Ino Kolbe
Encyclopedia
Ino Kolbe born as Ino Voigt, was a German Esperantist
. Both she and her brother Holdo Voigt learned Esperanto from birth.
She has written books, paperback booklets and articles about the planned language
Esperanto
and proofread
the massive Esperanto-German dictionary of Erich-Dieter Krause, a work with 80,000 headword
s over nearly 900 pages. (1999).
A pioneering Esperanto speaker in the Leipzig
area, she lived in Eutritzsch, a suburb of Leipzig, fully dedicated to the worldwide Esperanto cause, and even into her 90s manuscripts still regularly arrived on her desk for proofreading. "Kolbe is now a great-great-grandmother, and the Esperantists of Leipzig still regard her as their cornerstone," wrote Kay Wüster in the Leipziger Volkszeitung. On her 90th birthday, 20 Esperantists from four German provinces, including scientists and former students, came to offer their congratulations. Among the distinguished guests were Krause and Detlev Blanke
.
only from other children. Kolbe related how she first became conscious of the different vocabulary of another language. As a child of three or four, she and the neighbour children were excitedly playing with her spinning-top toy. After some time she stormed upstairs to her parents' second-floor flat in Leipzig-Gohlis
, complaining: La infanoj diris, ke mia turbo estas Kreisel. ("The children said that my 'turbo' is a top.", where turbo is the Esperanto word for top.)
In 1910, with a group of his friends, Ino's father Reinhold Voigt, a convinced pacifist
and socialist
, had founded Frateco ("Brotherhood"), an influential workers' Esperanto association in Leipzig. The Workers' Esperantists in Leipzig and elsewhere saw themselves as the true guardians of L.L. Zamenhof's hopeful vision; they hoped to use Esperanto
to further the class struggle
and had only limited contact with the smaller German Esperanto Federation (Deutschen Esperanto-Bund, DEB), which viewed the popularity of the language among the working class with mixed feelings: while the workers were increasing the visibility of Esperanto as a viable language, extremist right-wing critics had begun to defame Esperanto as the "language of hoodlums and Communists." As early as his Mein Kampf
polemic (1925), Adolf Hitler
had attacked Esperanto as a supposed tool of his imagined Jewish world dominion
.
Prior to the Nazi era
, Germany had been a hotbed of Esperantism; by 1922 more than 100,000 Germans had learned the language and in that one year 40,256 adults were enrolled in one of 1,592 Esperanto courses being taught throughout Germany. Esperanto was also being taught in the elementary schools of 126 German cities. It was a time when even League of Nations
Undersecretary-General Inazō Nitobe attended the World Congress of Esperanto
and recommended the use of Esperanto to the General Assembly.
During the 1920s Reinhold Voigt travelled widely to promote Esperanto and to give courses in the language. He corresponded with Esperantists around the world, and at six Ino already had a young Japanese pen-pal to whom she wrote in Esperanto. His family was often visited by foreign Esperantists — Dutch, French and others — to whom they showed off their "Esperanto child". Taking Marx's slogan literally ("Workers of all countries unite,") the socialist Esperantists took nature hikes, singing Esperanto songs and sporting red banners with the green star of Esperanto. In 1929 the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda
, an umbrella organization of various left-wing workers' Esperanto groups, held its annual congress in Leipzig
with 2,000 participants. Kolbe recalled that she and her brother met many of the delegates at the train station and guided them to their quarters.
Esperantist
An Esperantist is a person who speaks or uses Esperanto. Etymologically, an Esperantist is someone who hopes...
. Both she and her brother Holdo Voigt learned Esperanto from birth.
She has written books, paperback booklets and articles about the planned language
Constructed language
A planned or constructed language—known colloquially as a conlang—is a language whose phonology, grammar, and/or vocabulary has been consciously devised by an individual or group, instead of having evolved naturally...
Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
and proofread
Proofreading
Proofreading is the reading of a galley proof or computer monitor to detect and correct production-errors of text or art. Proofreaders are expected to be consistently accurate by default because they occupy the last stage of typographic production before publication.-Traditional method:A proof is...
the massive Esperanto-German dictionary of Erich-Dieter Krause, a work with 80,000 headword
Headword
A headword, head word, lemma, or sometimes catchword is the word under which a set of related dictionary or encyclopaedia entries appear. The headword is used to locate the entry, and dictates its alphabetical position...
s over nearly 900 pages. (1999).
A pioneering Esperanto speaker in the Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
area, she lived in Eutritzsch, a suburb of Leipzig, fully dedicated to the worldwide Esperanto cause, and even into her 90s manuscripts still regularly arrived on her desk for proofreading. "Kolbe is now a great-great-grandmother, and the Esperantists of Leipzig still regard her as their cornerstone," wrote Kay Wüster in the Leipziger Volkszeitung. On her 90th birthday, 20 Esperantists from four German provinces, including scientists and former students, came to offer their congratulations. Among the distinguished guests were Krause and Detlev Blanke
Detlev Blanke
Detlev Blanke is an interlinguistics lecturer at Humboldt University of Berlin. He is one of Germany's most active Esperanto philologists and has been since 1991 both the chair of the Gesellschaft für Interlinguistik and the editor of its newsletter, Interlinguistische Informationen...
.
Esperanto upbringing
Her parents were so dedicated to the Esperanto movement that the only language they used around her was Esperanto; therefore before entering school she learned her GermanGerman language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
only from other children. Kolbe related how she first became conscious of the different vocabulary of another language. As a child of three or four, she and the neighbour children were excitedly playing with her spinning-top toy. After some time she stormed upstairs to her parents' second-floor flat in Leipzig-Gohlis
Gohlis
Gohlis is an area in the north-west of the city of Leipzig, Germany. Only in 1890 was it absorbed into the city. It is known as the place, where Friedrich Schiller worked on the second act of Don Carlos and wrote his first edition of the famous Ode to Joy....
, complaining: La infanoj diris, ke mia turbo estas Kreisel. ("The children said that my 'turbo' is a top.", where turbo is the Esperanto word for top.)
In 1910, with a group of his friends, Ino's father Reinhold Voigt, a convinced pacifist
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
and socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, had founded Frateco ("Brotherhood"), an influential workers' Esperanto association in Leipzig. The Workers' Esperantists in Leipzig and elsewhere saw themselves as the true guardians of L.L. Zamenhof's hopeful vision; they hoped to use Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
to further the class struggle
Class struggle
Class struggle is the active expression of a class conflict looked at from any kind of socialist perspective. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote "The [written] history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle"....
and had only limited contact with the smaller German Esperanto Federation (Deutschen Esperanto-Bund, DEB), which viewed the popularity of the language among the working class with mixed feelings: while the workers were increasing the visibility of Esperanto as a viable language, extremist right-wing critics had begun to defame Esperanto as the "language of hoodlums and Communists." As early as his Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
polemic (1925), Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
had attacked Esperanto as a supposed tool of his imagined Jewish world dominion
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
.
Prior to the Nazi era
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, Germany had been a hotbed of Esperantism; by 1922 more than 100,000 Germans had learned the language and in that one year 40,256 adults were enrolled in one of 1,592 Esperanto courses being taught throughout Germany. Esperanto was also being taught in the elementary schools of 126 German cities. It was a time when even League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
Undersecretary-General Inazō Nitobe attended the World Congress of Esperanto
World Congress of Esperanto
The World Congress of Esperanto has the longest tradition among international Esperanto conventions, with an almost unbroken run of more than a hundred years. The congresses have been held since 1905 every year, except during World Wars I and II...
and recommended the use of Esperanto to the General Assembly.
During the 1920s Reinhold Voigt travelled widely to promote Esperanto and to give courses in the language. He corresponded with Esperantists around the world, and at six Ino already had a young Japanese pen-pal to whom she wrote in Esperanto. His family was often visited by foreign Esperantists — Dutch, French and others — to whom they showed off their "Esperanto child". Taking Marx's slogan literally ("Workers of all countries unite,") the socialist Esperantists took nature hikes, singing Esperanto songs and sporting red banners with the green star of Esperanto. In 1929 the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda
Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda
Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda is an independent worldwide cultural Esperanto association of a general left-wing orientation. Its headquarters are in Paris. According to Jacques Schram, chairman of the Executive Committee, the membership totalled 881 in 2003...
, an umbrella organization of various left-wing workers' Esperanto groups, held its annual congress in Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
with 2,000 participants. Kolbe recalled that she and her brother met many of the delegates at the train station and guided them to their quarters.
Works
- Zur Geschichte des Deutschen Arbeiter-Esperanto-Bundes in Leipzig (Westsachsen) ("The history of the German Workers' Esperanto Association in Leipzig, West Saxony"). Leipzig: 1996. Part I is the history from the beginning to the "Völkerspiegel" (1924); Part II is the history from 1925 to the movement's prohibition by the Nazis in 1933.
- Mein Leben mit und für Esperanto ("My life with and on behalf of Esperanto"). Leipzig: 2002 (2nd corrected ed.), 92 pp.
- Linde Knöschke and Ino Kolbe: der esperantist 1 (1965) - 164 (1990). Register. Teil I. (Index, part 1) (Ed. Detlev BlankeDetlev BlankeDetlev Blanke is an interlinguistics lecturer at Humboldt University of Berlin. He is one of Germany's most active Esperanto philologists and has been since 1991 both the chair of the Gesellschaft für Interlinguistik and the editor of its newsletter, Interlinguistische Informationen...
) Berlin: Gesellschaft für Interlinguistik e. V. (GIL), 1997, 120 pp. - Ino Kolbe: der esperantist 1 (1965) - 164 (1990). Register Teil II. (Index, part 2) (Ed. Detlev Blanke), Berlin: Arbeitsgruppe Geschichte des Esperanto-Verbandes der DDR, 1998, 120 pp.
Translations
- Detlev Blanke, (1991): Skizze der Geschichte des Esperanto-Verbandes in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. ("Sketch of the history of the Esperanto Federation in the German Democratic Republic", translated from Esperanto to German by Ino Kolbe). Berlin: Esperanto-Verband im Kulturbund, 62 p.