Ut mine fortress tid
Ut mine Festungstid is an autobiographical novel by the German writer Fritz Reuter (1810–1874), published in 1862. It is written in the Low German language . The high German title is from my fortress time .
prehistory
The basis of the autobiographical story is Reuter's imprisonment. In 1832, as a law student, he became known to the fraternity movement, whose goals were a unified democratic Germany. He joined the radical fraternity Germania Jena , whose goal was the overthrow of the German princely states, which (not only) in the opinion of the fraternities were all reactionary. On April 3, 1833, members of the Germania stormed the Frankfurter Konstablerwache at the Frankfurt Wachensturm . When Reuter was passing through Berlin in October of the same yearstayed, he was arrested on October 31, 1833 and taken to the city bailiwick. As a member of Germania he was charged with high treason , and although he was a Mecklenburg citizen, he was detained in Prussia . In the summer of 1834 he was transferred to the Silberberg fortress in Silesia. It was only on January 28, 1837 that the verdict passed by the Superior Court in Berlin was announced to him. It said death by the ax, but was immediately reduced to 30 years imprisonment for the sake of grace. Pretrial detention was not taken into account, and extradition to Mecklenburg was also denied. For the judgment, the court's membership of Germania was sufficient, although Reuter personally had nothing to do with the events in Frankfurt. He was accused of knowing the subversive aims of the fraternity, publicly wearing the colors black-red-gold, celebrating the Polish Revolution Day and singing the song Princes , whose text reads: First the Emperor Franz, then the one in the wreath, On! On! Reuter then spent his imprisonment at the fortresses Glogau , Magdeburg and Graudenz before he came to Mecklenburg at the fortress Dömitz . After the death of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III. In 1840 Reuter was given amnesty by his son and successor Friedrich Wilhelm IV , after serving a total of seven years in prison. Since his original plans and goals had been destroyed, it was only after a few years that Reuter found his later humble life as a teacher and writer.
The book
After Reuter had made his first attempt in 1855, still in High German, to process his experiences from prison in his cheerful episode , he wrote the Low German novel Ut mine fortressstid in 1861 . It was published in 1862 under the title Olle Kamellen, Part Two . In 1859 the memories of his childhood, Ut de Franzosentid , appeared as Olle Kamellen, the first part .
The focus of the description is the dreary everyday life in prison, which Reuter coped with with the help of his fellow prisoners. Cheerful episodes and experiences make you largely forget the bitterness that must have made Reuter's imprisonment. Anecdotally, Reuter describes burlesque scenes and cheerful love adventures of his comrades, his attempts to be artistically active as a painter and his attempts at cooking in the cell. This is Reuters' way of processing and coping with his incisive and deeply striking experiences. The long period of time that elapsed before the novel was written may have made some of the sharpness and explosiveness of the events forgotten. Nevertheless, between the cheerful episodes, very precise remarks about the injustice he suffered by the Prussian state and some of its dutiful servants flash out again and again. Commanders could destroy prisoners or ease their lot through humane treatment. With his book, Reuter wanted to set a permanent memorial to the latter and especially to his comrades. The focus of the work is not on settling accounts with his tormentors, but on humanism and the praise of friendship that has proven itself in difficult times.
expenditure
- Olle Kamellen, second part . Wismar 1862
- Works in 12 volumes, vol. 5 . Leipzig 1936
- Collected works and letters in 9 volumes, Vol. 4 . Rostock 1967
- Ut mine fortress tid . Hinstorff: Rostock 1983
- Ut mine fortress tid . Hinstorff: Rostock 1997, ISBN 3356007467
Translations
Danish
- With fangeliv . Det Schønbergske Forlag, Copenhagen 1971
Standard German
- From my time as a fortress . Tr .: Friedrich Kleemeier. U. Meyer, Berlin 1915
- From my time as a fortress . Tr .: Heirich Conrad. Janke, Leipzig 1939
- Tides of life. The novels of memory . Acc .: Friedrich and Barbara Minssen. Langen-Müller, Munich 1976
- Autobiographical novels . Acc .: Friedrich and Barbara Minssen. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1978
literature
- G. Schab: Fritz Reuter's fortress style and its high German archetype . Dissertation. Hall 1923
- Kindler's new literary lexicon, vol. 14 . Kindler, Munich 1988