Gustav Jahn Poetry - New English Translations

For those faithful few on this remote Internet island, new English translations of poems in Gustav Jahn's "Neuer Frühling" have been provided by a gifted translator in Austin, Texas. There are being added to the second edition of JAHN II for future publication. But those visiting this blog will be the first to read the stanzas.

Lenz im Winter

 

Im Sommer wars –es flotz der Sonnenglanz

Ums haus auf Blüthenpracht und Saatengold –

Da welkte meine Rose hold,

Da lag mein Lieb so bleich im Todtenkranz.

Man nahm sie mir– trug sie zur kühlen Gruft –

In Blumen eingehüllt sah ich zuletzt sie ruhn:

Nur eine handvoll Erde trennt uns nun,

Und doch – wie eine teife Kluft!

 

It was in the summer—the sunshine flowed

Around the house upon the blossomed splendor and golden corn—

Then my dear rose wilted.

There lay my love so pale in the death wreath.

They took her from me—carried her to the cool tomb—

Shrouded in flowers, at last I saw her resting there:

Just a handful of earth now separates us,

And yet—what a deep chasm

The Missing Book

After all these years, I have still never seen a copy of the first book our great-great-grandfather Gustav Jahn published: Vermischte Gedichte (Miscellaneous Poems). He was 24 when it came out in 1842 and he used the pseudonym Gustav Frisch. One hundred and ten pages of his earliest writings!

Anyone planning a trip to Berlin?

If not, about all we can do is troll the Internet. Here's where I found and purchased most of Gustav's other books: www.zvab.com.

But beware! Someone is reprinting some of Gustav's originals and selling them for 50 bucks! You can see where I highlighted in blue - NEUBUCH - a new book. If you translate the German text, you'll read "Carefully edited reprint of the original edition." Sigh - that's not what Jahn descendants are looking for!

Ruth Jahn

Ruth Wilhelmina Niemeier, 1894-1991, married Jack (Gustav) Jahn 9 Jan 1913. They had four daughters: Naomi, Ruth, Dorothy and Bernice.

1936

1947

 

1950s

Early 1970s

Pictures of Jack

Nothing like a good crisis to turn up new things! After our 2 year-old Eternal (right!) water heater burst Saturday, we ended up with the recovery team cutting out 3/4ths of our carpet in the finished portion of the basement, but everything dried out after 3 days of industrial fans and a heavy-duty dehumidifier. No priceless family artifacts were harmed during this event!

As I moved things back and cleaned and sorted, I disovered a bag of pictures labeled 'I want these back.' Apparently I kept them in such safe-keeping that I didn't find them for the JAHN II book! So now they'll appear over the next few days here as I figure out where they came from. It was Dorothy Werner or Lois Ham or Marjorie Timmel.

First up is Gustav or Jack Jahn.




Jack about 1910 at seminary



Jack with Naomi at Wisner, winter of 1914-15

Jack about 1936

Jack about 1955

Cousin Visits

It's good to hear about on-going connections with the Jahn cousins. From Mike Swanson in Alaska:

Rick, Janna, and David Jahn spent some time in late August visiting Alaska. I got to spend time with them and it was a bit like TN again. Now, I'm visiting Karen Lusk. We drove out to Worms, NE this afternoon, visiting the Konrad's church, looking at that altar in the basement and saying hi to the pastor. The Nightcrawler has been rebuilt so when you come to NE to visit again (hopefully next summer) and we all go out to Worms, we can have a beer there!

Thanks Mike - I hope we can all do that!

Dora Letter #1

Here's a birthday card from Dorothea Jahn Von Fange to her son Erich for his birthday, date unknown. But it gives details of Jahn family interactions. Enjoy!

Kuhlmann Watch

Courtesy of Dr. Burkhard Rahn of Reutlingen, Germany, are the photos below. This is the watch that belonged to Dr. Ulrich Kuhlmann who was Burkhard's godfather. As a special gift, he gave it to Burkhard who, of course, has it to this day.

Dr. Ulrich Kuhlmann was born in 1884 at Rengersdorf on the Queiss, Silesia and died 1975 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. He was the son of Konrad's older sister Anna and cousin to Konrad's daughter Dorothea with whom there was extensive correspondence, as well as cousin to Konrad's sons Jack, Paul, Richard and Erich. Dr. Burkhard Rahn is the grandson of Konrad's younger sister Dorothea Jahn who married Pastor Johannes Wilhelm Eduard Rahn.