European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 18, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse \ storybook s Pau inches who played with matches. Or How slovenly Peter conquered the world e Ven with the likes of spider Man running inter Ference and distractions such As sesame Street those fairy tales collected by the Grimm Brothers remain an unchallenged inter National institution. But there s another classic among German children s books not As Well known elsewhere but still hanging in there with Deutsche Small Fry. It s called Der a Truswel Peter a collection of 10 punchy Finger wagging tales about Little boys and girls whose bad habits get them in trouble. In the More than 130 years since it was first published the Book has seen several Hundred editions and has been translated into More than a dozen languages including English russian latin and hebrew. An american ver Sion slovenly Peter was transcribed from the original German by a certain Samuel Langhorne Clemens . Mark Twain. Written and gaily illustrated by a Frankfurt physician in 1844, the Story of Struwe Lpeter in some ways parallels Lewis Carroll s Alice in wonderland penned in 1862. Struwe Lpeter s creator or. Heinrich Hoffmann like Carroll was not a professional author. Like Carroll he dreamed it up solely for the enjoyment of a very limited audience and at first had no intention of publishing it. Like Carroll whose real name was Charles Dodgson Hoffmann used a pseudonym when the Book was published Heinrich Kinder Lieb one who likes that s where the comparisons Stop though. Unlike Alice written in prose and Rife with satire and Subtle social commentary the simple rhymes of Straw we Lpeter were aimed at preschoolers. Its tales reflected some of the experiences of Hoffmann the doctor whose Home visits brought him into close Contact with children and their parents. Most of the Struwe Lpeter parables might be consid ered slightly gory by the standards of modern child psychology. But then it was or. Hoffmann and not or. Spock who created them and maybe the old Doc just figured that kids like a Little violence in their Reading fare. Take the gruesome Fate of Konrad the thumb sucker who ignores his Mother s pleas and finds his thumbs clipped by the giant shears of a tailor. Or Kaspar a Well nourished Little boy who throw tantrums and one Day refuses to eat his soup nein Meine Suppe Ess Ich the fourth consecutive Day of his hunger strike has him reduced to the dimensions of a thread and by the fifth they be got him buried. Then there s the heart wrenching Story of Pauli Chen who plays with matches and Dies a horrible death her dress ablaze. Another Struwe Lpeter yarn teaches what amounts to racial tolerance three boys Ludwig Kaspar and Wilhelm poke fun at a Black companion. Their punishment is meted out by Saint Nick who dunks them into a monstrous inkwell blackening them for the rest of their lives. The Story of Struwe Lpeter began around Christ Inas 1844, when Hoffmann a general practitioner checking Straw Walpot at Dusseldorf exhibit. P9 14 the stars and stripes cover of 200th in twp of a edition late 1800s. Children s classic author Heinrich Hoffmann. Browsed through Frankfurt bookstores for a picture Book for his son Carl. Disgusted with the poor selection on the shelves he bought a Plain notebook and sat Down at Home to create in simple rhymes and drawings a Booklet which he called Happy tales and funny pictures. Junior found it under the Tannenbaum but could t keep it for Long it was such a hit with Hoffmann s friends that they persuaded him to have it published. After the first printing of 1,500 copies rapidly sold out Hoffmann was asked to add four stories to the original six and the doctor later redid the drawings in a slightly More professional Way. Because of its popularity with the kids the Struwe Lpeter character on the last Page of the original edition was shifted to the cover giving the Book its name thereafter. The name itself was not a Hoffmann invention. It s an old hessian term for any unkempt looking boy and the doctor portrayed his cover boy with a sort of shoulder length super afro Hairdo and Long fingernails. The 100th edition came out in 1876, the 400th during world War i. When the copyright finally expired in 1925, the Frankfurt publisher had printed More than half a million copies and then other publishers got into the act. Before Long children of other countries became acquainted with the ill groomed boy who never had his hair or fingernails trimmed. In France he was known As Pierre Verbou Rifle in Holland As Piet de steers poets in Italy As Pierino Porc Ospino and in Spain As Juan Eldes Grenado. I can say with satisfaction Hoffmann wrote in his memoirs that the Little brat conquered the world peacefully and without bloodshed. And the bad boys Struwe Lpeter s companions know More of the world than i do. They have quite a few languages which i myself Don t understand. Through Struwe Lpeter Hoffmann became one of Frankfurt s most prominent citizens. He was a founder of Many citizens s action groups and was a member of the precursor of the German parliament in 1848. Above All Hoffman was a reformer in psychiatry who viewed psychiatry for children and the Young As equal in importance to humane care for other mentally ill people. His greatest achievement As a doctor came when he succeeded in badgering Frankfurt s burghers to replace the City s cruel old insane Asylum with a spacious modern institution. He was its director from 1851 to 1888, and died in 18m. Known As a warm hearted Man he had a tremendous gift for gab. His favorite pastimes included writing humorous speeches and satirical articles in addition to poetry. But none of these efforts or the other children s books he wrote after Struwe Lpeter Ever approached the Fame of slovenly Peter. An extensive Struwe Lpeter exhibit focusing not on Lyon the Book and its history but also on the life of 19th Cen Tury children is on until oct. 30 at the Kuns museum i Dusseldorf Ehren Hof str. 5. The museum hours Are from 10 . To 5 p.m., daily except monday when it disclosed. In Frankfurt there is a new Heinrich Hoffman museum at Schubert str. 20 in an old West end apartment House. Although Struwe Lpeter Memorabilia Are Amon the displays this museum primarily emphasizes Hoffman s role As a psychiatric reformer and founder of the forerunner of today s Frankfurt Center of psychiatry. The museum is open daily from 10 . To 5 Hill How Franconia s Bettels Silvio Galvagni for centuries the distinctive Bock Beutel bottle has been a trademark of franconian wines. By Leah Larkin staff writer he six men sat around the table quiet somber serious. Occasionally the hallowed silence was interrupted when a woman called out a number. in ritual fashion each Man held up a card with a number from one to 20 written on it. Still no conversation. The woman wrote Down the numbers on the cards. The men proceeded with the task at hand and raised another Glass to their Mouths. Their Job tasting wine. They had just voted on wine number 137. This was not just any wine tasting. They the panel of experts were determining which wines would be awarded prizes by the numbers they wrote Down of the cards. It was All very official. The wine bottles wore skirts of cardboard covering up the labels. The tasters did Only that. No drinking or swallowing just a swirl of the pre Cious grape juices in the Mouth. Then they spit out the wine and went on to do the same with the contents of Glass after Glass. Now and then they would nibble on a Brotcher Between sips. That Day they tasted about 80 wines but before the week was Over they or their taste buds would decide the Fate of some 500 wines. Three times each year these men get together to taste the wines of Franconia that Are entered in these competitions. Similar official wine tastings Are held throughout Germany to determine the Best regional wines. This tast ing took place in Wiir Burg where the franconian wine association has its Headquarters. The Best rating a wine can get is 20 Points. The Points Are not earned for taste alone although that is the most important Factor accounting for a possible 12 Points. Color can earn two Points Aroma four Points clarity two Points. The wines being tasted that Day were getting tops a by Leah Larkin wine experts in Wurzburg scoring one of 500 franconian wines during a week of taste tests. Scores in this their final examination. Ratings of 17, 18 and 19 were common. To win a Gold medal a wine needed 19 or 20 Points. Once a franconian wine is established As a prize Winner a sticker indicating whether it is a Gold Silver or Bronze Winner is affixed to the bottle just Adja cent to the Label. So it s easy to know if you Are buying a prize winning wine. Jochen Freehold of the franconian wine association explained that the tasters need not Only connoisseurs palates but a wealth of knowledge about wine. When they taste number 48, a Silvaner they remember How the Silvaner number 28 tasted he said. Among German wines Franke Wein is distinctive More precisely its bottle is. Instead of the Stan Dard tall slender wine Flaschen used in most of Germany this wine from the vineyards along the main River comes in Short Flat Banjo shaped Bock Beutel Why the bottles Are called Bock Beutel makes for interesting conversation. There Are Many theories but just about everyone agrees that the bottle shape dates Back to 1400 . Rem Nants of ancient Ceramic bottles of this shape have been found in the area. In fact it is thought most bottles were flattened like the Bock Beutel which is often called the father of the modern Day canteen. In 1728, the City Council of Wiir Burg declared that the Bock Beutel could Only be used for franconian wine and in 1971 the highest court in Germany ruled that Only wine from Franconia and certain Baden wines could be bottled in Bock Beutel. This does t keep Portugal and other countries from using similar bottles though. What s in this name some say Bock Beutel Means a ram s Testicles although pamphlets on franconian wine Are usually less literal and just say Bock Beutel indicates in mythology the ram is a Symbol of wine often Pic tured with Dionysus the god of wine. The animal is also known to have an appetite for grapes and has been a Symbol for gluttony As Well As for wine. Another Story about the origin of the word goes Back to the Benedictine nuns of the 17th Century who were said to take wine to Chapel in their Book Budel or prayer Book bags. According to the franconian wine association the contents Are As distinctive As the containers. Franke Wein is drier than most German wine. It s also More expensive. The area where the grapes Are grown that Are the essence of this wine is limited. Just 4,000 hectares which produce about 25 million liners of wine annually. This might sound like a Rivers of wine but compared to wine of other areas however it s just a tiny Stream. Only one in about a thousand bottles of european common Market wine is from Franconia. The limited Quantity is one Factor accounting for the higher Cost. Another is production. Franconian vineyards Are on slopes and precipices with Steep inclines along the meandering Banks of the main from Aschaffenbur East to Wiir Burg and beyond to Hass Furt. The terrain is Good for catching the Best of the Sun s rays but Tough when it s time to Harvest the grapes making labor costs in this area higher than in Many others. But vines have been planted on the slopes for Cen Turies. Some of barrels in some of the cellars in Franconia have held the juices of these vines for centuries too. Huge hand carved wooden barrels line the dark Damp rooms under the resident a baroque Palace in Wirz Burg. Long wooden tables and chandeliers that hold candles add to the atmosphere. If you want to entertain some friends to a wine tasting in an authentic environment the cellars can be rented to groups of 50 or More. Cost is 20 Marks per person which includes the wine and the hundreds of candles used to Light the cellars for these Par course you Don t need to organize a party for 50 to taste franconian wine. Drive through this part of North Ern Bavaria and Stop in some of the picturesque towns where wine in Bock Beutel is served in just about Ever Gasthaus. Good places to Sample Franke Wein include the Burge Spital Hof Kellerer and other in Wurzburg or the huge Pink Schloss Johan Lisburg overlooking the main at Aschaffenbur. And i you hurry you might still be Able to take in a wine fest. Tuesday october 18, 1977 the stars and stripes Page 15
