Moritz Jahn (writer)
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Moritz Jahn (27 March 1884 in Lilienthal, Lower Saxony – 19 January 1979 in Göttingen) was a Lower German novelist and an educator.[1][2] He was also a poet best known for writing ballads, lyrical poetry, and narratives.[3][failed verification] He was also a member of the Nazi Party.[2] He has written notable literary works in Low German such as Frangula and Luzifer.
Moritz Jahn was born in Lilienthal, Lower Saxony, Germany, in 1884 to a Low German-speaking family.[2] He grew up in Hanover and wanted to be a teacher.[2] His father died while he was young.[2] From 1901-1904, he trained to be a teacher in Hanover and primarily self-studied at Hanover's city library.[2] From 1906 to 1921, Jahn taught at teacher training schools in Aurich and Melle, where he published essays on local history and folklore.[2] There, he learned the Low German dialect and learned local stories of the East Frisia region.[2] In 1908, he wrote his first Low Geman poems and other works of East Frisian literature and was honored by local associations for his contributions.[2]
In 1921, Jahn became headmaster of an elementary school in Geismar, where he studied German literature and art history in Göttingen.[2] Here, he focused on his writing career and published his first literary pieces.[2] He was influenced by the local art movement and Börries von Münchhausen in particular.[2] From 1921 to 1925, he continued his studies, and in 1933, Jahn joined the Nazi Party.[2] In 1935, he was expelled from the Nazis for belonging to a Göttingen club but remained part of the National Socialist Teachers League.[2]
On October 24, 1941, Jahn was one of the 37 writers from 15 European countries who participated in the annual Deutscher Dichtertreffen, German Writer's Meeting, in Weimar, Germany.[4] There, the writers formed a new European Writers' Union.[4] Another German Writer's Meeting was held the next year as well, which served as propaganda for Germany's 'New European Order.'[4] The meetings generally discussed a re-ordering of the German literary field into 'European literature.'[4] At these conferences, Jahn expressed Germany's right to reshape Europe and asserted Germany's devotion to European literature, stating, "None of the great culture-nations of our continent have devoted themselves to the same degree to the knowledge of European literature as has the German."[4] He declared the Germans to be "a Philolog, a friend of language... It has never been in his nature and will never be in his nature to put down or suppress a foreign language."[4] He posed a "inter-Nationalist" model of Europe composed of nations with their rural traditions protected by the Nazis.[4]
In 1944, Jahn received his doctorate of the University of Göttingen .[1] During this period of time until 1944, Jahn wrote his most famous works, both in Low German and High German.[2]
Jahn was pensioned from his headmaster position in 1944 and became free to write.[2] In 1945, Jahn left the Protestant Church.[2] In 1959, he was awarded for the Fritz Reuter Prize and Klaus Groth Prize.
He died on January 19, 1979, at the age of 94.[1][2][3]
A civic center in Göttinger called Moritz-Jahn-Haus is named after Jahn.[citation needed] On March 27, 2014, the state of Göttingen celebrated his 130th birthday.[citation needed]
Career
His most notable works were originally written in Low German, including lyrical poetry, ballads, narratives, and historical accounts.[2] His works are mainly located in the Lower German region. He has a wide range of works including meditative, tragedy, or satire.[2] Jahn's favourite theme is the life of nerds and their failures in society, such as his collection featuring Ulenspegel un Jan Dood (1933). His other well-known works are narrative works like Frangula (1933), De Moorfro (1950), and Lucifer (1956). He published a poetry collection entitled Unkepunz: Ein deutsches Gesicht in 1931 and Im weiten Land in 1938.[2]
