Bernhard Kleff
Bernhard Kleff (born October 15, 1876 in Steinkuhl ; † August 25, 1948 in Lippstadt ) was a German school rector, head of the local history museum in Bochum and the first city archivist there .
Life
Bernhard Kleff was born on October 15, 1876 in Steinkuhl, a former peasantry that today belongs to Bochum- Querenburg . Since the place was shaped by mining early on , Kleff grew up between the old peasant life and the early industrial phase. After studying to be a teacher in Rüthen an der Möhne , he initially worked in the Sauerland , but returned to his old home in 1899 to take up a teaching position in the municipality of Wiemelhausen . After Wiemelhausen was incorporated into Bochum in 1904, Kleff was promoted to main teacher on the same day and finally he was appointed rector on January 26, 1908. On April 16, 1908, he took over the management of the Catholic school in Wiemelhausen. Kleff, however, moved to the center of Bochum and so he applied for the position of rector at the Weilenbrink School in Bochum-Mitte in 1910 , the rector of which had died shortly before. The Arnsberg government thereupon appointed him head of the school at Weilenbrink on October 1, 1910, with the consent of the Bochum deputation authority.
Since Bernhard Kleff was interested in local research from an early age , after taking office he began to collect objects and memories from local history in an empty classroom "for visual and teaching purposes". Kleff had the idea for a museum . He submitted this idea to Mayor Heinrich Sahm in 1912 with the words: “This is the beginning of the Bochum city museum”.
Sahm supported Kleff. The city of Bochum took over the collection in 1913 and an item for the acquisition of suitable collection objects was set up in budget planning. In the following years the collection grew from two to six rooms. To do this, the premises had to be changed several times, but there was hardly any space to ensure that the museum ran regularly. Guided tours had to be arranged with Kleff. When the rooms used for the collection had to be used for other purposes, the collection moved again in 1919. The new “Bochum City Museum” was set up in the former knight's castle “ Haus Rechen ”. Guided tours for a wider audience could now take place in a total of 11 rooms. Kleff combined the exhibited objects appropriately, but largely arbitrarily, in order to create the most homely atmosphere possible. He deliberately kept the entrance fee low; Schoolchildren and organizations had free entry.
Over the years, Kleff created changing exhibitions, e.g. B. a Kortumausstellung (1924), a certificate exhibition (1935) and a family history exhibition (1936). In addition, he took part in a joint exhibition of Westphalian museums (1939).
From 1920 the museum was also an integral part of the budget of the city of Bochum. However, the income of 1,100 marks was offset by expenses of 17,000 marks. Most of the budget was used to purchase new collection items. The collection itself had grown from 600 objects to almost 1,800 over the years.
After the city of Bochum took over the collection, Kleff continued to strive to expand and steadily expand the collection.
Kleff now acted as secretary in the museum committee, which was formed in 1918 and was headed by Wilhelm Stumpf , city councilor and department head for culture and school affairs. In response to a request from the city of Witten to win the city of Bochum as a member of the Grafschaft Mark's association for local and local history, the idea of setting up a support group for the museum itself arose in 1920. Thus, on December 3, 1921, the "Association for Local Lore" (today Kortum-Gesellschaft Bochum ) was founded, in which Kleff was elected first chairman.
The collection continued to grow over the years. Kleff collected everything that appeared to be worthy of storage and presentation, including a. Clothing, weapons, coins, paintings, furniture, household items and even entire parts of buildings. Over time, focal points developed. So much emphasis was placed on special collections, which u. a. could also contain coins with mining motifs, cards, posters and lamps. Another important collecting area for Kleff were books on Westphalian history. In addition, he made the plan to build a Kortum collection.
Kleff documented each new entry and even developed his own system for organizing the collection items. In the mid-1920s, he had developed his own subject index that divided the museum pieces into groups, e.g. B. Bochum, Kortum, pictures and books etc.
Since the museum areas were not yet strictly separated, Kleff also took on the research and acquisition of works of art from the visual arts. He succeeded u. a. to acquire a collection of 185 engravings by the artist Heinrich Aldegrever for the city of Bochum. In the years that followed, Kleff tried to do justice to both artistic and local history activities. Over the years he amassed such a considerable collection of images and graphics.
The first art exhibition opened in 1921, in which works selected by Kleff were also presented, but this did not benefit the local history museum, as the exhibition was not held in the house of Rechen, but in the rooms of the old miners' association. Today the exhibition marks the beginning of the Städtische Gemäldegalerie, which later became the art museum. So it came about that art and local history went their separate ways. Kleff was not entrusted with the management of the picture gallery, as he had hoped, but initially continued to look after the local history museum and the collection of old graphics.
City councilor Stumpf, however, had another task for Bernhard Kleff: the organization of the city archive in a managerial role. Until now, Kleff had taken care of the museum, the archive and the picture gallery part-time, but he was still principal at the Weilenbrink School. So he tried to be taken over into the service of the city of Bochum. There was only a leave of absence and a private service contract between Kleff and the city of Bochum. In 1922 the contract was approved and Kleff became head of the city archive and the city museum. He was granted leave of absence from 1922 to 1924 and from 1928 to 1929. Additional activities for the city of Bochum had to be done on a part-time basis.
In 1930 Kleff's collection had grown to 2800 pieces. The mass of different objects made it necessary to develop a completely new cataloging system, and so Kleff recorded all objects on index cards and arranged them into 24 groups, e.g. B. household items, clocks, weapons, maps, pictures, etc. This division can be seen as a form of a very early, archival classification :
| year | Classification |
|---|---|
| around 1925 | Bochum, Kortum, pictures and books, furniture, small household items, costumes and jewelry, agriculture and industry, world war, church, weapons, coins and display devices |
| around 1930 | Components, furniture, firing, lighting equipment, household items, molded goods, clocks, instruments, weapons, jewelry and luxury, clothing, spinning and weaving equipment, agriculture, industry and transport, prints, maps, pictures, photographs, photographs and printing blocks, seals and manuscripts , Plastic, “still open”, prehistory and early history, local library |
Despite the steadily growing collection, Kleff had to realize that a lot of things could not be implemented. The establishment of a natural science museum planned by Kleff could not be realized, as could the department for prehistory and early history.
Since there were already many “finds on Bochum soil” in the local history museum, Kleff was appointed in 1930 by the Upper President of the Province of Westphalia as “curator for cultural-historical and scientific soil antiquities”. Karl Leich, who was active in archaeological research and promised Kleff his findings for the museum, was appointed as a deputy.
On October 31, 1936, Kleff went into early retirement as rector and was now able to concentrate exclusively on the archive and the museum. On December 7th, 1936, the city of Bochum gave him the management of the archive and the museum. In 1937, despite not being a member of the NSDAP , he became the main curator for cultural and natural history soil antiquities and in 1938 archivist for the Bochum district. The appointment as archivist originated from the Nazi regime , as archives now played an important role in obtaining “Aryan evidence”.
Kleff's collection activities also expanded to include medals, badges, posters, etc. of the Nazi movement. On April 20, 1940, Kleff was given the official title of “municipal archivist”.
Over the years, Kleff repeatedly complained about the lack of space. Many exhibitions could not be realized for spatial reasons. The storage space was also insufficient. Additional storage rooms that Kleff still used at the Weilenbrink School had to be cleared after his retirement. City councilor Stumpf promised to find a replacement. The rake house was also unsuitable for further storage and exhibition for conservation reasons. Many objects were attacked by moisture and the house was not secured against burglary and fire. The side room of the museum was available to the municipal orchestra for rehearsals, so Kleff often felt annoyed by the "noise".
With the beginning of the Second World War, Kleff's priorities shifted. He now did everything in his power to secure the archive and museum property from the bombing. By 1943 he had relocated the archive material to the town hall cellar of the city of Bochum, another part was stored in the cellar of the Amtssparkasse, which later had to be abandoned by a bomb hit. Since there were hardly any safe rooms left, he searched the whole city for air raid shelters. In July 1943 he turned to the mayor and asked for help to prevent the loss of the "archive material that had been collected over 30 years". The city supported Kleff in his project. So it was possible to accommodate some stocks in mining shafts, also outside of Bochum.
Kleff moved to his son in Lippstadt in 1944. From here he helped to bring the stocks back to Bochum, which were exposed to harmful climatic influences and damage as well as looting.
In the last years of his life, he looked bitter at Bochum and his life's work. In 1946 he wrote to the head of the cultural department that his life's work had been shattered. Kleff did not want to go back to Bochum under any circumstances, but nevertheless worried about his collection and asked to look out for “leftovers” in the ruins of the local history museum. He closed his letter with the words: "And: Don't throw anything away!"
Bernhard Kleff died on August 26, 1948 at the age of 72 in Lippstadt.
Honors
Bernhard Kleff received the honorary certificate for honorary chairman of the Association for Local Lore Bochum.
In recognition of his many years of meritorious work for the city of Bochum, Kleff was granted an honorary salary of 100 Reichsmarks per month from 1947.
On his 40th anniversary with the company, he was awarded the Golden Loyalty Service Medal in 1940 .
After his death, the city of Bochum honored Bernhard Kleff with a bust by the sculptor Erich Schmidtbochum .
Works
- 1918 - The beginnings of the municipal "Museum" in Bochum / Written by Rector Kleff, manager of the collection, on behalf of the magistrate
- 1918 - Bochum. History and development of the city
- 1929 - On the history of the Bochum Citizen Schützen Verein
- 1929 - Bochum: A home book (for town and country) / Ed. On behalf of the Association for Local History (multi-part work)
literature
- Bernhard Kleff: The beginnings of the municipal “museum” in Bochum. Schürmann & Klagges, 1918.
- Ingrid Wölk: For the sake of things ... Bochum collections and museums 1910-2007 , in: Sieben und Ninety Things. Collecting, preserving, showing , Klartext-Verl., Essen 2007, pp. 8–20. ISBN 978-3-89861-236-4 .
Other sources
- Bochum City Archives, ZA III B 1: "Bernhard Kleff", Bochumer Anzeiger July 7, 1938
- Bochum City Archives, ZA III B 1: Bochum Official Gazette, August 31, 1948
- Bochum City Archives, ZA III B 1: "Rector Kleff - Guardian of Tradition", Bochumer Anzeiger 31 May 1958
- Bochum City Archives, NAP 17 (Bernhard Kleff estate)
- Bochum City Archives, BO 00/252
- Bochum City Archives, BO 10/66
- Bochum City Archives, BO 11/503
- Bochum City Archives, BO 40/837
- Bochum City Archives, BO 41/34
Web links
- City of Bochum: City Archives Bochum - Bochum Center for City History
- Bernhard Kleff †. In: Bochum time points. Issue 16, p. 16 (obituary)
- Publications by Bernhard Kleff in the Opac of the Regesta Imperii
Individual evidence
- ↑ See Bochum City Archives, BO 40/837
- ↑ See Bochum City Archives, D St 57 / 1-4, p. 36
- ↑ See Bochum City Archives, D St 57 / 1-4
- ↑ See Bochum City Archives, D St 118
- ↑ See Bochum City Archives, D St 88 p. 4
- ↑ See Bochum City Archives, BO 11/503
- ↑ See Bochum City Archives, BO 11/503 p. 105
- ↑ See Bochum City Archives, BO 11/503 p. 87
- ↑ See Bochum City Archives, BO 41A 29
- ↑ See Bochum City Archives, BO 41/34
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kleff, Bernhard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German school principal, head of the local history museum and city archivist in Bochum |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 15, 1876 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Steinkuhl |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 25, 1948 |
| Place of death | Lippstadt |