Helmut Hirsch (historian)

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Helmut Hirsch (born September 2, 1907 in Barmen ; † January 21, 2009 in Düsseldorf ) was a German historian and author .

Life

Helmut Hirsch belonged to the Jewish hiking association Blau-Weiß in Elberfeld for a time . From 1928 he studied theater studies in Munich , then newspaper studies in Berlin in 1929 , philosophy in Bonn in 1930, and art history and newspaper studies in Leipzig from 1930 to 1932 . For political reasons, Hirsch could no longer submit his dissertation on Karl Friedrich Köppen . His studies he broke 1933 off - after the seizure of power of the Nazis - and fled to what was then Saar . His first wife Eva Buntenbroich-Hirsch followed him. The result of the Saar vote finally led the couple to flee across the border near Strasbourg to France in 1935 . In Paris, Hirsch worked as a journalist for the weekly Westland and from 1936 for the branch of the International Institute for Social History (IISG). He also used the pseudonym H. Bichette at this time . In 1938 Hirsch became editor of Ordo magazine . At the same time he was active - together with Rudolf Leonhard and Maximilian Scheer - in the Paris Action Committee for Freedom in Germany . In 1938 he became secretary of the "Comité Juif d'Etudes Politiques."

As a German refugee he was interned in 1939 , but drafted into the French army a year later. Thanks to an emergency visa that Hubertus Prince zu Löwenstein had obtained, the Hirsch couple managed to escape to New York on June 21, 1941 . Helmut Hirsch began his American exile as a warehouse worker in Chicago . He continued the studies he had started in Germany in 1942 at the University of Chicago and completed it in 1945 with a Ph.D. in the subjects of history and German studies. He then taught European history from 1945 to 1957 at Roosevelt College , which he co-founded in Chicago , later Roosevelt University , where he received the title of Associate Professor .

In 1957 Helmut Hirsch returned to Germany. With the help of Johannes Rau's advocacy , Helmut Hirsch was able to take on teaching positions from 1958 to 1971 at the Düsseldorf Administration and Business Academy. From 1972 to 1977 Hirsch taught as an honorary professor of political science at the Duisburg University . Hirsch was a member of the PEN Center Germany . Hirsch suffered from cataracts since 1993 . On his 100th birthday, the city of his birth honored him with a reception. Shortly afterwards he became seriously ill and died on January 21, 2009 in his Düsseldorf apartment at Kleiansring 48. His wife Marianne died on February 22, 2010 in Düsseldorf.

Much of the written estate is now in the Leo Baeck Institute , New York.

Honors

Fonts (selection)

Helmut Hirsch published important works primarily on German social history as well as a large number of biographies :

  • Karl Friedrich Köppen - Marx's most intimate friend in Berlin . In: IISG (Ed.): International Review of Social History, Issue 1, Leiden 1936 (version of the dissertation not submitted in Germany).
  • Marx i Paris . In: Metalarbetaren 1938. No. 19.
  • Early days in West Belleville, Illinois . In: American-German Review . June 1943.
  • Mesmerism and revolutionary America . In: American-German Review . October 1943.
  • Theodor Erasmus Hilgard , Ambassador of Americanism . In: Journal of the Illinois State History Society . June 1944.
  • Jean Jaurès as historian , Laramie (Wyoming), 1944.
  • The History of the Saar Territory . Dissertation at the University of Chicago, 1945.
  • America, you dawn. Verses of a Refugee (1939-1942) . Willard, New York 1947.
  • Marx and the religious opium . In: Spirit and Action . August 1950.
  • The two Hilgards. A biographical contribution to the history of the forty-eight revolution and German-Americanism , Karlsruhe (?) 1950.
  • Karl Marx as a publicist . In: Contributions to newspaper science. Ceremony for Karl d'Ester on the 70th birthday of his friends and students, Münster: Aschendorff 1952, pp. 143–150.
  • The Saar in Versailles. The Saar question at the peace conference of 1919 . Röhrscheid, Bonn 1952.
  • The Saar from Geneva. The Saar question during the League of Nations regime from 1920–1935 . Röhrscheid, Bonn 1954.
  • Thinker and fighter. Collected contributions to the history of the labor movement . European Publishing House, Frankfurt / Main 1955.
  • Anne Henecka - sculptor , Wuppertal 1959.
  • Ferdinand Lassalle . A selection for our time . Schünemann, Bremen 1963.
  • Eduard Bernstein. A revisionist image of socialism. Three lectures . JHW Dietz Verlag Nachf., Hanover 1966.
  • Friedrich Engels in personal testimonies and photo documents . (Dedicated to Maximilian Rubel). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1968 ISBN 3-499-50142-2 .
  • August Bebel . His life in documents, speeches and writings . With a foreword by Willy Brandt . Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Cologne 1968.
  • Rosa Luxemburg with testimonials and photo documents . (Dedicated to Paul Frölich and Peter Nettl). Rowohlt, Reinbek 1969 ISBN 3-499-50158-9 .
  • Eduard Bernstein's correspondence with Friedrich Engels . Van Gorcum, Assen 1970 ISBN 90-232-0715-7 .
  • Helmut Hirsch (Ed.): Profiles. Friedrich Engels. A selection from his works and letters . With a foreword by Johannes Rau . Hammer, Wuppertal-Barmen 1970.
  • Teachers make history. The Institute for Education and the International Textbook Institute . A contribution to continuity research . Henn, Ratingen 1971.
  • Experiment in Democracy. On the history of the Weimar Republic . Hammer, Wuppertal 1972.
  • August Bebel. Pioneer of our time . News Office, Cologne 1973.
  • Moses Hess . Champions of freedom . News office, Cologne 1975.
  • Karl Ludwig Bernays and the expectation of the revolution before 1848 - depicted in the Praslin murder . Trier 1976 Writings from the Karl-Marx-Haus issue 17.
  • Robert Blum . Martyrs of freedom . Cologne Biographies Vol. 8th News Office, Cologne 1977.
  • The "Fabier" Eduard Bernstein. On the history of the development of evolutionary socialism . Dietz, Berlin 1977.
  • Freedom-loving Rhinelander. New contributions to German social history . Karl Ludwig Bernays, Friedrich Albert Lange , Ferdinand Lassalle, Moses Hess, August Bebel, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Carl Heinrich Marx, Robert Blum . Econ, Düsseldorf 1977.
  • Marx and Moses. Karl Marx on the "Jewish question" and on Jews. Peter Lang, Frankfurt a. M., Bern, Cirencester / UK 1980 ( Johann Maier (Ed.): Judentum und Umwelt 2).
  • Sophie von Hatzfeldt in personal testimonies, time and photo documents . Schwann, Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 3-590-34101-7 .
  • Helmut Hirsch, Hans Pelger: An unpublished letter from Karl Marx to Sophie von Hatzfeldt. About the argument with Karl Blind after Ferdinand Lassalle's death . Trier 1983 (writings from the Karl-Marx-Haus issue 27).
  • American aspects in the life and work of Karl Marx. Lecture in the house of the Corps Palatia in Bonn on May 3, 1983 . Edited by Herman Lohausen. Kalkumer Verlag, Düsseldorf 1986.
  • Bettine von Arnim with personal testimonials and photo documents . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1987.
  • Siegfried Thalheimer and the "Düsseldorfer Lokal-Zeitung". An emigration and remigration study . In: Düsseldorfer Jahrbuch . 63 (1991) pp. 167-186.
  • Helmut Hirsch, Marianne Hirsch: Not just the woman at Carl Schurz 's side. Margarethe Meyer-Schurz . o. O. 1993.
  • Uncle Sam's cabin. Autobiographical thread from an asylum seeker in the USA . (Preface: Lev Kopelev ). Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 1994 ISBN 3-929031-55-8 .
  • Friend of Heine, Marx, Engels and Lincoln. A biography of Karl Ludwig Bernays. With a genealogy of the Bernays family by Marianne Hirsch and René Loeb and an afterword by Lars Lambrecht . Peter Lang, Frankfurt / Main 2002 (Research on Young Hegelianism 6) ISBN 3-631-34695-6 .

literature

  • Horst Schallenberger, Helmut Schrey (eds.): In countercurrent. Helmut Hirsch 70th . Hammer, Wuppertal 1977.
  • Bibliography Prof. Dr. Helmut Hirsch In: International Yearbook of the Bettina-von-Armin-Society 2. Festschrift for Prof. Dr. Helmut Hirsch . Saint Albin Verlag, Berlin 1988 ISBN 3-930293-02-1 , pp. 47-74.
  • Volker Külow : Awarding of the doctoral certificate to Prof. Dr. Helmut Hirsch . In: Marx-Engels research reports, 6th ed. By Manfred Neuhaus . Karl Marx University Leipzig, Leipzig 1990, pp. 181-183.
  • Albert HV Kraus: “Freedom is indivisible!” The historian Helmut Hirsch. Path and work of a German emigrant against the backdrop of the 20th century . Self-published, Marpingen 2004, ISBN 3-00-012556-6 .
  • Fritz Schmidt: The men on the other side are threatened with murder. Case studies on the threat and murder of young people on the move in the Third Reich: Karl Lämmermann and Günther Wolff in connection with June 30, 1934, Helmut Hirsch and Gerhard Lascheit . Achims Verlag, Edermünde 2005 ISBN 3-932435-12-5 .
  • Mario Keßler : A confessor - the historian Helmut Hirsch 100 years old . In: New newsletter from the Society for Exile Research, Bonn , No. 30, December 2007, p. 11 f.
  • Martin Hundt : Also a Marx-Engels researcher. A few words about Helmut Hirsch (1907–2009) . In: On the arduous search and the happy finding . In memoriam of Prof. Dr. Heinrich Gemkow . Part IV. Berlin 2018, pp. 40–46. (= Pankower lectures booklet 218).

source

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Albert HV Kraus: “Freedom is indivisible!” The historian Helmut Hirsch. Path and work of a German emigrant against the backdrop of the 20th century . Self-published, Marpingen 2004, p. 35.
  2. ^ Letter from Helmut Hirsch dated March 14, 1993 (privately owned).
  3. ↑ Center for Jewish History: Guide to the Papers of Helmut Hirsch (1907–2009) (accessed June 16, 2014)
  4. ^ Announcement of awards of the Saarland Order of Merit . In: Head of the State Chancellery (Ed.): Official Gazette of the Saarland . No. 38 . Saarbrücker Zeitung Verlag und Druckerei GmbH, Saarbrücken November 12, 1980, p. 986 ( uni-saarland.de [PDF; 230 kB ; accessed on May 30, 2017]).
  5. ↑ Merit holders since 1986. State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, accessed on March 11, 2017 .
  6. ^ Cantador Medal of the Düsseldorf Society for Legal History
personal data
SURNAME Hirsch, Helmut
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bichette, H. (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian and author
DATE OF BIRTH September 2, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Barmen , North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany
DATE OF DEATH January 21, 2009
Place of death Düsseldorf , North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany