Helene Brehm
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Helene Brehm (24 January 1862 in Abterode,
Electorate of Hesse The Electorate of Hesse (), also known as Hesse-Kassel or Kurhessen, was the title used for the former Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel after an 1803 reform where the Holy Roman Emperor elevated its ruler to the rank of Elector, thus giving him ...
– 24 August 1932 in
Rinteln Rinteln () is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river north of the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In ...
, Germany) was a German school teacher, poet, and author.


Childhood and education

She was the youngest child of the mayor of Abterode Johannes Brehm and his second wife Karoline Neuschäfer, born seven years after her older sister Marie. First she went to school in Abterode and later as the only girl among 17 boys a private school of pastor Wilhelm Johann Hermann Coing, priest in the parish of Abterode from 1843 through 1867. She started to read very early. It was advantages that her godfather Geord Dern ran the local post office in the house of the Brehm family, which also served as the living room. This way she could conveniently browse through new newspapers and journals. At the age of two she suffered from
scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'', a Group A streptococcus (GAS). It most commonly affects children between five and 15 years of age. The signs and symptoms include a sore ...
, which permanently damaged her eye sight.Brehm, Helene (1924) Etwas über mich selbst, in: Das Werratal, Heft 1, 1924; S. 113–114. An autobiographic article in the journal "Das Werratal (The Werra river valley)" by Helene Brehm: "Something about myself"


Profession and later life

The pastor who taught her suggested to her parents, that as she was a bookworm, she should be allowed to go to university. Her parents decided that the profession of a school teacher would be the best choice for her. So she went to the Carolinen school (Carolinenschule) in
Eisenach Eisenach () is a Town#Germany, town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia, and bordering northeastern Hesse, Hessian re ...
, Germany, and became a teacher. After which she spent another year at her parents house and then took a position at
höhere Mädchenschule Höhere Mädchenschule or Höhere Töchterschule were names of historic schools for the higher education of girls in German-speaking countries between the beginning of the 19th century and 1908. The names may mean higher education, but also educati ...
in Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe. In May 1884 she was appointed at the city school (Stadtschule) in Rinteln, where she taught for nearly 35 years. She had to retire from this position in spring 1919 because her eye sight was failing as a result of the
scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'', a Group A streptococcus (GAS). It most commonly affects children between five and 15 years of age. The signs and symptoms include a sore ...
early in life.


Career

She began writing poems as a young girl. Most of her writing was written in the pergola in her garden. She wrote poems, essays, and stories about her local region, and the local mountain Meissner, which used to be called ''Wissener''. She also wrote about the aristocratic family line of the Bilstein family, and about ''old'' Abterode, using local names, and rural customs. And also about here chosen home
Rinteln Rinteln () is a small town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located on the banks of the Weser river north of the Porta Westfalica. The town of Rinteln is in the broad valley between the hills of the Weserbergland and the North Lippe Bergland. In ...
, and the vicinity. Together with her older sister Marie she published the Abteröder ''calls of the night watchmen'' and the Abteröder ''new years song'', to which she had music written by a music teacher in Rinteln. She sang it to him in two voices. She published three books: * * * In the book ''900 years Meissner-Abterode 1076–1976'', Helene Brehm was honored as follows (translated from German):
The poet had the gift of depicting people in their lives and the landscape in its beauty, in linguistic simplicity and great truthfulness.
All that she wrote, she gleaned from the life and landscape around her. Helene Brehm has left behind a legacy that deserves to be kept alive.


References


Bibliography

* *


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brehm, Helene 1862 births 1932 deaths People from Werra-Meißner-Kreis People from the Electorate of Hesse German poets Writers from Hesse