Gottlob Haag Cabinet at KULT @museum.de

M: Wrought from the dust of this earth,
I am mere voice,
Opening up this landscape
Of language.

My love dwells
Amidst farmsteads and villages
Nourished by
The speeches and
Tales of their residents.

F: An English version of the first verses of the poem "Bin ich nur Stimme" (Am I just a voice”) by the local writer Gottlob Haag. He pays homage to his homeland in the poem, one of the few he didn’t write in Hohenlohisch, a Southern German dialect that’s part of the East Franconian dialect group.

M: Gottlob Haag was born in 1926 in the nearby hamlet of Wildentierbach. He described himself as a "child of poor folk". Inspired by the Expressionist poet Georg Trakl, he started to write poetry and had his first poem published at the age of 27. Gottlob Haag wrote and published several volumes of poetry in quick succession, followed in the mid-1980s by several plays. Some were performed at the open-air theatre “Tempele” here in Niederstetten.

F: Throughout Germany, he’s regarded as the lyrical voice of Hohenlohe. His work revolves around one central issue, the question of how people must conduct themselves if they are to live responsibly towards the Creator and His creation, as well as towards fellow human beings.

M: Gottlob Haag received numerous awards for his work. He was also given the freedom of the town of Niederstetten.

F: Gottlob Haag died in 2008 at the age of 82. He was laid to rest in the cemetery at the old fortified church in Wildentierbach. “Bin ich nur Stimme“, “Am I just a voice”, he asked. Here’s an English version of that poem’s final verse:

M: My voice,
Sister to the wind,
Is enamoured of the rain
That soaks the land and stirs it into fruitfulness.
Forged from the dust of this earth
I would be nothing more
Than a voice that opens up
This country of language.

F: After the poetry, it's now on to music. The next stop is by the banister.