Aus dem evangelischen Pfarrhaus in Lodz und Umgebung: Die Literatur der evangelisch-augsburgischen Dichterpfarrer 1839-1939. Eine kommentierte Anthologie
Aus dem evangelischen Pfarrhaus in Lodz und Umgebung: Die Literatur der evangelisch-augsburgischen Dichterpfarrer 1839-1939. Eine kommentierte Anthologie

Author(s): Monika Kucner
Subject(s): History, Social Sciences, Language and Literature Studies, Theology and Religion, German Literature, Culture and social structure , Sociology of Religion
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: Lodz; XIX century; XX century; literature; religion; German minority; evangelicals
Summary/Abstract: Within several dozen years, a society with extreme social contrasts emerged in Lodz, in which the ethnically foreign (German and Jewish) bourgeoisie played the leading role. Two strata dominated in the city, the aforementioned bourgeoisie and the workers. Somewhere on the fringes of society there were still a limited number of intelligentsia. The middle class, which included petty industrialists, civil servants and representatives of the so-called liberal professions such as doctors, teachers, journalists, lawyers and writers, also existed to a small extent. But Lodz needed such people who would have been an important carrier of social development and a stabilizing force. This group includes people who care about the spiritual and moral development of society. Their role is based on upholding culture, tradition and beliefs and instilling ethical values. Łódź society growing up under the conditions of capitalism, where money was the most important value, needed special spiritual care. Because of this, the clergy played an important role in the city. They should primarily spread the faith in society and care for the salvation of the soul of the population. The Lodz clergy not only taught the faith or played the role of moral authority, they often acted as mediators, educators in the cultural sphere. They often took up pen to put their thoughts on paper. They wrote literary and journalistic texts in German or Polish and published them in local newspapers and magazines or, more rarely, in book form. Journalistic and literary writing was particularly popular with Lutheran clergy. They made it possible to develop an aesthetic feeling in a form other than just the Sunday sermon, to awaken a taste for the beautiful in art, and to lead the faithful to assimilate a set of sensual and spiritual values of the Evangelical-Augsburg faith. This anthology presents a small part of a more extensive body of writing by Evangelical-Augsburg pastors from Lodz and the surrounding area from 1839 to 1939. The main part of the volume is the collection of texts by German-speaking poet pastors, including Philipp Kreutz, Rudolf Gundlach and August Hermann Müller. The publication is an anthology with comments, i.e. a collection of texts with a detailed commentary on the history of the city and the development of Evangelical-Augsburg parishes in Lodz and the surrounding area in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

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