Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl
Encyclopedia
Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl (6 May 1823 – 16 November 1897) was a German
journalist
, novelist and folklorist.
Riehl was born in Biebrich
in the Duchy of Nassau and died in Munich
.
Riehl's writings became normative for a large body of Volkish thought. He constructed a more completely intergrated Volkish view of man and society as they related to nature, history, and landscape. He was the writer of the famous Land und Leute (Places and People), written in 1857-63, which discussed the organic nature of a Volk which he claimed could only be attained if it fused with the native landscape. He rejected all artificiality and defined modernity as a nature contrived by man and thus devoid of that genuineness to which living nature alone gives meaning. Riehl pointed to the newly developing urban centers as the cause of social unrest and the democratic upsurge of 1848 in Hessia. For many Volkish thinkers, only nature was genuine. He desired a hierarchical society that patterned after the medieval estates.
In Die bürgerliche Gesellschaft (Bourgeois Society) he accused those of Capitalist interest of disturbing ancient customs and thus destroying the historicity of the Volk. He presented that the 'working class' were the most respectable of Volk, as they were the most intuned to nature itself.
Animosity towards the city was an integral part of the rise of Volkish thought. At times it was expressed in the slogan "Berlin is the domain of the Jews" or in the remark by another writer that "cities are the tombs of Germanism" Not until the big cities were devastated in the Second World War did this hostility end. It is ironic that only with their annihilation did the cities attain equal ideological status with the rooted peasantry. Such ideas secured a place for Riehl in the history of Volkish thought. Such superficial actions as the founding of the Riehl Bund (1920) and the Riehl Prise for German Volkskunde (1935) only symbolized a more profound influence.
Riehl, born into a settled middle-class background, was a professor at the University of Munich, and later in life a curator of Bavarian antiquities.
KLP
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, novelist and folklorist.
Riehl was born in Biebrich
Wiesbaden-Biebrich
Biebrich is a borough of the city of Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany. With over 36,000 inhabitants, it is the most-populated of Wiesbaden's boroughs. It is located south of the city center on the Rhine River, opposite the Mainz borough of Mombach...
in the Duchy of Nassau and died in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
.
Riehl's writings became normative for a large body of Volkish thought. He constructed a more completely intergrated Volkish view of man and society as they related to nature, history, and landscape. He was the writer of the famous Land und Leute (Places and People), written in 1857-63, which discussed the organic nature of a Volk which he claimed could only be attained if it fused with the native landscape. He rejected all artificiality and defined modernity as a nature contrived by man and thus devoid of that genuineness to which living nature alone gives meaning. Riehl pointed to the newly developing urban centers as the cause of social unrest and the democratic upsurge of 1848 in Hessia. For many Volkish thinkers, only nature was genuine. He desired a hierarchical society that patterned after the medieval estates.
In Die bürgerliche Gesellschaft (Bourgeois Society) he accused those of Capitalist interest of disturbing ancient customs and thus destroying the historicity of the Volk. He presented that the 'working class' were the most respectable of Volk, as they were the most intuned to nature itself.
Animosity towards the city was an integral part of the rise of Volkish thought. At times it was expressed in the slogan "Berlin is the domain of the Jews" or in the remark by another writer that "cities are the tombs of Germanism" Not until the big cities were devastated in the Second World War did this hostility end. It is ironic that only with their annihilation did the cities attain equal ideological status with the rooted peasantry. Such ideas secured a place for Riehl in the history of Volkish thought. Such superficial actions as the founding of the Riehl Bund (1920) and the Riehl Prise for German Volkskunde (1935) only symbolized a more profound influence.
Riehl, born into a settled middle-class background, was a professor at the University of Munich, and later in life a curator of Bavarian antiquities.
KLP