Erwin Könnemann

Erwin Könnemann (born June 6, 1926 in Hüttenrode ; † February 9, 2016 in Halle (Saale) ) was a German historian. His research areas included the history of the German labor movement during the early Weimar Republic , the history of the city of Halle and the history of the Thale iron and steel works . He made a name for himself not least through document editions on the Kapp Putsch , which are generally regarded as standard works.

Life

After graduating from elementary school , Könnemann attended teacher training institutes in Blankenburg and Braunschweig from 1940 to 1944 . He then did Reich Labor Service and took part in World War II as a soldier .

From October 1945 to 1951, Könnemann worked as a new teacher after completing a corresponding course . In April 1946 he joined the SED . From 1949 to 1950 he took part in an annual course for history teachers and in 1950 passed the specialist teacher examination. In 1951 he took over a lectureship in history at the workers and farmers faculty in Halle, while at the same time studying history as an external student at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg . He completed his studies in 1957 as a graduate historian.

In 1957, Könnemann switched to the department “Documents and Materials on the History of the German Labor Movement” in the Halle branch of the Institute for History of the German Academy of Sciences as a research assistant and later senior assistant , where he edited sources in the archival research series was concerned with the history of the German labor movement . In December 1962 he did his doctorate under Leo Stern and Heinz Tillmann on "The role of the resident services and temporary volunteer associations in the resurgence of German imperialism and the November Revolution".

In 1970, Könnemann became a lecturer in the history of the labor movement at the Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg. In 1971 he received his PhD B with Ernst Diehl and Günter Benser with a thesis on the Kapp Putsch, which he presented together with Hans-Joachim Krusch . In September 1975, Könnemann was appointed full professor for the history of the German labor movement in Halle-Wittenberg. He also led a team of authors on the history of the city hall and was in commission regional history of historians Society of the GDR operates. In 1986 he received the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze. In 1989 he was a member of the Presidium of the Historians' Society of the GDR and retired in 1991.

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Könnemann presented extensive collections of sources and representations on the history of the Kapp Putsch. His source collection, working class wins over Kapp and Lüttwitz , which he edited together with Brigitte Berthold and Gerhard Schulze and appeared in two volumes in 1970, was at the time probably the most extensive collection of its kind on the events in spring 1920 and as a standard work regarding the assessment of the Kapp Putsch and Ruhrkampf .

If the documentation was uncontested as scientifically sound, then Könnemann's presentation of the unity of action against the Kapp Putsch, presented together with Hans-Joachim Krusch, was criticized by Western historians. Jens Flemming accused the authors of joining the GDR party historiography, which was concerned with historically legitimizing the merger of the SPD and KPD into the SED . In this sense, the study is characterized "by unhesitating updates and a sometimes beckmessischen and scholastic penetrance, which significantly limit the scientific benefit." In particular, Könnemann and Krusch exercised massive criticism of the attitude of social democracy and did not shy away from "a kind of" left stab legend «To put into the world». The influence of the KPD on the course of events, on the other hand, is "excessively exaggerated, but at no point in the book has any specific data given".

In 2002 Könnemann and Schulze published another volume with sources under the title Der Kapp-Lüttwitz-Ludendorff-Putsch . Volker Ullrich described this edition as “excellent” and “sensation”. Because this clearly proves that Erich Ludendorff actually pulled the strings in the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch . Eric Weitz characterized the edition as a treasure trove of source material. He found Könnemann's and Schulzen's arguments on Ludendorff's role in the putsch to be convincing. Even Bruno Thoß underlined that now Ludendorff's leadership will definitively proven. He emphasized that the selection of 695 documents from 55 German and Polish archives made it possible for the first time to trace the regional ramifications of an undertaking aimed at the entire Reich. As proven research specialists, Könnemann and Schultz have made a considerable contribution to the consolidation and broadening of the tradition and thus presented an indispensable source compendium.

Publications

• with Brigitte Berthold and Gerhard Schulze: The Weimar Republic. Documents and materials. People and Knowledge, Berlin 1963.
• Resident services and temporary volunteer associations. Your role in building a new imperialist military system (November 1918 to 1920). German Military Publishing House, [Berlin] 1971.
• with Brigitte Berthold and Gerhard Schulze: Working class wins over Kapp and Lüttwitz. Swell. 2 vols., Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1971.
• and Hans-Joachim Krusch: Action unit against the Kapp Putsch. The Kapp Putsch in March 1920 and the struggle of the German working class and other working people against the establishment of the military dictatorship and for democratic conditions. Dietz, Berlin 1972.
  • 2nd edition: March 1920. Working class foils the Kapp Putsch. Dietz, Berlin 1981.
• with Hans-Joachim Krusch : Action unit against the Kapp Putsch. ( Illustrated historical booklets : Booklet 23), Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin 1980, DNB 810296780 .
• Eisen- und Hüttenwerke Thale in the period of transition from capitalism to socialism. Works party organization of VEB Eisen- und Hüttenwerke Thale, Thale 1979.
• (Ed.): Halle. History of the city in words and pictures. German Verl. D. Sciences, Berlin 1979.
• The struggle for the creation of the unified revolutionary party of the working class in the former countries of the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale) 1982.
• VEB Eisen- und Hüttenwerke Thale in the further shaping of the developed socialist society. 1981 - 1986. Central party leadership d. SED in the VEB Eisen- u. Hüttenwerke Thale, Thale 1985.
• United on the way to socialism. History of the state party organization Saxony-Anhalt of the SED 1945 to 1952. The commissions, Halle, Magdeburg 1986.
• New documents on the attitude of the German People's Party during the Kapp Putsch. German Science Publishers, Berlin 1988.
• with Manfred Beck and Heinz Sonnenberg: 300 years of history of the iron and steel works Thale, 1686–1986. Company party organization of the SED of VEB Eisen- und Hüttenwerke, Thale 1988.
• and Gerhard Schulze: The Kapp-Lüttwitz-Ludendorff Putsch. Documents. Olzog Verlag , Munich 2002, ISBN 9783789293559 .

literature

• Lothar Mertens : Lexicon of the GDR historians. Biographies and bibliographies on the historians from the German Democratic Republic. Saur, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-598-11673-X .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Reinhard Lüke: Contributions to the Kapp Putsch and Ruhrkampf as well as to the problem of the military associations . In: Archives for Social History 12 (1972), p. 547.
2. ↑ Jens Flemming: Review: Erwin Könnemann / Hans Joachim Krusch, action unit contra Kapp-Putsch, Berlin-GDR 1972 . In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 13 (1973), p. 692.
3. ↑ Jens Flemming: Review: Erwin Könnemann / Hans Joachim Krusch, action unit contra Kapp-Putsch, Berlin-GDR 1972 . In: Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 13 (1973), p. 693.
4. ^ Volker Ullrich: Non-fiction book . In: Die Zeit , February 20, 2003.
5. ↑ Eric D. Weitz: Review: Erwin Konnemann and Gerhard Schulze, eds., Der Kapp-Lüttwitz-Ludendorff Putsch. Documents In: Central European History 38 (2005), pp. 493-495.
6. ^ Bruno Thoß: Review: The Kapp-Lüttwitz-Ludendorff Putsch. Documents. Edited by Erwin Könnemann and Gerhard Schulze. In: Military History Journal 63 (2004), p. 225 f.