Zwischen den Welten. Die polnisch-jüdischen Autoren in den Übertragungen von Karl Dedecius

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Zwischen den Welten. Die polnisch-jüdischen Autoren in den Übertragungen von Karl Dedecius

Journal Title: OderÜbersetzen - Year 2018, Vol 8, Issue

Abstract

Karl Dedecius (1921-2016), the most famous and fruitful translator of Polish literature into German, was born in Lodz, Poland, in a German family but grew up in contact with the other numerous inhabitants of the city, Poles and Jews. He went to a Polish high school and had no nationalistic prejudices toward other cultures. This was the background on which a mediator could draw from and become a translator and an interpreter after the World War II. Dedecius’ favourite authors were Julian Tuwim, his Lodzer compatriot, and the aphorist Stanisław Jerzy Lec, both polonized Jews who play a vital role in the modernization of Polish literature. In often erratic political times under dictatorships, Dedecius was courageous enough to translate also undesirable writers like the exiled and forbidden ones, among them many Jews, under the pretext of political neutrality and of being guided exclusively by quality standards. Having the iron curtain in between, he became a source of first-hand knowledge for the Germans also about the unofficial and underground literature in the neighbouring ex-enemy country. By means of his essays on the character and history of Polish literature, Dedecius, too, was the first one to inform the German readers about the trends and developments in this field. His work is now being continued by younger gifted translators many of them his students, and thanks to him Polish literature stopped to be a “terra icognita” which it was before.<br/><br/>

Authors and Affiliations

Elvira Groezinger

Keywords

Karl Dedecius

EP ID EP404461
DOI -
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