It was not until he was in his mid-40s that ex-prisoner Fritz Reuter from Stavenhagen made his breakthrough. His Low German works inspired millions of readers worldwide. The writer was born 210 years ago.
by Britta Probol
Some people are Uhl, others are nightingales. Fritz Reuter, "Ut de Franzosentid"
A lack of interest in school, dropping out of college, years in prison and an alcohol problem - a bourgeois exemplary career looks different. Nevertheless, Fritz Reuter became one of the most important North Germans of the 19th century:in his mid-40s, after some confusion, he made the breakthrough to become a successful author. And that despite the fact that he wrote in Low German dialect. His Mecklenburg types like Gutsinspektor Bräsig or the rascal Hanne Nüte have inspired millions of readers in Munich, Vienna, even in the North Cape and overseas. His books have appeared in hundreds of editions and in eleven languages - just not as translations into standard German:Reuter wouldn't allow that.
Fritz Reuter developed a sense for art early on
In his school years Fritz Reuter begins to draw - he is often his own motif.Heinrich Ludwig Christian Friedrich Reuter, known as Fritz, was born on November 7, 1810 in the town hall of Stavenhagen in the north of the Mecklenburg Lake District. His father is mayor, at the same time a city judge and a busy entrepreneur. Fritz shares his home with a younger sister and two orphaned cousins until his father sends him to the Friedland School of Education in 1824 and then to the Parchim High School. His achievements are not glorious. The boy, who already had to deal with the death of his mother at the age of 15, prefers to paint and draw. But Filius' artistic inclinations are a thorn in his father's side.
Not born to be a lawyer
Fritz Reuter was forced to study law at the age of 21. However, he is more likely to be found drinking in a social gathering than in the lecture hall or study room at the University of Rostock.
A year later, to escape his father's long arm, he moved to Thuringia to the famous University of Jena. It is considered the nucleus of the fraternity movement. "Honour, freedom, fatherland!" Young people from Mecklenburg quickly became enthusiastic about these values and immediately joined the radical republican fraternity "Germania". A capital offense at the time - Reuters took off.
Reuters Years in Fortress
After various detention stations between Magdeburg and Graudenz, Reuter ended up in the Mecklenburg fortress of Dömitz in 1839.The police found the free spirit who had fled Jena on October 30, 1833 in Berlin and imprisoned him. Reuter is waiting for his trial in rooms that are so damp that "the boots you didn't have on your feet rotted by accident." In 1837 he was sentenced to death for high treason, but was immediately commuted to 30 years in prison. The man from Stavenhagen was imprisoned in various prisons, including the Dömitz Fortress in Mecklenburg, for a total of seven years, during which he consoled himself with a few "Buddel Wins" and later provided him with plenty of material for stories. Then the newly crowned Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV amnestied the political prisoners.
Healing:Reuters "Stromtid"
At the age of 40, Reuter married his longtime girlfriend Luise Kuntze from Roggenstorf (undated photograph).Reuter's half-hearted attempt to continue his unloved studies ended in disaster - in 1841 his father had him picked up from Heidelberg and taken to a relative in Jabel. There, in the pastor's house, he is supposed to cure his drunkenness.
Back in Mecklenburg, Reuter discovered country life for himself. "I bless the agriculture, let me be healthy and make me fresh Maud in the veins gates," he later wrote. He takes a job as a "strom", a kind of trainee, on a country estate near Demzin and soon falls in love with Luise Kuntze, a pastor's daughter from Roggenstorf.
Return to artistic talent
A turning point is the spring of 1845:the overpowering old father dies. In his will, he still gave instructions for his son's future lifestyle - de facto this means his disinheritance. But Reuter junior is now setting out on artist paths. Still anonymous, he publishes a few small satirical articles in magazines in Standard German, then he begins a socio-critical story, "Herr von Hakensterz and his day laborers".
The literary work gives Fritz Reuter new self-confidence. Now almost 40 years old, he goes to Altentreptow as a private teacher for gymnastics and drawing, and the following summer he marries his Luise. She has to give piano lessons in order to supplement the small household budget, Fritz Reuter writes poetry - now in Plattdüütsch. His joke rhymes "Läuschen un Rimels" were self-published in 1853. The book is a relapse into the "flat" Low German writing, says fellow poet Klaus Groth, but it is a smash hit:After only six weeks, all 1,200 copies are sold out.
Breakthrough as a writer op Platt
Reuter is sociable:from 1856 to 1863 he regularly held a regulars' table in Neubrandenburg (painted by Johann Bahr).Reuter now has a financial cushion that allows him to turn his back on the provinces. He settles in Neubrandenburg as a freelance writer. There he made his final breakthrough:The socio-critical verse epic "Kein Hüsung" (1857) and his three great novels, the so-called Ollen Kamellen:"Ut de Franzosentid", "Ut mine Festungtid", "Ut mine Stromtid" ( 1st part, 1862). The enterprising Wismar publisher Dethloff Carl Hinstorff played a decisive role in Reuters' success.
Through growing contacts with other intellectuals, Fritz Reuter became aware of the intellectual narrowness in what was then Mecklenburg - one reason why he moved to Thuringia with Luise in 1863. In Eisenach he had a feudal villa built directly below the Wartburg. His newly won status also allows him pleasures such as a two-month journey to the Orient, which he embarks on in 1864 and also writes about.
He died in his villa in Eisenach on July 12, 1874.
Permanent memories of the poet Fritz Reuter
As a humorous and subtle-clever entertainer, Fritz Reuter found access to people of all generations and classes, his novels and characters were filmed at home and abroad. It was Reuter's merit - together with Klaus Groth - to raise Low German from the dialect of the simple, "uneducated" people to a literary language. The Fritz Reuter Literature Museum in Stavenhagen, housed in the former town hall, is dedicated to the life and work of the poet as well as to the Low German language. Since 1999, the museum and the city have been awarding the Fritz Reuter Literature Prize for poetry or prose in Low German, which is endowed with 2,000 euros. The award ceremony traditionally takes place on November 7th, Fritz Reuter's birthday. As one of two professional Low German ensembles in Germany, the Fritz-Reuter-Bühne in Schwerin has been performing Low German plays since 1926.