Extract

Olivia Spiridon

Am Diwan der Exilierten. Der Erzähler Joannes Weidenheim als Experte heterogener Lebenswelten

Abstract: With Johannes Weidenheim (1918–2002), the article deals with an outstanding representative of German writers from Southeastern Europe, the so-called Danube Swabians. In view of the heterogeneity of this group, which is partly due to the different historical developments in its countries of origin – the successor states of the Habsburg Monarchy of Yugoslavia, Romania and Hungary - the article aims, in a first step, at classifying Weidenheim as a peculiar phenomenon within the Southeastern European German-language literatures as well as at providing an overview of the important stages of his reception. In a second step, the literary-fictional works of Weidenheim, which narrate life in multicultural Vojvodina in the context of the Second World War, are regarded as “meeting points” of the manifestation of difference and its implementation. The focus relies on the question of the actuality of Weidenheim’s narratives, which illuminate Southeastern European experiences of dealing with diversity and hybridity and illustrate them, among other things, in the practice of “divinizing”. Homi Bhabha’s reflections on the “Third Space” and Jurij Lotman’s concept of the border as well as the consideration of practical aspects provided substantial impulses.

Keywords: German-language literature from Southeast Europe, Danube Swabians, escape and expulsion, Vojvodina, World War II, Third Space, borders

1. Einleitung

„Ja sam vojvodanski švaba“ – mit diesen Worten soll sich Johannes Weidenheim auf einer Festversammlung des Jugoslawischen Schriftstellerverbandes vorgestellt...