Erich Wisplinghoff

Erich Wisplinghoff (born May 21, 1920 in Düsseldorf , † February 19, 1999 in Neuss ) was a German historian whose work is characterized by strict criticism of sources . As a longstanding employee of the main state archive in Düsseldorf , Wisplinghoff mainly dealt with the history of the Rhineland . His most comprehensive work is the three-volume history of the city of Neuss .

life and work

Erich Wisplinghoff was born in 1920 as the son of the businessman Erich Wisplinghoff and his wife Marie (née Düvel) in Düsseldorf, where he graduated from high school in 1938 at the Hindenburg School, today's Humboldt Gymnasium . After completing the Reich Labor Service, Wisplinghoff became a soldier in 1938. He became a prisoner of war and was only able to begin studying history, German and Latin at the University of Bonn in 1947 . Wisplinghoff was there with Paul Egon Hübinger with a thesis on the Cologne Archbishop Frederick I graduated. Wisplinghoff finished his studies in Bonn in 1952. From 1956 he worked at the main state archive in Düsseldorf. There he became head of Department I of the Old Archive for the Rhineland region in 1970. Wisplinghoff retired in 1985 and died in 1999 at the age of 78.

Wisplinghoff left an extensive work on the history of the Rhineland. He attached great importance to strict source criticism and published large source editions . In addition, he published numerous articles in historical magazines in the Rhineland. One focus was the Rhenish agricultural history. His main work is the 1400-page history of the city of Neuss , which he published in three volumes from 1975 to 1989. In addition, he wrote large parts of the first volume of the great city history of Düsseldorf on over 300 pages . In 1983 Wisplinghoff received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon for his life's work . In 1985 the North Rhine-Westphalian state government appointed him professor.

literature

• Hugo Weidenhaupt : Erich Wisplinghoff in memory. In: Düsseldorfer Jahrbuch vol. 70 (1999), p. 341ff.