About Dominik Hollmann



       Here's a word about Hollmann the human being.
…It is a proven fact that many former fellow sufferers have confirmed his extraordinary readiness to help and his sincere Christian charity.
       Also a word about Hollmann the citizen, about which our opinions could differ, that is to say, in reference to the negative reports. Dominik Hollmann is the only one among all our leading people who bravely worked in the autonomy movement without any equivocation, without threadbare evasion or rabbit-footed cowardly retreat, straightforwardly and always with personal conviction.

By Johann Warkentin, 1997, p. 15 in the almanac, "WIR SELBST, Russlanddeutsche Literatur Blätter", commissioned by the editors Agnes Giesbrecht, Viktor Heinz, Wendelin Mangold, Nora Pfeffer und Lore Reimer.
Johann Warkentin, called the 'Nestor of Russian German literature',
member of the commission for German literature for the newspaper "Neues Leben" (New life) in the seventies and eighties,
member of the first delegation to Moscow in 1965 for the rehabilitation of the Soviet Germans.
He lives in Berlin.



       "I have been especially moved by J. Warkentin's 'Word about Hollmann the human being'. ...I would also like to emphasize that while he was our dean at the Engels Teachers College for two years he guarded with me a terrible secret: I was the daughter of a 'public enemy.'"

Nelly Wacker, teacher, poet, writer.
Worksheet for almanac "WIR SELBST. Russlanddeutsche Literatur Blätter 1997", p. 9.


       Born August 12, 1899, Dominik Hollmann can look back on a very productive life. Teacher, author, educator. Many of his pupils remember him with respect, love and gratitude. He taught them that one should struggle for knowledge with perseverance, conviction, and selfless dedication to one's people. Dominik Hollmann has enriched our literature through his genuine and truthloving heroes. He himself is nobly disposed.
       When we studied together at the College in the 1930s he was about twice as old as we were, he had 15 years teacher's experience, and we were quite often in need of money. Dominik looked for additional income, not only for himself but for all of us. One time it was a translation, other times it was (teaching) assistance. And how much advice we got from him! One cannot forget that…

Former fellow students:
Hans Bahl, Irma Dyck, Hilda Fellinger, Alexander Gallinger, Heinrich Kämpf, Christjan Müller
1969, "Neues Leben", Moscow


       Dominik Hollmann, who baptized me in the freshness of my youth before the altar of the Muse, was and remains for me a model in every respect as a human being and as a writer. If I have accomplished anything in literature, I owe this above all to his help and wise counsel.

Woldemar Herdt, author, poet
1988, "Neues Leben", Moscow


       One of our most popular (men), a man of the people."

Alexander Henning , literary critic
1988, "Neues Leben", Moscow


       I find confirmation again and again that Dominik Hollmann belongs to those authors in our Soviet German literature who are preoccupied with the problems of morality and family life, who portray the soul of mankind, the complex relationships between people, kindness, friendship among nations, and high moral consciousness.

Woldemar Eckert, literary critic
1979, "Neues Leben", Moscow


       Writer of prose and lyric, translater of poetry, publicist, playwright and author of humorous farces; above all he is a defender of human rights, propagator of knowledge, and an advocate for humane existence. One of our most popular (men) and in a certain sense this puts him on the same level as Victor Klein
       He uses the dialect and the language of the people with such feeling! This inclination derives from the traditions of the German Volga colonists, of whom Dominik Hollmann is a descendant, as well as from the poet's own knowledge. Wherever the paths of his life led him, as a village teacher or as a university professor, or a lumberjack in the Soviet concentration camps for the Russian Germans, whether as a book-keeper in a fishing village in the Far North during the time of his exile, or as a member of the commission for German literature for the publication of the newspaper 'Neues Leben', Moscow - he always remained a village writer.

Preface to the "Lesebuch",
Publishing house 'Kasachstan', Alma-Ata, 1988


       I admire resolute persons like you, honorable Dominik Hollmann, and I have always endeavored to be at least a little bit like you. I am proud of my friendship with you.

Herold Belger, writer, translator, student of literature, author of the book "Russlanddeutsche Schriftsteller" (Russian German Authors) edition ost, Berlin, 1999
letter to D. Hollmann, 1974


       An Exemplar
   Dedicated to Dominik Hollmann

Defending like a soldier
Goodness and righteousness,
You fight keenly with word and deed
The beastly evil.

You never sought in life
The easy, smooth path,
You always scorned rest and peace,
Produced strenuously and boldly,

Resolutely straight and with conviction
In daily deeds and dealings,
You have shown us an example
With the pathways of your life.

Alexander Brettmann, teacher, poet,
August 1984, "Neues Leben", Moscow


       "Much honored comrade Dominik Hollmann!
       Yesterday my father showed me your poems ("Freundschaft", Elegien, Gedichte "In einsamen Stunden".) I have read them and my heart was pressed. These poems are so sad, yet I know you as a very different person - a person who enjoys life, with joyful courage. Within me grew the desire to write to you. Forgive me, but I write out of a pure heart. I have always been glad to know you and I have very often told my pupils in the German language classes about you.
       Please don't be so sad, don't lose courage. You are a splendid person. You will still have many happy days. You have done so much good for our people and you deserve more good words than I am able to write.
       May you encounter only goodness. Don't lose courage. Many Russian Germans know you, honor you, and love you!"

Ella Pfeifer, teacher in the village Nowo-Usenka, Karaganda region, Kasachstan.
Letter to D. Hollmann November 6, 1990


Who could ask for any better appreciation by his people!