft 2, Vol. 13.1967, 2, pp. 344–345
  • Hans Uhlig: Rudolf Lavant. On the beginnings of socialist literature in Germany . In: Weimar Contributions , 17 issue 12, vol. 17.1971, 12, pp. 162–168
  • Up to the light. Udo Eighth. May festivals of the social democracy 1891 - 1914 / / 7 poems by Lavant. 1980. ISBN 3801200531 .
  • Wolfgang Emmerich:  Lavant, Rudolf. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1982, ISBN 3-428-00194-X , p. 745 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Wikisource: Rudolf Lavant  - Sources and full texts
Wikiquote: Rudolf Lavant  - Quotes
Commons : Rudolf Lavant  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Celebration of the twenty-five year anniversary of the municipal secondary school in Leipzig, page 13, Cramer RK, no.169
  2. ^ The obituary by Louis Cohn, a fellow writer, from the magazine “Die Glocke”, Sozialistische Wochenschrift. Edited by Parvus, year 1915/1916, issue 12, page 700.
  3. ↑ The German War of 1866 - Fontane, page 55/56
  4. ^ Kuk Kaiserjäger # Uniforms
  5. ↑ Pike gray and green. “Memories of an 1866 cadet on the length of the war”. (Main article, Biographical Notes v. Lavant). In: Neue Illustrirte Zeitung for Gabelsberger'sche Stenographen, 1885/1886, No. 1–12, pages 2–179.
  6. ↑ Neue Illustrirte Zeitung for Gabelsberger'sche Stenographen 1885/86, No. 1, page 2.
  7. ^ To FE, February 2, 1884, Engels / Kautsky 1955, p. 96
  8. ↑ Rieber 1984, p. 361ff; Hickethier 1979; Ege 1992, p. 28 there wrongly: expelled from Hamburg
  9. ↑ See also Heymann - later himself editor-in-chief of "Wahren Jacob" - 1930
  10. ↑ Rieber 1987, p. 166
  11. ↑ Ollenhauer 1963, p. 13
  12. ↑ Copenhagen and the Consequences (1883/84) (Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung)
  13. ↑ Member of the "Association for the Protection and Care of Alpine Plants" in 1906 (page 99)
  14. ↑ Wolfgang Schröder : Leipzig - the cradle of the German labor movement. Roots and development of the workers' education association 1848/49 to 1878/81. Page 309.
personal data
SURNAME Lavant, Rudolf
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cramer, Richard Carl (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1844
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH December 6, 1915
Place of death Leipzig