Introduction

A widely travelled estate

A letter from Helene Schweitzer-Bresslau with handwritten greetings from Albert Schweitzer to Friedrich Baethgen, 13.07.1951

Harry Bresslau’s widow, Caroline Bresslau-Isay, survived her husband by fifteen years, living in Heidelberg until her death in 1941. Her eldest son Ernst emigrated to Brazil in 1934 with his wife Luise Bresslau-Hoff; her younger son Hermann died in 1913. In 1912, Bresslau’s daughter Helene married Albert Schweitzer, whom she had met in student circles in Strasbourg. He was a medical doctor and theologian and she had completed a nursing course, besides studying two other university subjects. The idealistic young couple went to Gabon – at that time part of French Equatorial Africa – in 1913 and started treating patients in the chicken coop of the French mission Andende: This was the beginning of their famous jungle hospital in Lambarene. Suffering under a bad case of tuberculosis that was exacerbated by the strenuous climate in Lambarene, and the hard conditions of life during the First World War – in particular the prisoner-of-war camp in 1918 -, Helene was forced to leave her husband’s side after the birth of their daughter Rhena in 1919. She spent the rest of her life moving between the family house in the Black Forest, Lausanne, where she moved to with her daughter in 1933, and France, interspersed with international trips and and short visits to Lambarene.

As far as can be discerned, Harry Bresslau’s voluminous literary estate was divided up between his daughter Helene, who stored it partly in her house in the Black Forest and partly in Lausanne, and his son Ernst, who took the rest to Brazil.

On May 28 1951, Helene Schweitzer-Bresslau wrote to MGH president Friedrich Baethgen, offering him the care of her father's nachlass. She began with the opening words: „I dare say that after so many years you probably don’t remember me.“ This was not the case: Baethgen responded immediately: „... of course I remember you very well, just as I have a very lively memory of the whole household of your highly esteemed father. I hardly need to add that I would be more than happy to assume custody of your father’s estate as a deposit for the Monumenta Germaniae and indeed I consider this a great honour.“ The letter on display, in which Helene Schweitzer-Bresslau confirms that her father’s correspondance in the MGH archive could be used for scholarly purposes, also contains a personal greeting from her husband, the later Nobel laureate for peace, Albert Schweitzer, written in his small, concentrated script.

The efforts to sort Harry Bresslau’s nachlass were revived a few years later at the instigation of the Westdeutsche Bibliothek (now the Universitätsbibliothek) in Marburg. The collection’s journey through many hands and lands is reflected in its present order in the MGH archive.

Transcription

Günsbach, 13.7.1951.

Lieber Herr Baethgen,

Ihre freundlichen Zeilen vom 5. Juli erreichten mich hier, wo ich einige Tage mit meinem Mann verbracht habe, das wir aber heute wieder verlassen.

Nehmen Sie meinen besten Dank dafür, wie auch für die Photocopie Ihres Nachrufs auf meinen Vater, von der Dr. Hirsch mir schreibt, dass er sie erhalten und bis zu meiner Rückkehr nach Königsfeld für mich verwahrt hat.

Was die Frage einer evtl. wissenschaftlichen Verwertung der Korrespondenz meines Vaters anbetrifft, deren Empfang zu bestätigen Sie die Güte hatten, so glaube ich dass es ganz in seinem Sinne wäre, die Briefe gegebenenfalls dafür zur Verfügung zu stellen und habe aus diesem selben Grunde auch meinerseits nichts dagegen einzuwenden.

Mein Mann möchte ein Wort an Sie anfügen. Mir ist es ein Anliegen Ihnen nochmals für Ihr so freundliches Entgegenkommen und die Übernahme der Verwahrung der Briefe herzlichst zu danken, mit dem Wunsch dass Ihnen keine Bemühung daraus erwachsen möge.

Mit besten Grüßen Helene Schweitzer-Bresslau

Sehr geehrter Herr Baethgen.

Es drängt mich, Ihnen zu sagen, wie sehr es mich freut, dass die Briefe meines lieben Schwiegervaters, die auf die Monumenta Bezug haben, nun an dem Orte sind, wohin sie gehören!
Ich weiß ja, dass er für die Monumenta nicht nur arbeitete, sondern auch lebte.

Herzlichst Ihr ergebener

Albert Schweitzer