Gerhart Hauptmann

"In the Lößnitz lies the exquisite country estate of Hohenhaus, there I found my bride []"

The great German writer's lifelong inner bond with the Elbe region was firmly forged as a boy when little Gerhart first came to Dresden. An anchor was set in his childhood soul that would later lead him back to the Elbe again and again, despite many upheavals. On 15 November, literature lovers will celebrate his 150th birthday.
It was love that drew Gerhart's steps to Radebeul. However, it wasn't yet his own emotional impulses, but those of his brother Georg, who was planning to marry Adele Thielemann, daughter of the wealthy wool wholesaler Berthold Thienemann. The still young poet dedicated a festival play to the bride and groom: "Liebesfrühling". It was staged in September 1881 at the family residence, the Hohenhaus, in front of a festive audience. This was the first première of a play by Gerhart Hauptmann in Radebeul!

Another tender bond of love was forged. In Marie Thienemann, Gerhart found a confidante and patron of his artistic inclinations. He probably fell in love with her "dark eyes in the white oval of her face" (2) during the rehearsals for Liebesfrühling, as the secret engagement took place five days after Georg and Adele's wedding. Thanks to her spiritual and material support, he was now able to concentrate entirely on his artistic talent, or rather, he had to find out in which direction it should develop at all. A journey of genius to Rome was to reveal a clear form for his talent, and initially it seemed that he would devote himself to sculpture. The art of drawing was also a testing ground. At the wedding of his brother Carl to Martha Thienemann, Gerhart's stage art was once again showcased in the wedding procession and his love of literature crystallised more and more. At the Hohenhaus, he found the muse he needed to finish his early work Das Erbe des Tiberius. This laid the foundation for his writing career, which was directly reflected in his early work Die Jungfern vom Bischofsberg (The Maidens of Bischofsberg), which clearly describes Thienemann's daughters.

Marie and Gerhart celebrated their engagement in autumn 1884 and their wedding in Kötzschenbroda in May 1885. Unfortunately, the family had to give up the Hohenhaus. Later, it would at least temporarily house the Hauptmann archive. In the absence of a property, Gerhart remembered a place where, years before, his childlike heart had experienced moments that he counted among the happiest of his life. The wedding dinner took place in the Belvedere of the Brühl Terrace. Afterwards, the young couple packed their bags and left the Elbland - the region that allowed an unsteady and insecure Gerhart Hauptmann to discover his true talent.

Unfortunately, his marriage to Marie did not have the same glamour. He fell in love with Margarete Marschalk, left the family and moved into a property in Agnetendorf with his beloved. Nevertheless, his heart often drew him to Dresden and the Elbe, where he had a house built for Marie as security. From time to time he wavered in his decision, the separation ultimately lasted 10 years and a decade later Marie died - of a broken heart, as his son Eckart once mused. Even after that, Gerhart was unable to tear himself away from the city of his most beautiful youthful feelings; he personally experienced the bombing raid on the night of 13 February 1945 from the Weißer Hirsch. Devastated, he returned to Agnetendorf, where he died on 6 June 1946.

Gerhart's writing made him one of the greatest naturalists in Berlin, and the successful poet was finally crowned with the Nobel Prize, which he was awarded exactly 100 years ago. It was in Radebeul that the writer's life and artistic ambitions received their fateful impetus.

Maren Gündel, City Archive

Sources: Gerhart Hauptmann: Erinnerungen an Sachsen (1), Das Abenteuer meiner Jugend (2); Manfred Altner: Gerhart Hauptmann in Dresden und Radebeul, Dresden 2003.

Published in: Official Gazette Radebeul in November 2012