Vydūnas

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Vydūnas 1930

Vydūnas (bourgeois Wilhelm Storost , lit. Vilius Storosta ; born March 22, 1868 in the East Prussian village of Jonaten (lit. Jonaičiai) in the Heydekrug district ; † February 20, 1953 in Detmold ) was a Prussian-Lithuanian teacher, poet, philosopher, humanist and theosophist .

Life

Wilhelm Storost came from a Prussian-Lithuanian family of German character who had lived in Memelland for many generations. After training as a teacher at the preparatory institute in Pillkallen (1883-85) and at the teachers' college in Ragnit (1885-88), Vydūnas was employed as a teacher in Kinten (lit. Kintai ) at the local elementary school from 1888 to 1892 . In the school house in Kinten there is now a small Vydūnas museum that is well worth seeing. In 1892 he switched to the boys' school in Tilsit , where he worked until 1912. He taught German, French and English, but also Lithuanian and sports. In 1912 he resigned from the school service to devote himself to philosophical studies. In Tilsit he led the Lithuanian choir and wrote numerous songs himself as well as plays that were performed by his amateur theater. From 1933 he worked in Memel (lit. Klaipėda ) at the local music school.

From 1913 to 1919 he studied as a guest student at the universities of Greifswald , Halle , Leipzig and Berlin . In 1918/19 he taught Lithuanian at the Seminar for Oriental Languages ​​in Berlin, the director of which was the famous Orientalist Eduard Sachau .

Detail of the 200 LTL banknote

As a result of the Russian air raids on Tilsit in 1944, Vydūnas first fled to the Powarben estate in Samland to be able to work less disturbed. At the same time he taught the children of the landowner Paul Gerhard Goertz. After a few months in refugee camps, Vydūnas found his new home in Detmold after the war, where he died in 1953 at the age of 84. In 1991 his last will was fulfilled when his remains were transferred to Lithuania. His grave is now in Bitenen (Bitėnai) in the immediate vicinity of the holy mountain of the Lithuanians, the Rambynas , which lies directly on the Memel between Tilsit and Ragnit.

Vydūnas was married to the German Klara Füllhase. Until the end of 2014, it was featured on the 200 litas banknote.

Act

A serious illness ( consumption ) had made him believe early on that body and soul had to be in balance. In the following years he developed numerous thoughts and writings for a spiritually fulfilled life, which he saw as the basis of humanism. Vydūnas was very interested in Indian culture and in 1946 was the first to translate the “ Bhagavad Gita ” into Lithuanian. During a stay in Leipzig around 1900 he joined the Theosophical Society there . In addition, he founded a theosophical society in Tilsit in 1902 and from 1905 published the theosophical magazine "Saltinis".

His current fame in Lithuania is based more on his work for the revival of Lithuanian culture, especially folk songs and ancient peasant traditions. In his book “Seven Hundred Years of German-Lithuanian Relations”, the first edition of which was published in Tilsit in 1932, he wrote on page 46 f .: “It sounded and sounds German choral singing. [...] The German human soul sings in the German song. [...] There was so much singing and making music at home. There were so many beautiful German songs. "

The book mentioned was banned by the Nazis in 1933 because of its idea of ​​international understanding and its distant, albeit tolerance-minded attitude towards Germanness. In 1938, at the age of 70, he was jailed for two months, but was released again due to protests.

Vydūnas' love for the ancestral people and his efforts to “honor the Lithuanians” never led him to anti-German statements or activities. Many of his statements show how much he valued Germanness: When Lithuania was released from the tsarist yoke during the First World War, he is delighted in his work “Lithuania in the past and present” (Tilsit 1916, p. 16): “For Lithuania is a new time has dawned. It will now be related to German power and German culture. ”And on January 6, 1918, Vydūnas wrote to Sachau:“ I am confident that the lot of Lithuania will be favorable and that it will not lose its cultural forces in connection with Germany. but will only win. Yes, I even believe that Lithuania will be able to give the German people something that will be a blessing for them. Perhaps there is something in the Lithuanian culture, which has been closed for ages, which a large world population can use. "

In his work from 1932, nothing changed in this basic attitude. He writes: “Every nationality is first of all a different kind (form and content) of humanity. A higher or lower evaluation of one or the other must therefore be avoided. ”And on p. 416:“ In all its content, Germanism is far superior to Lithuanianism in many respects. ”In all of his literary work, however, Vydūnas strived to to put the traditions of Lithuanian history at the service of the development of a Lithuanian national consciousness.

Certainly, Vydūnas' political engagement after 1918 had not always served German interests and in particular the interests of the large majority of the Memel countries. This gave rise to reservations on the part of Germany that have been handed down to this day. Vydūnas himself had quickly understood that nationalist aspirations and excesses on both sides would not lead to understanding between people and to the satisfaction of mutual interests. In a letter to Sudermann dated November 27, 1927, he complained: "I have been written and still credited with an activity in the foolish field of politics." In the evaluation and appraisal of archival material, it can be largely demonstrated that Vydūnas is political has been active or has allowed himself to be drawn into the area of ​​tension in the political disputes by political circumstances. As a poet and thinker, he never looked for confrontation between Germans and Lithuanians, but always for cooperation. In the same sense, Mikunas wrote in the foreword mentioned above: "It is a heartfelt wish of the Lithuanians to shape the relationship with the Germans on a basis of mutual understanding, respect and neighborly, peaceful cooperation."

Regarding his pseudonym Vydūnas , his great-nephew Jürgen Storost notes in the “Zeitschrift für Slawistik”, Volume 32 (1987), Issue 4, p. 617: “ Viktor Falkenhahn , an early friend, student and colleague of Vydūnas, reports in a conversation that he once asked Vydūnas directly about this naming problem. Vydūnas replied that with anthroposophical intentions he wanted to be the opposite of a Lithuanian 'pavydūnas', an envious, envious hammers, disapproving person, i.e. a person 'who grants everyone all the best'. "

reception

In the book “Sing, sing was geschah” (Rome 1980) by Rose Bittens-Goldschmidt one reads (p. 15): “Storost let the old Lithuanian culture develop in front of his students and combined it beautifully with the Prussian and the German. In music he brought them close to the beautiful old Dainos [the Lithuanian folk songs], as well as the songs of German Romanticism. "

In the foreword of the second edition of “700 Years ...” published in Chicago in 1982, Vytautas Mikunas wrote: “Because of his education, he [Vydūnas] is undoubtedly a person of German culture.” In this second edition there is an afterword as an article by the Baltic artist Viktor Falkenhahn with the headline “Memories and Views of a German”, which says: “Vydūnas saw and recognized in the depths of Germanness very special highest values ​​of humanity, which are found in many brilliant Germans such as Meister Eckehard, Goethe, Schiller , Thomas Mann and others announced values ​​for which Balticism was waiting in its depth to complement and thus perfect its own, specific, high, but different humanity due to its ancient deep closeness to nature. "

Memorial plaque for Vydūnas

literature

In addition to the extensive Lithuanian secondary literature on Vydūnas, there are some magazine articles in German (with a Lithuanian translation) by Vydūnas' great-nephew Jürgen Storost:

  • Vydūnas in Berlin. In: Zeitschrift für Slawistik, Volume 32, Berlin 1987, Issue 4, pages 613–628.
  • Vydūnas Berlyne. In: Pergalė, Vilnius 1988, No. 6, pages 152-162.
  • On the relationship between Vydūnas and Sudermann. In: Zeitschrift für Germanistik (Leipzig), 11th year, April 1990, issue 2, pages 192–203.
  • Apie Vydūno ir Zudermano santykius. In: Literatūra ir menas, Vilnius, March 20, 1993, p. 11; March 27, 1993, pages 4, 5, 15. [with author portrait of Dr. Vacys Bagdonavičius]
  • Kryžkelėje [On some aspects of Vydūnas' socio-political engagement up to 1919]. In: Kultūros barai (Vilnius), 1990, volume 3, pages 70-74.
  • Vydūnas' father. On the origin and parental home of the important Prussian-Lithuanian writer Wilhelm Storost-Vydūnas, part 1. In: Ostdeutsche Familienkunde 39 (1991), pp. 385–392.
  • Vydūno tėvas. In: Ramuva, Vilnius 1990, pp. 26-34.
  • Vydūnas and Fidus . The poet and his book decorator. In: Marginalien, 128th issue, Berlin and Weimar 1992, pages 70-86.
  • Vydūnas ir Fidus. Kūrėjas ir jo knygų dailininkas. In: Kultūros barai, 1993, issue 5, pages 57-62.
  • Vydūnas in the last years of his life. Letters and testimonials. Part 1. In: Ostdeutsche Familienkunde 41 (1993), pp. 161–169.
  • Vydūnas in the last years of his life. Letters and testimonials. Part 2. In: Ostdeutsche Familienkunde 41 (1993), pp. 193–198.
  • Vydūūnas in the mirror of contemporary German authorities and press organs. A documentation. In: Arthur Hermann (ed.), The border as a place of approach. 750 Years of German-Lithuanian Relations, Cologne 1992, pages 97–148.
  • Vydūnas ketvirtojo dešimtmečio vokiečių valdžios įstaigose ir spaudos organuose. Documentacija. In: Lituanistica, No. 1 (9), 1992, pages 113-143. [with author portrait Storost by Dr. Vacys Bagdonavičius]
  • Vydūnas and the language. In: Annaberger Annalen . Yearbook on Lithuania and German-Lithuanian Relations, No. 1, Bonn-Bad Godesberg 1993, pages 107-132.
  • Vydūnas ir kalba. In: Vydūnas Lietuvių kultūroje, Vilnius 1994, pages 179-190.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Vydūnas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Storost, Wilhelm (real name); Storosta, Vilius (Lithuanian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Lithuanian teacher, poet, philosopher, humanist and theosophist
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Jonaičiai, Šilutė County, Lithuania
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1953
Place of death Detmold