Berndt Wachter

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Berndt Wachter (born April 8, 1921 in Holldorf ; † July 22, 1998 in Dannenberg ) was a German teacher and archaeologist who has significantly shaped regional research on the Hanoverian Wendland since 1970.

Career

Berndt Wachter grew up in Milow as the son of the land manager Ernst Wachter . He attended school in Milow and in nearby Rathenow . From autumn 1933 he was a student at the Hans Richert School in Berlin-Spandau , which was converted into a national political educational institution in February 1934 . After graduating from high school in 1940, Wachter was called up for military service. He took part in the German-Soviet War and was wounded near Moscow in 1941 . When he was wounded again in 1943 in the Crimea , he lost an eye and was dismissed from the Wehrmacht in September 1944 to begin studying . He began a teacher training course in Berlin , which he continued in Göttingen after the end of the war in 1946 . After graduation in 1950 he studied Prehistory and Early History in Göttingen, where he in 1960 with a thesis on the prehistoric settlement of the Elbe-Havel-angle doctorate . From 1951 to 1960 Berndt Wachter practiced the teaching profession at the Queen Luise Foundation in Berlin. In 1961 he moved from Berlin to Dannenberg, where he until retirement in 1981 at the local high school as a teacher taught.

Political and historical engagement

Dr.-Berndt-Wachter-Weg on the vineyard in Hitzacker

In his place of residence, Dannenberg, Berndt Wachter was involved in local politics as a member of the SPD . From 1971 to 1977 he was a councilor and from 1972 chairman of the SPD parliamentary group . During the urban redevelopment of Dannenberg from 1986 he was chairman of the redevelopment committee and campaigned for the preservation of monuments .

In 1961 Berndt Wachter took over the management of the Dannenberg City Museum, which he held until 1973. From 1961 to 1994 he was the archivist of the old district of Dannenberg . In 1968 Wachter founded the Dannenberg Working Group for Cultural Studies and Homeland Care , which he headed until 1995. Until 1975 he was on the board of the Rundlingsverein , which runs the Wendlandhof Lübeln . In 1980 Wachter founded the Lüchow-Dannenberg Museum Association . He was one of the initiators of the local history working group , of which he was chairman from 1981 to 1994.

In 1971 Berndt Wachter was elected to the Archaeological Commission for Lower Saxony and in 1972 appointed to the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen . Since 1975 he has been an honorary officer for the archaeological preservation of monuments in the Lüchow-Dannenberg district . The Wendland lexicon , published in 2000, is essentially based on his conception. In 1991 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Lower Saxony Order of Merit. In Hitzacker , a sidewalk across the vineyard, on which he carried out numerous excavations at the Weinbergsburg , is named after Berndt Wachter.

subjects

After he took up residence in Dannenberg in 1961, Berndt Wachter developed an archaeological interest in the city's history. He and his students would go on excavations during the summer holidays . To investigate the Weinbergsburg in Hitzacker, he carried out excavations in 1965/1966 and from 1970 to 1975. In 1976 he led excavations on the Kirchberg in Clenze and in 1982 and 1983 on the Oerenburg . From 1984 to 1986 excavations followed on the Amtsberg in Lüchow to the Lüchow Castle .

Castle research in Wendland developed into the main field of work of Berndt Wachter, especially in the Slavic and German epochs in the 9th to 12th centuries. He advocated the thesis that the Slavs in Wendland enjoyed political autonomy up to the 12th century and that their independence was replaced peacefully by German counts. When asked about the origin of the Rundling villages, he was of the opinion that they had emerged over the course of several generations from the second half of the 12th century.

Writings and contributions (selection)

  • The prehistoric settlement of the Elb-Havel-Winkel , Göttingen, 1960, dissertation
  • The prehistoric and early historical settlement of the urban area of ​​Genthin , Genthin, 1961
  • A prehistoric burial ground near Milow. in: Between Elbe and Havel - Heimatheft des Kreis Genthin 4, 1961, pp. 22–24
  • Investigations on a Slavic settlement in the city center of Dannenberg (Elbe) in: Nachrichten aus Niedersachsens Urgeschichte 33, 1964, pp. 112–116
  • Germans and Slavs in the Hanoverian Wendland in: Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte 44, 1972, pp. 9–26
  • To research the prehistoric settlement chamber on the lower Jeetzel between Hitzacker and Dannenberg in: New excavations and research in Lower Saxony 15, 1982, pp. 339-344
  • From Dannenberg and its history , 1st edition, Dannenberg, 1981, 2nd edition, 1983, 3rd edition, 2000
  • as editor: Museums in the Lüchow-Dannenberg District , Lüchow, 1987
  • On the political organization of the Wendland Slavs from 8 to 12 Century. Hammaburg. in: New excavations and research in Lower Saxony, 1989, pp. 163-173
  • The Slavic-German castle on the vineyard in Hitzacker / Elbe in: Göttinger Schriften zur Vor und Frühgeschichte 25, 1998

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wachter, Berndt
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German teacher and archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Holldorf
DATE OF DEATH July 22, 1998
Place of death Dannenberg