Erwin Walter Palm
Encyclopedia
Erwin Walter Palm was a German Latin American scholar, historian, and writer.
from his family, his relatives having been murdered by the Nazi regime. Palm studied archaeology
at the University of Heidleberg, where he met a fellow student who would become his wife, Hilde Löwenstein (later known as Hilde Palm, and since 1959 as Hilde Domin
).
. They married in 1936, and lived first in Florence and then in Rome. Because of the rapprochement between Adolf Hitler
and Benito Mussolini
, Hitler’s visit to Rome, and the acrimonious atmosphere of fascist Italy, the pair once again emigrated in 1939, this time to England.
. There, they arrived in the port of San Pedro de Macorís
in the summer of 1940.
In Santo Domingo
—where they lived for 14 years—Palm worked as a historian and lecturer at the University of Santo Domingo, while his wife Hilde became a photographer of architecture. (She would later on become a writer, adopting the name Hilde Domin
in 1959, in honor of the city which gave her refuge.) He quickly became established as one of the leading experts in his field, and elevated the population’s pride in their history to an academic standard.
In 1950, he masterminded and curated a pivotal exhibit of Colonial Art that for the first time gathered and interpreted the limited artifacts still remaining from the period when Santo Domingo was the capital of the New World. He properly catalogued the treasures of America’s oldest cathedral (Catedral de Santa María la Menor
, est 1536), as well as many artifacts from private collections. This exhibit was influential in developing a collective consciousness among Dominicans in regards to their Spanish past. It helped spark a hitherto unseen interest in colonial architecture that among other things, led to the revalorization and subsequent restoration of the old city district.
Palm’s meticulous research on the Ciudad Colonial (Colonial City) of Santo Domingo— Europe's oldest American city, established in 1498—culminated in his seminal work “Los monumentos arquitectónicos de la Española, con una introducción a América” (The Architectural Monuments of Hispaniola, with an Introduction to America, University of Santo Domingo Press, 1955) an in-depth analysis of the pioneering art and architecture of this historical city. His wife Hilde took the accompanying photographs. Their work was instrumental in securing the Government’s bid before UNESCO which granted World Heritage Site
status to the entire Old City of Santo Domingo in 1989.
, where he was appointed lecturer of Spanish American Art and Culture at the University of Heidelberg in 1960. He remained there until his retirement.
Palm excelled as a professor in his chosen area of Pre-Columbian
, Portuguese and Spanish colonial art. He continued his special bond with Santo Domingo, publishing “Arquitectura y Arte Colonial en Santo Domingo (Architecture and Colonial Art in Santo Domingo, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo) in 1978. He was among other things a member of the Academia Mexicana de las Artes. In 1988 he was distinguished by the University of Augsburg
with the university price for Spain and Latin American studies.
As a writer, Palm wrote poetry and also edited and translated Spanish American
poetry into German
. His anthology “Rose aus Asche. Spanische und Spanisch-Amerikanische Lyrik seit 1900” (Rose from Ashes. Spanish and Spanish American Poetry since 1900) ranks among its most well known books. His lifelong predilection for his years in Santo Domingo are evident in his choice of poets: out of 12 poets form Latin America, including famous ones like Gabriela Mistral
(Chile), César Vallejo
(Peru), and José Lezama Lima
(Cuba), Palm included two Dominican poests: Moreno Jiménes (Dominican Republic) and Héctor Incháustegui Cabral.
Erwin Walter palm died on 7 July 1988 in Heidelberg. He is celebrated in the Dominican Republic for his achievements in advancing scholarly research of the history and architecture of the early colonial period. In Santo Domingo, the Fundación Palm—whose mission is to study and promote Dominican patrimony, especially architecture, urbanism, and literature—was established in his honor. In Germany, he served as a bridge, introducing Germans to Iberian American and Spanish art, architecture, and literature.
Fundación Erwin Walter Palm (in Spanish) http://www.fundacionpalm.org/drupal/index.php
Early years
Palm was born 28 August 1910 in Frankfurt/Main, in a house that was located near today's Suhrkamp house. He is the only survivor of the HolocaustThe Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
from his family, his relatives having been murdered by the Nazi regime. Palm studied archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
at the University of Heidleberg, where he met a fellow student who would become his wife, Hilde Löwenstein (later known as Hilde Palm, and since 1959 as Hilde Domin
Hilde Domin
Hilde Domin , whose real name was Hilde Palm , was a German lyric poet and writer. She was amongst the most important German-language poets of her time.-Biography:...
).
Exile
Particularly receptive to the malicious developments taking place in Nazi Germany, the couple fled to Italy in 1932 to escape the growing anti-SemitismAnti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
. They married in 1936, and lived first in Florence and then in Rome. Because of the rapprochement between Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and Benito Mussolini
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....
, Hitler’s visit to Rome, and the acrimonious atmosphere of fascist Italy, the pair once again emigrated in 1939, this time to England.
Santo Domingo
However, their fears of the Nazi menace did not wane, and the couple tried frenetically to emigrate across the Atlantic. None of their preferred choices—the United States, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil—granted them a visa, while some charged them exorbitant sums of money which they didn't have. The only country to unconditionally welcome them was the Dominican RepublicDominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
. There, they arrived in the port of San Pedro de Macorís
San Pedro de Macorís
San Pedro de Macorís is a municipality and the capital of the San Pedro de Macorís province in the Dominican Republic.-Demographics:...
in the summer of 1940.
In Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
—where they lived for 14 years—Palm worked as a historian and lecturer at the University of Santo Domingo, while his wife Hilde became a photographer of architecture. (She would later on become a writer, adopting the name Hilde Domin
Hilde Domin
Hilde Domin , whose real name was Hilde Palm , was a German lyric poet and writer. She was amongst the most important German-language poets of her time.-Biography:...
in 1959, in honor of the city which gave her refuge.) He quickly became established as one of the leading experts in his field, and elevated the population’s pride in their history to an academic standard.
In 1950, he masterminded and curated a pivotal exhibit of Colonial Art that for the first time gathered and interpreted the limited artifacts still remaining from the period when Santo Domingo was the capital of the New World. He properly catalogued the treasures of America’s oldest cathedral (Catedral de Santa María la Menor
Catedral de Santa María la Menor
The Cathedral of Santa María la Menor in the Colonial Zone of Santo Domingo is dedicated to St. Mary of the Incarnation. It is the oldest cathedral in the Americas, begun in 1512 and completed in 1540...
, est 1536), as well as many artifacts from private collections. This exhibit was influential in developing a collective consciousness among Dominicans in regards to their Spanish past. It helped spark a hitherto unseen interest in colonial architecture that among other things, led to the revalorization and subsequent restoration of the old city district.
Palm’s meticulous research on the Ciudad Colonial (Colonial City) of Santo Domingo— Europe's oldest American city, established in 1498—culminated in his seminal work “Los monumentos arquitectónicos de la Española, con una introducción a América” (The Architectural Monuments of Hispaniola, with an Introduction to America, University of Santo Domingo Press, 1955) an in-depth analysis of the pioneering art and architecture of this historical city. His wife Hilde took the accompanying photographs. Their work was instrumental in securing the Government’s bid before UNESCO which granted World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site
A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a place that is listed by the UNESCO as of special cultural or physical significance...
status to the entire Old City of Santo Domingo in 1989.
Return to Germany
The Palms returned to Germany in 1954, first settling in Frankfurt/Main, then in HeidelbergHeidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
, where he was appointed lecturer of Spanish American Art and Culture at the University of Heidelberg in 1960. He remained there until his retirement.
Palm excelled as a professor in his chosen area of Pre-Columbian
Pre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
, Portuguese and Spanish colonial art. He continued his special bond with Santo Domingo, publishing “Arquitectura y Arte Colonial en Santo Domingo (Architecture and Colonial Art in Santo Domingo, Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo) in 1978. He was among other things a member of the Academia Mexicana de las Artes. In 1988 he was distinguished by the University of Augsburg
University of Augsburg
The University of Augsburg is a university located in the Universitätsviertel section of Augsburg, Germany. It was founded in 1970 and is organized in 7 Faculties....
with the university price for Spain and Latin American studies.
As a writer, Palm wrote poetry and also edited and translated Spanish American
Spanish American
A Spanish American is a citizen or resident of the United States whose ancestors originate from the southwestern European nation of Spain. Spanish Americans are the earliest European American group, with a continuous presence since 1565.-Immigration waves:...
poetry into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. His anthology “Rose aus Asche. Spanische und Spanisch-Amerikanische Lyrik seit 1900” (Rose from Ashes. Spanish and Spanish American Poetry since 1900) ranks among its most well known books. His lifelong predilection for his years in Santo Domingo are evident in his choice of poets: out of 12 poets form Latin America, including famous ones like Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral
Gabriela Mistral was the pseudonym of Lucila de María del Perpetuo Socorro Godoy Alcayaga, a Chilean poet, educator, diplomat, and feminist who was the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, in 1945...
(Chile), César Vallejo
César Vallejo
César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza was a Peruvian poet. Although he published only three books of poetry during his lifetime, he is considered one of the great poetic innovators of the 20th century in any language. Thomas Merton called him "the greatest universal poet since Dante"...
(Peru), and José Lezama Lima
José Lezama Lima
José Lezama Lima was a Cuban writer and poet who is considered one of the most influential figures in Latin American literature....
(Cuba), Palm included two Dominican poests: Moreno Jiménes (Dominican Republic) and Héctor Incháustegui Cabral.
Erwin Walter palm died on 7 July 1988 in Heidelberg. He is celebrated in the Dominican Republic for his achievements in advancing scholarly research of the history and architecture of the early colonial period. In Santo Domingo, the Fundación Palm—whose mission is to study and promote Dominican patrimony, especially architecture, urbanism, and literature—was established in his honor. In Germany, he served as a bridge, introducing Germans to Iberian American and Spanish art, architecture, and literature.
External links
- http://www.cielonaranja.com/domin.htm
Fundación Erwin Walter Palm (in Spanish) http://www.fundacionpalm.org/drupal/index.php