mar,and style. Interestingly,theserevisions are often mentioned in the workers’
own accounts of their extensive exchanges with their editors.²⁴
Forinstance, in the introduction to Wenzel Holek’s Lebensgang eines
deutsch-tschechischen Handarbeiters(1909,The Life Story ofaGerman-Czech
Manual Laborer), Göhre insists thatheknew nothing about Holek’ssocialist
commitments when he invited him to writeafollow-up account focused on
his adultworkinglife. Giventhe precarious nature of his own political commit-
ments, it is not surprising that the editor feels compelled“to counter the suspi-
cion thatI,asaSocial Democrat,was perhapsmotivated by the desire to advo-
cate for the cause ofmy party in this way.”²⁵Of course, these disavowals do not
prevent Göhre in the same introduction from suggestinganatural affinity be-
tween Social Democracy and thevoice of the people. Drawingonthe discourses
of folk to emphasize theauthenticity of Holek’saccount,and in the process dis-
tracting from his own editorial revisions,heproclaims:“Through these chosen
voices,the people are speaking about themselves, their fates,theirstruggles
and joys,their misery,their hope, their painful resignation. Hereall veils fall:
like soil that has come alive,the people assume form in front of us.”²⁶Confirm-
ing Göhre’sinvestment in the production ofauthenticity,Franz Rehbein’sDas
Leben eines Landarbeiters(1911, The Life ofaFarmWorker), the nextvolume
in the series, offersavery different challengefor the editor.Acknowledging
that Rehbein has left behind the hard life onarural estateto work asasocialist
journalist,Göhregoes to some length to assure his readers of the enduringtruth-
fulness of the worker’svoice.“No longer does he [i.e., Rehbein] displayany signs
of awkwardness. He is the full masterofhis thoughts,images, words, and sen-
tences. Even loanwords he handles with aplomb,”notes the proud editor,only
to insist,“Nonetheless his languageappears extraordinarilyauthentic, drastical-
ly unadorned, in true peasant fashion (Bauernart).”²⁷
Several of the books edited by Göhre and others identified theauthors ini-
tiallybyoccupation only–afactory worker,day laborer,orafarmhand. If a
book was successful, later editions appeared with theauthor’sname above
In his afterwordtothe 1971 reprint ofLebensgeschichtepublished byAthenäum,Bernd Neu-
mann compares Bromme’sstayina“Hustenburg”nearWeimar (for treatment of tuberculosis)to
that of Hans Castorp’sexperiences on the famous“Zauberberg”in Davos.
Paul Göhre, Introduction toWenzel Holek,Lebensgang eines deutsch-tschechischen Handar-
beiters(Jena: Diederichs,1909),iv.
Göhre, Introductionto Holek,Lebensgang,i. The bookappeared in several revised and ex-
panded editions.
Paul Göhre, Introduction toFranz Rehbein,Das Leben eines Landarbeiters(Jena: EugenDie-
derichs,1911),3.
150 Chapter 7