Gerdt von Bassewitz

Gerdt Bernhard von Bassewitz-Hohenluckow (4 January 1878 in Allewind, Kingdom of Württemberg[1] – 6 February 1923 in Berlin) was a German lieutenant in the Prussian militia, a writer, a playwright, and an actor. He had his only great success with Little Peter's Journey to the Moon (Peterchens Mondfahrt), which began as a successful stage play in 1912 in Leipzig and was published as a book in 1915.

It became one of the best-loved German children's books and has been a bestseller in Germany to this day. After his success, von Bassewitz became assistant stage director in Cologne. Eventually, he moved to Berlin, where he made a living as a freelance writer.

On 6 February 1923, after a public reading at the Villa Siemens, he committed suicide at the age of 45.[2]

Life and career

He belonged to the Hohenluckow branch of the Mecklenburg line of the ancient noble family of Bassewitz. His father, Eberhard von Bassewitz,[3] an active dragoon officer, had leased the Allewind estate. His mother was born a Thedens from Husum; his parents met during a visit of Johann Christoph Blumhardt in Bad Boll.

Shortly after their marriage, his father took over the family estate of Liebenow in the Neumark, which he sold two years later. To support the family, he accepted a position as forestry cashier in neighbouring Hohenwalde.[1] The couple had four daughters, in addition to Gerdt.

From the age of nine, Bassewitz attended the boarding school (Alumnat) of the Moravian Church in Niesky near Görlitz. Two years later he moved to Putbus on Rügen, where he received a place at the Princely Pädagogium until 1898. He then joined the Prussian Army in Cottbus as an Avantageur (officer candidate). After attending the war school in Metz, he was commissioned as a lieutenant on 17 October 1899. A heart condition led to his transfer in 1901 to prison guard duty at Sonnenburg in the Neumark, then in 1902 to District Command II in Berlin. He was granted leave until 1903 and subsequently retired on health grounds.[4]

Bassewitz later became an actor. From 1908 to 1911 he worked at the Cologne City Theatre under Max Martersteig[5] as assistant director. He subsequently lived in Berlin as a freelance writer.

His best-known work is the children's play Peterchens Mondfahrt, which premiered with great success at the Leipzig City Theatre on 7 December 1912. On a February day in 1923 he gave a reading of this work at the Siemens Villa in Wannsee, left abruptly, and took his own life. Although he wrote several dramas, he remained largely unknown during his lifetime.

Oral tradition claims that Peterchens Mondfahrt was written in 1911 while Bassewitz was undergoing treatment at the sanatorium of Dr Oskar Kohnstamm in Königstein im Taunus, and that he used the doctor's children as models for the protagonists.[6] The story was filmed twice (see Peterchens Mondfahrt (1959 film) and Peter in Magicland (1990 film)). In April 2012 the picture story Pips der Pilz – Ein Wald- und Weihnachtsmärchen with illustrations by Hans Baluschek was republished.[7][8]

In a biography of the conductor Otto Klemperer, who met the writer in 1911 at Dr Kohnstamm's sanatorium, Eva Weissweiler writes:

He [...] meets a strange Mecklenburg nobleman, Gerdt von Bassewitz-Hohenluckow, once a lieutenant in the Prussian Landwehr who, to the horror of his clan, has turned to literature. In Königstein he writes a fairy tale for two of the four Kohnstamm children, Peter and Anneliese, aged three and eleven, which he titles Peterchens Mondfahrt.[9]

Bassewitz was buried at the Nikolassee Evangelical Cemetery in Berlin; his grave was levelled in 1957.[3]

Contemporary accounts

Peter Kohnstamm later recalled the writer: "… he was in uniform, a tall, handsome man who reminded me of the singer (Herr Brinkmann) who sang Count Almaviva at the Frankfurt Opera during my schooldays. That is all I know...".[10]

Franz Kafka described Bassewitz on 29 June 1912 in Leipzig: "… author of Judas, tall, nervous, dry face, movement in the hips, well-trained strong body. [...] All three [Bassewitz, Walter Hasenclever and Ernst Rowohlt] wave canes and arms."[11]

Works

List compiled by the author himself:[12]

  • Worte zu dir. Nature-philosophical essays. Eugen Diederichs, Jena 1907.
  • Schahrazade. Play in three acts. Ernst Rowohlt, Leipzig 1911.
  • Schahrazade. Opera in three acts, libretto by Gerdt von Bassewitz, music by Bernhard Sekles. Drei Masken Verlag, Berlin/Munich 1917.[13]
  • Judas. Tragedy in four acts. Ernst Rowohlt, Leipzig 1911.
  • Peterchens Mondfahrt. Fairy-tale play in four scenes. Ernst Rowohlt, Leipzig 1912.
  • Peterchens Mondfahrt. Fairy-tale picture book. Verlagsanstalt für Literatur und Kunst Hermann Klemm, Berlin-Grunewald 1916.
  • Pips der Pilz. Fairy-tale play in five scenes for big and little people. Kurt Wolff Verlag, Leipzig 1916.[14]
  • Die Sunamitin. Drama in one prologue and three acts. Ernst Rowohlt, Leipzig 1912.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Bassewitz, Gerdt von". Bruemmer Staatsbibliothek Berlin (in German). Nachlass Franz Brümmer. pp. 1r – 2r. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  2. ^ PureBooks. "Gerdt von Bassewitz - Author". PureBooks. Retrieved 21 October 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Gerdt von Bassewitz". Berlin Friedparks (in German). Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  4. ^ "Bassewitz, Gerdt von". Bruemmer Staatsbibliothek Berlin (in German). Nachlass Franz Brümmer. pp. 3r – 4r. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  5. ^ "Bassewitz, Gerdt von". Bruemmer Staatsbibliothek Berlin (in German). Nachlass Franz Brümmer. p. 7r. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  6. ^ Königstein im Taunus (2001). 150 Jahre Kur in Königstein: von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart; 1851 - 2001; eine Dokumentation aus Anlass des Kurjubiläums im Jahr 2001 [150 years of health resorts in Königstein: from the beginnings to the present day; 1851–2001; a documentary marking the anniversary of the health resort in 2001] (in German). Königstein im Taunus: Magistrat der Stadt Königstein im Taunus. ISBN 978-3-9800793-4-1.; Königstein 2001 (2008). "Das ehemalige Sanatorium von Dr. Oskar Felix Kohnstamm in Königstein" [The former sanatorium of Dr Oskar Felix Kohnstamm in Königstein]. Jüdische Gemeindezeitung Frankfurt (in German) (4).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Hillen, Barbara, ed. (2012). Pips der Pilz: Ein Wald- und Weihnachtsmärchen. Nach einer Geschichte von Gerdt von Bassewitz [Pips the Mushroom: A Forest and Christmas Fairy Tale. Based on a story by Gerdt von Bassewitz.] (in German). Illustrated by Hans Baluschek. Bonn: Verlag Barbara Hillen. ISBN 978-3981471816.
  8. ^ The explanations on page 77 also mention in Pips der Pilz that Peterchens Mondfahrt was written at the Kohnstamm sanatorium: "Gerdt von Bassewitz (1878–1923) came from a noble family in which it was considered desirable for someone to be a soldier. So Gerdt von Bassewitz also became a soldier. But then he lost interest in it because he much preferred to be an actor and work in the theatre. His family was not particularly pleased about this, but he got his way and worked at the Cologne City Theatre. Unfortunately, he was ill again and again and so sad about it that he had to live in a hospital for a while – at that time it was called a “sanatorium”. The director of this institution, Dr Kohnstamm, had four children. In 1911, Gerdt von Bassewitz wrote the book Peterchens Mondfahrt for two of them, Peter and Anneliese. The story was performed as a play a year later, and many people loved it.”
  9. ^ Weissweiler, Eva (2010). Otto Klemperer: ein deutsch-jüdisches Künstlerleben [Otto Klemperer: a German-Jewish artist's life] (in German). Köln: Kiepenheuer & Witsch. p. 85. ISBN 978-3-462-04179-8.
  10. ^ Letter from Peter Konstams to Gertrud Koch dated 21 May 1991, Königstein Municipal Archives (the municipal archives also have a portrait photograph of Gerdt von Bassewitz).
  11. ^ Kafka, Franz (1976). Brod, Max (ed.). Tagebücher 1910 - 1923 [Diaries 1910–1923]. Fischer-Taschenbücher (in German). Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag. p. 407. ISBN 978-3-436-01637-1.
  12. ^ "Bassewitz, Gerdt von". Bruemmer Staatsbibliothek Berlin (in German). Nachlass Franz Brümmer. pp. 18r – 18v. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  13. ^ Sekles, Bernhard (1917). Schahrazade: Oper in 3 Aufz [Scheherazade: Opera in 3 acts] (in German). Gerdt von Bassewitz (Bühnen. M. S. ed.). Berlin: Drei Masken-Verl.
  14. ^ The work was created during a therapy session in Bad Nauheim. "Bassewitz, Gerdt von". Bruemmer Staatsbibliothek Berlin (in German). Nachlass Franz Brümmer. pp. 14r – 15r. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
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