Zweibrücken author Wolfgang Ohler will be a guest at the Homburg Reading Time with his book "Kriegspfad oder Jean Jacques in Amerika". Kriegspfad is the second volume of a trilogy that recounts the events of the late Zweibrücken ducal era and continues the experiences of the young Jean Jacques Roux at the court of Duke Charles II August. Jean makes an unexpected career as aide-de-camp to Count William of Forbach, a son of the late Christian IV, who, together with his brother, takes part in the American colonists' fight for freedom against the British as commander of the Royal Deux-Ponts regiment.
The Royal Deux-Ponts Regiment, which travels to Virginia in Wolfgang Ohler's historical novel, was also known to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe dedicated a poem to "The United States" and also mentioned the fight for freedom led by General Washington in his memoirs, which led to the independence of the former British colonies in 1783.
The third volume of the "Freedom Tree" trilogy has now also been published, which tells Jean Jacques' adventures during the French Revolution, which did not spare Deux-Ponts and Schoss Karlsberg.
Wolfgang Ohler manages to recount historical events in such an interesting and exciting way that no history lesson, no matter how good, can match. Klaus Friedrich, a member of the BarockStraße SaarPfalz working group and coordinator of the "All the best Goethe!" series of events, whose programme also includes the reading with Wolfgang Ohler, will begin the reading by revealing why Goethe dedicated the poem that begins with the famous line "America, you have it better ..." to the United States. In addition, the audience learns about the context in which the "Poet Prince of the Germans" encountered the Regiment Royal Deux-Ponts several times and what role Homburg played in the history of this legendary unit.
The reading in cooperation with the German-American Institute Saarland and the German-American Circle of Friends Saar-Palatinate will take place on Tuesday, 22 October at 7 pm in the Saalbau in Homburg, Obere Allee 1, 66424 Homburg. The free event is funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Saarland Ministry of Culture and Saartoto