Door-Wallpaper-Bibliography of the Hebrew Struwwelpeter variants published since 1940
The “Doha Böhme” in Unterengstringen near Zurich is a private research library in the field of historical children’s literature. Other areas of collection include Faust, Reineke Fuchs, fables and ABC books. The collection size amounts to approximately 8,000 objects.
A special focus of the library is on the literary life’s work of Heinrich Hoffmann, the creator of Struwwelpeter. The collection includes not only valuable original editions in various languages, but also manuscripts and documents dealing with the history of Heinrich Hoffmann’s children’s books.
The scope of the “Struwwelpeter & Struwwelpetriaden” collection is impressively reflected in the two-volume bibliography “Böse Kinder” (Evil Children) written by Reiner Rühle. Hasso Böhme, founder and owner of “Doha Böhme”, has not only supported Reiner Rühle in his research work for over thirty years, but also maintains intensive contacts with university institutions, research facilities, libraries and museums.
In the working group around Dr. Peter Büttner, Nurit Blatman, Nathalie Gacond (graphic design) and Hasso Böhme, the history of the Hebrew Struwwelpeter from 1940 to the present day has been largely worked out.
A total of three Hebrew and one Yiddish translations were found as well as parodies of the famous Israeli comic illustrator Uri Fink. The first translation was published in 1940 under the title “Yehoshua haparua” by Joachim Goldstein in Tel Aviv. He gave the initials “L. Z.” as the translator. As Itamar Levy, a renowned antiquarian and book researcher in Tel Aviv in 2011 stated, everything indicates that behind “L. Z.” there is the famous Lili Zadek. The second translation was done by Uri Sela in 1975 and a third one by Uriel Ofek in 1985. These translations are already characterized by an advanced modern Hebrew.
The drawings and texts originally created by Heinrich Hoffmann (1844) for his three-year-old son, which presented themselves to young people through simplicity, fearlessness and clarity, proved to be immortal. In the mirror of their contemplation over time, they found a remarkable positive response in later reviews such as those by Max Brod and Uri Blum (1940), as well as in the blurb by Uriel Ofek (1991). As Peter von Matt, professor emeritus of literature from Zurich, also notes in his Reclam booklet (2009) about the Struwwelpeter at the end: “The book made its career through the will of the children. They said yes to the book […]. The jubilation of the children and the desire of the market left the horrified parents, the shocked educators and all the other called and uncalled protectors of the children’s soul helpless.”
The results are presented in a corona inspired door-wallpaper bibliography on 0.85 x 1.50 m and the project is described in a small press release on the occasion of the current situation
April 29th 2019