Justus Möser

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Justus Möser, painting by Ernst Gottlob, 1777, Gleimhaus Halberstadt
Justus Möser
Justus Möser grave slab, St. Marien, Osnabrück, 2009

Justus Möser (born December 14, 1720 in Osnabrück ; † January 8, 1794 ibid) was a German lawyer , statesman , man of letters and historian . His daughter is Jenny von Voigts .

Life

Möser grew up in Osnabrück, where his father was the office director, and after attending the Ratsgymnasium Osnabrück in Jena from 1740 and in Göttingen from 1742 studied law and the fine sciences . In 1743 he became secretary of the state estates in Osnabrück and established himself as a lawyer in 1744. His energetic demeanor against the arbitrariness of the governor of Osnabrück at that time attracted attention, so that he was appointed advocatus patriae (the state's lawyer in legal disputes). From 1755 he also represented the rights of knighthood as a syndic , in 1768 he became a secret trainee lawyer . Because of this position, he had a great deal of influence on all affairs of the Prince Diocese of Osnabrück until the end of his life . In 1743 he became a Privy Councilor of Justice . From 1763 he reigned for the Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück, Friedrich Duke of York, who was initially underage and later regularly residing abroad .

Möser's most important life's work is his legal work: after remnants of old Germanic life in the constitution and folk customs were more clearly preserved in the contemporary small Osnabrück region than elsewhere, he converted Germanic law into Roman law . Today's German legal system is based on his ideas.

Möser's literary work is also diverse: In numerous writings he expressed himself on politics , history , theater and literature and made an extremely important contribution to German intellectual history during the Enlightenment . As a “class poet”, he is remembered primarily for his “patriotic fantasies”. Lessing , Herder and Goethe found words of praise for the work of the publicist, whose political ideals included a free peasant and bourgeois class, secured in his property and participating in political life through self-administration (whose position he justified in his " stock theory ") . Goethe called him the "Patriarch of Osnabrück".

Möser attacked Johann Christoph Gottsched's stage reform and critically dealt with anacreontics . In 1781 he criticized the unilateral condemnation of German literature by Frederick II of Prussia. In his late work, Möser had come to Sturm und Drang .

As a publicist , Möser was nicknamed "Father of Folklore" because he had written countless articles on folklore and customs . In 1766 he founded the "Weekly Osnabrück Intelligence Papers", which he directed until 1782 and provided with contributions until 1792. From the essays written for this journal he put together a selection in 1774 under the overall title "Patriotic Fantasies". These essays are models of popular treatment of various topics, small treatises such as “Harlequin, or Defense of the Grotesque-Comical” or “On German Language and Literature”. Outstanding historical work in 1768 was his "Osnabrück History".

As a historian , he represented an organic view of history and turned against the tendencies of the Enlightenment, and later the French Revolution . Klaus W. Epstein characterized him as the personification of pre-revolutionary status quo conservatism . Möser influenced the development of German nationalism .

In his writings, Möser defines the state differently than his contemporaries. The state is not a territory, but a kind of stock corporation, each of which acquires part of land or money and in return gains participation and participation rights. A patriot is less the one who goes into battle for his country than the one who promotes its “flor” (blossom) in agriculture, trade and commerce.

His grave slab is in the church of St. Marien on the south side under the window of Johannes Schreiter . In 1836 his monument, created by Friedrich Drake , was erected on the cathedral courtyard in Osnabrück. Möser's birthplace is on the market, it was destroyed in World War II and has been rebuilt. Möser's house at Hakenstrasse 11, in which he spent the last 19 years of his life, stood on part of the property on which the evangelical school was built in 1902. In 1927 it was named Möser-Mittelschule .

Private

In 1746 he married Juliane Elisabeth Brouning, with whom he had the daughter Jenny and the son Johann Ernst Justus (* 1753; † 1773).

Afterlife

The “Justus Möser Society” was founded in 1987/88 with the aim of making Möser's life and work accessible to a broad, not only literary, public at home and abroad. The society is a section in the Association for History and Regional Studies of Osnabrück.

Since 1988 the “Justus Möser Documentation Center” at the University of Osnabrück has taken on the task of tracing the life and work of this important figure of the 18th century. This is where u. a. On the 200th anniversary of Möser's death, the exhibition “Patriotic Fantasies - Justus Möser 1720–1794. Enlightenment in the Estates Society ”, for which a catalog volume was published under the same title as well as a film portrait under the title“ The most similar thing one has from Möser ”.

In memory of Justus Möser's merits, the city of Osnabrück awards the Justus Möser Medal to people who have made outstanding contributions to Osnabrück or the region.

Friedrich Drake's monument in Osnabrück, 1836, unveiled

Students of the MINT-AG of the Möser-Realschule am Westerberg created a geocache in the school year 2012/2013 . The multi-cache leads through Justus Möser's interesting stations in Osnabrück - each with a small explanation and puzzles in the station description.

Since September 2015 the regional online newspaper Hasepost has published an article in the series “Möser's opinion” every week. In this, an unknown author under the pseudonym Justus Möser expresses his opinion on current topics from Osnabrück.

monument

Through the mediation of the sculptor Christian Daniel Rauch , the still young sculptor Friedrich Drake received the order from the “Möser Association” to create a colossal statue of Justus Möser for Osnabrück. The monument was ceremoniously unveiled on September 12, 1836 on the Great Cathedral Freedom .

Squares, streets, paths and buildings

In 2002, the city of Bramsche honored Möser's services to cloth-making by naming a square and a path after his name.

Works

new increased and improved edition (in 2 parts): Nicolai, Berlin / Stettin 1780 ( digitized ); 3rd part (from the estate): Nicolai, Berlin / Stettin 1819 ( digitized ).

literature

  • Möser, Justus . In: Joachim Rückert and Jürgen Vortmann (eds.): Lower Saxony lawyers . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003, pp. 64–73.
  • Ludwig Bäte : Justus Möser, advocatus patriae . Athenaeum, Frankfurt 1961.
  • Hermann Bausinger : Justus Moser. 1977 ( full text ).
  • Peter Berghaus : Numismatist in portrait, 26: Justus Möser. In: Monetary History News . No. 164, November 1994, pp. 280-286.
  • Holger Böning (Ed.): Justus Möser. Advocate of Practical Reason. The Enlightenment, journalist and intelligence paper publisher , edition lumière, Bremen 2017 (= press and history , volume 110), ISBN 978-3-943245-76-9 .
  • Henning Buck (Ed.): Patriotic Fantasies. Rasch, Bramsche 1994, ISBN 3-930595-00-1 (exhibition catalog).
  • Eberhard Crusius : Justus Möser. In: Heinz Ludwig Arnold : Kindlers Literature Lexicon. 3rd, completely revised edition. 18 volumes. Stuttgart, Metzler 2009, ISBN 978-3-476-04000-8 , Vol. 11, pp. 527-530.
  • Stefan Efler: The influence of Justus Möser on the poetic work of Goethe. Wehrhahn, Laatzen 1999, ISBN 3-932324-76-5 .
  • Klaus Epstein : The Origins of Conservatism in Germany. Propylaea, Berlin 1973, ISBN 3-550-07288-0 , Chapter 6: The starting point: The challenge posed by the French Revolution 1770-1806.
  • Thorsten Heese, Martin Siemsen (eds.): Justus Möser 1720–1794. Enlightener, statesman, man of letters (= Osnabrück cultural monuments. Volume 14). Rasch, Bramsche 2013, ISBN 978-3-89946-196-1 .
  • Heinrich Kanz: Justus Möser's humane realism. Education analysis in the first enlightenment. Henn, Wuppertal 1971.
  • Peter Klassen : German statecraft and national education. Selected writings by Justus Möser. (= Dieterich Collection. Vol. 3). Dieterich, Leipzig around 1938.
  • Ulrich Locher: Justus Möser and the theater. A contribution to theory and practice in 18th century German theater. Osnabrück 1967, ISBN 3-87898-019-1 .
  • Joseph Riehemann : The humor in Justus Möser's works . 1902.
  • Wolfgang Rother : Justus Möser . In: Helmut Holzhey , Vilem Mudroch (Ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy, The philosophy of the 18th century , Vol. 5: Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, Switzerland, Northern and Eastern Europe . Schwabe, Basel 2014, pp. 668–672 (literature: pp. 709–710), ISBN 978-3-7965-2631-2 .
  • Jan Schröder: Justus Möser as a lawyer. On political and legal theory in the “Patriotic Fantasies” and in the “Osnabrück History” (= Osnabrück juridical treatises. Vol. 5). Heymanns, Cologne 1986.
  • Volker Sellin : Justus Möser. In: Hans-Ulrich Wehler : German historians. Vol. IX. Vandenhoeck u. Ruprecht, Göttingen 1982, ISBN 3-525-33474-5 , pp. 23-41.
  • William F. Sheldon:  Möser, Justus. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 17, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-428-00198-2 , pp. 687-689 ( digitized version ).
  • Martin Siemsen / Thomas Vogtherr (eds.): Justus Möser in context. Contributions from two decades , self-published by the Association for History and Regional Studies of Osnabrück, Osnabrück 2015 (= Möser Studies , Volume 2), ISBN 978-3-9813796-7-9 .
  • Renate Stauf: Justus Möser's concept of a German national identity. With a view of Goethe. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1991, ISBN 3-484-18114-1 .
  • Franz Xaver von Wegele :  Möser, Justus . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 22, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1885, pp. 385-390.
  • Karl HL Welker: Legal history as legal policy. Justus Möser as a lawyer and statesman. 2 volumes. Association for History and Regional Studies of Osnabrück, Osnabrück 1996, ISBN 3-9803412-6-7 .

Web links

Commons : Justus Möser  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Justus Möser  - Quotes
Wikisource: Justus Möser  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ludwig Ready: "In the evening on the Helikon". Poets and their professions from Lessing to Kafka , Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1996, ISBN 3-534-12692-0 , p. 11.
  2. ↑ Klaus Epstein: The origins of conservatism in Germany. The starting point: the challenge posed by the French Revolution 1770–1806 . Propylaen-Verlag, Berlin 1973, ISBN 3-550-07288-0 .
  3. ↑ knerger.de: Justus Möser's grave
  4. ↑ Brochure from the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Center, Osnabrück
  5. ↑ https://repositorium.ub.uni-osnabrueck.de/handle/urn:nbn:de:gbv:700-201006306370
  6. ↑ https://vimeo.com/322825755
  7. ↑ Geocache> - On the trail of Justus Möser
  8. ^ Möser's opinion. In: hasepost.de. September 25, 2015, accessed June 11, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Möser, Justus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer and politician
DATE OF BIRTH December 14, 1720
PLACE OF BIRTH Osnabrück
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1794
Place of death Osnabrück