Walter Clauss

Walter Konrad Clauss (born April 28, 1899 in Zurich ; † May 11, 1972 in Küsnacht ) was a Swiss German studies and grammar school teacher. He became known for his dialectological work on Uri German as well as a German literary history and a German reading book, both of which he developed for secondary school lessons.

Family and education

Clauss was born in Zurich- Aussersihl as the only child of Christian Friedrich Clauss and Karolina born Weibel. His paternal grandfather came to Zurich as a Wagner from Calw in Württemberg . The father worked in the silk trade, for a time at the Adrian Corrodi company (whose owner was quaestor on the executive committee of the “Swiss Idiotikons”), the mother was a dressmaker. It was thanks to the commitment of the primary school teacher Jean Trüb that Clauss was allowed to attend high school. After graduating from high school in 1917, he studied German language and literature , Old English and Sanskrit at the University of Zurich and also attended lectures in theology . During the state strike in 1918, the young Clauss carried out the post in the Seefeld district under the guard of land storm soldiers .

Through his uncle Konrad Weibel, who was a train driver for the Gotthard Railway and lived in Erstfeld , Clauss came into contact with the Uri region at an early age . So it happened that he did his doctorate with Albert Bachmann in 1922/23 with an examination of the Uri dialect . He then went to London to take the commercial practice exam.

In 1926 Clauss married Agathe Arnold from Uri, with whom he had a son - who became a doctor - and a daughter. After Agathe's death in 1959, he married Verena Schudel.

Working as a dialectologist

Clauss' doctoral supervisor Bachmann, who was also editor-in-chief of Schweizerischer Idiotikons , gave his pupil a position as an assistant at the dictionary in 1924 and as an editor in 1925 (the assistant position was also transferred to the later long-time editor Clara Stockmeyer ). Since the wages of a dictionary editor were too small to support a young family, Clauss sought a second position as a state-paid teacher, and after he had been permanently employed at the Zurich Cantonal School in 1930 , he finally gave up work on the Idiotikon in 1931 on. Guntram Saladin succeeded him as editor .

Nevertheless, Clauss remained closely connected to the dictionary and Swiss German. In 1939 he became a member of the steering committee and in 1950 he became a member of the board of the "Association for the Swiss German Dictionary", where he worked as an actuary from 1967 until his death . In 1958 his Central Switzerland recordings were published for the phonogram archive of the University of Zurich , in 1969 he re-edited a simplified version of his dissertation on the Uri dialect, and at the same time he began to compile a Uri dictionary. When he died of complications from a stroke in 1972, the letter was "G". Years later, the Altdorf canton school teacher Felix Aschwanden took over the material and completed the dictionary, which finally appeared in 1982.

Creating as a teacher

Clauss became a teacher for English at the Zürcher Gewerbeschule in 1924 and an assistant teacher in 1928 and in 1930 a permanent teacher for German and English at the Zurich Realgymnasium (today the Rämibühl Cantonal School ). After the opening of the Zürcher Oberland Cantonal School , he taught temporarily in Wetzikon from 1957 to 1960.

In 1943 his book "Deutsche Literatur" was published, which was published fourteen times by 1964. In 1951 the revision of Jakob Baechtold's “German Reading Book ” , which was jointly responsible for Arthur Häny , came out, with Clauss responsible for the part on prose and Häny for the part on poetry . In 1945 he published an annotated selection of hymns, odes and elegies by Friedrich Hölderlin , and his annotated edition of Friedrich Schiller's "Robbers" appeared in several editions.

Clauss also worked on the “Swiss Pedagogical Lexicon”, gave didactic courses, taught adults at the adult education center and gave German courses for foreign speakers.

Publications (selection)

• numerous articles in the Swiss Idiotikon, volumes IX and X.
• The dialect of Uri. Phonology and inflection theory. Diss. Univ. Zurich. Huber, Frauenfeld 1929 (contributions to the Swiss German grammar XVII).
• German literature. A historical representation of their main characters. Schulthess, Zurich 1943, 14th edition 1964.
• How a Uri dialect grammar came about. In: Swiss monthly «Du». August 1951.
• Swiss German dialects. Issue 3: Wolfenschiessen (Canton Nidwalden), Engelberg (Canton Obwalden), Sisikon, Unterschächen, Andermatt, Hospental (Canton Uri). Recorded by Walter Clauss, edited by Hans Troxler. Huber, Frauenfeld 1958 (Swiss dialects in text and sound. Texts accompanying the speech plates in the phonogram archive of the University of Zurich).
• German reading book for Swiss secondary schools. Revised based on Jakob Bächtold's reading book by Walter Clauss and Arthur Häny. Huber, Frauenfeld 1959.
• The Uri dialect. Your sound and inflection forms. Altdorf 1969 (Uri Cantonal Library. 14th annual edition 1967).
• Felix Aschwanden, Walter Clauss: Urner Dialect Dictionary. Edited by the Uri Library Society in conjunction with the Schwyzertütsch Federation. Altdorf 1982 (19th annual edition of the Uri Library Society; grammars and dictionaries of Swiss German in a generally understandable representation VIII).

literature

• Walter Clauss. 1899-1972. Private print, probably 1972.
• Ernst Bohnenblust: Memories of a Friend. On the anniversary of Walter Clauss's death. In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of May 14, 1973, p. 31.
• Various annual reports of the «Swiss Idiotikon» .

Web links

• Publications by and about Walter Clauss in the Helveticat catalog of the Swiss National Library