Fennistik Greifswald

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The Fen Studies Greifswald is part of the Institute for Fen Studies and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Greifswald . With the establishment of the first Finnish lecturer in Germany in 1921 and the then Institute for Finnish Studies, the university did pioneering work in establishing the research area in Germany. In 2011 the university and chair celebrated the 90th anniversary of the teaching of Finnish in Germany with two specialist conferences and several exhibitions.

Building of the Institute for Fen Studies and Scandinavian Studies in Hans-Fallada-Strasse, Greifswald

history

Relations between the University of Greifswald and Finland go back well into the time before the first Finnish editing office was founded in 1921, which is due, among other things, to the shared time of Western Pomerania and Finland under Swedish rule. In terms of science history, the Greifswald alma mater is probably the most important birthplace of German Finland studies after Georgia Augusta from Göttingen . The historian Friedrich Rühs played a major role in this , whose work Finland and its Inhabitants , published in 1809, was the first German-language Finland monograph and shaped the German image of Finland for a long time. A new version published in 1827 by Adolf Iwar Arwidson was unrivaled even in Finland itself for decades.

In 1917, the Prussian House of Representatives decided to include Northern Europe in the universities of Prussia as part of an increased maintenance of foreign studies. Greifswald's traditional relationship with Sweden due to 170 years of membership in the Swedish Empire made the university there the ideal location for the newly founded institute. The Nordic Institute was officially opened on October 4, 1918. The statute, which was valid until 1933, stated that the purpose of the institute was "the task of promoting knowledge of the country, people and culture of the Nordic countries through research and teaching." The new institute did not belong to any faculty, but was directly subordinate to the university. The board of directors and the teaching staff included not only philologists, but also geographers, lawyers, historians and economists. The range of courses that went far beyond linguistic and literary studies was correspondingly diverse. Nevertheless, the main focus was on the two areas mentioned, which was a fundamental innovation in the German university system.

In November 1920 the Nordic Institute received a Finland department, which in February 1922 became largely independent as the Institute for Finnish Studies by a ministerial decree. The task of this institute was essentially the same as that of the Nordic Institute, although the focus was on Finland. The decisive factor was the teaching of the Finnish language, for which an editing department was set up in 1921, the first Finnish editing department on German soil. This project was financially supported by the Kordelinische Stiftung in Finland with 12,000 Finnmark annually. There was great interest in Finnish research in Greifswald in Finnish scientific circles, which was also reflected in the establishment of a "Society of Friends of the Finnish Department at the Nordic Institute" in Helsinki. The first Finnish lecturer in Greifswald - and thus also in Germany - was the senior teacher Arvid Rosenqvist, a Germanist, who from October 1921 offered his "Finnish exercises". In addition to language lessons, the lecturer's area of ​​responsibility also included library work and one to two hours of lectures per week, the subjects of which ranged from literature and culture to the history of the Finno-Ugric language to the Finnish economy, depending on the knowledge and interests of the respective lecturer.

The first director of the Institute for Finnish Studies, the geography professor Gustav Braun , saw its orientation more in the geographical and economic area, which was also reflected in the choice of Rosenqvist's successor, Yrjö Vemmel, a business graduate with no philological training.

In the period from its founding until the Second World War, the IfF published several scientific series: the writings from the Institute for Finnish Studies (1923–1928) with extensive treatises, the reports (since 1922) with smaller contributions on various topics, the communications (1921–1928) 1938) with larger and smaller essays, press correspondence (until 1927, again from 1934) and, together with the Nordic Institute, the quarterly Nordische Rundschau (since 1928), which published an illustrated Kalevala magazine as a special issue in 1936 . During the period in question, the institute's lecture program was enriched by numerous guest lectures from Finland, including by VA Koskenniemi and P. Katara.

From 1933 on, things changed for the institute. Because of his focus on a Nordic country, he was particularly interested in the National Socialists. Although the research work was aimed at objectivity, some scholars fell victim to the prevailing ideology and gave much more space to the issue of race problems in their publications than before. The institute also participated in the intensification of German-Finnish military relations. Teaching and research remained in the foreground until the outbreak of the war, and it was not until 1939 that the field of activity of the Institute for Finnish Studies changed fundamentally. The research work was severely restricted, the publication activity was stopped and the institute was asked to "place its foreign relations in the service of the German defensive struggle." As a result of the developments mentioned, the institute was compromised after the end of the war both in Finland and among the power organs in post-war Germany, which made it necessary to restart the department.

In 1945 the institute's activities were completely stopped, the future of Greifswald's Finnish studies was uncertain. It was not until 1954 that the Nordic Institute was reactivated and in 1955 the State Secretariat for Higher Education in the GDR approved the establishment of a Finnish editing office. Reino Järvinen, who had already held this position before the Second World War, became the editor. His first task was to reorganize the specialist library, and from February 1956 he started teaching Finnish again. In accordance with the Greifswald tradition and the foreign policy intentions of the GDR, the orientation of the new Nordic Institute, to which Greifswald's Finland Studies was affiliated, was not purely philological. In addition to the language, literature and culture of Finland, its economy, domestic politics and international relations were also taught. The institute's task was to train specialists for Northern European issues. This training profile was later changed so that linguists (translators and interpreters) and regional scientists were trained. Enrollment for tennis studies was possible every two years. In 1977 a chair for fencing was created in Greifswald, which, like the editing in 1921, was a first on German soil. The first professor was Kurt Schmidt. Due to the political situation, the students' direct contact with Finland was severely limited, which the lecturers tried to compensate in part by contacting native speakers for support tasks and interpreting assignments.

The restrictions in teaching and research were lifted overnight by the fall of 1989, but it also triggered other processes that ultimately led to none of the original staff members working with Finland remaining at the institute. The chair for Fen Studies remained, however, and the new Ministry of Culture in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania regarded the continuation of the course as desirable. However, the non-philological parts of the courses have been deleted. Finnish lessons continued and the chair, which had been vacant since 1993, was taken over by Pekka Lehtimäki (1934–2013) in spring 1994 and by Sirkka-Liisa Hahmo six years later . The Nordic Institute had been part of the Institute for Foreign Language Philologies since 2008 as the "Nordic Department". In 2013 it regained its independence and is now called the Institute for Fennistics and Scandinavian Studies. The number of students has been growing steadily in recent years.

Currently (as of 2017) almost 90 students are studying fencing in Greifswald. The chair has been held by Marko Pantermöller since 2008 , who previously worked as an assistant at the chair for six years. The editing for Finnish has been held by Tarja Soutolahti since the winter semester 2014. Furthermore, Mikko Bentlin and Thekla Musäus are employed as research assistants and Carola Häntsch as lecturer at the chair. Greifswalder Fennistik is an Erasmus partner university of the universities in Helsinki , Turku , Tampere , Jyväskylä , Tallinn and Tartu as well as the University of Eastern Finland .

Every year, students and faculty of Fen Studies are involved in organizing the Nordic Sound in Greifswald, the largest Scandinavian cultural festival outside Scandinavia, in which well-known musicians and authors from Finland regularly take part.

Course offer

At the Chair for Fen Studies in Greifswald, the subject can be studied as one of two subjects in the Bachelor's degree and, based on this, as a Master's degree. In addition to language lessons in Finnish (as well as in Finland's second national language, Swedish, for master’s students ), both courses include seminars and lectures on linguistics and literature, as well as national and cultural studies. In cooperation with Greifswald Scandinavian Studies, knowledge of Scandinavian literary and cultural history is also imparted.

The Finnish state supports the chair annually through a number of guest lecturers who offer block seminars on tennis topics. In addition, there are regular guest lectures by lecturers and professors of Fennistik or Finnougristik from other universities, such as B. from the partner university in Poznań .

The students also have the opportunity to take part in translation workshops, the results of which are presented every year as part of the Young Literature in Europe conference of the Hans Werner Richter Foundation, in which a Finnish author traditionally takes part.

Anniversary year 2011 - 90 years of Finnish lessons in Germany

In 2011, the Greifswalder Fennistik celebrated the 90th anniversary of Finnish teaching in Germany. In the winter semester of 1921/22, regular Finnish lessons were part of the course catalog for the first time in Greifswald - and thus also in Germany. On the occasion of this event, the Greifswald fenists declared 2011 the anniversary year "90 years of Finnish in Germany - Suomen kieli Saksassa 90 vuotta".

Exhibition poster
Poster of the symposium

Student conference: Silta Suomeen

The beginning of the anniversary celebrations was on 12-14. May held student conference “Silta Suomeen - Bridge to Finland”, to which students of Finnish studies or those interested in Finland from the German-speaking area and the European partner universities were invited. The conference was organized by the masters students of fencing. The field of participants came from all over Germany, Austria and Finland. The main focus of the total of 13 lectures was on student qualification papers presented by the participants. The XX. Nordic sound.

Exhibition: Old Finnish Prints

From the middle of September to the beginning of October, the valuable old fennica of the university library were exhibited in the foyer as part of the anniversary celebrations. After 1988 this exhibition was only the second presentation of the old prints to the public. It enjoyed surprisingly high media coverage. In addition to the local newspapers, the NDR reported on Greifswald's Finnish treasures. The exhibition's finissage at the beginning of October marked the start of the scientific highlight of the anniversary year, an international specialist conference.

A series of unbound miniature prints from the 18th and 19th centuries. Including sermons, decrees, posters and a fragment of a picture Bible.
Ruoka järjestys kuudelle hengelle Wasan läänin lazaretisa. [Dining order for six people in the Vaasa district hospital], Vaasa 1787

International symposium on the Finnish language and literature

For the symposium “Finnish Language and Literature in a European Context - Historical Perspectives and Current Challenges” on June 6-7. In October 2011 experts came from Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Poland, whose contributions ranged from linguistic and literary politics to topics related to the history of science. The focus of the lectures on the history of science was the intellectual and cultural relations between Finland and Germany. In terms of language and literary politics, however, the focus was primarily on current issues. From different perspectives it was examined which role Finnish but also Estonian and the literature of Finland and Estonia play in a Europe that is growing together and what challenges they are facing. In keeping with the occasion of the anniversary, questions relating to the teaching of Finnish languages ​​and cultures were also dealt with. A conference volume has already been published.

Library

The establishment of an extensive Finnish studies library was one of the goals of the former Institute for Finnish Studies from the start. A basis for this was already owned by the university before the institute was founded. Greifswald and Finland both belonged to Sweden until the beginning of the 19th century, and although Greifswald's right to deposit copies of the printing works in the Swedish Empire as with the other Swedish universities cannot be proven, at the suggestion of the then librarian Johann Carl Dähnert from 1774 all came to Sweden published printed matter also to Greifswald. This explains why the Greifswald university library also has a large number of prints from Finland, which belonged to Sweden until 1809. This concerns one fifth of the 600 printed matter published in Finnish between 1775 and 1809. However, a large part of it was not inventoried - possibly because the language was incomprehensible to librarians - and was only found in the attic of the university library in 1891 during construction work.

In 1939, Ewald Kuhr compiled a catalog of all Finnish-language printed matter that appeared before 1809 and is in the possession of the Greifswald University Library. This includes 156 Finnish books, 10 other-language prints on Finnish and Finnish literature, 16 writings with larger sections on the Finnish language and other, bibliographically dependent publications such as supplements to official gazettes and congratulatory poems. The oldest printed product in Greifswald's possession is the Lexicon Latino-Scondicum by Ericus Schroderus, the first dictionary to contain Finnish lexicons. The most valuable copy of the old Fennica from Greifswald is the first complete Finnish translation of the Bible, Biblia, se on: Coco Pyhä Ramattu suomexi , which is considered to be the second most beautiful book in ancient Finnish literature. The Greifswald collection also contains numerous doctoral theses from the University of Turku , including Peter Bång's church history Priscorum Sveo-Gothorum ecclesia from 1675, which, in addition to the list of the Finnish gods by Mikael Agricola, also contains the first publication of a Finnish rune song . Another prominent figure in the Greifswald collection is Henrik Gabriel Porthan , the "father of Finnish historiography", from whom the university has parts of the youth work De poesi fennica and his major historical work, the Turku episcopal chronicle, and Christfried Ganander , his best-known work Mythologia Fennica (1783) as well as the first Finnish-speaking veterinary medicine Eläinden Tautikirja (1803) are among the treasures of the Greifswald university library .

In addition to the old Finnish-language printed matter mentioned, the collections of the university library also include a large number of other-language writings by Finnish authors from the past centuries. With the establishment of the Institute for Finnish Studies, an extensive specialist library was set up, which grew to around 13,000 volumes before the Second World War and was the pride of the Greifswald Finland researchers. After the end of the war until the mid-1950s, the library was stored in the attic of the Institute for Slavonic Studies, as Finnish studies played no role at Greifswald University during this period. Attempts by the Berlin Finno-Ugric Studies during this period to get the holdings on loan for their own library were fortunately unsuccessful for the Greifswald Fenic Studies. When the library was reorganized in 1955, it was found that only 7000 volumes were left from the former inventory. This is in part certainly due to the segregation of “fascist and militarist literature” after the end of the war.

people

Finnish lecturers: (among others)

  • Niilo Mäki (1932), the most important Finnish neuropsychologist of his time
  • Arvi Kivimaa (1932–1934), later general director of the Finnish National Theater , writer, poet, essayist
  • Lauri Posti (1934), later internationally recognized Fennougrist and member of the Finnish Academy
  • Ilmari Lahti (1934–1935), Romanist, Germanist, fenist, journalist, university lecturer in Turku
  • Atso Vuoristo (1957–1962), Director of the Turku Language Institute
  • Kaija Menger (1963–1995), after completing her position as a lecturer, worked on dictionary projects in the work group of Jarmo Korhonen, German Institute of the University of Helsinki

Chair holder (founded in 1977):

Monographs and anthologies by the Greifswald Fennists (selection)

  • Mikko Bentlin: Low German-Finnish language contacts: the lexical influence of Low German on the Finnish language during the Middle Ages and early modern times - Helsinki: Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura , 2008
  • Sirkka-Liisa Hahmo: Basic Lexeme or Derivation? the Finnish nouns of the types comb and pähkinä and their story. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 1994
  • Sirkka-Liisa Hahmo (Ed.): Omaa vai lainattua: itämerensuomen germaanisiin lainasanoihin liittyviä kirjoitelmia. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 1988
  • Sirkka-Liisa Hahmo, Osmo Nikkilä (ed.): Vieraan ymmärtäminen: kirjoituksia kielestä ja kulttuurista. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 1996
  • Marja Järventausta, Marko Pantermöller (eds.): Finnish language, literature and culture in German-speaking countries - Suomen kieli, kirjallisuus ja kulttuuri saksankielisellä alueella. VSUA 85 Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2013, 372 pages. ( ISBN 3-447-06938-4 )
  • Stephan Kessler, Marko Pantermöller (Hrsg.): Language maintenance in translation practice: Contributions to the practice of language policy in smaller language communities. Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 2011
  • Andries D. Kylstra, Sirkka-Liisa Hahmo, Tette Hofstra, Osmo Nikkilä: Lexicon of the older Germanic loanwords in the Baltic Finnish languages. Rodopi, Amsterdam a. a. 1991-2012
  • Pekka Lehtimäki: Hämeenkyrön murrekirja. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, Helsinki 2002
  • Pekka Lehtimäki: Liistoin Kallei Karkkilasta: murreretki Uudellemaalle. WSOY, Porvoo et al. a. 1997
  • Pekka Lehtimäki (Ed.): Languages ​​in Finland and Estonia. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1999
  • Marko Pantermöller: The Finnish Abessi: a case between spontaneous change and targeted language planning. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2010
  • Marko Pantermöller: On the orthographic integration of foreign words in Finnish. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2003
  • Dörte Putensen: Between two worlds of language: Festschrift for the tennis player Kaija Menger on her 75th birthday. Scheunen-Verl., Kückenshagen 2009

further reading

  • Wilhelm Friese: 75 years of the Nordic Institute at the University of Greifswald. Pre-printed on October 21, 1993. Ernst Moritz Arndt University, Greifswald 1993.
  • Rainer Höll: The Northern European Institutes of the University of Greifswald from 1918 to 1945. With comparative considerations to Greifswald's Northern European research after 1945. Revision of the doctoral thesis from 1984, Greifswald 1997.
  • Leena Kärnä, Tiina Lehmusvaara: Suomen kielen opetuspisteet ulkomaisissa yliopistoissa. - In: Tiina Lehmusvaara (ed.): Kielisiltoja maailmalle. Suomen keel kulttuurin opetus ulkomaisissa yliopistoissa. Helsinki 2009, pp. 48–147.
  • Fritz Keese:  The Greifswald Institute for Finland Studies and its successor in Cologne . In: Society for Pomeranian History and Archeology (Hrsg): Baltic studies . New series vol. 56, von der Ropp, Hamburg 1970, pp. 87-91 ( digitized version ).
  • Ewald Kuhr: Old Finnish prints in the Greifswald University Library. From the treasures of the University Library in Greifswald 13 ; also: reports from the Institute for Finnish Studies at the Ernst Moritz Arndt University Greifswald 11. Greifswald 1939.
  • Dora Kurtz: On some questions about the population increase by Johann Carl Dähnert. - In: Johann Carl Dähnert (1719–1785): Contributions to the history of the library on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of his death. Scientific articles by the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, pp. 24–34. Greifswald 1986.
  • Kaija Menger: Old Finnish prints at the Greifswald University Library. - In: Nordeuropa-Studien 26, pp. 48–55. Greifswald 1990.
  • Manfred Menger: On the history of Finnish editing at the university. In: German-Finnish Society e. V. (Ed.): Between two language worlds. Festschrift for the tennis player Kaija Menger on her 75th birthday. Pp. 33-52. Kückenshagen 2009.
  • Manfred Menger, Dörte Putensen: Finland Studies Traditions of the University of Greifswald. - In: Pauli Kettunen, A. Kultanen, Timo Soikkanen (eds.): Jäljillä. Kirjoituksia historian ongelmista, Osa 2, pp. 37-59. Turku 2000.
  • Marko Pantermöller: 90 years of academic Finnish teaching in Germany. Yearbook f. Finnish-German literary relations 2011, 43: pp. 177–186.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Manfred Menger: On the history of Finnish editing at the university. In: German-Finnish Society e. V. (Ed.): Between two language worlds. Festschrift for the tennis player Kaija Menger on her 75th birthday. Kückenshagen 2009, pp. 33-52.
  2. ^ Wilhelm Friese: 75 years of the Nordic Institute at the University of Greifswald. Pre-printed on October 21, 1993. Ernst Moritz Arndt University, Greifswald 1993.
  3. ^ Rainer Höll: The Northern European Institutes of the University of Greifswald from 1918 to 1945. With comparative considerations on Greifswald's Northern European research after 1945. Revision of the dissertation from 1984, Greifswald 1997.
  4. ^ A b Manfred Menger, Dörte Putensen: Finland Studies Traditions of the University of Greifswald. In: Pauli Kettunen, A. Kultanen, Timo Soikkanen (eds.): Jäljillä. Kirjoituksia historian ongelmista. Osa 2, Turku 2000, pp. 37-59.
  5. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.phil.uni-greifswald.de
  6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated May 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.uni-greifswald.de
  7. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated November 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.uni-greifswald.de
  8. ↑ Fennistik Greifswald on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fennistik/info
  9. ^ Marko Pantermöller: 90 years of academic Finnish lessons in Germany. In: Yearbook for Finnish-German Literature Relations 2011, 43: pp. 177–186
  10. ↑ a b Kaija Menger: Old Finnish prints at the Greifswald University Library. - In: Nordeuropa-Studien 26, Greifswald 1990 pp. 48–55.