''Tunnel über der Spree'' was a German literary society based in Berlin, founded on 3 December 1827 by

Moritz Gottlieb Saphir Moritz Gottlieb Saphir, born Moses Saphir (8 February 1795 in Lovasberény near Székesfehérvár – 5 September 1858 in Baden bei Wien) was an History of the Jews in Austria, Austrian-Jewish satirical writer and journalist. Life Saphir was the ...

. Most active between 1840 and 1860, it acquired 214 members and influenced literary life in Berlin for more than seventy years. Saphir had been denied membership of

Julius Eduard Hitzig Julius Eduard Hitzig, born ''Isaac Elias Itzig'' (26 March 1780 – 26 November 1849), was a German author and civil servant. Born into the wealthy and influential Jewish Itzig family, he was a Prussian civil servant between 1799 and 1806, bec ...

's new Wednesday Society. He invited the actors

Friedrich Wilhelm Lemm Friedrich may refer to: Names *Friedrich (given name), people with the given name ''Friedrich'' *Friedrich (surname), people with the surname ''Friedrich'' Other *Friedrich (board game), a board game about Frederick the Great and the Seven Years' ...

and Ludwig Schneider to his home and founded a "Sunday Society" to compete with it. Its motto was ''Ungeheure Ironie und unendliche Wehmut'' and its mascot was

Till Eulenspiegel Till Eulenspiegel (; ) is the protagonist of a European narrative tradition. A German chapbook published around 1510 is the oldest known extant publication about the folk hero (a first edition of is preserved fragmentarily), but a background i ...

. To avoid confusion with fanclubs of the singer

Henriette Sontag Henriette Sontag, born Gertrude Walpurgis Sontag, and, after her marriage, entitled Henriette, Countess Rossi (3 January 1806 – 17 June 1854), was a German operatic soprano of great international renown. She possessed a sweet-toned, lyrical voi ...

, the name was changed to "Tunnel over the Spree," a topical reference to

Isambard Kingdom Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engi ...

's tunnel under the Thames, which would lead to an abortive effort to create a similar tunnel in Berlin. In fact, the first Berlin tunnel did not open until 1899, the year after the demise of the society.

Theodor Fontane Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language Literary realism, realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he i ...

, an important source of information on the society, once remarked that Saphir's only real intention was to create a kind of personal bodyguard for himself. Another member, Emanuel Geibel, described it as a "daycare centre for smalltime authors" (''Kleindichterbewahranstalt''). The board consisted of a president, vice-president and secretary, and elections were held on 1 May and 1 November each year. Members met on Sunday afternoons in a cafe near St Hedwig's Cathedral in

Unter den Linden Unter den Linden (, "under the Tilia, linden trees") is a boulevard in the central Mitte (locality), Mitte district of Berlin, Germany. Running from the Berlin Palace to the Brandenburg Gate, it is named after the Tilia, linden trees (known ...

, and presented their most recent unpublished creative efforts—usually poems, but occasionally music or even paintings. Membership was by invitation after three attendances as a guest; the new member had to select a pseudonym, which had to be the name of a famous deceased individual of the same profession. Although the purpose of the pseudonym was to help erase class distinctions, its membership consisted almost entirely of officers, aristocrats, and professional men: no women were permitted at meetings, and its formalities made its atmosphere very different from that of the salons which had preceded it. The last minuted meeting took place on 30 October 1898. After the death in 1911 of the last president, Oscar Roloff, the society's archives were donated to

Humboldt University The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public university, public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III of Prussia, Frederick W ...

in Berlin.

vividly described the society's activities in his memoir ''Von Zwanzig bis Dreißig''.

Bibliography

* Fritz Behrend: ''Geschichte des „Tunnels über der Spree“'', Wendt, Berlin 1938 * Roland Berbig: ''Der Tunnel über der Spree. Ein literarischer Verein in seinem Öffentlichkeitsverhalten'', in: ''Fontane-Blätter'', 16. Jg. (1990), H. 50, S. 18-46 * Karin Bruns u.a.: ''Forschungsprojekt „Literarisch-kulturelle Vereine, Gruppen und Bünde im 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhundert“. Entwicklung, Aspekte, Schwerpunkte'', in: ''Zeitschrift für Germanistik'', Lang, Berlin 1994, H. 3, S. 493-505 * Karin Hannusch: ''Zur Mitgliedersoziologie des Literarischen Sonntagsvereins „Tunnel über der Spree“'', in: ''Fontane-Blätter'', 17. Jg. (1991), H. 51, S. 55-58 * Ernst Kohler: ''Die Balladendichtung im Berliner „Tunnel über der Spree“'', Kraus, Nendeln, 1969 (Repr. d. Ausg. Berlin 1940) * Joachim Krueger: ''Der Tunnel über Spree und sein Einfluß auf Theodor Fontane'', in: ''Fontane-Blätter'', 4. Jg. (1978), H. 3, S. 201-225 * Elke-Barbara Peschke, Ralf Golling: ''Ungeahnter Knotenpunkt eines Netzwerkes von Personen und Ideen. Erschließung des Vereinsarchivs „Tunnel über der Spree“. Beiträge von der Tagung in der Universitätsbibliothek der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin am 9. Oktober 1998''. Berlin: Humboldt-Univ., 1999 (Schriftenreihe der Universitätsbibliothek der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin ; 61), (PDF) * Anike Rössig: Juden und andere ''Tunnelianer''. Gesellschaft und Literatur im Berliner ''Sonntags-Verein''. Heidelberg 2008. * Wulf Wülfing: Art. ''Tunnel über der Spree''. In: Wulf Wülfing / Karin Bruns / Rolf Parr (Hg.): ''Handbuch literarisch-kultureller Vereine, Gruppen und Bünde 1825-1933'' (Repertorien zur Deutschen Literaturgeschichte 18), Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1998, S. 430-455 (dort weiterführende Lit.),

External links

Tunnel-Archiv der Humboldt-UniversitätArchiv zum Tunnel über der Spree
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tunnel uber der Spree German writers' organisations

See also

Bibliography

External links