Wilhelmine von Sparre

Johanna Hedwig Wilhelmine von Sparre , b. Hitzel Bernhard, former Hedwig Fließ, former Wilhelmine von Boye, also Hitzel Zülz (*  1772 in Berlin ; † September 3, 1839 in Stockholm ) was a German letter author and a close friend of Salonnière Rahel Varnhagen von Ense , with whom she also was in correspondence. Due to her conversion to Christianity and numerous marriages, she belongs to a group of women of the time, whose establishment in cultural memory was difficult or did not take place due to her namelessness .

Life

Wilhelmine von Sparre came from an important Jewish family of silk manufacturers in Berlin. Her grandfather Isaak Bernhard (also Berman Zülz) opened a silk factory in Berlin in the middle of the 18th century. In 1754, Moses Mendelssohn , who had previously worked as a tutor for Isaak Bernhard's children, was hired as accountant . Isaak Bernhard's eldest son, Moses Bernhard, was Wilhelmine von Sparre's father. He later took over the silk factory, of which Moses Mendelssohn became a partner.

Wilhelmine von Sparre converted to Christianity at the end of 1789 and now called herself Hedwig. Her first marriage was to the doctor Isaac Beer Fliess, the divorce took place in 1800. As the daughter of a rich family of manufacturers, Wilhelmine von Sparre had a fortune, which enabled her to travel extensively. In the winter of 1802/03 - she was already married to the Swedish Major Gustav Freiherr von Boye for the second time - she stayed in Paris , where she belonged to Friedrich Schlegel's circle in the Rue de Clichy. Wilhelmine von Sparre was a "spirited, well-traveled woman who was friends with numerous writers who made an extraordinary impression on Karl August Varnhagen , who was employed as the tutor of the Cohen children."

In her third marriage, Wilhelmine von Sparre married the Swedish Lieutenant General Bengt Erland Franc von Sparre in 1812 and lived in Stockholm from 1817. Wilhelmine von Sparre died childless in Stockholm in 1839.

meaning

Wilhelmine von Sparre's friend Rahel Varnhagen around 1800

Wilhelmine von Sparre and Rahel Varnhagen began an exchange of letters around 1795, which was not intensified until 1800/01 when Rahel Varnhagen was in Paris. Extensive correspondence has come down to us from these two years and Wilhelmine von Sparre was next to Rachel's sister Rose the most important addressee of Rahel Varnhagen's letters from Paris. The correspondence continued with interruptions until 1826. The literary historical significance of the correspondence can be seen, among other things, in a letter from Rahel Varnhagen to Wilhelmine von Sparre, in which she stipulates the handling of her letters after her death in a testamentary form.

“And I die - I try to get all my letters - through trickery, for example - from all my friends and acquaintances [...] and arrange them with Brinckmann . It will be an original story and poetic. "

- Rahel Varnhagen von Ense : Wilhelmine von Boye, letter from the beginning of July 1800

This order is unusual for the time, as women writers often stipulated that their letters should be destroyed after their death. Rahel Varnhagen had, however, written her correspondence - as is clear from the quote - in response to a publication. Her husband published numerous correspondence and also diary entries after her death in 1833. Wilhelmine von Sparre had her correspondence with Rahel Varnhagen that she was handed over to the secret legation councilor Varnhagen von Ense in Berlin, if not earlier, then after my death.

Wilhelmine von Sparre often stayed in Berlin during her numerous marriages and was on friendly terms with important actors and writers of her time, including Friederike Bethmann-Unzelmann , Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Jean Paul . Deborah Herz referred to Wilhelmine von Sparre as a salon lady, who, however, only appeared as a salonnière herself in her sister Philippine's salon. The house of Philippine's husband Ernst Wilhelm Gustav Cohen (before the conversion in 1800 Ephraim Cohen) was a mixture of commercial building and salon around 1800, which Wilhelmine von Sparre temporarily turned into a literary salon through her contacts with writers of the time. Her inner circle also included Count Alexander zur Lippe, the painter Joseph Friedrich August Darbes and Count Casa Valencia from the Spanish embassy.

Surname

Brendel Mendelssohn, better known today as Dorothea Schlegel, around 1790.

Wilhelmine von Sparre was a Jewish woman who married into the nobility after her conversion to Christianity. She was born as Hitzel Zülz, and the family took the surname Bernhard. After her first marriage to Isaac Beer Fließ, her name was Hitzel Fließ, after her conversion to Christianity she first called herself Hedwig from 1796 and, after her baptism, Johanna Hedwig Wilhelmine. After marrying Baron Gustav von Boye, her name was Johanna Hedwig Wilhelmine Freiin von Boye, after her second divorce and remarrying with Count Bengt von Sparre, her name was Johanna Hedwig Wilhelmine Countess von Sparre.

For a long time, Wilhelmine von Sparre did not name herself in her correspondence with Rahel Varnhagen. Instead, the farewell formula only contains paraphrases such as “we'll see each other again” or “goodbye and stay with me”. Only after her name was “established” as Wilhelmine von Sparre did she use the initials “WS” to describe herself. Barbara Hahn, who has dealt with the history of Jewish women writers and their names, summarizes with regard to women such as Wilhelmine von Sparre, Friederike Antonie Varnhagen von Ense (Rahel Levin), Sophie Baronin von Grotthuss (Sara Meyer) or Dorothea Schlegel (Brendel Mendelssohn ) together:

“This circle moves outside of any tradition grid; its reconstruction leads to the edges of what can be traded - into a story without names, works and men. "

- Barbara Hahn : 1990

literature

• Barbara Hahn : "answer me": Rahel Levin Varnhagen's correspondence. Stroemfeld, Frankfurt am Main 1990.
• Barbara Hahn: Under a false name. The difficult authorship of women . Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1991.
• Petra Wilhelmy: The Berlin Salon in the 19th Century: 1780–1914 . Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1989, p. 71.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl August Varnhagen von Ense worked as a private tutor for Wilhelmine von Sparre's sister Philippine Cohen (* around 1776; † after 1804).
2. ↑ Petra Wilhelmy: The Berlin Salon in the 19th Century: 1780-1914 . Walter de Gruyter, 1989, p. 71.
3. ^ Sparre, Bengt Erland Franc . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : L – Z, including supplement . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 493 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).
4. ↑ Konrad Feilchenfeldt, Uwe Schweikert, Rahel E. Steiner (eds.): Rahel Varnhagen. Collected Works . Volume I. Matthes and Seitz, Munich 1983, p. 208.
5. ^ Portfolio Wilhelmine von Sparre, box 237, Varnhagen Collection, Biblioteka Jagiellonska, Krakau, cf. Hahn: Under a false name , p. 26.
6. ↑ See Deborah Sadie Hertz: The Jewish salons in old Berlin . Hain, Frankfurt am Main 1991.
7. ^ Letters dated May 1, 1801 and 1813, cf. Hahn: Under a false name , p. 26.
8. ^ Hahn: Under a false name , p. 26.
9. ↑ Barbara Hahn: "Answer me": Rahel Levin Varnhagen's correspondence. Stroemfeld, Frankfurt am Main 1990, p. 69.