Arno Schröder

Arno Schröder (born May 10, 1867 in Weimar , † May 30, 1925 in Hainichen ) was a German pastor and prehistoric .

Life

As the son of a middle school teacher, Schröder passed his Abitur in Weimar in 1886 and then studied theology in Jena. After a two-year vicariate in Dornburg , he became pastor in Hainichen in 1895 and two years later took over the neighboring parish of Nerkewitz . He held this office for over thirty years until he died at the age of 58 after years of suffering from cancer.

Schröder was already enthusiastic about prehistoric archeology during his studies . Throughout his life he was on friendly terms with the director of the Germanic Museum at the University of Jena Gustav Eichhorn (1862–1929) and the doctor and physiologist Max Verworn (1863–1921). He was a member of the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory , the German Society for Prehistory and the Jena Society for Prehistory, founded in 1901 . In 1906 he gave a widely acclaimed lecture on the importance of Neolithic ceramics as a leitmotif for the periodization of prehistoric archeology.

Schröder himself collected numerous antiquities. His estate includes around 4,500 originals from all over the world, which are cataloged in five volumes. Schröder used this material to educate and instruct his confirmands and also urged adults to be mindful of the objects found in the surrounding fields. He designed the Hainich rectory into a museum in which he vividly illustrated the entire prehistory with oil paintings and exhibits. Schröder thus developed into the “spiritual center” of his communities and is still remembered in them today. A permanent exhibition in the Hainich church is dedicated to his work.

After his death, Schröder's extensive collection was bought up for the University of Jena with special funds from the Weimar State Government and incorporated into the local prehistory and early history collection . It is still one of the “most beautiful and valuable pieces in the entire institute's collection” .

literature

• Hildegund Storch: The pastor and prehistorian Arno Schröder as the spiritual center of his communities at the beginning of the 20th century , four-page essay, printed in: 725 years Hainichen. A commemorative publication for the 725th anniversary of the town , Hainichen 2009, pp. 31–34
• Gustav Eichhorn: The prehistoric collection of the pastor Schröder , in: Old and new from the homeland. Supplement to the Jenaer Volksblatt , No. 9 of August 14, 1926, also printed in: 725 Jahre Hainichen , pp. 35–37