Queer Places:
Kleine Wannsee, Bismarckstraße 2, 14109 Berlin, Germany
Bernd
Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (18 October 1777 – 21 November 1811) was a German
poet, dramatist, novelist, short story writer and journalist. His best known
works are the theatre plays Das Käthchen von Heilbronn, The Broken
Jug, Amphitryon,, Penthesilea and the novellas
Michael Kohlhaas and The Marquise of O. A homosexual conflict is
obviously the key to unlocking his inner life, but his biographers tend to
refer vaguely to "the mysteries" of his emotional and sexual life. An
astonishing letter survives to
Ernst von Pfuel, written while Napoleon was ravaging the country and
separating the two men who were obviously lovers; Pfuel was destined to become
the Prussian War Minister. Most of Kleist's letters are addressed to his close
friend Rühle von Lilienstern,
his confidant rather than his lover, but that relationship also seems to have
begun in similarly intense circumstances.
Kleist was born into the von Kleist family in Frankfurt an der Oder in the
Margraviate of Brandenburg. After a scanty education, he entered the Prussian
Army in 1792, served in the Rhine campaign of 1796, and retired from the
service in 1799 with the rank of lieutenant. He studied law and philosophy at
the Viadrina University and in 1800 received a subordinate post in the
Ministry of Finance at Berlin.
In the following year, Kleist's roving, restless spirit got the better of
him, and procuring a lengthened leave of absence he visited Paris and then
settled in Switzerland. There he found congenial friends in Heinrich Zschokke
and Ludwig Wieland (1777–1819), son of the poet Christoph Martin Wieland; and
to them he read his first drama, a gloomy tragedy, The Schroffenstein
Family (1803).
In the autumn of 1802, Kleist returned to Germany; he visited Goethe,
Schiller, and Wieland in Weimar, stayed for a while in Leipzig and Dresden,
again proceeded to Paris, and returning in 1804 to his post in Berlin was
transferred to the Domänenkammer (department for the administration of crown
lands) at Königsberg. On a journey to Dresden in 1807, Kleist was arrested by
the French as a spy; he remained a close prisoner of France in the Fort de
Joux. On regaining his liberty, he proceeded to Dresden, where, in conjunction
with Adam Heinrich Müller (1779–1829), he published the journal Phöbus
in 1808.
Kleist met Henriette Vogel in 1809 through his friend Adam Müller and a
sexual relationship flourished between them. They shared a fondness for music,
and according to Ernest Peguilhen, Henriette Vogel asked her friend to explain
to her the art of sex, as well as to teach her fencing, for the dramatist had
been a soldier. The relationship between the two became more intimate in the
autumn of 1811. According to their contemporaries, there was no fire of
passion but a purely spiritual love. It was Adam Müller's point of view, who
in fact had been in love with Henriette for a while. Marie von Kleist, who was
the most important sponsor and confidant of Heinrich von Kleist, also made
sure that this claim was widely spread.
On November 21, 1811, the two traveled from Berlin to Wannsee. Prior to
their departure, they both penned farewell letters, which along with an
account of the final night they spent at the inn Gasthof Stimming, are now
part of world literature. Upon their arrival in the vicinity of the Wannsee in
Potsdam, Kleist first shot Henriette and then turned the gun on himself. They
were buried together in a common grave at Kleine Wannsee (Bismarckstrasse),
which has become a tourist attraction. It was redesigned by the time of the
bicentenary of their deaths. On that occasion direct access from Wannsee
station to the grave was built. The gravestone, erected by the Nazis in 1936,
was turned round and now shows engraved original text written by Max Ring and
the Pater Noster's request: "forgive us our guilt" as well as the names and
data of Henriette Vogel and Heinrich von Kleist.[4][5][6][7]
ThThe Kleist Prize, a prestigious prize for German literature, is named after
him, as was the Kleist Theater in his birthplace Frankfurt an der Oder.
My published books:
BACK TO HOME PAGE
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_von_Kleist
- http://rictornorton.co.uk/kleist.htm