Todtnauberg is a German village in

Black Forest The Black Forest (german: Schwarzwald ) is a large forested mountain range in the state of Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany, bounded by the Rhine Valley to the west and south and close to the borders with France and Switzerland. It is t ...

(''Schwarzwald'') belonging to the municipality of

Todtnau Todtnau is a town in the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. As of 2009 its population was of 4,932. Geography It is situated in the Black Forest, on the river Wiese, 20 km southeast of Freiburg. The municipality counts ...

, in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. It is named after the homonym mount ("berg" means hill or mountain in German). It is famous because it is the place where the German philosopher

Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (; ; 26 September 188926 May 1976) was a German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism. He is among the most important and influential philosophers of the 20th ce ...

had a

chalet A chalet (pronounced in British English; in American English usually ), also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, typical of the Alpine region in Europe. It is made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof and wide, well-suppo ...

and wrote portions of his major work, ''

Being and Time ''Being and Time'' (german: Sein und Zeit) is the 1927 '' magnum opus'' of German philosopher Martin Heidegger and a key document of existentialism. ''Being and Time'' had a notable impact on subsequent philosophy, literary theory and many oth ...

''.

History

The village was an autonomous municipality until it was merged into Todtnau on 1 April 1974.

Geography

The village is amsl, north of Todtnau, in the northeastern corner of Lörrach District. It is a distance of from

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

, from

Lörrach Lörrach () is a town in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the capital of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. It is the home of a number of large employers, including t ...

, from

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, in Switzerland, and from

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning '' mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region, eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. It is the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace a ...

, in France. The town is within hiking distance of Feldberg, the highest point in the Black Forest, and its open, well-sunlit valley helps sustain its popularity as a destination for skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer.

Culture

Shortly after giving an interview to '' Der Spiegel'' and following Paul Celan's lecture at

hosted Celan at his chalet at Todtnauberg in 1967. The two walked in the woods. Celan impressed Heidegger with his knowledge of

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

(also evident in his poetry), and Heidegger is thought to have spoken about elements of his press interview. Celan signed Heidegger's guest book. Celan later wrote a poem entitled "Todtnauberg" which concerned the meeting. The chalet features in the film '' The Ister''. The 1992 play ''Totenauberg'' by Nobel-prize winning Austrian writer

Elfriede Jelinek Elfriede Jelinek (; born 20 October 1946) is an Austrian playwright and novelist. She is one of the most decorated authors writing in German today and was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature for her "musical flow of voices and counter-vo ...

explores themes related to Heidegger's philosophy as well as his cultural influence. The title is a pun on the place-name "Todtnauberg", with the prefix "" alluding to the relationship between Heidegger's work and politics, and the deaths of millions ("") under Hitler's Fascist regime.''Totenauberg'' (1992), Additionally, the connection between mountains and the dead is a common theme throughout Jelinek's literary work (see '' Die Kinder der Toten''.) In 2006,

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

produced a play with the title ''Todtnauberg'', telling the story of the meeting between Celan and Heidegger, but also the story of Hannah Arendt's affair with Heidegger.

John Banville William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Proust, via Nabokov", Banville himself maintains that W. B. Yeats and Henry ...

wrote the play and Joss Ackland starred as Heidegger.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Lörrach (district) Baden Villages in Baden-Württemberg