Wilhelmine Heimburg

A cosy home assures happiness, a defiant castle promises security, and the German Kaiser stands for stability: these caring concepts merge to form the pseudonym 'Wilhelmine Heimburg'. Behind this name was the writer Bertha Behrens, who became one of the most widely read female authors with her first-class light novels. Although she died 100 years ago on 9 September in Radebeul, her books are still being published. Probably because of her bourgeois background, her works were later labelled as trivial literature - wrongly, if you look at the choice of subject matter and the sales figures. If she had been a noblewoman, the judgement of the Germanists would certainly have been different(1).

Elisabeth Margarethe Ruth Bertha Behrens was born on 7 September 1848 in Thale (Harz). As her father Hugo Behrens had to move constantly as a military doctor, the family settled in various places in Germany. Bertha attended school in Quedlinburg, then moved on to Salzwedel or Frankfurt am Main, for example, and finally to Radebeul. In Arnstadt, however, it so happened that the family moved in next door to Eugenie Marlitt (actually Eugenie John). This well-known writer became Bertha's great role model, who had already begun her writing career in a modest edition. As with Marlitt, Heimburg's texts expose the prevailing double standards of the aristocracy. On the one hand, the aristocrats treat their subjects badly, on the other hand, they call for moral behaviour.
Wilhelmine Heimburg celebrated her first literary successes with the novella "Melanie" (1876). The subsequent novel "Aus dem Leben meiner alten Freundin" (1878) was immediately published as a serialised novel in the "Magdeburger Zeitung" after being rejected by the highest-circulation leisure magazine of the time. However, the Leipzig editors reconsidered the great success and invited Heimburg to become a permanent author. Until her death, she published novels and entire novella cycles in "Gartenlaube". Her contributions were not read, they were devoured - even more than once and not only by women, as Theodor Fontane somewhat piqued let his wife know in a letter.

In 1881, the Behrens family finally settled in Kötzschenbroda and lived in a house at Gartenstraße 6 (now Hermann-Ilgen-Straße 21); the name VILLA HEIMBURG on the wall of the house still bears witness to its former inhabitants. It was from here that Bertha's literary triumph began, the proceeds of which she used to rent a city flat in Dresden in 1888.

In 1910, she acquired the property at Borstraße 15 and the letters HEIMBURG also bear witness to the former owner. She lived in close proximity to the other bestselling author from Radebeul, Karl May, with whom she shared the ability to inspire the imagination of her readers. Her greatest success was the novel "Lumpenmüllers Lieschen". Wilhelmine Heimburg did not write wild adventure novels, however, but focussed on the worries and hardships of women. In doing so, she did not fall for clichéd descriptions, but was more interested in the fate of the individual in all its facets. Her heart as a writer beats for those who suffer injustice, for the marginalised and underprivileged. In doing so, she follows her idol Eugenie Marlitt, exposes the relationships between impoverished aristocracy and up-and-coming industrial families and clearly shows how superfluous outdated class barriers are. In doing so, she struck a chord with thousands of readers.
The timeless themes of tolerance and progress, justice and morality led to the continuous publication of her words, which were even translated into other languages and thus never faded away - until today.

Maren Gündel, City Archive

(1) Altner, Manfred: Wilhelmine Heimburg. With love and charm against class arrogance, in: Sächsische Lebensbilder. Literarische Streifzüge durch die Lößnitz, die Lausitz, Leipzig und Dresden, Radebeul 2001, pp. 26-32.
(2) City Archive Radebeul, Collection S 16-01

Published in: Official Gazette Radebeul in September 2012