Under the shadow of your wings

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Under the shadow of your wings contains selected diary entries by Jochen Kleppers , written down between April 1932 and December 10, 1942. The selection first appeared in 1956.

The Protestant , writer, journalist and poet of sacred songs Jochen Klepper gradually lost his creative power during the above-mentioned ten years under the steadily increasing National Socialist reprisals. Klepper is married to Johanna, a Jew . Hanni, as Johanna is called, has brought two daughters with her from her first marriage. After the war began , Klepper's younger stepdaughter Renate was threatened with deportation . Klepper campaigns for the young girl's permission to travel to Sweden. The author penetrates to the security service . His request is rejected. Klepper kills himself with his wife and child in the shared Berlin apartment building.

diary

1932 Klepper suffers from childlessness. He calls himself a " religious socialist ". The 30-year-old's work is narrow. But as an intellectual , Klepper was filled with a lust for glory.

1933 According to Kleppers, a writer is not someone who only has ideas and material. The author is someone who can articulate that very peculiar “state of liveliness” in his text. Talent is not so much required.

The National Socialists have usurped all power. Klepper is employed by the radio . He is denounced : “Jewish family. SPD member "is the accusation. The active employee is suspended from duty . But Klepper does not despair. If he sticks to his faith, writes on his novel Der Vater, the novel of the soldier king (Stuttgart 1937) and loves his wife Hanni. Is Klepper a “divine tool”? He has his doubts. Also these disgusting “ memoirs ” that Klepper writes down - what value do they have? In any case, the writer wants to stay in the country. He does not see any work opportunities abroad. In Berlin the giants Ullstein and UFA would like his cooperation, but unfortunately they do not want to pay. So Klepper strives for membership in the Reich Chamber of Literature .

1934 The project succeeds because one of its guarantors is an SA man. Klepper calls the National Socialists "sick dreamers" when he confides his concern for the future of Germany in the diary.

1935 Revolt is out of the question for Klepper. “Keep still” is his motto. A little privacy can be maintained with such a strategy. The riots on Kurfürstendamm are unsettling. Jewish women are slapped on the street. In spite of all this, Klepper wants to continue writing as long as he is still allowed to remain in the Reichsschrifttumskammer. For him, writing is a religious process. God called the author, and the latter answered with a book - a stammered answer.

1936 German relatives repeatedly advise the Klepper couple to send their two daughters to a safe country abroad. Klepper does not see the need for this precautionary measure. The author knows of his isolation in Germany, but he relies on God's help.

1937 On March 25th the writer is expelled from the Reichsschrifttumskammer - Klepper's conviction because of his “ mixed marriage ”. In response to an objection, the exclusion was suspended in June until further notice, and the Reich Ministry of War recommends Klepper's new novel Der Vater as a reading for members of the Wehrmacht . On December 18th, Klepper wrote his song The night has advanced .

1938 But the Reichsschrifttumskammer accuses the Christian Klepper of “servile attitude” that contradicts the “new spirit”. From March onwards, Klepper was no longer monitored by the Reich Chamber of Literature, but by the Propaganda Ministry . Even in this delicate situation there is still a courageous journalist who offers Klepper his organ as a platform: the Protestant theologian Hermann Mulert encourages the author to write for the Christian world . Klepper remains cautious. Ernst Wiechert is sitting in a concentration camp because of the Niemöller case . Klepper and his wife probably register how Jewish doctors and lawyers are no longer allowed to practice in Germany and how German Jews sell their belongings and emigrate . A concentration camp should exist near Weimar . Every German Jew should also have the first name Israel or Sara from January 1st and should have to name this if necessary. Polish Jews are imprisoned or deported in Germany. With all this, the Klepper couple are building a new house in Berlin. In connection with Kristallnacht , Klepper was concerned about the arbitrary arrests of Jewish men by the Gestapo . Klepper's wife Hanni converts to Christianity. Klepper is appalled by Hanni's ID card .

1939 Both of Klepper's stepdaughters want to emigrate. Hanni wants to stay. The Nazi ideologue Rosenberg speaks openly, all Jews are to the German Reich leave. Before that, German Jews must have certain valuables - such as B. Precious metals - offer buying points for sale.

When the war broke out , Klepper made a patriotic note in his diary: He could not wish Germany to go under. When Jews had to obtain permission from the Gestapo to leave their place of residence in November, Klepper considered suicide. Is suicide a sin? The older stepdaughter managed to leave for England. Because of the younger daughter Renate, the couple want to stay alive.

1940 February: Rumors reached Klepper that Jews from Szczecin were being deported to Lublin . As the wife of an " Aryan ", Hanni is protected. But it is getting more and more dangerous for the daughter Renate. Men of the Totenkopf SS ring the doorbell and ask about the young girl. Renate converts - like her mother before - to Christianity. Klepper receives news of an incomprehensible event in the Reich: the disabled are being murdered. All events taken together weaken the creativity of the sensitive Klepper so much that he can no longer produce his next novel ( Katharina von Bora ). But he wants to keep the life force. And so he campaigned doggedly, tenaciously, and ultimately successfully for Renate's entry permit to Sweden. Nevertheless, on July 26th, Klepper surprisingly hopes that Germany will defeat England.

1941 Klepper served in the Wehrmacht from December 1940 and was dismissed at the beginning of October 1941 as "unworthy of military service" because of his "non-Aryan marriage". Berlin Jews find themselves in an even more difficult position. Renate has to wear the discriminating Star of David and brings alarming news home with her: relatives are being deported to Litzmannstadt . Young Renate is far from the idea of ​​suicide. She hopes to survive. Klepper penetrates as far as the “Reichsminister Dr. Frick ”and obtained a document in which Renate was guaranteed ministerial protection from deportation. This letter only protects Renate's life until the security service intervenes mercilessly. News of deportations of Jews never ends. Renate vacillates between depression and hope. The girl no longer rejects the idea of ​​suicide if she should fail to leave the country. News of massacres perpetrated against Jews penetrated into Berlin from the east.

1942 Hanni rejects the idea of ​​triple suicide. Klepper does not know whether to condemn the German warfare. After agonizing back and forth, Renate receives the hoped-for entry permit to Sweden. In the meantime, however, Frick is no longer responsible for the additional exit permit required, but Eichmann . Klepper does not receive the approval. According to Frick, he must also expect a forced divorce and the subsequent deportation of his wife. Klepper goes to their deaths voluntarily with his family, the records end:

“In the afternoon the negotiation at the security service. We are dying now - oh, that too stands by God - we are going to death together tonight. Over the last few hours stands the image of the blessing Christ who wrestles for us. Our life ends in the sight of it. "

title

Klepper's belief in God appears unshakable. The ubiquitous biblical quotations are an outward sign of this deep religiosity . Under one of the verses is the book:

“Be gracious to me, God, be gracious to me! for my soul trusts in you, and under the shadow of your wings I have refuge until the misfortune passes. "

All quotations taken together reflect over the ten-year period the unprecedented trust in God and finally the supplication, and last but not least, the shouting at God in dire need.

people

Klepper reports on closer contacts with writers. Reinhold Schneider and Rudolf Alexander Schröder are mentioned several times. Klepper mentions several prominent concentration camp prisoners, including activists of the Confessing Church such as Pastor Hans Ehrenberg .

shape

The extensive memoirs can be read as a dialogue with God. Klepper puts his weal and woe in the hands of the Lord. But Klepper knows that “one day”, as Bergengruen puts it a little disrespectfully, he will have to stand in front of “his heavenly commander” for his actions. The form follows from what has been said. Klepper, deeply believing, is torn back and forth. He knows he makes mistakes, but he can't get out of his skin. Standing under the wing of the Lord, the fate of the author takes its course. And Klepper describes the process in minute detail. The honesty and independence of the author are impressive in everything. Before the astonished reader, it is less the fighter Klepper than the patient who appears.

Quotes

"You mustn't push yourself where you're not called."

- Unter dem Schatten, p. 145 (diary entry from July 14, 1934)

"God is the creator of being able to be"

- Unter dem Schatten, p. 215 (diary entry of March 2, 1936)

Bible passages

"The LORD upholds all who fall, and raises all who are downcast."

- Psalm 145,14 / Under the shadow, p. 77

"See, I am with you all days until the end of the world."

- Matthew 28:20 / Under the shadow, p. 240

"Blessed is the man who endures temptation."

- James 1:12 / Under the shadow, p. 288

"And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

- Acts 2:21 / Under the shadow, p. 586

reception

  • In January 1957, Bergengruen reviewed the first publication of the diaries in detail.
    • It looks as if Bergengruen assumed material motives for Hildegard Klepper, the author's sister, in the publication of the brother's diaries.
    • Bergengruen states that Renate's life as that of a “ full Jewish woman ” - as it was called in Nazi parlance - was threatened in the German Reich. Klepper had long enough time to support the girl's emigration. In this context, Bergengruen could not read the author's feelings of guilt or self-doubts from his memoirs.
    • The submissive Klepper could not declare himself to be an opponent of the Nazi regime.
    • Although Bergengruen certifies the author's strength of mind, he lacks feeling and imagination.
    • Bergengruen also gives details that cannot be found in the source: When Klepper visited him in his Berlin house after October 1941, as a deluded landlord, he glorified his service with the Wehrmacht and regretted his forced departure from the troops.
  • Klepper is said to have successfully withdrawn his diaries from being accessed by the Nazi thugs by burying the papers.

literature

source

  • Jochen Klepper: Under the shadow of your wings. From the diaries of the years 1932-1942 ; Giessen: Brunnen Verlag, 1997; ISBN 3-7655-1815-8 .

expenditure

  • Jochen Klepper: Under the shadow of your wings. From the diaries of the years 1932-1942 ; Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt , 1956.

Secondary literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Source p. 26 (diary entry from October 8, 1932)
  2. ↑ Source p. 47 (diary entry from April 18, 1933)
  3. ↑ Source p. 57 (diary entry from June 7, 1933)
  4. ↑ Source, p. 53 (diary entry from May 25, 1933)
  5. ↑ Source p. 67 (diary entry from June 23, 1933)
  6. ↑ Source p. 145 (diary entry from July 13, 1934)
  7. ↑ Source p. 169 (diary entry from April 5, 1935)
  8. ↑ Source p. 179 (diary entry from July 21, 1935)
  9. ↑ Source p. 207 (diary entry from December 10, 1935)
  10. ↑ Source p. 213 (diary entry from January 14, 1936)
  11. ↑ Source p. 223 (diary entry from April 17, 1936)
  12. ↑ Source p. 218 (diary entry from March 23, 1936)
  13. ↑ Source p. 284 (diary entry from June 10, 1937)
  14. ↑ Source p. 270 (diary entry from April 1, 1937)
  15. ↑ p. 531
  16. ↑ Source p. 329 (diary entry from January 12, 1938)
  17. ↑ Source p. 428 (diary entry from February 8, 1939)
  18. ↑ Source p. 468 (diary entry of September 3, 1939)
  19. ↑ Source p. 496 (diary entry from February 19, 1940)
  20. ↑ Source p. 522, 4. Zvo (diary entry from July 26, 1940)
  21. ↑ Source p. 548 (inset of the publisher between December 27, 1940 and October 8, 1941)
  22. ↑ Source p. 1133 (diary entry from December 10, 1942)
  23. ↑ The Bible, Old Testament , Der Psalter , Psalm 57,2 (source pp. 3, 208, 364, 530 (diary entries from December 15, 1935, June 26, 1938, September 5, 1940))
  24. ↑ Source p. 200 (diary entry from November 5, 1935)
  25. ↑ Source p. 336 (diary entry from February 13, 1938)
  26. ↑ Source p. 413 (diary entry from December 17, 1938)
  27. ↑ Kroll, Hackelsberger, Taschka S. 262, 14. ACR
  28. ↑ The Bible, OT, Der Psalter, Psalm 145,14 (source p. 77 (diary entry from July 21, 1933))
  29. ^ The Bible, NT , Matthew 28:20 (source p. 240 (diary entry of November 13, 1936))
  30. ↑ The Bible, NT, James 1:12 (source p. 288 (diary entry from July 16, 1937))
  31. ↑ The Bible, NT, Acts 2, 21 (source p. 586 (diary entry of January 9, 1942))
  32. ↑ Kroll, Hackelsberger, Taschka, pp 259-268
  33. ↑ Kroll, Hackelsberger, Taschka S. 259
  34. ↑ Kroll, Hackelsberger, Taschka, p 260
  35. ↑ Kroll, Hackelsberger, Taschka, pp 266-267
  36. ↑ Kroll, Hackelsberger, Taschka, p 263
  37. ↑ Kroll, Hackelsberger, Taschka, p 265
  38. ↑ Kroll, Hackelsberger, Taschka S. 264, 267
  39. ↑ bars, van Rinsum, p 83