Christian fairy tales by Richard Volkmann: universal values and national and cultural identity (for the 195th anniversary of the doctor and writer)

The article analyzes the Christian fairy tales of the German physician, writer of the XIX century Richard Volkmann. A brief description of his great and undeniable contribution to medicine is given, the discoveries and ideas of which, the proposed designs of instruments, tires, and treatment methods do not lose their relevance today. But the main place is devoted to the study of his literary work, namely Christian fairy tales, in which universal values are indicated – kindness, love, faith, honesty, courage, fortitude.With the universality of Christian values, the German cultural identity is clearly traced in fairy tales, which in some cases is compared with the Russian one. National and cultural identity can be traced in the culture of everyday life (household items, clothes), festive culture (including farcical, circus), traditions and fashion, financial culture, floral component, culture of identification (personal and proper names), food culture, culture of space and national character. In some cases, the historical context is shown, designed to show how certain events affected the plot.