Johannes Gillhoff
Encyclopedia
Johannes Heinrich Carl Christian Gillhoff (May 24, 1861 – January 16, 1930) was a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

 and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

.

Gillhof was born in Glaisin in Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1348, when Albert II of Mecklenburg and his younger brother John were raised to Dukes of Mecklenburg by King Charles IV...

. He followed in his father's profession as a teacher. He graduated in 1881 from a teaching school and later passed the teaching examination in Schwerin
Schwerin
Schwerin is the capital and second-largest city of the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The population, as of end of 2009, was 95,041.-History:...

.

After becoming a teacher Gillhoff would begin collecting colloquial expressions used by locals, starting as early as 1888. Gillhoff collected about 4,000 Low German
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...

 expressions, speech patterns and proverb
Proverb
A proverb is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim...

s and published them in a report. In 1892 Gillhoff would also have published a work called Mecklenburgischen Volksrätseln (roughly translated "Mecklenburg folk riddles"). The book unites 931 riddle
Riddle
A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...

s, plus variants, that Gillhoff subdivided into subject areas. This work by Gillhoff was overshadowed in 1897 by a similar work by Richard Wossidlo.

Gillhoff's most well-known work, Jürnjakob Swehn der Amerikafahrer, roughly translated into English as "Jürnjakob Swehn, the Traveler to America", was published in 1917. Gillhoff retired from teaching in 1924, but would go on to have published the work called Mecklenburgischen Monatshefte ("Mecklenburg monthly notes"). Gillhoff died in the town of Parchim
Parchim
Parchim is a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is the capital of the Ludwigslust-Parchim district. It was the birthplace of Moltke, to whom a monument was erected in 1876. Founded about 1210, one branch of the family of the duke of Mecklenburg residence in Parchim during part of the 14th...

.

Jürnjakob Swehn der Amerikafahrer is considered Gillhoff's most important work. The book is about a single individual (Jürnjakob Swehn) who had emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1868, and details his experiences there in the form of letters sent back to his old school teacher in Mecklenburg. Jürnjakob would travel to Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

 and become a farm hand, and would later marry and gain his own farm and a modest amount of wealth. The book also detailed the establishment of a local German
German 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....

 speaking church, their acquiring of a pastor, and the preaching of lay preachers before the arrival of the pastor. Gillhoff's book also discussed the beginnings of a German speaking school in Jürnjakob Swehn's small community and his homesickness for his "old Mecklenburg".

The style of writing is rough and colloquial, such as would be found in personal correspondence, and the story line contains great degree of spontaneity, with many Mecklenburg proverbs thrown in, mostly in the Low German style. The main character is portrayed as an honest, hard working and modest man with a simple lifestyle. Elements of humor are interspersed throughout the book. The book, which was said to have an earthy charm, enjoyed some success in Germany around the time of its release, with over a million sold. In the year 2000 the book was translated into English and published in the United States, through the help of the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...

. The book was often thought of as fiction, but in actuality it was an amalgam of real letters, detailing real experiences of multiple German (Mecklenburger) immigrants to America. These letters were written by former students of Gillhoff's father, and sent to him over the years. Insights about the experiences these people had, and the life they had lived in Mecklenburg can offer the reader some sharp insights. There are some suggestions that the book was solely or largely based on the experiences of one man named Carl Wiedow who left Glaisin for America
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...

 in 1868 and died in Iowa
Iowa
Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

in 1913.

There is a small museum in Glaisin honoring the work of Gilhoff, and displaying artifacts surrounding the man and the letters that were sent to him.

Gillhoff's Works

  • 1892: Mecklenburgische Volksrätsel
  • 1905: Bilder aus dem Dorfleben
  • 1917: Jürnjakob Swehn, der Amerikafahrer
  • 1925 through 1930: Mecklenburgische Monatshefte
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK