Walter Fürstenau
Walter Fürstenau (born February 24, 1898 - † November 20, 1973 ) was a German post office worker, draftsman and caricaturist .
Life
Early years
Walter Fürstenau was born on February 24, 1898 and lost his parents at the age of two, lived with his grandmother for a while and, according to the wishes of his guardian, spent the years from 1907 to 1913 as a pupil in the military orphanage in Potsdam . Shortly before the end of the First World War until he was drafted into the reserve in Berlin-Tempelhof in 1918 . After the war he joined the postal service and drew in his spare time. In 1926 he married and had two sons.
Fürstenau was an autodidact as a draftsman. Except for drawing lessons at school, he initially had no special artistic training. In 1929 he took part in a correspondence course and was introduced in 12 lessons to drawing the human body and drawing from nature as well as the characteristics of caricatures, fashion drawings, drawings for advertising and for newspaper advertisements.
An eye disease interrupted and hindered his work for a while. Repeated cures in Bad Liebenstein supported by the postal administration improved his vision in one eye. The doctors advised him to move his residence and work to a green area if possible. In 1930, for health reasons, he was transferred to the Berlin-Hermsdorf post office, where he worked as a mail carrier.
Second World War
In 1940 he moved to the scientific archive of the Reich Ministry of Post . An identity card issued to him on January 1, 1940 by the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts in the Reich Chamber of Culture entitled him "to practice as a commercial artist" and certified that he was a member of the Reich Chamber in accordance with the ordinance on the implementation of the Reich Chamber of Culture Act of November 1, 1933 the fine arts was exempt.
Fürstenau's transfer to the Reich Ministry of Post brought him together with the Chief Postal Inspector Wilhelm Ortmann, who was active there as head of the archive and who also worked as a freelance journalist. By the spring of 1942, the two of them had the idea of adding texts by Fürstenau and Ortmann to the most beautiful drawings available by Fürstenau and publishing them in a booklet together with humorous stories and verses that had already appeared in other publications. They soon agreed that it should be titled Laughing Reichspost , deal with "humorous short stories, anecdotes and jokes about the post office and its users" and be primarily intended for mailing to soldiers in the field. They thought about 100 pages with 40 to 50 drawings by Fürstenau in pocket format for 1 RM . They then specified the title accordingly: Laughing Reichspost in the field and at home - 100 pages of posthumor . Several attempts to get the book out failed because of the precarious situation at the time; mainly due to the lack of printing paper.
On October 8, 1944, Fürstenau was called up to a replacement aircraft battalion in Neumünster , albeit blind in the right eye . Until the end of the war he was first at the Kamp Air Base ( Pomerania ), then with an air force interception team in Posen and from December 1, 1944 in a technical company at the Aviation School in Warnemünde . Shortly before the end of the war he was promoted to NCO. As a result of an infection, he had to undergo an operation on his right eye in the Rostock reserve hospital on May 18. In the discharge certificate from the military hospital and military service of May 20, 1945, the Russian authorities certified that he was “cured, but unable to work” .
After the end of the war
After his release, Fürstenau went to Stralsund , was "picked up" there and put in prison until he was released in June 1945. On a piece of wrapping paper that he found in the wastepaper basket of his cell, he drew several sketches of Red Army soldiers with the pencil he had left , which he later said were certainly conducive to his quick release (see sketch: Russian soldier as friend, 1945 ). In any case, the commandant, who had seen her and talked to Fürstenau about it, entered on June 4, 1945 - now in the pay book - the note "Released to home" in Russian.
At the beginning of 1949 Fürstenau wrote to his former head of department Wilhelm Ortmann: “After the war I first had to work as a corpse bearer and cemetery worker. Then I was lucky enough to be able to paint oil paintings, lampshades and other small kitsch as a homeworker in an arts and crafts company. [...] Since October 16, 1948, the blockade made me unemployed and I am receiving unemployment benefits. I have been denazified for four weeks , oh, I fell under the amnesty and can now act freely again ”. In October 1949, Fürstenau wrote to Ortmann that he had teamed up with five Berlin illustrators to jointly publish a 16-page humor paper entitled Berlin Humor for a price of 20 pfennigs . “After we had the license from the German and French sides, the French suddenly turned it down two days later. No - what now? Why? 5 draftsmen, including Ferdinand Barlog , had previously drawn politically towards the West! ”After trying again, however, the sheet was approved, but was received with No. 7 of the first year.
Fürstenau was not reinstated in the magistrate post because of his visual impairment and he retired early in 1951.
However, he was still able to draw. The youth telegraph and the world of work were the first to bring his post-retirement works. In addition, Fürstenau painted landscape pictures in oil for customers using postcards or photographs. At an event organized by Möller-Verlag, he surprised his audience as a quick draftsman at a dance and entertainment evening organized by the German Post Association, Landesverband Berlin. At the beginning of the fifties he became a member of the German Post Association and, as a press illustrator, a member of the Free Association of Visual Artists Berlin . In 1954 he joined the Art Association of Postal Members in the Federal Postal Ministry. In 1961, he was one of the top five winners in a picture competition organized by the Kunstverein.
1973 Walter Fürstenau stopped working artistically. He died on November 20th of the same year.
plant
Walter Fürstenau worked for many newspapers and magazines, including the supplement “Brummbär der Berliner Morgenpost ”, for the “Nord-Berliner Tagespost” and the weekly newspaper “Der Nord-Berliner” that emerged from it after the war in 1948, for the “Jugend- Telegraph ”and the“ World of Work ”as well as for the family magazine of the Federal Post Office“ Christl von der Post ”.
He also drew for various publications of the Post and the German Association of Officials, e.g. B. the "Deutsche Postzeitung", the membership magazine of the Deutsche Postgewerkschaft and similar publications from the area of the Deutsche Post.
Not much of his earlier work has survived. All in the possession of the Möller Verlag were burned after a bomb attack, as was the manuscript Lachende Reichspost, which was handed over to the Verlag Hans Sieb Berlin in 1943 . Since 1993 the Museum Foundation Post and Telecommunication has kept 240 drawings by the artist given to it by Fürstenau's family.
Russian soldier as a friend, 1945
Postman in front of a ruin searches for the whereabouts of former residents, 1946
Where once ruins, there are new houses today, 1953
"Daddy, is that another rubble train?", 1950
Illustration to Heinrich Schäffer's poem "Der Posthilfsbote Säbelbein"
Birds built their nests in the mailbox, 1942
Birds built their nests in the mailbox, 1947
"Well, Mr. Postrat, what are you most interested in the picture?"
"For God's sake, Ursula, how can you let the postman in here !?"
Tensions in the postal sector during the Cold War, 1949
- "Just bite your papa - there are no more horses!", 1955
For Green Week 1955
Signatures
Fürstenau usually signed his drawings with Fu (first and last letters of his surname), also with Fürst or with his full name. He usually signed Waldi in the local press . His "trademark" was a little dachshund, which he included in his drawings.
Book illustrations
- Jörn Zessler: Reinickendorfer story (s) . A fun stroll through the history of the northern district. Möllerdruck, Berlin, 1999.
- Zeesen book . 1939
- Andreas Staimer: The face of home . 1940,
- Contemplative serenity . Selected and edited by Erwin Müller-Fischer
- Lore and Kurt Weissenfeld: In the evening guests - happy parties . 1953
- Fritz Heiter: The joke box . 1954
- Ernst Scherzer: The laughing suitcase 1956,
- Kurt Weissenfeld: Look good and stay young . 1957.
literature
- Hübner, Hans: With heart and pencil for the post: draftsman, caricaturist and painter Walter Fürstenau (1898–1973). In: Post and Telecommunications History , German Society for Post and Telecommunications History , Issue 1/2003
- Zessler, Jörn: Reinickendorfer story (s).
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fürstenau, Walter |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German post office worker, draftsman and caricaturist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 24, 1898 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
| DATE OF DEATH | 20th November 1973 |
| Place of death | Berlin |