Varnhagen Society
The Varnhagen Gesellschaft e. V. is a nationwide and international non-profit organization. It is dedicated to the memory of the writer couple Rahel and Karl August Varnhagen and their legacy, the promotion of art, culture and literature, the Judeo-Christian and German-Polish reconciliation and the history of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Foundation and goal setting
After two years of preparation, the Varnhagen Gesellschaft was founded on November 13, 1997 in Hagen under the patronage of Carola Stern . The Rahel Varnhagen College and the City of Hagen's Department of Culture were involved in the establishment.
The literary association deals with the life and writings of the married couple Rahel Varnhagen and Karl August Varnhagen von Ense as well as with the Varnhagen collection , to which donors such as Bettina von Arnim , Alexander von Humboldt , Heinrich Heine and Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau have contributed. with the library Varnhagen as well as with the Varnhagen salon . Also of interest are the nieces Ludmilla Assing and Ottilie Assing , who lived in Italy and the USA respectively.
The aim of the association's work is to make the collection, which is now in various locations, better accessible, to network research around the world, to advise and promote students and to gain new readers for the works. The focus of the work also includes women's literature, the 19th century letter culture and the Christian-Jewish dialogue.
history
The founding chairman of the Varnhagen Society was the journalist Renée Kraus from Dortmund, who died in May 2008. At the first general meeting in the Osthaus Museum in Hagen , the publicist and translator Nikolaus Gatter was elected chairman.
In 2002 the registered office of the association was relocated to Cologne ; Hagen has remained its statutory seat, where the association is entered in the local court's register of associations.
Today the association has around 140 members all over the world. The institutional members include the Berlin State Library - Prussian Cultural Heritage, the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow (both locations of the Varnhagen Collection) and the Centro Studi Rahel Levin at the German Department of the University of Turin , the Mendelssohn Society , the Fouqué Society Berlin-Brandenburg , the Faust Museum in Knittlingen and other institutions.
Since 2004, the Varnhagen Society has shown a traveling exhibition on the history of the Varnhagen Collection, which has so far been held in Cologne ( University and City Library , 2004), Hamburg ( Carl von Ossietzky State and University Library , 2004), Weinsberg ( Baukelter , 2005) with different thematic focuses. , Berlin ( Mendelssohn-Remise am Gendarmenmarkt , 2006), Offenbach (Volkshochschule, 2007), Vienna ( Volkshochschule Hietzing ), Bad Münster am Stein (Kurmittelhaus, 2009) and Marburg an der Lahn (Haus der Romantik, 2010).
In 2006, after collecting donations, the Varnhagen Society financed the restoration of the Varnhagen honorary grave in the Dreifaltigkeitskirchhof in Berlin-Kreuzberg . The association's exhibition set up in Berlin for this occasion was opened with a reception by the Senator for Culture André Schmitz and a greeting from Gerhart Baum . Politicians like Andrea Nahles and Barbara Hendricks also paid tribute to the work of the association with greetings on various occasions.
activities
In addition to numerous meetings, readings, lectures, exhibitions and other projects, the society also organizes scientific conferences and publishes the Varnhagen Society's almanac . Twice a year, the gazzettino newsletter reports on the association's work, new publications and current dates . The electronic version can be subscribed to free of charge.
The Varnhagen Society has been a member of the Working Group of Literary Societies (ALG) since 2001 .
Meetings
- Rahel Varnhagen and her sisters. Iserlohn, Evangelical Academy (October 23-25, 1998)
- Ludmilla Assing in Florence. Florence, Villa Romana (April 21-22, 2000)
- Languages, politics and sociability in the Varnhagen circle. Kleve, Schloss Gnadenthal (October 1st to 3rd, 2004)
- From Sigurd to Sickingen. Knight virtues and canon of values from romanticism to the labor movement. Bad Münster am Stein-Ebernburg, Amtshof (September 12-13, 2009)
- "... this is the highest point of sociability." Circles, cliques, friendships. From romantic salons to speed dating. Marburg, House of Romanticism (May 15-16, 2010)
Publications
- Ludwig Stern: The Varnhagen von Ensesche collection in the Royal Library of Berlin . Behr, Berlin 1911 (paperback, uncut, numbered, only given to members)
- Nikolaus Gatter (ed.), With the collaboration of Eva Feldheim and Rita Viehoff: Almanach 1: When the story goes around a corner . Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-8305-0025-4
- Nikolaus Gatter (ed.), With the collaboration of Christian Liedtke and Elke Wenzel: Almanach 2: Makkaroni and Geistesspeise . Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-8305-0296-6
- Nikolaus Gatter: “Life pictures , to populate the future.” From Rahel Levin's salon to the “Varnhagen Collection”. Booklet accompanying the exhibition , Cologne 2007, ISBN 978-3-00-019894-6
- Karl August Varnhagen von Ense: Paris, 1810. Travel report from Strasbourg, Lorraine and Paris with nine letters from Henriette Mendelssohn to the author . Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-00-040929-5
- Nikolaus Gatter (ed.), With the collaboration of Inge Brose-Müller and Sigrun Hopfensperger: Almanach 3: The Sopha beautiful, and yet a lotter. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-8305-0579-2
- Gazzettino. Communications from Varnhagen Gesellschaft e. V. No. 1 (1998) ff., Available as an electronic resource on the association's website .