August Theodor von Grimm

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Tomb with portrait bust

August Theodor von Grimm (born December 25, 1805 in Stadtilm ; † October 28, 1878 in Wiesbaden ) was a German educator , writer , musician and Russian state councilor who served the Russian tsars .

Life

August Theodor von Grimm was born the son of a master tailor and grew up in Arnstadt in Thuringia . He attended the local high school. In 1823 he moved to the University of Jena , where he initially devoted himself to medicine , but then turned to studying philosophy and history . After he had completed his studies in Halle and Berlin , he went to an uncle in Saint Petersburg in 1827 , where he mainly studied French, English and Russian language and worked for several years as a teacher at an educational institution. After accompanying Countess Wielhorsky on a trip to Germany , France , Italy and Switzerland in 1832 , he immersed himself in Rome for a while in the study of classical antiquities. In 1833 he returned to Petersburg and visited in 1834 with the son of the future Russian Chancellor, Count Nesselrode , the larger courts of Germany as well as London , Paris , Madrid and Lisbon .

After his return to Russia in 1835, Grimm was appointed director of studies . In this position he was in the service of Emperor Nicholas I and led the education of Grand Duke Constantine from 1835 and the lessons of Grand Duchess Alexandra and her two sisters from 1838 . From 1845 to 1847 he accompanied the Grand Duke Constantine on extensive journeys. Grimm visited all of European Russia and the Caucasian countries, stayed for a long time in Constantinople , then toured Syria and Greece , where he studied Greek antiquity for a longer period, and finally made a detour to Algeria . With the marriage of Grand Duke Constantine in 1847, Grimm's function as director of studies ended. At that time, the emperor appointed him Councilor of State with the title of excellence and awarded him the Commander's Cross of the Order of Vladimir, which was linked to his elevation to the hereditary nobility of the empire. From then on he was allowed to call himself von Grimm as a State Councilor . Then he took over the education of the younger Grand Dukes Nikolai and Michael until 1852 .

At the end of 1852 Grimm withdrew to Dresden for reasons of health , where he published, among other things, his migrations to the southeast (3 vols., Berlin 1855–57). In 1858 he went back to Petersburg and took over the education of the children of Emperor Alexander II. Since he led them in a European spirit, he came into conflict with the Russian national court party. The confusion increased when he wrote the novel The Princess of the Seventh Werst (Petersburg 1858; German, 2nd edition, 2 vol., Leipzig 1861), in which he described the Russian situation, especially the Petersburg nobility, excellently. The title of the novel was derived from the custom in Petersburg of designating a famous psychiatric clinic near Petersburg with the seventh werst of the Peterhofer Weg .

After the death of the Empress-mother Alexandra Feodorovna (November 1, 1860), Grimm took his dismissal as an educator and moved to Berlin, where he wrote a more comprehensive work on the deceased under the title Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia (2nd edition, 2 vols., Leipzig 1866). He later moved to Wiesbaden, where he died on October 28, 1878 at the age of 72. He was buried in the Russian cemetery on the Neroberg in Wiesbaden.

Works

  • August Theodor von Grimm: Alexandra Feodorowna: Empress of Russia. Volume 1-2, p. 289 ( digitized version ).

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Grimm, August Theodor von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pedagogue, writer, musician and Russian State Councilor who served the Russian tsars
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1805
PLACE OF BIRTH Stadtilm
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1878
Place of death Wiesbaden