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Hermann Häfker

Das Sternbilder-Buch. Ein Buch von Himmel und Weltanschauung…. Der Jugend gewidmet vom Dürerbund, München 1926

Le tavole litografiche del saggio di astronomia (Pagine: 191 / 23 x 30 cm) diretto ad un pubblico di giovani scritto da Hermann Häfker e illustrato da Friedrich Kurt Fiedler vengono di seguito proposte attingendole da una pagina facebook di Vintage Astronomy Book scritta da David Kolb al quale si deve anche la presentazione descrittiva del libro e dell’autore.

“Here is a beautifully illustrated German language book on the constellations titled "Das Sternbilder-Buch" (The Constellations Book) by Hermann Häfker that was published in 1926, whose target audience was young children. The illustrations were done by the graphic artist Friedrich Kurt Fiedler. The cover of this book bears a similarity to a poster that Fiedler did for the Dresden Planetarium (see the attached poster). When I acquire new books for my library I try to find information about the authors and record that information in my library database. Sometimes that search takes me somewhere I did not expect and that is the case with these two individuals.

Hermann Häfker was born in Bremen, Germany on June 3, 1873. He was a film theorist and Esperantist. He was also know for writing books on science, history and sex education. "Das Sternbilder-Buch" was probably his most popular book. His book on world history was banned by the Nazis and he was professionally banned due to his opposition to the Nazis policies. In 1936 he fled to Prague but after the Nazis occupation of Czechoslovakia he was extradited and interned in the Dachau concentration camp as a political prisoner. On August 9, 1938 Hermann Häfker along with other Dachau prisoners were moved to the town of Mauthausen in Austria to begin the construction of the Mauthausen slave labor camp. The prisoners at the camp worked in the nearby Wiener Graben granite quarry where they used basic hand tools to mine the granite. Without any attention to safety, injuries were frequent, and often left untreated. The prisoners had to descend daily into the quarry on the “Stairway of Death” and carry blocks of granite on their shoulders back up the stairs, where many prisoners died on these steps when a prisoner that collapsed from exhaustion fell back on the prisoner behind him causing a domino effect or they were pushed from the top of the quarry to their deaths. Hermann Häfker died in this camp on December 27, 1939. Overall, more then 90,000 individuals died in the Mauthausen concentration camp or in one of its many sub-camps.

Friedrich Kurt Fiedler was born in Eichbusch near Dresden on March 8, 1894. He was a representative of the Social Democratic Party and a prominent illustrator of books and posters. During World War I he served on the front lines along France where he learned to speak French and later became a translator. During World War II Friedrich Fiedler served as a translator in the POW camps at Dolní Jiřetín. It is a wonder that he did not suffer a fate in a concentration camp like other members of the Social Democratic Party. After the war Friedrich moved back to Eichbusch and died on November 11, 1950.”