Georg Julius Leopold Engel (born 22 October 1866 in Greifswald; died 19 October 1931 in Berlin), also known as Johannes Jörgensen, was a German writer, dramatist and literary critic. His novels appeared in large print runs.
Life
Engel spent his youth in Breslau. After studying philosophy and history in Berlin from 1887 to 1890, he worked as an art and theatre critic for the Berliner Tageblatt newspaper and from 1891 he was active as a writer in Berlin.
In his novel Hann Klüth, der Philosoph (1905) and in his collection of novellas Die Leute von Moorluke (1910), set in Greifswald and surrounds, he portrayed lively and life-affirming north German characters. He wrote many dramas, but they are no longer performed. Engel was the President of the Imperial Union of German Literatur (Reichsverband des deutschen Schrifttums). This organisation provided social security for independent authors. He acquired recognition and awards of merit for this.
During the National Socialist period, his work was considered undesirable as Engel was non-Aryan by the state's definition. The commemorative plaque was removed from the house in Greifswald where he was born, his gravestone in Elisenhain (a forest in Greifswald) was knocked over. Some of Engel's books were banned, removed from libraries and burnt. His grave was fixed after 1945.
Bibliography
Lutz Mohr: Greifswald-Eldena und das Kloster Hilda. Ein Streifzug und Wegweiser durch die Greifswalder Ortsteile Eldena und Friedrichshagen in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart. Neue Greifswalder Museumshefte, Heft 1/1977, 2. erw. Aufl. Greifswald 1979
