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Peter Hebel Biography & Facts

Johann Peter Hebel (10 May 1760 – 22 September 1826) was a German short story writer, dialectal poet, Lutheran theologian and pedagogue, most famous for a collection of Alemannic lyric poems (Allemannische Gedichte) and one of German tales (Schatzkästlein des rheinischen Hausfreundes – "Treasure Chest of Rhenish Tales"). Born in Basel, Hebel entered primary school in 1766 and joined a Latin school three years later; he visited the schools in Basel during summer and in Hausen and Schopfheim respectively in the nearby Wiesental during winter. After the death of his mother in 1773, he remained at school, graduating with the help of friends from the Gymnasium illustre of Karlsruhe in 1778 and going on to study theology. He became a home tutor, an assistant preacher, an assistant teacher, a subdeacon and, in 1798, a professor and court deacon. Hebel was interested in botany, natural history and other subjects. His literary work began with Allemannische Gedichte, which is perhaps the most popular work written in Alemannic. He had success with his calendar stories in the Badischer Landkalender, and later with Rheinländischer Hausfreund (Rhenish Family Treasury), but a dispute between Catholics forced him to resign as editor of the calendar. In his last years he devoted himself increasingly to religion, becoming a prelate in 1819, but his wish to become a parish priest was never fulfilled. His last works were biblical stories for young readers, which served as textbooks until 1855. Hebel died 1826 in Schwetzingen. Goethe, Tolstoy, Gottfried Keller, Hermann Hesse, Martin Heidegger and other writers have praised his works. Early life Johann Peter Hebel was born on 10 May 1760 in Basel, where his parents were employed in a patrician household during the summer. He spent half of his childhood in Basel and the other half in the village of Hausen im Wiesental, where his father worked as a weaver during the winters. As he wrote in an autobiographical sketch, "there I learned early on what it meant to be poor and rich ... to have nothing and to have everything, to be happy with the happy people and to be sad with those who cried". Memories of both places had a deep influence on his literary work. Hebel's father, who had moved to southern Baden from the Hunsrück area, died of typhus early in 1761, as did his younger sister, who was only a few weeks old. Hebel went to primary school in Hausen in 1766, and in 1769 went on to the Latin school in Schopfheim, where his teacher was the theologian August Gottlieb Preuschen. During the summer months he went to a parish school in Basel, and later to the prestigious cathedral school (Gymnasium am Münsterplatz). His mother died when he was thirteen. In 1774, with financial help from friends, Hebel joined the Gymnasium illustre in Karlsruhe (now the Bismarck-Gymnasium), where he graduated in 1778. After studying theology in Erlangen from 1778 to 1780, he became a home tutor and assistant preacher in Hertingen, Bad Bellingen, and was appointed Präzeptoratsvikar (assistant teacher) in 1783 at the Pädagogium in Lörrach, now called the Hebel-Gymnasium in his honour. He became friends with the headmaster, Tobias Günttert, and through him met Gustave Fecht, Günttert's sister-in-law, with whom he had a long-lasting, platonic relationship and to whom he sent numerous letters. Hebel remained unmarried all his life, although in later years he adored the actress Henriette Hendel-Schütz. In 1791 he returned to Karlsruhe to take up a position as a deacon at the Karlsruhe Gymnasium, but was instead only named a "subdeacon". Apart from teaching, Hebel occasionally preached at court, where he enjoyed great popularity. Later life In 1798 Hebel became a professor and court deacon. He taught several other subjects in the Gymnasium, among them botany and natural history. He took a broad interest in botany; he maintained a herbarium and rearranged the botanical terms and diagnoses in Flora badensis alsatica, written by his friend, botanist Karl Christian Gmelin. In his honour, Gmelin named a plant Hebelia allemannica, though it was later renamed Tofieldia calyculata. Hebel became an honorary member of the mineralogical society in Jena in 1799, and three years later a corresponding member of the "Vaterländischen Gesellschaft der Ärzte und Naturforscher in Schwaben". In his youth he enjoyed the works of Klopstock and Jung-Stilling. Later he especially liked Jean Paul and Johann Heinrich Voß. Hebel lived in Karlsruhe until his death, but made occasional journeys to other regions. His wish to become a parish priest in Wiesental was never fulfilled, though he wrote an inaugural sermon for a rural parish in 1820. In this sermon he wrote, "to live and die as a pastor in a peaceful country town, among honest people, has always been my sole wish, up to this hour; it was what I wished for in the happiest and in the darkest moments of my life". Instead, he was "led higher and higher by an invisible hand, ever further away from my modest goals". In 1805 he was offered the Lutheran parish of Freiburg im Breisgau, but he declined it at the behest of Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden. He was rewarded in 1808 with his appointment as director of the Gymnasium in Karlsruhe. In 1819 he became a prelate of the Lutheran regional church, a leading position that brought with it a seat in the Upper House of the Parliament (Ständeversammlung) of Baden. As a member of parliament he devoted himself mainly to education, the church and social policy. He later gave a speech at the consecration of the statehouse in Karlsruhe. Even though the Lutheran and Reformed regional churches of Baden merged in 1821 with strong support from his side, into today's Evangelische Landeskirche in Baden, his position as the prelate of the unified Protestant church was not endangered. Hebel's health deteriorated after 1815. In 1826 he travelled to Heidelberg and Mannheim to oversee school exams, and he died on 22 September 1826 in nearby Schwetzingen. His grave is there. Johannes Bähr succeeded him as prelate in the regional church of Baden. Writings Allemannische Gedichte Apart from a few early attempts, Hebel's began his literary work near the end of the 18th century. After returning to Karlsruhe from a trip to Wiesental in 1799, he began to write Allemannische Gedichte, inspired by a longing for his home. (Allemannische is the spelling he used; normally it has just one "l".) The 32 poems "for friends of the rural way of life" were written in Alemannic, the local dialect of Wiesental. Hebel could not find a Basel publisher willing to produce the book in Alemannic, and the collection was only published in 1803 by Philip Macklot in Karlsruhe, after Hebel and his friends managed to collect enough advance subscriptions. The first edition was published anonymously, possibly because Hebel was concerned about getting a rustic image. In Allemannische Gedichte, Hebel depicts the local life and customs o.... Discover the Peter Hebel popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Peter Hebel books.