Canadian writer (1931–2022)
John Peter Thiessen (14 April 1931 – 9 October 2022)[1][2] was a Canadian Russian Mennonite teacher, translator, and writer from Manitoba. Alongside Arnold Dyck and Reuben Epp, he was an important contributor to the development of Mennonite Low German literature, as well as one of the language's most prominent lexicographers.[3][4]
Early life and education
Thiessen was born in Gnadenfeld near Grunthal, Manitoba, Canada, on 14 April 1931.[5] He grew up in Grunthal and attended high school at Mennonite Collegiate Institute in Gretna, Manitoba.[2] Thiessen graduated from the University of Manitoba, and received his PhD at the University of Marburg.[2]
Career
In addition to Plautdietsch writing, Thiessen wrote about Yiddish and translated numerous works, including Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince into Plautdietsch. Thiessen is perhaps most well known for his influential Plautdietsch language dictionary.[6] The 1977 edition of Thiessen's dictionary, published two years before Herman Rempel's dictionary, was the first published Plautdietsch dictionary, a language that had until then been primarily a spoken language. The dictionary has been expanded considerably in editions since then and been utilized by writers, such as Rudy Wiebe wishing to write, not just speak, in Plautdietsch.[7][8][9][5] In 2020, he collaborated with writer Andrew Unger in translating a popular The Daily Bonnet post into Plautdietsch.[10] He also wrote and published humorous Plautdietsch short stories about Mennonites, often collaborating with Al Reimer.
According to John Consadine, co-editor of Refractions of Germany in Canadian Literature and Culture, Thiessen's dedication to the study of Plautdietsch grew out of his desire to be a creative writer in the small language that was his mother tongue.[11] Thiessen was a professor of German Studies at the University of Winnipeg for many years.[12]
Thiessen was married to poet Audrey Poetker from 1991 until his death in 2022.[2] Along with Poetker, he translated Bern G. Langin's The Russian Germans Under the Double Eagle and the Soviet Star into English.[13] Since the 1990s, he lived in New Bothwell, Manitoba.[14] Thiessen died in Steinbach, Manitoba, on 9 October 2022, at the age of 91.[2]
