Ernst von Frisch

Ernst von Frisch (born September 1, 1878 in Vienna , † July 17, 1950 in Salzburg ) was an Austrian librarian.

Life

Frisch was the third of four sons of the surgeon and urologist Anton Ritter von Frisch and his wife Marie, née Exner. His younger brother Karl von Frisch received the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology.

Frisch attended the Schottengymnasium in Vienna and then studied history and historical auxiliary sciences in Vienna. From 1899 he was active in the Corps Association Symposion, later he was one of the founders of the Salzburg Corpsphilister Association. After receiving his doctorate in 1903, von Frisch decided to pursue a career in library. In the same year he began as an intern at the Salzburg Study Library . In 1905 he continued his training in the administrative library of the Ministry of the Interior, in 1906 he became a librarian in the Reichsratsbibliothek, today's parliamentary library in Vienna. Since he was unfit for war, he performed various military services in the First World War. In 1915 he married Elisabeth Krause, they both had a daughter, Galatea. As his wife suffered from an incurable mental illness, von Frisch divorced her in 1940 and married Margarete Wunderlich for the second time in 1941.

In 1919 von Frisch took over the management of the Salzburg study library. In 1928 he achieved the title of senior state librarian and thus the highest rank in his profession at the time. Von Frisch opened up the holdings of manuscripts, graphics and early prints in the study library. Under his leadership, the library also actively shaped the cultural life of Salzburg through exhibitions, lectures and its own publications.

During his tenure in 1932 the private library of the writer Hermann Bahr, comprising approx. 12,000 volumes, was added to the library. However , Frisch did not want to take over the private library of Stefan Zweig , who had been busy using the library as long as he lived in Salzburg, because he had heard that antiquarians and private collectors had already taken the best pieces out of the library. With his German-national sentiments, he was not exactly hostile to National Socialism. For example, he unreservedly endorsed the “ Anschluss of Austria ” in 1938, but was not a member of the NSDAP. According to the Nuremberg Race Laws , Frisch was, like his three brothers, a " second degree half-breed " because they had a Jewish grandmother who, however, had been baptized. For this reason, Frisch managed to avoid his release, while some of his brothers had greater difficulties.

In 1946 Frisch resigned from the library service, on this occasion he was awarded the title of Hofrat.

Fonts (selection)

• Chronicle of Brunnwinkel . Kainz, Vienna 1906.
• The transition from feudal service to paid service in Austria. A contribution to the army history of the 14th century . Self-published, Vienna 1907.
• Cultural and historical images from Abersee. A contribution to the regional studies of Salzburg . Hölder, Vienna 1910.
• History of the Brunnwinklmühle 1615–1882 , self-published, Vienna 1918.
• On the history of the Russian campaigns in the Seven Years' War: according to the records and observations of the Austrian officers assigned to the Russian headquarters, primarily in the war years 1757–1758 . Winter, Heidelberg 1919 (Heidelberg Treatises on Middle and Modern History; 52).
• (Ed.): Christoph Mathias Fernberger von Egenberg: Involuntary trip around the world 1621–1628 . Brockhaus, Leipzig 1928 (old journeys and adventures; 22).
• (Ed.): The Salzburg Study Library. Historical overview and catalog for the exhibition of works from the fields of philology, geography and history ... on the occasion of the 57th meeting of German philologists and school men in Salzburg . Kiesel, Salzburg 1929.
• The studbook of the Thennen of Salzburg. A picture chronicle of the 16th century . Diepenbroick-Grüter & Schulz, Hamburg 1935 (historical imagery; 4).
• Wolf Dietrich von Salzburg in the light of his art collection . Bindenschild-Verlag, Vienna 1947 (Der Bindenschild; 5).
• Medieval book illumination. Treasures from Salzburg . Mirabell, Vienna 1949.

literature

• Andreas Schmoller: cultural heritage manager. Institutional self-image of academic libraries and cooperation behavior under National Socialism . In: zeitgeschichte, vol. 42 (2015), issue 6, pp. 368–381 ( digitized version ).
• Andreas Schmoller: "The happiest librarian" Biographical sketch of Ernst Frisch . In: Ursula Schachl-Raber u. a. (Ed.): Book theft in Salzburg. Library and Nazi provenance research at the Salzburg University Library , Müry Salzmann, Salzburg, Vienna 2012 (Uni-Bibliothek; 3), ISBN 9783990140611 , pp. 20–35.