August Wolfstieg

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August Wolfstieg (born June 21, 1859 in Wolfenbüttel ; † May 27, 1922 there ) was a Privy Councilor, library director of the Prussian House of Representatives in Berlin and a Freemason researcher.

Life

Wolfstieg studied history in Berlin from 1879 to 1882 and became a volunteer at the Berlin University Library in 1882. After receiving his doctorate in 1883, he was appointed assistant in 1885 and custodian in 1891. He cataloged the library of the Ministry of Finance, since 1893 he administrated and cataloged the library of the political science seminar of the University of Berlin. From 1897 he was library director of the Prussian House of Representatives in Berlin.

Wolfstieg is the namesake of the Wolfstieg Society , a German society for the promotion of Masonic and scientific research, which was founded in 1913. Under Wolfstieg's direction, the book collection became a scientific institution.

In 1901 he founded the first school for librarians.

Reich Commissioner for Books and Libraries at the World Fairs in Paris in 1900 and St. Louis in 1904 .

In addition to his professional activity, Wolfstieg researched Freemasonry in Germany and England. In 1899 he was accepted into the Lodge Pythagoras zum Flammenden Stern in Berlin and held the position of chair master from 1901 to 1904 .

The first research results were published in the writings Christianity, Humanity and Freemasonry , Am rauhen Stein and in the collection of essays The Freemasonry Thought .

In 1914, Alfred Unger asked Wolfstieg to clarify the historical origins and connections of German Freemasonry. In 1920 the research results were available in the three-volume work Origin and Development of Freemasonry . In the following years a supplement was made in two volumes. For health reasons (progressive blindness), Wolfstieg was no longer able to carry out the final theses personally. The publication The Philosophy of Freemasonry , Volume I: Freemasonry Work and Symbolism , Volume II: The spiritual, moral and aesthetic values ​​in Freemasonry and their significance for the present was taken over by Alfons Dirksen . The entire work was published under the overall title Becoming and Essence of Freemasonry .

In Wolfenbüttel, Dr.-August-Wolfstieg-Strasse was named after him.

Publications and Reprints

  • The library of the House of Representatives in Berlin . In: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen , Vol. 16 (1899), pp. 161–167 ( online ).
  • Bibliography of Masonic Literature. 3 volumes and 1 supplementary volume by B. Beyer, Burg and Leipzig 1911 to 1926; 2. Reprint: Olms, Hildesheim 1992, ISBN 978-3-4870-0770-0 .
  • The Building Industry in England and the Brotherhood of Stonemasons. 1920.
  • The spiritual, moral and aesthetic values ​​of Freemasonry. Unger, Berlin 1922.
  • Masonic work and symbolism. Unger, Berlin 1922.

literature

  • Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Posner, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurerlexikon . 5th edition, Herbig Verlag 2006, ISBN 978-3-7766-2478-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information from: Zentralblatt für Bibliothekswesen, Jg. 17, 1900, p. 34.
  2. ↑ Maçonnieke Encyclopedie August Wolfstieg
personal data
SURNAME Wolfstieg, August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German library director of the Prussian House of Representatives in Berlin and Freemason researcher
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1859
PLACE OF BIRTH Wolfenbüttel
DATE OF DEATH May 27, 1922
Place of death Wolfenbüttel