Arnold Berger (philologist)

Arnold Erich Berger (born June 2, 1862 in Ratibor , Silesia , † February 29, 1948 in Seeheim an der Bergstrasse ) was a German philologist and German philologist .

Life

Arnold Erich Berger was born in Ratibor in June 1862 as the son of the law firm Carl August Berger and his wife Maria Hartmann. Berger attended schools in Berlin and Leipzig. In 1881 he graduated from the Thomas School in Leipzig . He then studied philology and philosophy , in particular German and Romance languages, at the University of Leipzig . In 1886 he graduated as Dr. phil. and completed his habilitation in March 1890 at the University of Bonn and became a private lecturer. From 1897 to 1900 he was an assistant at the university library in Bonn. From 1897 to 1901 he was also a research assistant in the editorial team of the Luther edition in Berlin.

On March 17, 1900, he was awarded the title of professor. In April 1901 he became associate professor at the University of Kiel and on October 1, 1902 at the University of Halle . To October 1, 1905 he received a full professor for literary history and history at the Technical University of Darmstadt . He mainly researched the Reformation and the life and work of Martin Luther . He presented a four-volume biography of Luther.

Arnold Berger became rector of the TH Darmstadt in 1914. He gave his rectorate speech on October 31, 1914 on the subject of "German Idealism and the World War". This speech shows him "as a representative of a hollow pathos" ( Karl Otmar von Aretin ). Berger represented very strongly conservative, German-national positions. Along with 32 other professors at the Technical University of Darmstadt, he was one of the signatories of the declaration of the university professors of the German Reich of October 16, 1914. After the end of the First World War, he became an "unlimited hater of the Weimar Republic". This is particularly evident in his book "The old and the new Germany" from 1921. In this book, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Empire, he railed against the Versailles Treaty and blamed the "decline of spirit and values" for the downfall of the empire.

He was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of an independent department for cultural and political sciences at the TH Darmstadt, which was finally separated from the previous general department in early 1924. He was also the first dean of this new department from 1924 to 1926.

Berger retired in 1933. As a result, his chair was not filled again. During the time of the Nazi regime, he initially remained connected to the Technical University and until the winter semester 1934/35 read on the same topics as in his active time. He did not join the NSDAP , the SA or the SS .

Berger died on February 29, 1948 at the age of 85 in Seeheim an der Bergstrasse. His first marriage was from 1901 to Olga Abelsdorff from Berlin. In December 1913 he was married to Theodore Meyersieck, a factory owner's daughter from Osnabrück, for the second time.

Honors

• 1916: Privy Councilor
• 1917: Honorary doctorate from the theological faculty of the University of Giessen

Publications

• 1899: causes and goals of the German Reformation
• 1913: Wilhelm II and the Reich
• 1921: The old and the new Germany, Darmstadt.

literature

• Karl Otmar von Aretin : The Institute for History of the Technical University, in: 100 years Technical University of Darmstadt. Yearbook 1976/77, Darmstadt 1977, pp. 146–151.
• Melanie Hanel: Normality under exceptional conditions. The TH Darmstadt under National Socialism. Darmstadt 2014.
• Christa Wolf and Marianne Viefhaus: Directory of professors at TH Darmstadt. Darmstadt 1977, p. 21.

Web links

• Literature by and about Arnold Berger in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry on Arnold Berger in the Catalogus Professorum Halensis