Ferdinand Zwenger

Valentinus Ferdinandus Amandus Victor Zwenger (nickname Ferdinand) (born October 18, 1824 in Fulda ; † April 6, 1894 ibid) was the librarian as well as the founder and editor of the Fuldaer Anzeiger , Buchonia and the journal Hessenlandes .

Life

Ferdinand Zwenger was the youngest of three sons of the head of the Wilhelmshospital in Fulda, Medical Councilor Dr. Damian Zwenger (1780–1837) and his second wife Maria Anna Zwenger, née Oswald, (1788–1865) born in Fulda. One of his brothers was Constantin Zwenger . After graduating high school in his hometown, he studied at the University of Marburg and the University of Heidelberg Law . In Marburg he joined the Corps Hassia and Rhenania. In Heidelberg he joined the Corps Saxo-Borussia Heidelberg . In 1849 he returned home. Here he dealt with new German and French literature. In particular, he laid the foundation for his acquaintance with the history of his home country. His friendly relations with the outstanding poets Franz Dingelstedt and Julius Rodenberg also stem from this time.

In 1868 Ferdinand Zwenger founded the first political daily newspaper in Fulda, the “Fuldaer Anzeiger”, from 1875 called “Hessischer Beobachter”. In 1875 he laid down the management of the paper, which he later sold, not without a loss.

“As the founder and editor of the paper, I have often learned that the life of an editor is not a bed of roses. I was not spared adversity and chicanery of all kinds, but I never lost my courage. ...... Thanks at last to those who were not choosy in their means and who devoted their piously pious care to the paper, they taught me to be mindful of Christian virtues. I would also like to thank all of them! Because Brutus is an honorable man, they are all, all honorable. "

- Ferdinand Zwenger in the December 30, 1875 edition of the Fuldaer Anzeiger

Four years later, in 1880, Ferdinand Zwenger again appeared in public literature. He founded the magazine "Buchonia", a weekly for politics, literature and patriotic history. Here he published essays on history, namely the old Fulda diocese and Hesse. Many of today's publications refer to Ferdinand Zwenger. After financial losses with this magazine too, he left Fulda. On November 16, 1882, he took over the management of the "Kasseler Zeitung".

Before Ferdinand Zwenger ended his activity at the Kasseler Zeitung in 1887 and thus also his occupation with the political daily press, he gathered a number of leading men in the field of history and literature around him in 1886 in the Kassel "Cafe'Verzett" to discuss the establishment of a To advise journal devoted to the maintenance of history and literature. As a result, the newspaper "Hessenland" was founded soon afterwards. This popular scientific and apolitical magazine was published even after his death until the 1940s.

At the end of his life, Ferdinand Zwenger returned to his home town of Fulda. In 1890 he became a librarian at the Fulda State Library and took over its management on January 1, 1894. A few months later he died of pneumonia on April 6, 1894. In an editorial article in the Fuldaer Zeitung on the occasion of his death, it says:

“Ferdinand Ferdinand Zwenger was a man of forgiveness. As such men usually do, as long as he lives he has little outward success. But after he was dead, people in all camps, in all denominations and parties, bowed down in awe of their ardent homeland friend. He was certified that he was a man of honor in the best sense of the word. His adversaries admitted that he was an exact researcher, a great promoter of all literary and historical endeavors of his time. "

- Fuldaer Zeitung "Past speaks to the present" under the heading: "Thorn path of an idealist"

Web links

• Buchonia , Fulda digital collections

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kösener corps lists 1910, 160 , 331.
2. ↑ Kösener corps lists 1910, 164 , 31.
3. ↑ Kösener corps lists 1910, 120 , 292.