
Johannes Bobrowski (originally ''Johannes Konrad Bernhard Bobrowski''; 9 April 1917 – 2 September 1965) was a German lyric poet, narrative writer, adaptor and essayist.
Life
Bobrowski was born on 9 April 1917
[Bobrowski, Johannes (1984). ''Shadow Lands: Selected Poems''. London: Anvil Press Poetry.] in
Tilsit
Sovetsk (russian: Сове́тск; german: Tilsit; Old Prussian: ''Tilzi''; lt, Tilžė; pl, Tylża) is a town in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the south bank of the Neman River which forms the border with Lithuania.
Geography
...
in
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label= Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1 ...
. In 1925, he moved first to
Rastenburg, then in 1928 on to
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was na ...
, where he attended the ''
Gymnasium''. One of his teachers was
Ernst Wiechert
Ernst Wiechert (18 May 1887 – 24 August 1950) was a German teacher, poet and writer.
Biography
Wiechert was born in the village of Kleinort, East Prussia, (now Piersławek, Poland).
He was one of the most widely read novelists in Germany ...
. In 1937, he started a degree in art history at the Humboldt University in
Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
. As a member of the
Confessing Church
The Confessing Church (german: link=no, Bekennende Kirche, ) was a movement within German Protestantism during Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi Germ ...
, Bobrowski had contact with the
German resistance against
National Socialism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. He was a lance corporal for the entire
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
and the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. In 1943 he married Johanna Buddrus.
From 1945 to 1949 Bobrowski was imprisoned by the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
, where he spent time working in a coal mine. On his release, he returned home to his family in the suburban Berlin district of
Friedrichshagen
Friedrichshagen () is a German locality (''Ortsteil'') within the Berlin borough (''Bezirk'') of Treptow-Köpenick. Until 2001 it was part of the former borough of Köpenick.
History
The colony of ''Friedrichsgnade'' was founded on May 29, 1 ...
,
[Scrase, David (1995). ]
Understanding Johannes Bobrowski
'. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press. Chronology, p. xiii-xvi, and p. 2 (on the family's move to Friedrichshagen in 1937). in the
Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. He worked as an editor, first for the ''Altberliner Verlag'', a children's publisher run by Lucie Grosner, and then, from 1959 on, for the ''Union Verlag'' publishing house.
Bobrowski's work was influenced by his knowledge of Eastern European landscapes and of the German,
Baltic
Baltic may refer to:
Peoples and languages
*Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
and
Slavic
Slavic, Slav or Slavonic may refer to:
Peoples
* Slavic peoples, an ethno-linguistic group living in Europe and Asia
** East Slavic peoples, eastern group of Slavic peoples
** South Slavic peoples, southern group of Slavic peoples
** West Slavi ...
cultures and languages, combined with ancient myths. His first poems were published during the war, in 1944, in the Munich-based journal ''Das innere Reich''.
[
In 1960 he read his poems at a meeting in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, of the influential ]West German
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
literary association Group 47
Gruppe 47 (Group 47) was a group of participants in German writers' meetings, invited by Hans Werner Richter between 1947 and 1967. The meetings served the dual goals of literary criticism as well as the promotion of young, unknown authors. In a d ...
(Gruppe 47).[Wieczorek, John (1999).]
Johannes Bobrowski und die Gruppe 47
" In: Keith Stuart Parkes and John J. White (eds.), ''The Gruppe 47: Fifty Years on: A Re-Appraisal of its Literary and Political Significance''. Amsterdam: Rodopi. p. 213-227. The following year his first book of collected poems, ''Sarmatische Zeit'' (Sarmatian Times), was published in both West and East Germany.[ After having missed the fall 1961 meeting of the Group 47, since it took place just after the building of the Berlin Wall,][ he was able to attend the subsequent meeting, held in October 1962 at the ]Wannsee
Wannsee () is a locality in the southwestern Berlin borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, Germany. It is the westernmost locality of Berlin. In the quarter there are two lakes, the larger '' Großer Wannsee'' (Greater Wannsee, "See" means lake) and the ...
, in West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under m ...
. On that occasion he read seven poems from those that would later appear in his collection ''Wetterzeichen'' (Weather signs), and was awarded the group's prestigious literary prize.[
In 1964, Bobrowski became a member of the PEN Club.
Bobrowski died as a result of a perforated appendix in ]East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...
on 2 September 1965,[ and was buried in the Friedrichshagen cemetery.][ Since 1992, the Foundation for Prussian Maritime Trade (Stiftung Preußische Seehandlung) has donated funds towards the Johannes Brobrowski Medal.
]
Literary works
* ''Sarmatische Zeit'' (The Land of Sarmatia), poems, 1961
* ''Schattenland Ströme'' (Shadowland), poems, 1962
* ''Levins Mühle, 34 Sätze über meinen Großvater'' (Levin's Mill,34 Stories About My Grandfather ) novel, 1964
* ''Boehlendorff und Mäusefest'', Short stories, 1965
* ''Litauische Claviere'' (Lithuanian Pianos), novel, 1966
* ''Wetterzeichen'' (Weathersigns), poems, 1967
* ''Der Mahner''" (The Admonisher), short stories, 1967 translated with "Boehlendorff und Mausefest" as "I Taste Bitterness" in 1970
* ''Im Windgesträuch'' (In the windy wilderness), poems from Bobrowski's literary executor
The literary estate of a deceased author consists mainly of the copyright and other intellectual property rights of published works, including film, translation rights, original manuscripts of published work, unpublished or partially completed w ...
, 1970
* ''Shadowlands'' Selected Poems translated by Ruth & Matthew Mead Matthew Mead may refer to:
* Matthew Mead (poet) (born 1924), English poet
* Matthew Mead (politician) (1736–1816), member of the Connecticut House of Representatives
* Matthew Mead (minister)
Matthew Mead or Meade (c. 1630 – 16 October 1699 ...
, 1984
Films
* ''Levins Mühle'' (Levin's Mill), filmed in 1980 by Horst Seemann for DEFA
DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence.
Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PRO ...
film studios, with Erwin Geschonnek, Christian Grashof and Katja Paryla.
* ''Grüsse aus Sarmatien für den Dichter Johannes Bobrowski'' (Greetings from Sarmatia for the Poet Johannes Bobrowski),1973 – Short film by Volker Koepp
Volker Koepp (born 22 June 1944) is a German documentary film producer.
Early life
Koepp was born in Stettin, a German port city then subjected to a sustained campaign of bombing during World War II. By the time the city was taken over by the ...
Opera
* ''Levins Mühle'' (Levin's Mill) by Udo Zimmermann
Udo Zimmermann (6 October 1943 – 22 October 2021) was a German composer, musicologist, opera director, and conductor. He worked as a professor of composition, founded a centre for contemporary music in Dresden, and was director of the Leipzig ...
, premiere in 1973, produced by Harry Kupfer
Harry Alfred Robert Kupfer (12 August 1935 – 30 December 2019) was a German opera director and academic. A long-time director at the Komische Oper Berlin, he worked at major opera houses and at festivals internationally. Trained by Walter Fels ...
Prizes
* Alma Johanna Koenig Prize, 1962
* "Group 47" prize, 1962
* Heinrich Mann Prize, 1965, for ''Levins Mühle'' (Levin's Mill)
* International Charles Veillon Prize, 1965
* F. C. Weiskopf Prize, 1967
About Bobrowski and his work
* Dietmar Albrecht, Andreas Degen et al. (eds): ''Unverschmerzt. Johannes Bobrowski – Leben und Werk''. Munich 2004.
* Andreas Degen: ''Bildgedächtnis. Zur poetischen Funktion der Sinneswahrnehmung im Prosawerk Johannes Bobrowskis''. Berlin 2004.
* Sabine Egger: ''Dialog mit dem Fremden. Erinnerung an den "europäischen Osten" in der Lyrik Johannes Bobrowskis''. Würzburg 2009.
* Eberhard Haufe: ''Bobrowski-Chronik. Daten zu Leben und Werk''. Würzburg 1994.
* Christoph Meckel: ''Erinnerung an Johannes Bobrowski''. Munich, Vienna 1989.
* Bernd Leistner: ''Johannes Bobrowski – Studien und Interpretationen''. Berlin 1981
* Gerhard Rostin (ed.): ''Ahornallee 26 oder Epitaph für Johannes Bobrowski''. Stuttgart 1978.
* Gerhard Rostin (ed.) ''Johannes Bobrowski – Selbstzeugnisse und neue Beiträge über sein Werk''. Berlin 1975
* Gerhard Wolf: ''Beschreibung eines Zimmers – 15 Kapitel über Johannes Bobrowski.'' Berlin 1975, Stuttgart 1972
* Gerhard Wolf: ''Johannes Bobrowski – Leben und Werk''. Berlin 1967
* A more extensive bibliography can be found on
Die Johannes Bobrowski Gesellschaft e.V.
References
External links
Die Johannes Bobrowski Gesellschaft e.V.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bobrowski, Johannes
1917 births
1965 deaths
People from Tilsit
People from East Prussia
German Protestants
Christian Democratic Union (East Germany) politicians
East German writers
German-language poets
German male poets
German Army soldiers of World War II
German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union
Heinrich Mann Prize winners