Fritz Taeger

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Johann August Heinrich Friedrich Taeger (born January 1, 1894 in Altendorf b. Osten ; † August 15, 1960 in Marburg ) was a German ancient historian .

Live and act

The son of a conservative family of country teachers attended high school in Cuxhaven and passed his Abitur there in 1913. In the summer semester of 1913 he began studying classical philology and history at the University of Tübingen with Ernst Kornemann for two semesters . At the beginning of the First World War , Taeger volunteered for military service. He served as a soldier in Poland, northern France and Belgium. He was promoted to company commander. Taeger received numerous awards during the war, but was wounded several times. In 1915 he became a lieutenant in the reserve. He returned to Tübingen from the war in 1919, suffering from gas poisoning and suffering from lung disease. He continued his studies in Tübingen, Hamburg and Göttingen. He was particularly influenced by Wilhelm Weber . He made friends with the Catholic Joseph Vogt and the Jewish ancient scholar Victor Ehrenberg . He rejected the Weimar Republic because it meant "instead of healthy political leadership of the nation, the struggle of all against all". His financial situation remained tense for most of the twenties. As early as 1920 he received his doctorate with the work Investigation of the Further Effects of the 6th Book of Polybius in Greco-Roman Literature . In 1925 he completed his habilitation with Ernst Fabricius in Freiburg with a thesis on Thucydides , which was particularly criticized by the classical philologist Eduard Schwartz . Almost at the same time, a controversial biography of Alkibiades appeared , which also provoked massive criticism. This was followed by substitute professorships in Freiburg (1926) and Tübingen (1929/1930). In 1930 he was offered the chair for ancient history at the University of Giessen . In 1934/35 he was dean of the Philosophical Faculty in Giessen. In 1935 he succeeded Anton von Premerstein as Professor of Ancient History at the University of Marburg . There he was dean in 1938/41. Perhaps his most important student was the later ancient historian Alexander Demandt .

In the 1930s, Taeger began a series of special studies on the subject of charisma, from the charismatic ideas of Herodotus to their development under Alexander the Great and in the Hellenistic monarchies to the Roman imperial cult and the late antiquity of Christianity and Gnosis with this phenomenon. His two-volume work Das Altertum. History and shape is the only overall representation with a scientific claim in National Socialist Germany. It had six editions by 1958. He belonged to the Nazi Lecturer Association , the Nazi Teachers Association , the National Socialist Altherrenbund , the Reichskolonialbund and the National Socialist People's Welfare . On May 1, 1937, he joined the NSDAP .

During the Second World War and in the post-war period, he submitted smaller communication papers, mainly for existential reasons. His denazification process remained ambiguous. He was banned from teaching by the American military government on November 26, 1945, but with the support of an American university officer and following a procedure by the Marburg Chamber of Arbitration, he was classified as a “non-incriminated person”. But the Hessian minister for culture and education did not allow him to resume teaching until June 3, 1948. On June 8th he was reappointed to his old chair.

In 1957 the two-volume presentation Charisma appeared. Studies on the history of the ancient ruler cult his most important scientific work. For Taeger, two manifestations had priority in this investigation, one of which saw in the ruler the incarnate God , the other only the bearer of charism, divine grace and power.

Discussion about Taeger's role in National Socialism

In the obituaries of Fritz Taeger, problematic aspects of his work under National Socialism were passed over in silence, according to Matthias Willing. Taeger's printed speech The Roman Empire and the British Empire of 1940 was placed on the list of literature to be segregated in the Soviet occupation zone . The assessment of Taeger's relationship to National Socialism fluctuates in research between active Nazi representatives and innocent old historians. According to his Marburg successor, Karl Christ , Taeger retained “extensive independence” from National Socialism . Beat Näf (1986) contradicted the thesis that Taeger could not be counted among the scholars under the direct spell of National Socialism. There were numerous Nazi ideologems in Taeger's work. According to Ursula Wolf (1996) Taeger did not reject National Socialism. No evidence of distancing from the Third Reich could be found in the sources. According to Matthias Willing (2012) “a mixture of philological source work, traditional historical concepts and the adoption of National Socialist topoi ” can be proven in Taeger's works .

Fonts (selection)

  • Antiquity: History and Shape of the Mediterranean World. 2 volumes. 6th edition, Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1958.
  • Charisma: Studies on the history of the ancient ruler's cult. 2 volumes. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1957 and 1960.
  • Ancient culture. Schaffstein, Cologne 1949.
  • Studies on Roman history and source studies: Tiberius Gracchus. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1928.
  • Thucydides. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1925.
  • Alcibiades. Perthes, Stuttgart et al. 1925.

literature

  • Joseph Vogt : Fritz Taeger † In: Gnomon. Vol. 32 (1960) pp. 677-679.
  • Friedrich Vittinghoff : Fritz Taeger. In: Historical magazine. 162: 790-791 (1961).
  • Karl Christ : Fritz Taeger (1894–1960), ancient historian. In: Ingeborg Schnack (Hrsg.): Marburg scholars in the first half of the 20th century (= life pictures from Hesse. Vol. 1 = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 35.1). Elwert, Marburg 1977, ISBN 3-7708-0568-2 , pp. 544-552.
  • Inge Auerbach: Catalogus professorum academiae Marburgensis. Vol. 2: From 1911 to 1971 (= publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 15.2). Ellwert, Marburg 1979, pp. 618-619
  • Ursula Wolf: Litteris et patriae. The Janus face of history (= Frankfurt historical treatises. Vol. 37). Steiner, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-515-06875-9 , pp. 204-236.
  • Karl Christ: Hellas. Greek history and German history. Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-45312-0 , pp. 255-268.
  • Karl Christ: Klio's changes. The German ancient history from neo-humanism to the present. Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54181-X , pp. 77-82.
  • Jörg-Peter Jatho, Gerd Simon: Giessen historian in the Third Reich. Focus Verlag, Giessen 2008, ISBN 978-3-88349-522-4 , pp. 40-46.
  • Matthias Willing: The molting of an ancient historian. The image of Fritz Taeger (1894–1960) in the history of science. In: Journal of History. Vol. 67, 2019, pp. 1011-1030.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Matthias Willing: Skinning of an ancient historian. The image of Fritz Taeger (1894–1960) in the history of science. In: Journal of History. Vol. 67, 2019, pp. 1011-1030, here: p. 1030.
  2. ↑ See the review by Eduard Schwartz in: Gnomon 2, 1926, 65–82.
  3. ↑ See the review by Ernst Hohl in: Historische Zeitschrift 135, 1927, p. 315 f.
  4. ↑ Karl Christ: Hellas. Greek history and German history. Munich 1999, pp. 255–268, here: p. 257.
  5. ^ Fritz Taeger: The antiquity. History and shape of the Mediterranean world. 6th edition Stuttgart 1958.
  6. ^ Matthias Willing: Skinning of an ancient historian. The image of Fritz Taeger (1894–1960) in the history of science. In: Journal of History. Vol. 67, 2019, pp. 1011-1030, here: p. 1030.
  7. ^ Jörg-Peter Jatho, Gerd Simon: Gießener Historiker in the Third Reich. Giessen 2008, p. 40.
  8. ^ Spruchkammer Marburg, Mst. 1157/46.
  9. ^ Karl Christ: Klios Wandlungen: the German ancient history from neo-humanism to the present. Munich 2006, p. 80.
  10. ^ Matthias Willing: Skinning of an ancient historian. The image of Fritz Taeger (1894–1960) in the history of science. In: Journal of History. Vol. 67, 2019, pp. 1011-1030, here: p. 1016.
  11. ^ Matthias Willing: Skinning of an ancient historian. The image of Fritz Taeger (1894–1960) in the history of science. In: Journal of History. Vol. 67, 2019, pp. 1011-1030, here: p. 1011.
  12. ^ Karl Christ: Roman history and history of science. Darmstadt 1983, p. 205.
  13. ↑ Beat Näf: From Pericles to Hitler? The Athenian democracy and the German ancient history up to 1945. Bern et al. 1986, pp. 210–221.
  14. ↑ Ursula Wolf: Litteris et patriae. The Janus face of history. Stuttgart 1996, p. 228.
  15. ^ Matthias Willing: Skinning of an ancient historian. The image of Fritz Taeger (1894–1960) in the history of science. In: Journal of History. Vol. 67, 2019, pp. 1011-1030, here: p. 1020.
personal data
SURNAME Taeger, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Taeger, Friedrich; Tager, Johann August Heinrich Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German ancient historian
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1894
PLACE OF BIRTH Altendorf b. east
DATE OF DEATH August 15, 1960
Place of death Marburg