Karl Benno von Mechow

Mechow, Karl Benno von (Bonn, 1897-1960, Emmendingen), of a military family, volunteered in 1914 and was commissioned in an Uhlan regiment, fighting on the eastern front. After 1918 he farmed, first in Brandenburg, then in Bavaria. His books draw upon his feeling for nature, including agriculture, and on his war experiences. Among his novels are: Das ländliche Jahr (1930), the story of a conscientious but too sensitive bailiff, who for a year looks after an estate, is dismissed through intrigue, and finds his happiness in a small-holding of his own; Das Abenteuer (1930), a tragic story which closely follows an episode from Mechow's own experience as an Uhlan officer on the Russian front; and Vorsommer (1933), a kind of Bildungsroman, in which Praetorius, a disoriented soldier-farmer returned from the 1914-18 War, finds his bearings through the help of a true-hearted, hardworking girl, Ursula. The book, telling only of the beginnings of their summer (Vorsommer), implies that a full summer will follow. From 1934 to 1944 he edited with P. Alverdes the (at times prohibited) monthly Das Innere Reich.