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Memorials in the Toggenburg:

Perhaps the most important artefact of Bräker's life was the self-built house in Wattwil, which may well have expressed much of his artistic heart and soul. It is very unfortunate that it was burned to the ground in 1836. His birthplace at Näbis, and the childhood home at Dreyschlatt survive, but Wattwil was his home.

The art of Willy Fries:

Conversely, however, one artist has chosen to include in his works a memorial to Bräker's life and spirit."Der arme Mann: eine Bildfolge" [The Poor Man: a series of pictures.] Text von Ulrich Bräker. Zürich, Leipzig, Stuttgart, Wien: Rascher Verlag, [no date]. The text consists of extracts from Bräker's autobiography, the pictures follow the text closely in the artist's imagination rather than in historical research. The use of elaborate gothic type suggests publication early in the 20th century or (more probably) publication in a formal setting such as an exhibition catalogue.

A similar publication: "Die Fresken zum Leben des armen Mannes" [The Frescos on the life of The Poor Man]. Von Willy Fries. Zürich: Rascher, 1954, show the three fresco paintings by Fries which were erected in the civic offices [Vorhälle des Verwaltungsgebäudes] in 1952-53. Details of the three frescos are also shown. The introductory text is by Samuel Voellmy. He refers to an earlier monument of 1921, in the form of a large block of granite on the same site, but though referring to it as "ein würdiges Erinnerungszeichen" [a worthy sign of remembrance], he does not describe it further.

The three frescos are titled "Hochzeit" [wedding], "Kummerfieber" and "Erfüllung". The text implies that they are symbolic pictures of Bräker's sorrows and joys. In the first he lies in bed wakeful and distressed while people carry his possessions out of his home. In "Erfüllung" he is shown as re-living his youth and writing it into a book.

Voellmy's contribution appears to be mainly extracts from Bräker, but without references it is hard to be sure. There is also an account of how fresco painting is done, and a short bibliography (none of it in English).

Commemorations:

Perhaps the best evidence that Bräker is still remembered, both as an author and as an ordinary man, is the commemoration of the bicentenary of his death, in 1998. He was judged worthy of an exhibition held in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, but besides including archives from Prussia there was also material from St. Gallen. What counts, however, is commemoration in the Toggenburg itself.

Some regional newspapers carried literary interviews at this time. Karl Pestalozzi, professor of Modern German literature in Basel, points out the parallels between the progress of the Revolution and the changes in Bräker's own attitudes, presenting him as a representative of his time, yet adds that his writings are not typical of Switzerland because he is using them to dissect and reflect on his own experience, a process more typical of the Enlightenment in general than of Switzerland in particular, and one which goes against Füssli's attempts to retain him as a son of Nature. The interviewer mentions a staging of his play "Die Gerichtsnacht" in Lichtensteig, with "Bräker bread and cheese" being offered in the market. Pestalozzi agrees that this shows the need to identify Bräker with his homeland, which is not over-endowed with eminent figures, but at the same time rather belongs to the first stage of world literature. By staging this play the Globe Theatre completes the process of "bringing the world to Lichtensteig".

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