Karl Dedecius
Encyclopedia
Karl Dedecius is a German
translator of Polish
and Russian literature
.
, then a multicultural city, which at that time had recently once again become a part of the Second Polish Republic
. Dedecius attended the Polish Stefan-Żeromski
High School, where he received his high-school degree (Matura
). After the German invasion of Poland
in the Second World War, Dedecius was first drafted into the Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst
) and then into the German Army
. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Stalingrad
and became a prisoner of war. During his time as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union
, he taught himself Russian
. Dedecius wrote, „I lay in my sick-bed, and the nurses brought me books by Lermontov
, for instance. For one year, I learned the Cyrillic Alphabet
and Russian by reading Lermontov and Pushkin. Eventually, the guards asked me to write love-letters for them, because I wrote like Pushkin“.
Dedecius was released in 1950. He settled at first with his fiancé in Weimar
, in East Germany. In 1952, he emigrated to West Germany
and became an employee of the Allianz AG insurance company. In his free time, he occupied himself with Polish culture and with Polish literary translation, and maintained contact with Polish writers. Dedecius remarks: “Only when I had gotten myself set up in life and enjoyed some stability was I able to turn to literature in a long-term and systematic way, although my career, you could say, had nothing whatever to do with writing." In the introduction to the Polish edition of “On Translating,” Jerzy Kwiatkowski wrote: “Speaking formally, one could say that this translator’s great work came about on his evenings off, as a result of a hobby.”.
In 1959, he published his first anthology, Lektion der Stille (Lesson of Silence). In the following years, he translated, so to speak in his free time, such well-known Polish writers as Zbigniew Herbert
, Stanisław Jerzy Lec, Czesław Miłosz, Tadeusz Różewicz
and Wisława Szymborska. He also published essays on literature and translating technique.
In 1979/1980, he initiated the German Poland Institute in Darmstadt
, whose director he remained until 1999. He also continued his literary activities, however. Dedecius’ main achievements, in addition to the 50-volume “Polish Library”, include a Canon, which appeared between 1982 and 2000 in the Suhrkamp Verlag
publishing house, and the 7-volume “Panorama of Polish Literature of the 20th Century” (1996–2000), whose final volume presented a kind of autobiography.
Dedecius has received many honorary doctorates, prizes, and awards. In 1990, he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
, in 1997 the Samuel-Bogumil-Linde-Preis. Since 2004, the Robert Bosch Stiftung
, in cooperation with the German Poland institute, awards the Karl-Dedecius-Preis for translators, which is endowed with a prize of €10,000.
Karl Dedecius (* May 20, 1921 in Łódź) is a German
translator of Polish
and Russian literature
.
, then a multicultural city, which at that time had recently once again become a part of the Second Polish Republic
. Dedecius attended the Polish Stefan-Żeromski
High School, where he received his high-school degree (Matura
). After the German invasion of Poland
in the Second World War, Dedecius was first drafted into the Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst
) and then into the German Army
. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Stalingrad
and became a prisoner of war. During his time as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union
, he taught himself Russian
. Dedecius wrote, „I lay in my sick-bed, and the nurses brought me books by Lermontov
, for instance. For one year, I learned the Cyrillic Alphabet
and Russian by reading Lermontov and Pushkin. Eventually, the guards asked me to write love-letters for them, because I wrote like Pushkin“.
Dedecius was released in 1950. He settled at first with his fiancé in Weimar
, in East Germany. In 1952, he emigrated to West Germany
and became an employee of the Allianz AG insurance company. In his free time, he occupied himself with Polish culture and with Polish literary translation, and maintained contact with Polish writers. Dedecius remarks: “Only when I had gotten myself set up in life and enjoyed some stability was I able to turn to literature in a long-term and systematic way, although my career, you could say, had nothing whatever to do with writing." In the introduction to the Polish edition of “On Translating,” Jerzy Kwiatkowski wrote: “Speaking formally, one could say that this translator’s great work came about on his evenings off, as a result of a hobby.”.
In 1959, he published his first anthology, Lektion der Stille (Lesson of Silence). In the following years, he translated, so to speak in his free time, such well-known Polish writers as Zbigniew Herbert
, Stanisław Jerzy Lec, Czesław Miłosz, Tadeusz Różewicz
and Wisława Szymborska. He also published essays on literature and translating technique.
In 1979/1980, he initiated the German Poland Institute in Darmstadt
, whose director he remained until 1999. He also continued his literary activities, however. Dedecius’ main achievements, in addition to the 50-volume “Polish Library”, include a Canon, which appeared between 1982 and 2000 in the Suhrkamp Verlag
publishing house, and the 7-volume “Panorama of Polish Literature of the 20th Century” (1996–2000), whose final volume presented a kind of autobiography.
Dedecius has received many honorary doctorates, prizes, and awards. In 1990, he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
, in 1997 the Samuel-Bogumil-Linde-Preis. Since 2004, the Robert Bosch Stiftung
, in cooperation with the German Poland institute, awards the Karl-Dedecius-Preis for translators, which is endowed with a prize of €10,000.
Karl Dedecius (* May 20, 1921 in Łódź) is a German
translator of Polish
and Russian literature
.
, then a multicultural city, which at that time had recently once again become a part of the Second Polish Republic
. Dedecius attended the Polish Stefan-Żeromski
High School, where he received his high-school degree (Matura
). After the German invasion of Poland
in the Second World War, Dedecius was first drafted into the Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst
) and then into the German Army
. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Stalingrad
and became a prisoner of war. During his time as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union
, he taught himself Russian
. Dedecius wrote, „I lay in my sick-bed, and the nurses brought me books by Lermontov
, for instance. For one year, I learned the Cyrillic Alphabet
and Russian by reading Lermontov and Pushkin. Eventually, the guards asked me to write love-letters for them, because I wrote like Pushkin“.
Dedecius was released in 1950. He settled at first with his fiancé in Weimar
, in East Germany. In 1952, he emigrated to West Germany
and became an employee of the Allianz AG insurance company. In his free time, he occupied himself with Polish culture and with Polish literary translation, and maintained contact with Polish writers. Dedecius remarks: “Only when I had gotten myself set up in life and enjoyed some stability was I able to turn to literature in a long-term and systematic way, although my career, you could say, had nothing whatever to do with writing." In the introduction to the Polish edition of “On Translating,” Jerzy Kwiatkowski wrote: “Speaking formally, one could say that this translator’s great work came about on his evenings off, as a result of a hobby.”.
In 1959, he published his first anthology, Lektion der Stille (Lesson of Silence). In the following years, he translated, so to speak in his free time, such well-known Polish writers as Zbigniew Herbert
, Stanisław Jerzy Lec, Czesław Miłosz, Tadeusz Różewicz
and Wisława Szymborska. He also published essays on literature and translating technique.
In 1979/1980, he initiated the German Poland Institute in Darmstadt
, whose director he remained until 1999. He also continued his literary activities, however. Dedecius’ main achievements, in addition to the 50-volume “Polish Library”, include a Canon, which appeared between 1982 and 2000 in the Suhrkamp Verlag
publishing house, and the 7-volume “Panorama of Polish Literature of the 20th Century” (1996–2000), whose final volume presented a kind of autobiography.
Dedecius has received many honorary doctorates, prizes, and awards. In 1990, he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
, in 1997 the Samuel-Bogumil-Linde-Preis. Since 2004, the Robert Bosch Stiftung
, in cooperation with the German Poland institute, awards the Karl-Dedecius-Preis for translators, which is endowed with a prize of €10,000.
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...
translator of Polish
Polish literature
Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages, used in Poland over the centuries, have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Yiddish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German and...
and Russian literature
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
.
Life
Dedecius was born to German parents in the city of Łódź, PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, then a multicultural city, which at that time had recently once again become a part of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. Dedecius attended the Polish Stefan-Żeromski
Stefan Zeromski
Stefan Żeromski was a Polish novelist and dramatist. He was called the "conscience of Polish literature". He also wrote under the pen names: Maurycy Zych, Józef Katerla and Stefan Iksmoreż.- Life :...
High School, where he received his high-school degree (Matura
Matura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...
). After the German invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
in the Second World War, Dedecius was first drafted into the Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst
Reichsarbeitsdienst
The Reichsarbeitsdienst was an institution established by Nazi Germany as an agency to reduce unemployment, similar to the relief programs in other countries. During the Second World War it was an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht.The RAD was formed during July 1934 as...
) and then into the German Army
German Army
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
and became a prisoner of war. During his time as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, he taught himself Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. Dedecius wrote, „I lay in my sick-bed, and the nurses brought me books by Lermontov
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
, for instance. For one year, I learned the Cyrillic Alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
and Russian by reading Lermontov and Pushkin. Eventually, the guards asked me to write love-letters for them, because I wrote like Pushkin“.
Dedecius was released in 1950. He settled at first with his fiancé in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, in East Germany. In 1952, he emigrated to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
and became an employee of the Allianz AG insurance company. In his free time, he occupied himself with Polish culture and with Polish literary translation, and maintained contact with Polish writers. Dedecius remarks: “Only when I had gotten myself set up in life and enjoyed some stability was I able to turn to literature in a long-term and systematic way, although my career, you could say, had nothing whatever to do with writing." In the introduction to the Polish edition of “On Translating,” Jerzy Kwiatkowski wrote: “Speaking formally, one could say that this translator’s great work came about on his evenings off, as a result of a hobby.”.
In 1959, he published his first anthology, Lektion der Stille (Lesson of Silence). In the following years, he translated, so to speak in his free time, such well-known Polish writers as Zbigniew Herbert
Zbigniew Herbert
Zbigniew Herbert was an influential Polish poet, essayist, drama writer, author of plays, and moralist. A member of the Polish resistance movement – Home Army during World War II, he is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers...
, Stanisław Jerzy Lec, Czesław Miłosz, Tadeusz Różewicz
Tadeusz Rózewicz
Tadeusz Różewicz is a Polish poet and writer.Różewicz belongs to the first generation born and educated after Poland regained its independence in 1918. His youthful poems were published in 1938...
and Wisława Szymborska. He also published essays on literature and translating technique.
In 1979/1980, he initiated the German Poland Institute in Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, whose director he remained until 1999. He also continued his literary activities, however. Dedecius’ main achievements, in addition to the 50-volume “Polish Library”, include a Canon, which appeared between 1982 and 2000 in the Suhrkamp Verlag
Suhrkamp Verlag
Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature.In January 2010 the headquarters of the company moved from Frankfurt to Berlin.-Early history:...
publishing house, and the 7-volume “Panorama of Polish Literature of the 20th Century” (1996–2000), whose final volume presented a kind of autobiography.
Dedecius has received many honorary doctorates, prizes, and awards. In 1990, he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade is an international peace prize given yearly at the Frankfurt Book Fair in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt am Main, Germany...
, in 1997 the Samuel-Bogumil-Linde-Preis. Since 2004, the Robert Bosch Stiftung
Robert Bosch Stiftung
The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH is one of the major German foundations associated with a private company. It holds 92% of the capital stock from Robert Bosch GmbH of 1.2 billion euros. Established in 1964, it represents the philanthropic and social endeavors of founder Robert Bosch .The purpose of...
, in cooperation with the German Poland institute, awards the Karl-Dedecius-Preis for translators, which is endowed with a prize of €10,000.
Works
- 1971: Deutsche und Polen. Botschaft der Bücher. [Germans and Poles: The Diplomacy of Books] München: Hanser. ISBN 3-446-11481-5.
- 1974 “Überall ist Polen” [Poland is Everywhere], Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-36695-5
- 1975: Polnische Profile [Polish Profiles]. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-02570-8.
- 1981: Zur Literatur und Kultur Polens [On the Literature and Culture of Poland] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-02571-6
- 1981: Polnische Pointen Satiren und kleine Prosa des 20.Jahrhunderts Karl Dedecius. Ullstein Buch
- 1986: Vom Übersetzen. Theorie und Praxis [On Translating: Theory and Practice] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-37758-2.
- 1988: Von Polens Poeten [On Poland’s Poets] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-37979-8.
- 1990: Lebenslauf aus Büchern und Blättern [A Curriculum Vitae Made of Books and Pages] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-40309-5.
- 1996: Ost West Basar. Ansprachen Essays Würdigungen. [East-West Bazaar: Addresses, Essays and Appreciations] With a Foreword by Marion Gräfin Dönhoff. Selected and with an Afterword by Andreas Lawaty. Zürich: Ammann-Verlag. ISBN 3-250-10283-0
- 2000: Panorama der polnischen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts. Abt.V. Panorama. Ein Rundblick [Panorama of Polish Literature of the 20th Century: Section V. Panorama.] Zürich: Ammann-Verlag. ISBN 3-250-50005-4.
- 2002: Die Kunst der Übersetzung [The Art of Translating] Berlin: Logos Verlag. ISBN 3-8325-0000-6.
- 2006: Ein Europäer aus Lodz : Erinnerungen [A European from Lodz: Memoirs] Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, ISBN 3-518-41756-8
Literature
- Elvira Grözinger, Andreas Lawaty (Eds.): Suche die Meinung: Karl Dedecius, dem Übersetzer und Mittler zum 65. Geburtstag [Searching for the Opinion: Festschrift for the Translator and Intermediary Karl Dedecius on his 65th Birthday] Wiesbaden 1986, Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-02630-8.
- Manfred Mack (Ed.): “Karl Dedecius und das Deutsche Polen-Institut. Laudationes, Berichte, Interviews, Gedichte” [Karl Dedecius and the German Poland Institute. Laidatios, Reports, Interviews, Poems]. Darmstadt 1991, Justus von Liebig Verlag, ISBN 3-87390-098-X.
- Hubert Orłowski: Karl Dedecius, in Marek Zybura (Ed.): ...nie będzie nigdy Niemiec Polakowi bratem...? Wrocław: Okis. pp. 268–279. ISBN 83-904842-0-X.
External links
- Marion Gräfin Dönhoff, „Beheimatet in Polen und Deutschland. Aus einer Laudatio auf Karl Dedecius...“, DIE ZEIT 11/1986
- Marion Gräfin Dönhoff, „Mittler zwischen schwierigen Nachbarn“, DIE ZEIT 04/2002
- Karl-Dedecius-Archiv im Collegium Polonicum
- Deutsches Polen-Institut, Darmstadt
- Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels
Karl Dedecius (* May 20, 1921 in Łódź) is 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...
translator of Polish
Polish literature
Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages, used in Poland over the centuries, have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Yiddish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German and...
and Russian literature
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
.
Life
Dedecius was born to German parents in the city of Łódź, PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, then a multicultural city, which at that time had recently once again become a part of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. Dedecius attended the Polish Stefan-Żeromski
Stefan Zeromski
Stefan Żeromski was a Polish novelist and dramatist. He was called the "conscience of Polish literature". He also wrote under the pen names: Maurycy Zych, Józef Katerla and Stefan Iksmoreż.- Life :...
High School, where he received his high-school degree (Matura
Matura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...
). After the German invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
in the Second World War, Dedecius was first drafted into the Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst
Reichsarbeitsdienst
The Reichsarbeitsdienst was an institution established by Nazi Germany as an agency to reduce unemployment, similar to the relief programs in other countries. During the Second World War it was an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht.The RAD was formed during July 1934 as...
) and then into the German Army
German Army
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
and became a prisoner of war. During his time as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, he taught himself Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. Dedecius wrote, „I lay in my sick-bed, and the nurses brought me books by Lermontov
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
, for instance. For one year, I learned the Cyrillic Alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
and Russian by reading Lermontov and Pushkin. Eventually, the guards asked me to write love-letters for them, because I wrote like Pushkin“.
Dedecius was released in 1950. He settled at first with his fiancé in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, in East Germany. In 1952, he emigrated to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
and became an employee of the Allianz AG insurance company. In his free time, he occupied himself with Polish culture and with Polish literary translation, and maintained contact with Polish writers. Dedecius remarks: “Only when I had gotten myself set up in life and enjoyed some stability was I able to turn to literature in a long-term and systematic way, although my career, you could say, had nothing whatever to do with writing." In the introduction to the Polish edition of “On Translating,” Jerzy Kwiatkowski wrote: “Speaking formally, one could say that this translator’s great work came about on his evenings off, as a result of a hobby.”.
In 1959, he published his first anthology, Lektion der Stille (Lesson of Silence). In the following years, he translated, so to speak in his free time, such well-known Polish writers as Zbigniew Herbert
Zbigniew Herbert
Zbigniew Herbert was an influential Polish poet, essayist, drama writer, author of plays, and moralist. A member of the Polish resistance movement – Home Army during World War II, he is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers...
, Stanisław Jerzy Lec, Czesław Miłosz, Tadeusz Różewicz
Tadeusz Rózewicz
Tadeusz Różewicz is a Polish poet and writer.Różewicz belongs to the first generation born and educated after Poland regained its independence in 1918. His youthful poems were published in 1938...
and Wisława Szymborska. He also published essays on literature and translating technique.
In 1979/1980, he initiated the German Poland Institute in Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, whose director he remained until 1999. He also continued his literary activities, however. Dedecius’ main achievements, in addition to the 50-volume “Polish Library”, include a Canon, which appeared between 1982 and 2000 in the Suhrkamp Verlag
Suhrkamp Verlag
Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature.In January 2010 the headquarters of the company moved from Frankfurt to Berlin.-Early history:...
publishing house, and the 7-volume “Panorama of Polish Literature of the 20th Century” (1996–2000), whose final volume presented a kind of autobiography.
Dedecius has received many honorary doctorates, prizes, and awards. In 1990, he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade is an international peace prize given yearly at the Frankfurt Book Fair in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt am Main, Germany...
, in 1997 the Samuel-Bogumil-Linde-Preis. Since 2004, the Robert Bosch Stiftung
Robert Bosch Stiftung
The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH is one of the major German foundations associated with a private company. It holds 92% of the capital stock from Robert Bosch GmbH of 1.2 billion euros. Established in 1964, it represents the philanthropic and social endeavors of founder Robert Bosch .The purpose of...
, in cooperation with the German Poland institute, awards the Karl-Dedecius-Preis for translators, which is endowed with a prize of €10,000.
Works
- 1971: Deutsche und Polen. Botschaft der Bücher. [Germans and Poles: The Diplomacy of Books] München: Hanser. ISBN 3-446-11481-5.
- 1974 “Überall ist Polen” [Poland is Everywhere], Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-36695-5
- 1975: Polnische Profile [Polish Profiles]. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-02570-8.
- 1981: Zur Literatur und Kultur Polens [On the Literature and Culture of Poland] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-02571-6
- 1981: Polnische Pointen Satiren und kleine Prosa des 20.Jahrhunderts Karl Dedecius. Ullstein Buch
- 1986: Vom Übersetzen. Theorie und Praxis [On Translating: Theory and Practice] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-37758-2.
- 1988: Von Polens Poeten [On Poland’s Poets] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-37979-8.
- 1990: Lebenslauf aus Büchern und Blättern [A Curriculum Vitae Made of Books and Pages] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-40309-5.
- 1996: Ost West Basar. Ansprachen Essays Würdigungen. [East-West Bazaar: Addresses, Essays and Appreciations] With a Foreword by Marion Gräfin Dönhoff. Selected and with an Afterword by Andreas Lawaty. Zürich: Ammann-Verlag. ISBN 3-250-10283-0
- 2000: Panorama der polnischen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts. Abt.V. Panorama. Ein Rundblick [Panorama of Polish Literature of the 20th Century: Section V. Panorama.] Zürich: Ammann-Verlag. ISBN 3-250-50005-4.
- 2002: Die Kunst der Übersetzung [The Art of Translating] Berlin: Logos Verlag. ISBN 3-8325-0000-6.
- 2006: Ein Europäer aus Lodz : Erinnerungen [A European from Lodz: Memoirs] Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, ISBN 3-518-41756-8
Literature
- Elvira Grözinger, Andreas Lawaty (Eds.): Suche die Meinung: Karl Dedecius, dem Übersetzer und Mittler zum 65. Geburtstag [Searching for the Opinion: Festschrift for the Translator and Intermediary Karl Dedecius on his 65th Birthday] Wiesbaden 1986, Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-02630-8.
- Manfred Mack (Ed.): “Karl Dedecius und das Deutsche Polen-Institut. Laudationes, Berichte, Interviews, Gedichte” [Karl Dedecius and the German Poland Institute. Laidatios, Reports, Interviews, Poems]. Darmstadt 1991, Justus von Liebig Verlag, ISBN 3-87390-098-X.
- Hubert Orłowski: Karl Dedecius, in Marek Zybura (Ed.): ...nie będzie nigdy Niemiec Polakowi bratem...? Wrocław: Okis. pp. 268–279. ISBN 83-904842-0-X.
External links
- Marion Gräfin Dönhoff, „Beheimatet in Polen und Deutschland. Aus einer Laudatio auf Karl Dedecius...“, DIE ZEIT 11/1986
- Marion Gräfin Dönhoff, „Mittler zwischen schwierigen Nachbarn“, DIE ZEIT 04/2002
- Karl-Dedecius-Archiv im Collegium Polonicum
- Deutsches Polen-Institut, Darmstadt
- Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels
Karl Dedecius (* May 20, 1921 in Łódź) is 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...
translator of Polish
Polish literature
Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages, used in Poland over the centuries, have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Yiddish, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, German and...
and Russian literature
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia or its émigrés, and to the Russian-language literature of several independent nations once a part of what was historically Russia or the Soviet Union...
.
Life
Dedecius was born to German parents in the city of Łódź, PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, then a multicultural city, which at that time had recently once again become a part of the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
. Dedecius attended the Polish Stefan-Żeromski
Stefan Zeromski
Stefan Żeromski was a Polish novelist and dramatist. He was called the "conscience of Polish literature". He also wrote under the pen names: Maurycy Zych, Józef Katerla and Stefan Iksmoreż.- Life :...
High School, where he received his high-school degree (Matura
Matura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...
). After the German invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
in the Second World War, Dedecius was first drafted into the Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst
Reichsarbeitsdienst
The Reichsarbeitsdienst was an institution established by Nazi Germany as an agency to reduce unemployment, similar to the relief programs in other countries. During the Second World War it was an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht.The RAD was formed during July 1934 as...
) and then into the German Army
German Army
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
. He was severely wounded in the Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
and became a prisoner of war. During his time as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, he taught himself Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. Dedecius wrote, „I lay in my sick-bed, and the nurses brought me books by Lermontov
Mikhail Lermontov
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
, for instance. For one year, I learned the Cyrillic Alphabet
Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic script or azbuka is an alphabetic writing system developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD at the Preslav Literary School...
and Russian by reading Lermontov and Pushkin. Eventually, the guards asked me to write love-letters for them, because I wrote like Pushkin“.
Dedecius was released in 1950. He settled at first with his fiancé in Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
, in East Germany. In 1952, he emigrated to West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
and became an employee of the Allianz AG insurance company. In his free time, he occupied himself with Polish culture and with Polish literary translation, and maintained contact with Polish writers. Dedecius remarks: “Only when I had gotten myself set up in life and enjoyed some stability was I able to turn to literature in a long-term and systematic way, although my career, you could say, had nothing whatever to do with writing." In the introduction to the Polish edition of “On Translating,” Jerzy Kwiatkowski wrote: “Speaking formally, one could say that this translator’s great work came about on his evenings off, as a result of a hobby.”.
In 1959, he published his first anthology, Lektion der Stille (Lesson of Silence). In the following years, he translated, so to speak in his free time, such well-known Polish writers as Zbigniew Herbert
Zbigniew Herbert
Zbigniew Herbert was an influential Polish poet, essayist, drama writer, author of plays, and moralist. A member of the Polish resistance movement – Home Army during World War II, he is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers...
, Stanisław Jerzy Lec, Czesław Miłosz, Tadeusz Różewicz
Tadeusz Rózewicz
Tadeusz Różewicz is a Polish poet and writer.Różewicz belongs to the first generation born and educated after Poland regained its independence in 1918. His youthful poems were published in 1938...
and Wisława Szymborska. He also published essays on literature and translating technique.
In 1979/1980, he initiated the German Poland Institute in Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, whose director he remained until 1999. He also continued his literary activities, however. Dedecius’ main achievements, in addition to the 50-volume “Polish Library”, include a Canon, which appeared between 1982 and 2000 in the Suhrkamp Verlag
Suhrkamp Verlag
Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature.In January 2010 the headquarters of the company moved from Frankfurt to Berlin.-Early history:...
publishing house, and the 7-volume “Panorama of Polish Literature of the 20th Century” (1996–2000), whose final volume presented a kind of autobiography.
Dedecius has received many honorary doctorates, prizes, and awards. In 1990, he received the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
The Peace Prize of the German Book Trade is an international peace prize given yearly at the Frankfurt Book Fair in the Paulskirche in Frankfurt am Main, Germany...
, in 1997 the Samuel-Bogumil-Linde-Preis. Since 2004, the Robert Bosch Stiftung
Robert Bosch Stiftung
The Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH is one of the major German foundations associated with a private company. It holds 92% of the capital stock from Robert Bosch GmbH of 1.2 billion euros. Established in 1964, it represents the philanthropic and social endeavors of founder Robert Bosch .The purpose of...
, in cooperation with the German Poland institute, awards the Karl-Dedecius-Preis for translators, which is endowed with a prize of €10,000.
Works
- 1971: Deutsche und Polen. Botschaft der Bücher. [Germans and Poles: The Diplomacy of Books] München: Hanser. ISBN 3-446-11481-5.
- 1974 “Überall ist Polen” [Poland is Everywhere], Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-36695-5
- 1975: Polnische Profile [Polish Profiles]. Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-02570-8.
- 1981: Zur Literatur und Kultur Polens [On the Literature and Culture of Poland] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-02571-6
- 1981: Polnische Pointen Satiren und kleine Prosa des 20.Jahrhunderts Karl Dedecius. Ullstein Buch
- 1986: Vom Übersetzen. Theorie und Praxis [On Translating: Theory and Practice] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-37758-2.
- 1988: Von Polens Poeten [On Poland’s Poets] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-37979-8.
- 1990: Lebenslauf aus Büchern und Blättern [A Curriculum Vitae Made of Books and Pages] Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp. ISBN 3-518-40309-5.
- 1996: Ost West Basar. Ansprachen Essays Würdigungen. [East-West Bazaar: Addresses, Essays and Appreciations] With a Foreword by Marion Gräfin Dönhoff. Selected and with an Afterword by Andreas Lawaty. Zürich: Ammann-Verlag. ISBN 3-250-10283-0
- 2000: Panorama der polnischen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts. Abt.V. Panorama. Ein Rundblick [Panorama of Polish Literature of the 20th Century: Section V. Panorama.] Zürich: Ammann-Verlag. ISBN 3-250-50005-4.
- 2002: Die Kunst der Übersetzung [The Art of Translating] Berlin: Logos Verlag. ISBN 3-8325-0000-6.
- 2006: Ein Europäer aus Lodz : Erinnerungen [A European from Lodz: Memoirs] Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, ISBN 3-518-41756-8
Literature
- Elvira Grözinger, Andreas Lawaty (Eds.): Suche die Meinung: Karl Dedecius, dem Übersetzer und Mittler zum 65. Geburtstag [Searching for the Opinion: Festschrift for the Translator and Intermediary Karl Dedecius on his 65th Birthday] Wiesbaden 1986, Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN 3-447-02630-8.
- Manfred Mack (Ed.): “Karl Dedecius und das Deutsche Polen-Institut. Laudationes, Berichte, Interviews, Gedichte” [Karl Dedecius and the German Poland Institute. Laidatios, Reports, Interviews, Poems]. Darmstadt 1991, Justus von Liebig Verlag, ISBN 3-87390-098-X.
- Hubert Orłowski: Karl Dedecius, in Marek Zybura (Ed.): ...nie będzie nigdy Niemiec Polakowi bratem...? Wrocław: Okis. pp. 268–279. ISBN 83-904842-0-X.
External links
- Marion Gräfin Dönhoff, „Beheimatet in Polen und Deutschland. Aus einer Laudatio auf Karl Dedecius...“, DIE ZEIT 11/1986
- Marion Gräfin Dönhoff, „Mittler zwischen schwierigen Nachbarn“, DIE ZEIT 04/2002
- Karl-Dedecius-Archiv im Collegium Polonicum
- Deutsches Polen-Institut, Darmstadt
- Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels