ANNIVERSARIES
ANNIVERSARY 1946
However, nothing should prevent us from recording here, in a few written words and reviews, the memory of these 25 years of joint work and experience, which have given us so much. In doing so, we hope not only to give our numerous members and other friends a modest pleasure, but also to show other circles how such an association, founded and led by lay people, can contribute to the enrichment of spiritual and social life, and how this can have a particularly fruitful and gratifying effect in times of need and concern on all sides.
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On October 12, 1921, around 20 men and women from Planegg, Krailling and Gräfelfing came together in Krailling and Planegg at the invitation of Privy Councillor Dr. Adolf Stamm, a schoolmaster in the most beautiful sense of the word, to establish a spiritual and social association. According to Dr. Stamm's opening words, this "Literary Society" should become a blessed refuge from the terrible hardships of the times, where we can temporarily forget the worries that oppress us all and, through loving and serious engagement with imperishable values and through mutual discussion, want to uplift ourselves and ensure that we find the blissful serenity of the heart, which is as far removed from despairing pessimism as it is from superficial optimism. This regular exchange was to take place in the form of a lecture evening every two weeks, while in the meantime män wanted to meet for purely social gatherings. The lectures were initially to be given exclusively by members.
This joyfully welcomed foundation soon found numerous members in the wider Würmtal area and in its first annual report already had a membership of almost 60 people. The lecture events had also been extended to include evenings and joint excursions.
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In the meantime, however, the difficulties caused by the time of emergency - lack of heating, traffic congestion and a rapid devaluation of money - became so threatening that the holding of further meetings soon seemed impracticable. In the end, however, help was found in the fact that every visitor had to bring their own coal or briquettes to jointly heat the restaurant, the Cafe Hacker in Krailling, and that the annual subscription, initially set at 5 marks, was increased to 100,000 marks with the proviso of further 'fines' should the terrible inflation make even more rapid progress. This is what happened, but the worst period of hardship was bridged. The extent to which this weighed on all life and events can also be seen in some of the themes of those years, such as: Poor Germany!; eating, drinking, metabolism and "The Wooden House" etc.
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no more suitable speakers and lecture material could be found, as a result of which attendance at the evenings steadily declined. Although the motion to dissolve the society was rejected and Dr. Stamm was appointed honorary chairman, a new board was formed at the same time under the leadership of Captain Vincenz Mandl, with architect Putlig, Gräfelfing, as second chairman.
In the following years, under the new leadership, the LG. undergoes a strong resurgence, which is expressed in the addition of new members as well as in the nature of the lectures, for which more and more speakers from abroad are brought in. The number of members and the number of events, especially of a social nature, is growing even more under the extremely active and commendable leadership of Major General (ret.) K. Schupbaum and the deputy chairman, Naval Chief Constructor (ret.) H. Hartmann. Mention should also be made here of the detailed and in some cases excellent presentation reports in the minutes book, which were written by the respective secretaries, in particular Mrs. Casella, Miss Unger and Messrs. Städler, Hartmann and Schupbaum.
In the last decade, 1934-1945, Mr. Thomas Engelmann, Gräfelfing, led the L.G. admirably, supported by the other board members: City Librarian Dr. E. Mehl, Chief Conservator Dr. Thomas Muchall Viebrook as secretary and - last but not least - by the long-time treasurer Miss Gertrud Skoniecki. In the last decade, 1934-1945, Mr. Thomas Engelmann, Gräfelfing, led the L.G. admirably, supported by the other board members: City Librarian Dr. E. Mehl, Chief Conservator Dr. Thomas Muchall Viebrook as secretary and - last but not least - by the long-time treasurer Miss Gertrud Skoniecki.These ten years of LG work were, like almost all life and work at that time, characterized by deeply incisive world events: the great war and at the same time the unfortunate Hitler dictatorship. If, contrary to expectations, we nevertheless succeeded in overcoming them, it was thanks to the good spirit that animated our community. Thus it was possible, despite many threats of a political and material nature from one side and hostile interference from bombing raids from the other, to continue our events without having to make significant concessions to the National Socialist regime or too many restrictions of a war-related nature.
The need for such intellectual and sociable events proved to be so strong that the number of members and visitors increased steadily - to over 180 members - and the circle of events was widened and focused more and more on the literary. Thus two L.G. reading circles were formed (under the direction of Dr. W. Jülicher), guided tours of museums and exhibitions were organized, film and colourful evenings, end-of-year celebrations with book raffles, etc. were held, which brought us many new members and friends. At the same time, the focus of the society shifted so strongly to Gräfelfing/Lochham that regular events have been held there since 1938, most recently in the popular Waldheim restaurant.
The sole honorary member of the Literary Society is currently Prof. Dr. Walter Goes, Gräfelfing, to whom we owe not only a large number of outstanding lectures, but also numerous valuable aids and suggestions.
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ANNIVERSARY 1951
For the 30th anniversary of the Gräfelfing Literary Society in 1951
On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Gräfelfing Literary Society in 1951
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Sixty years ago, if you had undertaken a hike from Pasing in the Würm valley up to Starnberg, you would have travelled along the cheerfully flowing river through very small farming villages, each of which accompanied the Würm for a short distance - but otherwise the hiker would have passed through green meadows, cornfields and woods and would have been glad to have escaped the town for a while. None of these villages had more than half a dozen or a dozen farmhouses and only the railway to Starnberg, which ran along the western high bank of the valley, reminded you of the noise of the world with its few trains, When the villa colonies developed in Pasing in the 1990s, when the Munich men's gymnastics club built a playground in Lochham at around the same time with a refreshment stop for the weary and thirsty, the people of Munich made inroads into the Würmtal. In Gauting, a settlement of light summer houses was built to the west of the railway, but soon also more permanent houses, as suburban trains made it easier to travel to Munich. This was also the case with Planegg and Krailling, and finally also with Gräfelfing and Lochham, where the houses were built into the woodland to the west of the railway, while the farms down by the Würm still bore witness to the old layout of the valley. But it didn't take long for the forest colony to develop downwards and eventually replace the old rural character.
As the Pasing country house colonies grew more and more into the city and its life, they were excluded from the Würmtal development; Gauting acquired a favoured position in the rapid growth through the influx of locals and non-Bavarians, because here, in addition to the beauty of the forests, something of the hilly landscape of the foothills began. Planegg,
characterised and highlighted by its castle, followed suit until finally Gräfelfing overtook the other two. After the First World War, it exerted an attraction that was lost to the others, and with pensioners from all parts of Germany, Munich officials and merchants, artists and writers, it developed into the most sought-after and ultimately the largest colony in the Würmtal.
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A spiritual development followed. The once purely Catholic small community was joined by a Protestant community due to the increasing number of immigrants, and the pensioners, who were often high-ranking civil servants, began to make demands for spiritual pleasures so that they would not have to rely solely on Munich and somewhat uncomfortable evening journeys. However, this need was by no means unique to Gräfelfing at first - the first impulses for a literary association came equally from Gauting, Planegg-Krailling and Gräfelfing. Above all, after the First World War there was a need for spiritual deepening and a distraction from the hardships of the time. The first followers of the "Literary Society" came from all four towns, and were later joined by Stockdorf and Lochham. Planegg seemed to be the given centre of this educational community, and so they met on Planegg soil for years. The Gauting members, initially not small in....
... the departure of Mr. v. Glencks from Gräfelfing these musical performances stopped, and the period around 1945 brought a restriction on the activities of the "Literary Aryan Society". The number of members decreased and so did the attendance of the members who were plagued by so many hardships - for a while the small one was enough Room at Cafe Walz in Gräfelfing for the lectures. But soon the lively urge for increased stimulation reappeared; There has been an unexpectedly large upswing in recent years: the “Weißer Rößl” hall had to be occupied again and it often could hardly accommodate the large number of members and guests. A leadership of very special activity always knew how to offer new ideas, organized concerts in private houses for smaller groups, facilitated transport options to the Munich theater performances and founded the music circle in 1949 with the chamber orchestra and the choir under the direction of Rudolf Lamy, Philharmonic -schen Choir Munich. The music circle organized concerts with Elly Ney and Rosl Schmidt. The drama circle, founded at the beginning of 1950, came to the public with a guest performance by the Munich Kammerspiele (“Behind Closed Doors”) and with the very successful performance of Euripides' “Troan Women” under the direction of Ms. Lore Bronner, Munich. It is no exaggeration to say that the “Literary Society” provides its members with compensation for attending Munich events and that Gräfelfing has become a valuable center for cultural endeavors. May what has been so successful in 30 years continue to develop upwards in the future!
Dr. Walter Goetz.
ANNIVERSARY 1996
The LGG is celebrating its 75th birthday this year - a remarkable age for a society that cultivates cultural values and is based solely on private initiative.
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Founded in 1921 after the First World War, the LG held its own through the years of inflation and the Hitler dictatorship; it survived the Second World War and the subsequent post-war years.
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It was after the First World War that the citizens of the up-and-coming communities of Planegg, Krailling and Gräfelfing found it disadvantageous to always have to travel to the state capital if they wanted to take part in cultural events. Then one of them came, Privy Councilor Dr. Adolf Stamm, came up with the idea of founding a company. in order to offer culture on site with their help. He brought together those interested in music in an intellectual and social association based in the then leading town of Krailling under the name»Planegg-Krailling-Gräfelfing Literary Society«. The founder gave the association an idea that was understandable at the time:
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“May the Literary Society become a blessed refuge in the dire needs of the times, where we can temporarily forget the worries that oppress us all and try to raise ourselves up through loving and serious engagement with imperishable values and through mutual discussion to find a happy cheerfulness of mind that is equally distant from despairing pessimism and superficial optimism."
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These words were spoken by Dr. Adolf Stamm on the day it was founded, October 12, 1921 in Krailling. They were bad times back then, there was a lack of heating material in winter and those attending the lectures had to bring their own coal or briquettes to heat up the Cafe Hacker in Krailling. Due to inflation, the initial annual contribution rose from 5 marks to 100,000 marks, with the reservation of further so-called surcharges if inflation increased.
At the end of the founding year there were 62 members, 32 of them from Planegg, 22 from Krailling and only 8 from Gräfelfing. In 1938, of the 129 members, 58 came from Gräfelfing, 29 from Planegg, 18 from Krailling and the rest from Gauting and Stockdorf. It was then decided to move the company's headquarters to Gräfelfing and to give it the name»Graefelfing Literary Society« admit.
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In the first years of its existence, according to the statutes, the members themselves gave the lectures and lectures. But they soon began to bring in forces from outside. This was an important step for the further development of the Literary Society.(Handwritten minutes from October 12, 1921 to December 18, 1933 are still available.)
Originally only topics from literature, art and music were dealt with, but later those from the areas of natural sciences, sociology and questions of worldview increasingly came to the fore.
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From 1933 to 1944 hadTheodore Engelmann holds the chairmanship. Thanks to his wise leadership, he was able to withstand the political pressure of the time. So he kept the intellectual independence of society. There had been threats of coercive measures, the LG of the so-calledReich Chamber of Literature to be subordinated and thus subjected to strict control. Quote from Theodor Engelmann:
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»I actually managed to keep the LG alive as one of the few literary associations in the Reich and to implement our lecture program in the critical times without departing from our previous guidelines.«
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It was even achieved - with two or three inevitable exceptions - that no topic of a nationalist nature was addressed in more than 200 lectures, according to Engelann.
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It was in the years after World War IIPrivy Councilor Professor Dr. Walter Götz, who continued the LG, until the pediatrician in 1948Dr. Frank Höfer, supported by the publishing bookseller Werner Lehmann, took the lead with a lot of enthusiasm and idealism. On his initiative, the cultivation of music became a particular concern of the post-war years. At the same time, the drama circle was created. A cultural center for the entire Würmtal was formed in Gräfelfing.
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Since 1959, after the early death of Dr. Frank Höfer, the management was in the hands ofWerner Lehmannuntil his death in 1973. The music circle and the drama circle dissolved again due to a lack of active members. For the 50th anniversary of the LG in 1971, which at that time saw itself primarily as a discussion group for current issues of the time, a word from Karl Jaspers was chosen as the new mission statement.
»We want to talk to each other. We don't just want to repeat our opinions, we want to hear what the other person thinks. We don't just want to assert, we want to think in context, listen to reasons and remain ready to come to new insights.
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In 1973, Mr. Wolfgang Pollner took over the management of the Gräfelfing Literary Society to this day.
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ANIVERSARY 2021
​For over 90 years, “Die Literarische” has been an integral part of the cultural life of the Würmtal communities in Munich's southwest. It was founded in 1921 as the “Planegg – Krailling – Gräfelfing Literary Society”. The initiative comes from the high school director Dr. Adolf Stamm from. Having our own cultural offerings in the Würmtal saves you the long journey to events in Munich.
Im Gründungsjahr können bereits 62 Mitglieder gewonnen werden – vorwiegend aus Gräfelfing. Bald benennt man die Gesellschaft dementsprechend um in „Literarische Gesellschaft Gräfelfing“. In den ersten Jahren halten die eigenen Mitglieder Vorträge zu Themen aus Literatur, Kunst und Musik. Bald aber beginnt man, externe Referenten zu gewinnen, und immer öfter kommen prominente Autoren ins Gräfelfinger Weiße Rößl, ins Waldheim oder Café Walz. In den zwanziger und dreißiger Jahren lesen zum Beispiel Waldemar Bonsels, Korfiz Holm, Otto von Taube oder Werner Bergengruen aus ihren Werken.
Between 1933 and 1944 Theodor Engelmann headed the Literary Society. He has traveled worldwide and had many international contacts. He managed to bridge the Nazi era without making any major concessions. According to him, in over 200 events, with two or three inevitable exceptions, no topic of a National Socialist nature was discussed. Even Professor Kurt Huber was able to speak there in the 1942/43 season. He also belongs privately to Chairman Engelmann's circle of friends, as does the Korean poet Mirok Li, who fled from Japanese-occupied Korea to Bavaria in 1919.
In 1946 the events could be resumed under Walter Goetz. After Goetz, the pediatrician Dr. Frank Höfer and from 1958 the publisher Werner Lehmann took over the management of the company. Important writers such as Fedor Stepun, Eugen Roth, Ernst Heimeran, Carl Orff, Ernst Penzoldt, Paul Eipper, Leonhard Frank, Erich Kästner, Joachim Kaiser and Ilse Aichinger are guests in Gräfelfing.
In 1973, the bookseller Wolfgang Pollner took over as chairman, using his contacts in the literary scene. Many greats of the literary world from Elias Canetti, Herbert Rosendorfer, Sarah Kirsch, Marieluise Fleißer, Monika Maron, Hermann Lenz to Sten Nadolny and Herta Müller come to Gräfelfing. In 1980, Pollner founded the Art Circle of the Literary Society with Sinda Dimroth, which became its own association in 1995.
​Dieter Dorn and Binette Schröder with Sybil Countess Schönfeldt
(c) Gräfelfing Literary Society
​After 36 years, Dr. Klaus Stadler, non-fiction editor at Piper Verlag until his retirement, left Pollner as chairman in 2009. The five-member board works on a voluntary basis and organizes up to 14 evenings per year, including literary and musical events. The society currently has around 420 members. It has been supported by the community with a subsidy for many years and uses the Gräfelfing community center as an event location. Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, Wolfgang Frühwald, Hans Maier, Harald Lesch, Martin Walser and Joachim Gauck will read and speak on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the “Literarische” (2011). Guests in 2015 include Lena Gorelik, Dieter Dorn and Michael Krüger. The following December, Sybil Countess Schönfeldt will present important autumn books for the seventh year in a row.
ANIVERSARY 2021
Wolfgang Pollner (Honorary Chairman) as well as the board members Dieter Sommer and Dr. Klaus Stadler
The new treasurer is Dr. Rita Hickel, Lenbachstr. 3 82166 Gräfelfing (verwaltung@literarische.de)
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Presseschau der Literarischen ab 2014 bis 2021
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September 2021 Alle Presseartikel zum Herbstprogramm 2021
Mai 2021 SZ - Bewerbungsartikel zum Tassilo-Kulturpreis 2021
September 2020 MM: Heuer keine Veranstaltungen mehr
Januar 2020 Presseartikel zum Frühjahrsprogramm 2020
September 2019 Presseartikel zum Herbstprogramm 2019
Januar 2019 Presseartikel zum Frühjahrsprogramm 2019
September 2018 Pressemeldungen zum Herbstprogramm 2018
Januar 2018 Presseartikel zum Frühjahrsprogramm 2018
September 2017 Presseartikel zum Herbstprogramm 2017
Januar 2017 Presseartikel zum Frühjahrsprogramm 2017
September 2016 Presseartikel zum Herbstprogramm 2016
Januar 2016 Presseartikel zum Frühjahrsprogramm 2016
September 2015 Presseartikel zum Herbstprogramm 2015
Januar 2015 Presseartikel zum Frühjahrsprogramm 2015
30. 12.14 - 08.01.15 Münchner Merkur über Theodor Engelmann,
unserem Vorsitzenden von 1933-1944
September 2014 Presseartikel zum Herbstprogramm 2014
Januar.2014 Presseartikel zum Frühjahrsprogramm 2014