Leo Just

Grave of Leo Just in the main cemetery in Mainz

Franz Dionys Leo Just (born October 4, 1901 in Bonn ; † May 20, 1964 in Mainz ) was a German historian and professor at the Universities of Bonn and Mainz.

Live and act

Franz Dionys Leo Just was born the son of a dentist . He grew up in Sinzig am Rhein, attended elementary school there from 1907 to 1912 and attended the state humanistic Kaiser Wilhelm High School in Cologne from 1912 to 1921 . After graduating from high school, Easter 1921, Just studied German philology, history and philosophy at the University of Cologne in 1921/22 and medicine and history at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn in 1922/23 . In 1923 Just was back at the University of Cologne. There he was significantly influenced by the Germanist Ernst Bertram and the historians Justus Hashagen and Martin Spahn . He received his doctorate at Hashagen on July 19, 1924.

A grant from the Görres Society to publish the writings of Joseph Görres , various grants from the Notgemeinschaft für die Deutsche Wissenschaft (later the German Research Foundation ) and an assistant position at the Prussian Historical Institute in Rome (later the German Historical Institute Rome ) 1929–1933 made it possible him, himself u. a. to deal with studies on the history of the imperial church in the early modern period in the Vatican Secret Archives .

His habilitation in Bonn, planned for 1933, was delayed because the award of the “ Venia legendi ” was separated from the actual habilitation process and was reserved for the Prussian and Reich Ministry of Science, Education and National Education . Only after visiting the military sports camp in Zossen south of Berlin and the lecturers' academy in Kitzeberg near Kiel did he receive the Venia legendi in 1934. Applications for chairs at the Lyceum Hosianum in Braunsberg ( East Prussia ) (1936), in Würzburg (1936), Freiburg im Breisgau ( 1938 ), Innsbruck (1938) and Tübingen (1939) followed, all of which failed - partly because Just zu was not (yet) a member of the NSDAP or any other Nazi organization at the time and, as a former member of the Center Party , was considered close to church circles.

In 1941 Just was drafted into the Wehrmacht and until 1942 belonged to the 1st substitute interpreter department in Berlin (Moabit). Repeatedly just tried to get a job as a visiting professor at the University of Brussels , but this was denied to him by the military replacement inspection in Cologne. In 1941/42 he worked in the Propaganda Ministry. In 1942/43 Just was mediated by Franz Petri as a language mediator for French in a special leadership position (Z) with the military commander in Belgium and northern France . Just gave lectures for German students at the University of Brussels, later at the University of Ghent , and participated in the exhibition “German Size” organized by Franz Petri and the Württemberg ministerial advisor Eugen Löffler .

After the Second World War, Just taught in Bonn for a year after a university examination board had confirmed that Just had remained unaffected in his scientific work by National Socialist thought and had only formally become party member in order not to lose the Venia legendi.

In 1946 he was surprisingly appointed full professor and founding dean of the Philosophical Faculty of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz . He contributed to the appointment of the historians Eugen Ewig and Theodor Schieffer to Mainz; He tried in vain to bring the art historian Heinrich Lützeler to Mainz. Along with Otto Brandt and Arnold Oskar Meyer, Just was co-editor of the “Handbook of German History”, which has been published since the late 1930s. Because of a bone cancer disease, Just had only been able to cope with stress as a university professor to a limited extent since 1959. When he died, he left a wife and five children.

Dieter Albrecht became the successor to his professorship .

Fonts

(Selection)

• Clemens Brentano. On the 80th anniversary of the Rhenish master's death (= Rhenish leaflets. Vol. 1). Gehly, Cologne 1923.
• as editor: Franz von Lassaulx: Die Nacht. The participants in the cantata assembly on May 10, 1925 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Leipzig Stock Exchange Association of German Booksellers. Gehly, Cologne 1925.
• Franz von Lassaulx. A piece of Rhenish life and educational history in the age of the great revolution and Napoleon (= Studies on Rhenish History. Issue 12, ZDB -ID 525359-7 ). A. Marcus & E. Weber, Bonn 1926, (Partly at the same time: Dissertation, University of Cologne, 1924).
• The Archdiocese of Trier and the Luxembourg ecclesiastical policy from Philip II to Joseph II. Represented and explained in documents (= The Imperial Church. From the Council of Trent to the dissolution of the empire. Representations and sources on its internal history. Vol. 1). Hiersemann, Leipzig 1931.
• Clement XI. and the code Léopold (1701-1710). The curial politics in the struggle with the Lorraine state church at the beginning of the 18th century (= writings of the Scientific Institute of the Alsace-Lorraine in the Reich at the University of Frankfurt. New series No. 14, ZDB -ID 402377-8 ). Alsace-Lorraine Institute, Frankfurt am Main 1935.
• France and the Empire through the centuries. Four lectures (= war lectures of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn am Rhein . Issue 2, ZDB -ID 966203-0 ). Scheur, Bonn 1940 (2nd edition, ibid 1940).
• The House of Savoy and Italy's Rise. A historical review (= war lectures of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn am Rhein. Issue 19). Scheur, Bonn 1940.
• The spiritual battle for the Rhine (= war lectures of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, Bonn am Rhein. Issue 36). Scheur, Bonn 1941.
• Around the western border of the old empire. Lectures and essays. Staufen-Verlag, Cologne 1941.
• as editor: Georg Forster : Travel letters from the Netherlands 1790. De Lage Landen, Brussels 1943.
• Enlightened absolutism. Athenaion Hachfeld, Konstanz 1952, (first published in: Brandt-Meyer-Just: Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte. Vol. 2, Section 4).
• as editor: Joseph Görres : Spiritual history and literary writings. Volume 2: (1808-1817) (= Joseph Görres: Gesammelte Schriften. Vol. 4). Bachem, Cologne 1955.
• The old University of Mainz from 1477 to 1798. An overview. With an appendix: Sources on the history of the university in the period after the Restoration of 1784 (= contributions to the history of the University of Mainz. Vol. 4, ISSN  0408-8379 ). Steiner, Wiesbaden 1957.
• The revocation of Febronius in the correspondence of Abbé Franz Heinrich Beck with the Viennese nuncio Giuseppe Garampi (= contributions to the history of the imperial church in modern times. Issue 3, ISSN  0408-8344 ). Steiner, Wiesbaden 1960.
• with Helmut Mathy : The University of Mainz. Outlines of their history. Mushake, Trautheim et al. 1965.

Work editions

• Leo Just: Letters to Hermann Cardauns, Paul Fridolin Kehr, Aloys Schulte, Heinrich Finke, Albert Brackmann and Martin Spahn 1923–1944 (= contributions to church and cultural history. Vol. 11). Edited, introduced and commented on by Michael F. Feldkamp . Lang, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2002, ISBN 3-631-38931-0 .

literature

• Eugen Ewig : Leo Just. In: Bonn scholars. Contributions to the history of science in Bonn. Volume 5: History (= 150 years of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Bonn 1818–1968. Vol. 2, 5). Bouvier, Bonn 1968, pp. 393-397.
• Eugen Ewig: Leo Just †. In: Historical yearbook . Vol. 85, 1965, pp. 252-256.
• Heinz Duchhardt : "Römer" in Mainz. A double portrait from the early history of the “new” University of Mainz. In: Sources and research from Italian archives and libraries . Vol. 94, 2014, pp. 292-310, ( online ).
• Michael F. Feldkamp: Reich church historiography and borderland research. On the scientific and journalistic work of the Bonn historian Leo Just (1901–1964). In: Burkhard Dietz , Helmut Gabel, Ulrich Tiedau (eds.): Griff nach dem Westen. The "West Research" of the ethnic-national sciences on the north-west European area (1919-1960) (= studies on the history and culture of north-west Europe. Vol. 6, 2). Volume 2. Waxmann, Münster 2003, ISBN 3-8309-1144-0 , pp. 1017-1036.
• Konrad Fuchs :  Leo Just. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 20, Bautz, Nordhausen 2002, ISBN 3-88309-091-3 , Sp. 825-830.
• Matthias Schnettger: Leo Just (1901–1964) . In: Heinz Duchhardt (ed.): Mainzer Historiker , Mainz: Mainz University Press (contributions to the history of the University of Mainz; 16), ISBN 978-3-8471-1115-3 , pp. 125–148.

Web links

• Literature by and about Leo Just in the catalog of the German National Library