Waldemar Bonsels (21 February 1880 in

Ahrensburg Ahrensburg () is a town in the district of Stormarn, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is located northeast of Hamburg and is part of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region. Its population is around 31,000. ''Schloss Ahrensburg'', the town's symbol, is ...

– 31 July 1952 in Ambach,

Münsing Münsing is a municipality in the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen in Bavaria in Germany. Located in the Upper Bavarian district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, it borders Lake Starnberg to its west. Its municipal area extends from the shores of ...

) was a German writer. Waldemar Bonsels's most famous work is the children's book ''Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer'' (''

Maya the Bee ''Maya the Bee'' () is the main character in ''The Adventures of Maya the Bee'', a German book written by Waldemar Bonsels and published in 1912. The book has been published in many other languages and adapted into different media. The first Ame ...

and her Adventures'', translated as ''The Adventures of Maya the Bee''). This work served the basis for a Japanese animated television series named ''

Maya the Honey Bee is an anime television series produced first by Zuiyo Enterprise and Asahi Broadcasting Corporation of Osaka. After the first 6 episodes, Zuiyo Enterprise would split into Zuiyo Company and Nippon Animation, which retained the rights of th ...

'' in the mid-1970s, as well as a Croatian opera for children written by

Bruno Bjelinski Bruno Bjelinski (born Bruno Weiss; 1 November 1909 – 3 September 1992) was one of the most influential Croatian composers in the 20th century. He was extremely prolific as a composer. His unique musical style was built upon the music of Poule ...

, making Bonsels work known to an even greater audience. The opera was staged in 2008 in Villach, Austria at the Carinthian Summer Music Festival. ''Himmelsvolk'' (''People in the Sky'') is a sequel with a more philosophical focus, describing in mystical terms the unity of all creation and its relationship to God. He wrote a number of novels and shorter stories dealing with love as Eros and the higher level of divine love in the spirit of

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

(''Eros und die Evangelien'', ''Menschenwege'', ''Narren und Helden'', etc.), with the relationship between

man and nature A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromos ...

in a simple life unchanged by modern civilisation (''Anjekind'', etc.) and also a historical novel about the time of Jesus (''Der Grieche Dositos''). He travelled extensively in Europe and Asia. ''Indienfahrt'' (''Voyage in India'') is the fruit of one of these travels. Bonsels was an outspoken

antisemite Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

and expressed his approval of

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

politics against

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

in 1933, calling the Jew "a deadly enemy" who was "poisoning the culture" in an article (''NSDAP und Judentum'') which was widely published.

Bibliography

Books

* ''Die Biene Maja und ihre Abenteuer'' (1912) (''Maya the Bee and her Adventures'', translated as ''The Adventures of Maya the Bee'') * ''Himmelsvolk: Ein Buch von Blumen, Tieren und Gott'' (1915) (''People of the Sky'') * ''Indienfahrt'' (1916) * ''Menschenwege: Aus den Notizen eines Vagabunden'' (1917) * ''Das Unjekind: Eine Erzählung'' (101.-120. edition, 1922) * ''Eros und die Evangelien: Aus den Notizen eines Vagabunden'' (67.-90. thousand, 1922) * ''Wartalun: eine Schlossgeschichte'' (101-114. edition, 1922) * ''Weihnachtsspiel: eine Dichtung'' (1922) * ''Jugendnovellen'' (1923) * ''Narren und Helden: Aus den Notizen eines Vagabunden'' (24.-26. thousand, 1924) * ''Mario und die Tiere'' (1928) (''Mario and the Animals'', translated as ''The Adventures of Mario'') * ''Dositos: Ein mythischer Bericht aus der Zweitwende'' (1949) * ''Der Reiter in der Wüste: Eine Amerikafahrt'' (1935) * ''Mario Ein Leben im Walde'' (1939) (''Mario A Life in the Woods'') * ''Efeu: Erzählungen und Begegnungen'' (1953) ;Translations * *

Short Stories

* ''Die Winde'' * ''Angelika'' * ''Scholander'' * ''Die Stadt am Strom'' * ''Asja''

Essays

* ''NSDAP und Judentum'' (1933)

References

External links

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Waldemar Bonsels
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonsels, Waldemar 1880 births 1952 deaths 20th-century German novelists 20th-century German male writers People from Stormarn (district) People from the Province of Schleswig-Holstein German children's writers German male non-fiction writers German male novelists German travel writers Maya the Bee Writers from Schleswig-Holstein