Vom Roden des Urwalds bis zur Flächenstilllegung. Einblicke in tausend Jahre Leben und Geschichte westfälischer Bauern am Beispiel des Hofes Schmiemann/Eggert in Münster-Mecklenbeck.

Alfons Eggert can chronicle the history of his farm further back than one thousand years by the means of documents, archaeological finds and family deliverance. The estate has been at its current location for almost a thousand years, hundreds of people have worked here, lived off it, bled for it. These tithing peasant farmers were, for the most part of their existence, bound to the Münster Cathedral Chapter and played little to no role in any history book. They, however, were the ones supporting the powerful and wealthy, that were filling the pages of our history books, by rendering duties and services to their lords, who in return would hold them responsible if they were pillaged, burnt and forced into military service.

From the pioneering settlement in the deserted forests around Münster of 950 to the local recreation area on the outskirts of the city – quality life surrounded by nature, farm café and organic store – the thousand-year history of “Schmiemann/Eggert” in Münster/Mecklenbeck is told in representation for all the peasant farmers of this time and region.

Eggert, Alfons und Ruth Damwerth: Vom Roden des Urwalds bis zur Flächenstilllegung. Einblicke in tausend Jahre Leben und Geschichte westfälischer Bauern am Beispiel des Hofes Schmiemann/Eggert in Münster-Mecklenbeck.
ISBN: 978-3-937772-29-5, large-size hardcover, 212 pages, full-color print, 262 images, 24,90 EUR

In 1888 the unwed heiress to a family estate, with over 900 years of family history, handed the farm over to their long-standing caretaker Bernhard Eggert and with it many relating records and documents. A stroke of luck for his grandson Alfons, born in 1928, who is now collating a book about the history of the farm. A stroke of luck also for his co-author the historian and German studies specialist Ruth Damwerth, whose primary area of expertise lies in creating biographical work: “1000 years of estate history – the historical scale of this seemed too large at first. I spent weeks ‘digging’ through the state archives and was amazed to realize that the fate of this individual farm was representative for all the peasant farmers of this region, the rural existence – their history – wrapped up”, she says.

Münstersche Zeitung, 12.03.2014, on the book “Vom Roden des Urwalds bis zur Flächenstilllegung. Einblick in 1000 Jahre Leben und Geschichte westfälischer Bauern am Beispiel des Hofes Schmiemann/Eggert“

Ich bin nicht verrückt. Ich bin ein Mädchen!

The child loves to dress up and play with other girls in the street and create pieces of coiffed art during boring classes. It dreams of enrolling at a school for housekeeping after finishing elementary school. At its brother’s restaurant it already enjoys hours of quality time with the cleaning and service ladies, the whispering, the chats about female topics. None of this surprising for a girl born in the conservative Eastern Dutch province at the end of the nineteen fifties. There is just one problem. The child’s name is Hans and it is, strictly biologically speaking, a boy…
After years of internal conflict that see him suicidal, finally at the age of fifty plus Hans is reborn as Hanne. In her autobiography Hanne would like to share hope and encouragement. She also hopes to educate people who are not directly affected about what transsexuality or Gender Dysphoria, as it is medically termed, is – most of all she wants to break the silence that she has built up around herself and been living in for decades due to a false sense of shame.

Wagenvoord, Hanne: Ich bin nicht verrückt. Ich bin ein Mädchen!
ISBN: 978-3-937772-33-2, paperback, 204 pages, 14,90 Euro

“Step by step I ran towards the red light, blinking as the train was rapidly approaching. Closer and closer. All of a sudden a deafening whistle cut through the silence. Split seconds before I wanted to take the leap, the leap into my freedom, my salvation. Screeching drilled into my brain, broke right into me simultaneously with a flashing, bright light. It was as though someone was yelling at me to stop this nonsense. Out of reflex I stepped back and lost my footing, fell backwards over a protruding stone. In the wake of the passing train I fell to the ground. I was shocked. I felt tears welling up and was shaking heavily through my whole body. Motionless I lay there and stared at the blue sky. The tears had blurred my vision but I could make out a few birds flying overhead.”

Sashtipoorthi: Bikulturelle Betrachtungen eines stolzen Deutschen

The Sanskrit expression Sashtipoorthi translates to: completion of the sixtieth year of life. This is connected to much more than a point of time in your life or a party. This expression encompasses an entire philosophy:
A person at the age of sixty has fulfilled their duties in life. They may and must release the corset of responsibility and should freely focus on their own personal development. Hence, Hindus often celebrate this milestone with a ceremony similar to that of a birth.
This philosophy is appealing to me, not only because I am turning sixty soon… I know the corsets, the societal, professional and economic ones from my own experiences of two cultures. As a doctor I also increasingly see this type of imprisonments in corsets of any kind as the origin of all kinds of illness. I would like to speak from my own biography and experience as a doctor: Be brave, dare to go against the imposition and limitations of the corset – confidence and courage. Preserve your integrity and the respect of and for your fellow human beings.

Simon, Julian: Sashtipoorthi: Bikulturelle Betrachtungen eines stolzen Deutschen
ISBN: 978-3-937772-34-9, paperback, 158 pages, 13,00 EUR

“On February 18th 1980 I arrived at Frankfurt Airport. It was could and cloudy. The first thing I lost was my name.
Julian Simon Pendanathu House is what my passport read. The border control officers assumed Pendanathu House, my surname, was a part of my address and Simon my surname. This was documented officially and I was too tired from the trip to protest and too confused by the long flight and I also spoke no German. (…) My brother Joseph had made his way from Lüdenscheid to Frankfurt to pick me up. It was cold and misty and I was completely tired out and stared in amazement through the fog of my exhaustion into the grey haze of the surroundings passing by the car windows. I could not comprehend what I was seeing. I had always heard that Germany was a rich country. So where were the rubber trees and coconut palms - the plants that guaranteed an income in Kerala? From the Autobahn I could only see forest, an occasional building. Where was the wealth?”

Ursula

Ursula Landeck is a person without roots. Historical developments have severly contributed: War, bombs, first evacuations, later escaping over the zonal border. In the first instance it was her parents that lived apart, quarreling, fighting on the back of their eldest daughter, misusing her as a spy or as leverage refusing her any memory of comfort, support and security.

Ruth Damwerth: Ursula.
ISBN: 3-937772-02-2; paperback 138 pages, 14,90 Euro

Geraubte Jugend – verlorenes Land

There are years in the life of Ilse Hansen, born in 1927, where agency is taken from her completely. First it is the Nazis who order a compulsory year of Reich Labour Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst) and war auxiliary service (Kriegshilfsdienst), then it is Czech troops who deported her to a forced labor camp and later expulsed her from her home. Finally, she believes she is free and all of a sudden constraints of a very different nature begin to reveal themselves…

Ilse Hansen: Geraubte Jugend – verlorenes Land.
ISBN: 3-937772-03-0; paperback 158 pages, 14,90 Euro