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Abstracts

Carlos Beck Bernard. The small book Argentine Republic as target for
emigrants. A small handbook for emigrants and colonists. By Karl Beck Ber-
nard, founder and yearslong director of the Colony San Carlos near Santa
Fe is the second of Beck Bernard’s fi ve books on Argentina as a des-
1
tination for emigrants. In 1865, he had written a book in French on the
same theme (cf. the introductions in this publication), from which many
passages are taken for the German version, however the German guide
focuses primarily on practical issues. Readers interested in emigrating to
Argentina can learn how their life might evolve in far away Southamerica.
In roughly 60 pages the book offers a detailed overview of agricultural and
economic conditions in Argentina in 1868.
Rodolfo Frank, an eminent specialist on this theme, wrote the introduc-
tion to the volume. Frank also reviewed and annotated the text itself, which
had been translated by someone unfamiliar with agriculture. In his introduc-
tion, he contextualizes the text in the fi ve-book series on the subject, and
discusses its value.
This introduction is preceded by another one by Adriana Crolla, a re-
searcher in Santa Fe who is creating a documentary and instructive web-
site about the two authors, Carl and Lina Beck Bernard. In this piece, she
reports on her work and its history, because the translation published here
will be added to her collection.

Karl Oenike. Testimonios (Texts and his life)
These are Spanish translations of the known seven texts by Karl Oenike, a
painter, drawer, and photographer who travelled in northern Argentina and its
neighbouring states between 1887 and 1891. The original German versions
of these articles appeared mostly in popular magazines on global travel, like
Globus and Über Fels und Meer, among others. Oenike’s landscapes, scenes
of the daily life, and villages earn him a place among the ranks of visual artists
who portrayed South American life and nature at the end of the nineteenth
century. His paintings, drawings, and photos also have been reproduced in
lithographies and gravures, illustrating articles by Oenike and other writers, as
well as in postcards. Oenike no doubt merits further study.
Of the texts published here, two depict his travels to Paraguay and
another two focus on the meat industry in Entre Ríos. The rest are rende-
rings of Argentine landscapes and other works that he exhibited in Berlin in
1894 after his return to Germany. A short biography of Oenike, written by his
greatgrandson Roberto Liebenthal, accompany the translations. To convey
the multiple facets of this nearly unknown artist’s work, several illustrations
by Oenike are included in this publication.

1 Mit drei Karten. Buchdruckerei von J. Alemann 1868.