Erich Matthias

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Erich Matthias (born August 4, 1921 in Uetzingen ; † March 23, 1983 in Kuppenheim ) was a German historian and political scientist .

Live and act

The son of an elementary school teacher graduated from high school in 1939. After completing his labor service , he began studying history and literary history at the Universities of Göttingen and Munich in autumn 1939 . In addition to these subjects, he also attended courses in economics and developed an interest in social science issues. During the Second World War he served in the Wehrmacht from 1940 to 1945 , most recently in the rank of lieutenant in the reserve. After the war he continued his studies in Göttingen. In 1951, he was there with a thesis on "Social Democracy and Nation" doctorate , doctoral supervisor was Werner Conze . His dissertation is considered to be an early contribution to research into emigration from National Socialist Germany .

After studying the history of German social democracy and a brief activity as editor of the journal Ost -problem , the most important medium of Sovietology at the time , Matthias devoted himself to a comprehensive edition of sources that form the basis for studies on the implementation of parliamentarism in the German Empire since 1908 This edition began in 1956 as part of the Commission for the History of Parliamentarism and Political Parties . In the context of the source editions and writings of this commission, Matthias acted as editor or co-editor in a good 30 cases. In particular, he was responsible for the series “From the Constitutional Monarchy to the Parliamentary Republic” (together with Conze), “Military and Politics” (with Hans Meier-Welcker ) and the series “The Weimar Republic” (together with Karl Dietrich Bracher and Rudolf Morsey ) .

From 1961 Matthias was an associate professor at the Philipps University of Marburg . Alongside Wolfgang Abendroth, he was the second Marburg professor of political science. In 1965 he received a chair for political science and contemporary history at the Mannheim Business School , which was appointed to the University of Mannheim two years later . In his teaching, he mainly devoted himself to working in seminars and promoting graduate degrees. After 1979, his work finally concentrated on the tension between the trade union movement and parliamentarianism.

Matthias had been a member of the Advisory Board of the International Scientific Correspondence on the History of the German Labor Movement (IWK) since 1976 . He was also a member of the Historical Commission in Berlin since 1977 . A festschrift was dedicated to his 60th birthday. After overcoming years of serious illness and discarding early retirement , he died suddenly in a traffic accident.

Fonts

  • Social Democracy and Nation. A contribution to the history of ideas of social democratic emigration in the Prague time of the party executive 1933–1938 (publications by the Institute for Contemporary History , Munich), Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1952.
  • German Social Democracy and the East. 1914-1945. An overview (research reports and studies on contemporary history, No. 11), Tübingen 1954.
  • Kautsky and Kautskyanism. The function of ideology in German social democracy before the First World War , in: Marxismusstudien, 2nd episode. Edited by Iring Fetscher , Tübingen 1956, pp. 151–197.
  • Together with Rudolf Morsey (ed.): The end of the parties 1933 (publication by the Commission for the History of Parliamentarism and Political Parties), Droste, Düsseldorf 1960.
  • Between councils and privy councilors. The German Revolutionary Government 1918/1919 (sources on the history of parliamentarism and political parties, series 1, vol. 6, 1 and 2), Droste, Düsseldorf 1970.
  • Resistance to National Socialism in Mannheim. Published by Erich Matthias […] on behalf of the City of Mannheim, with the assistance of Günter Braun […], Edition Quadrat, Mannheim 1984, ISBN 3-923003-27-7 .
  • Together with Klaus Schönhoven (ed.): Solidarity and human dignity. Stages in German trade union history from the beginning to the present , Verlag Neue Gesellschaft, Bonn 1984, ISBN 3-87831-391-8 .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lothar Albertin , Werner Link (ed.): Political parties on the way to parliamentary democracy in Germany. Lines of development up to the present (dedicated to Erich Matthias on the occasion of his 60th birthday) . Droste, Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 3-7700-0596-1 .
personal data
SURNAME Matthias, Erich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian and political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH 4th August 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Uetzingen
DATE OF DEATH March 23, 1983
Place of death Kuppenheim