Rudolf Tarnow was a Low German

Low German

Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...

 writer.

Rudolf Tarnow was born on February 25, 1867 in the city of Parchim, the oldest son of a shoemaker, Heinrich Tarnow, and his wife, Dorothea (née Pingel). He attended school from 1873 until 1881, claiming to be a very good student, although he often focused more on social life than schoolwork, which he saved for home.

After success in school, he began a commercial apprenticeship

Apprenticeship

Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...

 in a textile

Textile

A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...

 factory in his home town, which he completed successfully in 1885. In 1896, he married, to Erna Bruns. From this relationship came three children, two sons, Walter and Rudolf, and a daughter, Elisabeth. After his service in the military, where he spent some years in the personal military company of the grand duke

Duke

A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...

 of Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg

Mecklenburg is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Vorpommern...

, he applied successfully to be the superintendent of the insane asylum in Schwerin.

He began to publish his work, which was written in Low German, around 1910, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of fellow Low German author Fritz Reuter

Fritz Reuter

Fritz Reuter was a novelist from Northern Germany who was one of the most prominent contributors to Low German literature.-Early life:...

. On October 7, 1910, his poem "Ein Randewuh im Rathaus zu Stavenhagen" (English: A Rendezvous at the City Hall of Stavenhagen), was published as a special edition. After that, he published many poems, and also regularly published essay

Essay

An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...

s. His essays were taken from real-life experiences, focusing on, and making fun of, the weaknesses of his fellow man.

One of his best known works is "Köster Klickermann," where he combines his childhood memories of both school and church. Some of his work was lighter in tone, however. His love of children lead him to write the children’s books and collections of children’s poems as well. Tarnow died on May 19, 1933, in Schwerin, after a heart-related illness. Even today, many streets and schools in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are named after Tarnow. A complete folio of Tarnow's works was found in storage in the city of Rostock

Rostock

Rostock -Early history:In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc ; the name Rostock is derived from that designation. The Danish king Valdemar I set the town aflame in 1161.Afterwards the place was settled by German traders...

in 1987.