Dorothea Viehmann
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Dorothea Viehmann (1755-1815) was born on November 8th in Rengershausen, Germany and died on November 17th. She was a German farmer and storyteller from Kassel, Germany and was one of the most important sources of the fairy tale collection of the Brothers Grimm. Most of her fairy tales were published in their second volume.
Dorothea Viehmann was born as Katharina Dorothea Pierson in Rengershausen as the daughter of a tavern owner. Her ancestors had come as Huguenots after the lifting of the Edict of Nantes from the German state Hessen to Kassel. Many of her stories have a French variation based on this French origin. As she grew up Dorothea Viehmann heard many of the stories, legends, and fairy tales from the guests of her father. Dorothea later transmitted many of these stories to the Brothers.
In 1777 Dorothea Pierson married the tailor Nikolaus Viehmann who soon died in 1787. After the death of her husband, she had to provide for herself and her seven children by selling products from her garden at the local market.
She became acquainted with the Brothers Grimm in 1813 and told them over 40 tales and variations. Wilhelm Grimm wrote about her saying that it was out of an amazing chance that he and his brother met this woman. He also recorded that she was still beautiful even in her old age. The Brothers were especially impressed that Dorothea could retell her stories again and again without changing a word Dorothea Viehmann’s father’s tavern still stands directly by the freeway in Baunatal-Rengershausen.
