Goerzen, Jacob Warkentin (1916-2002)
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Jacob[1] Warkentin Goerzen (Görzen): Author and Teacher, born 22 March 1916 to Jacob Görzen and Margareta Warkentin of Nikolaifeld, Zagradovka. He had three brothers and three sisters. In 1927 the family immigrated to Canada, settling on a farm near Tofield, Alberta. On 10 December 1949 Jacob married Susanne Friesen and together they raised a family of seven daughters, Gisela, Ella, Hilde, Maria, Monika, Ramona and Lisa. Jacob died in Edmonton, Alberta, on 21 August 2002. He modified his middle patronymic name by replacing his second "Jacob" with “Warkentin,” his mother’s family name. This to avoid confusion in an environment where many people held very similar names. In his youth Goerzen was active in the Mennonite Brethren Church of his parents but later he became estrange and was excommunicated.[2] Thereafter and had little to do with the Mennonite Church though he was a lifelong Christian.
Jacob Goerzen was a good student with a keen interest in languages and in 1938 he enrolled in the University of Alberta. With the outbreak of the Second World War he only completed two years of study before being assigned to alternative service. In his six years in service he was lonely but it afforded him time for inner reflection, Bible study and opportunity for composing poetry. Many of these poems were publish in his book Germanic Heritage, Canadian Lyrics in Three Languages.
Jacob’s poems are religious, patriotic, cultural and include translations of some English poems into High and Low German. In their day they were the largest collection of published Mennonite dialectic poetry. The poems use old classical German forms of regular verse with meter and rhyme and were well suited to the immigrant Mennonite audience of his day. They present a simple pietistic view of nature and village life. Though they are unsophisticated and lack literary refinement Goerzen wrote them to express his deepest thoughts and emotions.
Returning to the University in 1947 Goerzen completed his Bachelor degree and then his Master of Arts degree in 1950. His thesis was: The Phonology of Plautdietsch. In 1952 he received his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Toronto with his thesis: German in Canada, a Study of “Plautdietsch” as Spoken by Mennonite Immigrants from Russia. These and his published books illustrate Goerzen’s linguistic research which followed the pioneering 1928 study of Plautdietsch by Jacob (Walter) Quiring (1893-1983). Admirable efforts to transcribe Plautdietsch accurately phonetically were made by Goerzen on the bases of the best phonemic principles. Though he devised non-standard phonetic and his own orthography which more recent linguists have modified them.
With his family, Goerzen returned to Edmonton in 1954 completed his Bachelor of Education degree and began teaching in the Edmonton Public School system for the next 26 years rising to be head of the Department of Modern Languages in the Jasper Place Composite High School. Here Goerzen was able to use the printing equipment of the school’s Graphic Arts Department and set his own linotype, run the printing presses and printed the pages of his own books. His family helped him assemble his books and he also acted as their book seller. Unfortunately only a small numbers of his books got to the public. This personal hand work resulted in considerable variation in the appearance and structure of some books. Nevertheless the quality of his intellectual, linguistic and poetic texts displayed in them are of greatest value.
As an accomplished linguist he also mastered many other languages, Russian, French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew and also taught French. In 1968 he published a translation of several books of the Bible into Plautdietsch and later added other translation of Old and New Testament books in the form of a Low German Bible in 1988. His translations of scripture provided a credible and needed opportunity for many Mennonites to read scripture in their common use language. Though some felt Plautdietsch rather too crude or vulgar for scripture it began the translation process that led several decades later to having the complete Bible in Mennonite form of Plautdietsch.
Bibliography
Quiring, Jacob (Walter). Die Mundart von Chortitza in Süd-Russland. München, Deutschland: Druckerei Studentenhaus München, Universität 1928, 128p.
Books published by J. W. Goerzen
Goerzen, Jacob Warkentin. Germanic Heritage (Section One) English. Lyrics in Three Languages. [Edmonton, Alberta. Published by the author]. 1962. Type 1: 76,(4),49 p. Five Low German poems on pages 48-49. Type 2: 76,(4), 51 p. Three Low German poems on p.48, story on p. 49-50, poem on pages 50-51. Type 1: Green paper covers, Type 2: brown paper covers, text in different type on each cover, dark green cloth spine, pages side stapled. 15.8x23.7 cm.
Goerzen, J. W. Germanic Heritage. English. Low German. German. Canadian Lyrics in Three Languages. [1st edition]. [Edmonton, Alberta. Published by the author]. [1963-64.] Three parts in one volume; (6),48,73-81,(3),51,(5),169 p. Dark blue cloth over boards. 14.1x22.8 cm.
Goerzen, J. W. Germanic Heritage. English. Low German. German. Canadian Lyrics in Three Languages. Second edition. Edmonton, Alberta. [Published by the author]. 1967. 8,(4),9-336 p. White patterned cloth over boards with an attached book mark. This work is sometimes titled: "Germanischet Oafgoot - Germanisches Erbe Germanic heritage"
Goerzen, Jakob Warkentin. Low German in Canada. A Study of “Plautdîtsch” as Spoken by Mennonite Immigrants from Russia. Edmonton, Alberta. [Published by the author J. W. Goerzen]. [1970]. 252,(1),(253)-254 p. Green or black simulated cloth over boards, 14.1 x 21.3 cm. This is Goerzen's revised publication of his 1952 University of Toronto Ph.D. thesis. There are many errors in pagination order and the section, pages (65-80) is blank.
Goerzen, J. W. Ute Gewide Schrefte : Proowe to eenem “Konkordanten” Oolen on Nien Testament: op Dietsch: en onse dietsche Modasproak, dem freajaren wastpruschen nada = Ooda Nadringsdietsch. First edition. [Edmonton, Alberta]. [Published by the author]. 1988. 288,VIII,279 p. ISBN: 0-9693459-0-9. Dark blue cloth over boards, light yellow past downs, spine with raised bands. Text is in Low German with some prefatory material in Low German and English. Contains translations of Bible passages from: "the first book of Moses (Genesis), Psalms 1-72, parts of the prophet Isaiah ..., Paul's thirteen Epistles, Hebrews, John's account, John's three epistles, and the unveiling of Jesus Christ (Revelation)."
Goerzen, J. W. Ute Griksche hellje Schrefte: Proowe plautditscha Ewasating. Edmonton, Alberta. [Published by the author]. 1968. (2),X,148 p. Tan coloured simulated cloth or bright blue cloth over boards. 12.1x19.0 cm. Contains New Testament passages translated into Mennonite Low German.
| Author(s) | Victor G Wiebe |
|---|---|
| Date Published | December 2021 |
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MLA style
Wiebe, Victor G. "Goerzen, Jacob Warkentin (1916-2002)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. December 2021. Web. 18 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Goerzen,_Jacob_Warkentin_(1916-2002)&oldid=172750.
APA style
Wiebe, Victor G. (December 2021). Goerzen, Jacob Warkentin (1916-2002). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 18 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Goerzen,_Jacob_Warkentin_(1916-2002)&oldid=172750.
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