Thekla from Gumpert

Thekla from Gumpert

Thekla Charlotte von Gumpert (married Thekla von Schober ; born June 28, 1810 in Kalisch , † April 1, 1897 in Dresden ) was a German writer for children and young people.

Life

origin

Thekla von Gumpert was born in Kalisch as the third of five children of the district physician Christian Gottlieb von Gumpert and his wife Henriette nee. Born von Eckartsberg and Weißtrupp. In 1815, the father was transferred to Posen as a government medical advisor and came into closer contact with Prussian government circles, in particular the governor Prince Anton Radziwiłł . Thekla became close friends with his daughter, Princess Wanda (1813-1846). The ending Napoleonic Wars had spread enormous misery over Europe . Thekla grew up in an intact enclave , shaped by Prussian thinking and the self-evident nature of a professional society, which was to shape her entire life.

House tutor and educator

Her father died when she was 22 years old. She lived on the family's estate for some time until it had to be sold. Then she found accommodation with a relative, Baron von Seydlitz and Kurtzbach . Here Thekla von Gumpert devoted herself to the upbringing of the children and recognized her inner calling to educate children. After the death of her former friend, Princess Wanda Czartoryski geb. Radziwill took over the upbringing of the children and moved to Dresden. Six happy and fulfilling years followed, until Prince Adam Konstanty Czartoryski married Countess Elzbieta Działyńska from Poznan again. She then moved to live with her mother in Berlin .

Youth writer and Froebel supporter

Through the Weimar legation councilor and poet Franz von Schober , her future husband, whom she married at the age of 46 and from whom she separated again in 1860, she found the courage to combine her educational and literary skills and to pursue the path as a youth writer. Her first work The Little Father and the Grandchild brought the desired success. For the next few decades, she met the taste of society at the time and became one of the most widely read and best-known writers for young people and children of her time.

She made trips to England and Germany to get to know educational institutions. The idea of ​​founding their own educational institution, however, did not materialize. She kept in touch with the "father" of the kindergarten concept, Friedrich Froebel, and propagated his method in her book For German Women . When Froebel fell out of favor with the Prussian government - allegedly the kindergartens spread socialist , liberal and atheist attitudes - she distanced herself from him, declined to work in his magazine and described herself only as his admirer and not a student.

Your social commitment was unmistakable. The income from various books flowed to several charity organizations, including the children's custody in Berlin, the Gesellenherbergsverein, the invalids of the Saxon army , the invalids of the Prussian army and the Victoria National Invalid Foundations.

She died on April 1, 1897 at the age of 86 in Dresden and was buried in the Old Annenfriedhof . Lt. Death certificate StA Dresden II No. 792 she died on April 2nd, 1897.

Services

Prussian ideals pervade her entire work and raised several generations of children and young people. Her creative power was amazing, the number of books almost unmanageable. The best-known work is certainly her daughter's album , which was published annually as a periodical from 1855 with the subtitle: Conversations in the domestic circle to educate the mind and spirit of growing female youth . Another periodical, Herzblättchens Pastime, followed in 1856 . Entertainment for little boys and girls to help build hearts and develop concepts.

Quotes

Thekla von Gumpert describes her motives in a letter to Heinrich Schwerdt :

The purpose of my writing activity has always remained the same, in that I only attach value to young people's literature when it is used not for idle entertainment but as a means of education, in such a way that it builds the mind and heart and stimulates and strengthens the will guide seeks. That is why I direct the gaze of the children, and especially the girls, to different living conditions, in order to show them that people can be happy and become happy in all situations, but that only conscientious loyalty to their duties in small and large things can ensure that happiness for them . Such loyalty to duty flourishes on the basis of pious faith. In her autobiography she writes:

My parents and forefathers were Prussians, and my father and mother put the consciousness in my heart that the King of Prussia was my King; "Into the heart" I said, not just into the memory.

Awards and honors

• 1889 Order of Chefakat III. class

Works

• The little father and the grandchild , Duncker, Berlin 1843
• Aunt's bathing trip , Duncker, Berlin
• My first white hair , Duncker, Berlin
• Robinsons's granddaughter , Duncker, Berlin 1844
• Stories from the Children's World 10 vol. Hirt, Breslau 1847
  • 1. The beggar boy
  • 2. Knock! Thump! Thump!
  • 3. The little shoemaker
  • 4. Four weeks of vacation
  • 5. The lock nut
  • 6. u. 7. The little heroes
  • 8. The mute child
  • 9. The man in the basket
  • 10. The emigrant's children
• Daughter album , published from 1855–1930 (volumes 1 to 76), of which volumes 1 to 43 by TvG
• Herzblättchens pastime , from 1856-1933 / 1950 (Volume 1 to 78) of which Volume 1 to 42 by TvG

From daughter album , volume 14

• Schloßpeterchen and BäuerÄNschen , Flemming, Glogau
• Mother Anne and her Gretchen , Flemming, Glogau 1867
• Mother Anne and her Hänschen , Flemming, Glogau 1886 2nd ed.
• The heart leaflets , Flemming, Glogau from 1855 3? Volumes
• After school , Flemming, Glogau 1879
• One year Flemming, Glogau 1882 2nd ed.
• God in Nature Berlin 1851
• Real pearls
• Good day
• The old servant
• I am thirsty
• Ann 'Rosel , Berlin 1855
• The Heckpfenning Berlin 1855
• The hostel father
• The old pedestal Dresden 1866
• God with us
• From the present
• The third of August , Glogau 1870
• Stories for my young friends , Glogau from 1876 2 vol.
• The Margarethenbuch , Braunschweig 1876 2nd ed.
• For the nursery , Glogau from 1879 2 vol.
• Charity and patriotism , Glogau 1882
• Backfische , Glogau 1883
• From life , Glogau 1890
• The year of confirmation , Glogau 1891
• The Lord's Prayer , Bielefeld 1897
• The Advent Tree , Bielefeld 1897 3rd edition
• Under five kings and three emperors , Flemming, Glogau 1891
• Autographs , Bremen 1893

literature

• Heinrich Schwerdt: Thekla von Gumpert. A biographical-critical memorial for the twenty-five year jubilee of her literary activity . Flemming, Glogau 1868
• Hyacinth Holland :  Gumpert, Thekla von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 49, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, pp. 628-630.
• M. Dahrendorf: Gumpert, Thekla von . In: K. Doderer (Hrsg.): Lexicon of children's and youth literature. First volume: A – H. Weinheim 1977
• Roswitha Budeus-Budde: Thekla von Gumpert's daughters album. Coining of an edifying ideal of women, program of a girls' magazine of the 19th century . dipa-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1986 (= youth and media; 12), ISBN 3-7638-0125-1
• Helmut König (Ed.): My dear Mr. Froebel. Letters from women and virgins to the friend of children and people . Volk u. Wissen, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-06-262694-1
• Manfred Berger : On the 100th anniversary of Thekla von Gumpert's death . In: Contributions to youth literature and the media . Weinheim, 49 (1997) 1, pp. 41-43
• Norbert Weiss, Jens Wonneberger: Poets, thinkers, writers from six centuries in Dresden. Verlag Die Scheune, Dresden 1997, ISBN 3-931684-10-5
• Till Gerrit Waidelich: “Torupson” and Franz von Schober - the life and work of the Schubert and Schwind friend, courted by women, friends and biographers . In: Schubert: Perspektiven 6 (2006), issue 1 and 2 - special issue, pp. 1–237

Web links

Wikisource: Thekla von Gumpert  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Thekla von Gumpert in the catalog of the German National Library
• Manfred Berger: Women in the history of kindergarten: Thekla von Gumpert, married. from Schober

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Todtenschau . In: Dresdner Geschichtsblätter , No. 4, 1897, p. 72.