"Forever is too far" - Second part of the family saga published!

The second part of the five-volume family saga written by Gabriele Bagge will be published on October 1, 2024. A historical novel that is not only suitable for fans of the history of craftsmanship, but for all readers who are concerned about the topic of women's emancipation. The following is an interview with the author and discusses her personal motivation for writing against the background of today's debates about equal rights.

With your new book “Ewig ist so lang” you continue the five-part family saga about Sophia Mohr and Anton Auling. What moment of suspense accompanies the reader of the first volume when reading this second volume?

First and foremost, the reader is sure to ask himself whether the two protagonists Sophia Mohr, daughter of a wig manufacturer from Diepholz, and Anton Auling, journeyman in the goldsmith trade, will succeed in finding a common path without losing sight of their professional ambitions.

Even for Anton, it is not easy to pursue his goal of becoming a master goldsmith. During his journeyman's journey through Bremen and Hamburg to Lübeck, he has to contend with difficulties that often make him doubt whether he will achieve his goal.

For Sophia, it is an almost impossible undertaking to set up her own business with a small workshop; the obstacles that stand in her way are too great. She is also faced with the challenge of exploring the possibilities of how she can realize her dream of professional fulfillment without losing sight of her idea of ​​family life.

The excitement will certainly lie in finding out whether the two will be able to find each other without having to give up their own goal.

What world is the basis for the two protagonists Anton Auling and Sophia Mohr?

At the end of the 18th century, the world of crafts in northern Germany was still governed by the rigid rules of the guild. A journeyman craftsman who was not the son of a master craftsman or who did not come from a middle-class family home was, in principle, excluded from being able to run a master craftsman's business.

Anton Auling, a journeyman goldsmith, is the son of a master craftsman, but his father runs a stonemason's workshop. If Anton wants to establish himself as a master goldsmith with his own workshop, this is an almost impossible undertaking for him. If he is lucky, he will have the opportunity to marry a master's daughter or a widow. Only in rare exceptions, when a master leaves no descendants, can a new master take over a workshop with the permission of the guild. This meant that the guilds had their own circles for countless years. It was almost impossible for outsiders to enter. The regulations also extended far into private life. For example, a journeyman craftsman was forbidden to marry until he had passed the master craftsman's examination. Even if he had a child with a woman as a journeyman, he was not allowed to marry her.

Anton Auling finds himself in this conflicting situation in my second novel. He loves Sophia, but in the distant future, after he has acquired his master craftsman title, he wants to set up his own workshop. That is why he hesitates to promise Sophia marriage.

Sophia Mohr had the will to stand on her own two feet professionally, which was very unusual for the time. She broke free from the rigid rules of her parents' home, where she was not given the opportunity to work. Like countless women in the 18th and 19th centuries, her only option was to make herself useful in the household and look for a suitable marriage candidate. Sophia, however, refused to take this path, left her parents' home and eventually went to Oldenburg. There she managed to earn her own living. However, when she tried to set up her own workshop, she failed because this model of life was not possible in the order of the time for several reasons.

On the one hand, a woman is prohibited from doing business independently or even becoming an entrepreneur. If the woman is married, her husband is responsible for all financial matters. He alone decides how the financial resources are used. He even has the power to decide on the money that a woman brings into the marriage. If a woman is not married, as in Sophia's case, her father (after his death, a male relative such as a brother or uncle) is entitled to run the business for her.

On the other hand, the guild regulations do not allow her to simply set up a workshop, especially in a trade that is not yet recognized by the guild. She has no journeyman's training and certainly no master craftsman's certificate. It would be impossible for a man to set up shop under these conditions, and even more so for a woman.

What development does Sophia go through in this part of the story?

On the one hand, Sophia manages to stand on her own two feet in a new city. She works as a saleswoman in a general store and also develops her craft of making her own jewelry out of hair. She manages to get a master goldsmith excited about her work and convinces him to make the clasps for her jewelry. With skill, hard work and tenacity, she manages to build up her own customer base. Sophia is a successful woman who not only manages to make a living independently, but also earns a not inconsiderable amount of money.

But when she tries to get things done by opening her own workshop, she inevitably fails. Nevertheless, Sophia is not a loser in the end. She takes up the fight and defends herself with all the means at her disposal.

Will Anton be able to juggle his journeyman’s journey with his marriage vows to Sophia?

I cannot yet answer this question for this volume. Anton gave Sophia his marriage vows after much hesitation, but I do not want to anticipate whether he can and will keep them. To find the answer to this question, readers will have to wait for the third volume, "Happy to a Certain Degree."

What can the reader of this second volume expect when it comes to the mixing of history and the present?

Like the first volume, “Before Summer ends,” this book is also a fictional novel, but most of the people who appear in it lived in the places described at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Their dates of birth and death are documented in church records and archives and have been brought to life by me.

I also took up and processed a lot of historical data. In the period after the French Revolution, Europe was in upheaval. The Napoleonic Wars brought disorder to the traditional structures, which the people in the towns and villages often felt first hand. Troops passing through, billeting, high taxes, hardship and hunger were not uncommon in everyday life. The areas to the left of the Rhine, including Bonn and Cologne, became French, and the consequences of this were felt as far as the Duchy of Oldenburg and the Diocese of Münster.

I invested a lot of time in researching the cities of Oldenburg, Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck. The craftsmen, merchants and innkeepers mentioned in my novel also lived and worked in the cities at that time.

For the city of Oldenburg, for example, this can be researched in the “Oldenburg House Book” by Günter Wachtendorf, a reference work on the “buildings and residents in the inner area of ​​the city of Oldenburg”, which is a true treasure for all those interested in the history of the city of Oldenburg.

My Oldenburg readers will certainly be interested to know that the Herbart family actually lived in the house at Lange Straße 82 (formerly number 90) until 1796, where Sophia lived in an attic room in my novel. The owner at the time was the justice and government councilor Thomas Gerhard Herbart. Many Oldenburg residents, educators, psychologists and philosophers know the name of his son, Johann Friedrich Herbart. Today, a high school in the city of Oldenburg is named after him.

The inscription "Ewig ist so lang" is actually embedded in the wall at the entrance to the Gertrudenfriedhof cemetery, but in an old German spelling: "O ewich is so lanck". The legend about the poor housemaid and the unscrupulous merchant's son is a tradition in Oldenburg, as is the legend of the gang of thieves around the robber chief Jan Krahner.

For example, the name of the Wilkens family is likely to be familiar to many readers far beyond the borders of the city of Bremen. They have been known for producing silverware for centuries and are still active today under the name "Wilkens Silver Manufactory since 1810". The young Martin Wilkens, who plays an important role in my novel, actually lived in Bremen at the time and, after some back and forth, completed an apprenticeship as a goldsmith there. He later became the founder of the silverware company.

Georg Niederegger, who settled in Lübeck at the beginning of the 19th century and became world famous for his marzipan production, is also certainly a familiar name to most of you.

After the first volume, “Before Summer ends,” I received many questions about the units of measurement and currency I used. Following the historical sources, I adopted the terms that were used at the end of the 18th century.

To my surprise, there were considerable differences within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, not only in terms of currency units, but also in terms of weights and lengths. The length of a mile, for example, was defined differently in the Prince-Bishopric of Münster, the Electorate of Hanover, the Duchy of Oldenburg and the Imperial Cities of Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck. This alone must have been a confusing patchwork for people at the time, at least for those who not only lived on their own land but also travelled around as travelling traders.

Mrs. Bagge, will Sophia manage to thwart her brother’s plan?

Knowing her own strengths gives Sophia the strength to work towards her goals. She dares to take new paths.

When her brother tries to thwart her plans and even wants to marry her off to the hated rich farmer's son from Diepholz who once wanted to rape her, she resists this plan with all her might. Even though she initially fails to realize her professional plans, she is not crushed. Despite everything, she still has a path that she can continue on and she remains strong even in the face of failure.

The interview was conducted by Christian Leeck.
Wuppertal, September 2024.

Machine translated from German.

Link to the book