Rudolf Tarnow

Rudolf Tarnow (25 February 1867 in Parchim,

Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a territory in Northern Germany held by the House of Mecklenburg residing at Schwerin. It was a sovereign member state of the German Confederation and became a federated state of the North German ...

- 19 May 1933 in

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the capital and second-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern as well as of the region of Mecklenburg, after Rostock. It ...

) was a

Low German : : : : : (70,000) (30,000) (8,000) , familycolor = Indo-European , fam2 = Germanic , fam3 = West Germanic , fam4 = North Sea Germanic , ancestor = Old Saxon , ancestor2 = Middle ...

writer. Rudolf Tarnow was born on 25 February 1867 in the city of Parchim, the oldest son of a shoemaker, Heinrich Tarnow, and his wife, Dorothea (née Pingel). He attended school from 1873 until 1881, claiming to be a very good student, although he often focused more on social life than schoolwork, which he saved for home. After success in school, he began a commercial

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

in a

textile Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, different #Fabric, fabric types, etc. At f ...

factory in his home town, which he completed successfully in 1885. In 1896, he married Erna Bruns. From this relationship came three children, two sons, Walter and Rudolf, and a daughter, Elisabeth. After his service in the military, where he spent some years in the personal military company of the grand

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are r ...

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

, he applied successfully to be the superintendent of the

insane asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...

in Schwerin. He began to publish his work, which was written in Low German, around 1910, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of fellow Low German author Fritz Reuter. On 7 October 1910 his poem "Ein Randewuh im Rathaus zu Stavenhagen" (English: A Rendezvous at the City Hall of Stavenhagen), was published as a special edition. After that, he published many poems, and also regularly published

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

s. His essays were taken from real-life experiences, focusing on, and making fun of, the weaknesses of his fellow man. One of his best known works is "Köster Klickermann," where he combines his childhood memories of both school and church. Some of his work was lighter in tone, however. His love of children lead him to write the children's books and collections of children's poems as well. Tarnow died on 19 May 1933 in Schwerin, after a heart-related illness. Even today, many streets and schools in

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...

are named after Tarnow. A complete folio of Tarnow's works was found in storage in the city of

Rostock Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state ...

in 1987. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tarnow, Rudolf 1867 births 1933 deaths People from Parchim People from the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin German male writers Writers from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania