The Brothers Grimm
Jakob Grimm Born: January 4, 1785 in Hanau, Germany Active man Never married Lived with his brother, Wilhelm, and his brother’s wife Chief compiler of the fairytales Died: September 20, 1863 in Berlin Germany
Wilhelm Grimm Born: February 24, 1786 in Hanau, Germany Sickly man Married Henriette Dorothea Wild Chief rewriter of the fairytales Died: December 16, 1859 in Berlin, Germany
What did they do? German scholars Linguists (a person who studies languages) Cultural researchers Lexicographers (a person who compiles dictionaries) Collected and published folklore during the 19 th century
The Brothers Grimm did not write the fairytales. The stories existed long before the two men were born. They were passed down from generation to generation orally, often by women to pass the time during household chores. The Grimm brothers began a quest to save the stories from extinction. They interviewed relatives and friends, collecting whatever tales they could. In 1812, they published the stories as part of a collection titled Nursery and Household Tales, or what is now referred to as Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
Most commonly retold fairytales The Frog King Rapunzel Hansel and Gretel Cinderella Little Red Cap (aka Little Red Riding Hood) Snow White Rumpelstiltskin The Turnip
The stories were not intended for kids. The stories routinely included sex, violence, child abuse, and other remarkably dark elements. For example, in their original versions: Rapunzel gets pregnant by the prince after a casual fling which results in her hair being cut off by the witch, Cinderella’s stepsisters cut off their toes and heels to try to fit into the slipper, and Snow White’s step mother dies after being forced to dance in red-hot iron shoes. The stories did not have illustrations. Many of the tales were eventually revised once the stories became popular among children.
Wicked mothers Evil stepparents are common in fairy tales, but the Grimms originally included some evil biological mothers as well. In the 1812 version of “Hansel and Gretel,” a wife persuades her husband to abandon their children in the woods because they don’t have enough food to feed them. Snow White’s evil mother at first wishes for her and then becomes infuriated by her daughter’s beauty. Both of these mothers were later changed to stepmothers in subsequent editions, and mothers have essentially remained off the hook ever since.
Jakob and Wilhelm faced deportation and bankruptcy. In 1830, King Ernest Augustus demanded oaths of allegiance from all professors in Gottingen, a university city where Jakob and Wilhelm taught. The brothers and five other professors refused to pledge to the king. They were made to leave the city. Jobless, they were forced to borrow money from friends as they worked on their story collection.
A publishing blockbuster By the time Wilhelm died in 1859, Grimm’s Fairy Tales was in its 7 th edition. The collection had grown to 211 stories. It included intricate illustrations. Some claim the collection has only been outsold by Shakespeare and the Bible.
More than just fairy tales The brothers were University-trained philologists (the study of language in historical texts) and librarians. They wrote books about mythology. They published scholarly works on linguistics and medieval studies. They worked on compiling a German dictionary, although both brothers died before they were able to finish the entry for the letter F.
Anti-Semitism During the Third Reich, the Nazis adopted the Grimms’ tales for propaganda purposes. They claimed that Little Red Riding Hood symbolized the German people suffering at the hands of the Jewish wolf. They claimed that Cinderella’s Aryan purity distinguished her from her mongrel stepsisters.
10 Facts about the Brothers Grimm
Little Red Cap – Audio Reading
Resources Greenspan, J. (2013, Sep. 17). The dark side of the Grimm fairy tales. History in the Headlines. Retrieved from the-grimm-fairy-tales. Myint, B. (2014, Dec. 22). 5 facts about the brothers Grimm. History & Culture. Retrieved from