Margarete Boie

Margarete Boie (22 October 1880 – 4 February 1946) was a German writer. Many of her most successful books appeared in the 1920s, and incorporate the history, landscape and people of Sylt as themes.

Life Margarete Ida Boie was born in Berlin, the third of her parents' five recorded children. Bernhard Boie (1839–1896), her father, was an army officer originally from Danzig. Her mother was born Ida Vennigerholz (1850–1936). Her father's military career meant that during her childhood the family relocated frequently, living in a succession of north German garrison towns, latterly in Thorn where Bernhard Boie held the post of military governor. Thorn is where, when Margarete was sixteen, her father died unexpectedly. After a year her mother moved the family again, first to Zoppot on the north German coast and from there to Danzig. It was in Danzig, with the encouragement of her friend, that she embarked on a professional career, obtaining a job with the Natural History Museum, which at that time was under the directorship of the remarkable Hugo Conwentz.

It was probably while living in Danzig that Margarete Boie teamed up with the artist an illustrator Helene Varges. The two became firm friends and then life partners. Later, when Margarete Boie became a published author, Varges would provide illustrations for her books. Between 1904 and 1928 the two of them lived and worked together as pioneers in nature conservation, successively on Juist and Norderney, and in Emden, Lüneburg and, most importantly, on Helgoland and then Sylt. In 1906 Boie launched her writing career with the book "Juist", although the fact that she had to pay to publish it for herself made for an inauspicious career launch. With vivid and detailed descriptions of the animal and plant life on the island it made a compelling case for preserving the natural heritage of the place; while viewed as a scholarly travel guide it presented an accessible and practical view of the conceptual ideas she had picked up from Conwentz. Many of Boie's books appeared with illustrations and other adornments contributed by Helene Varges.

The bracing climate of Germany's northern islands, which others visited for the health benefits, proved deleterious to Boie's well-being. In 1928 heart disease forced her to move away from Sylt and from her friend who remained there. During the 1930s she continued to write, while looking for places to live that suited her health better. She moved to Thuringia, a region of central Germany almost as far from the sea as any, where she lived for a time in Oldenburg and in Erfurt. She then moved to Berlin where she lived for most of the Second World War till driven out by the extent of the aerial bombing. The sought shelter with her brother's family in Bohemia, but had to flee again, this time to Upper Bavaria, as the invading armies moved in from the east and the south. By 1946 fate had drawn her back to "Salt City" (as Lüneburg was sometimes affectionately identified by the residents).

Output (selection)

Das köstliche Leben. J. F. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1918. Schwestern. Der Jahreslauf einer Insel. J. F. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1921. Die treue Ose. Sage von der Insel Sylt. Bücherstube von C. L. Jensen, Westerland 1922. Der Auftakt. J. F. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1922. Bo, der Riese. Bookshop of C. L. Jensen, Westerland 1923. Führer von Sylt. Johs Cords, Westerland 1925. Der Sylter Hahn. J. F. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1925. Waal – Waal! J. F. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1926 (Youth edition of Der Sylter Hahn). Moiken Peter Ohm. J. F. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1926. Ferientage auf Sylt. with 20 illustrations by Helene Varges. H. Bermühler, Berlin-Lichterfelde 1928. Die letzten Sylter Riesen. Compiled from the records of a contemporary. J. F. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1930. Dammbau. Sylter Roman aus der Gegenwart. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1930 (6. Auflage 1985). New edition: Husum 2012. Sylter Treue. Zwei Sagen von der Insel Sylt. J. F. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1932. Eine Wandlung. Agentur d. Rauhen Hauses, Hamburg . Die Müllerin von Tholensdeich. Agentur d. Rauhen Hauses, Hamburg 1933. Eleonora Christine und Corfiz Ulfeldt. Lebensroman einer Königstochter. Gerh. Stalling, Oldenburg 1936. Der alte Bauer. Agentur d. Rauhen Hauses, Hamburg . Wie Lorens der Hahn auf Grönland fuhr. J. Beltz, Langensalza 1937. Auf Walfang im Eismeer. Heckner, Wolfenbüttel 1937. Uwe Jens Lornsen in Kiel. J. Beltz, Langensalza 1938. Hugo Conwentz und seine Heimat. Ein Buch der Erinnerungen. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1940. Die Tagfahrt der Preußen. J. F. Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1942. Übers Jahr … Steinkopf, Stuttgart 1944.