Peter Josef Franz Dautzenberg

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Peter Josef Franz Dautzenberg (born April 20, 1769 in Aachen ; † March 16, 1828 ibid), descended from the Totzenbergh family from Vaals / NL, was a German journalist and newspaper publisher and founder of the Aachen city library .

Live and act

The son of the Aachen goldsmith Gerhard Dautzenberg and Karoline Antonette Fabritius attended what was then the Jesuit grammar school and today's Kaiser-Karls grammar school in Aachen. During his studies he founded the newspaper Politischer Merkur for the Lower Reichslande in 1790 , which was later given the more neutral name Aachner Viewer for reasons of censorship , since Dautzenberg vehemently advocated the French Revolution in his writings , especially the world of thought was open to Jean-Jacques Rousseau . He also maintained a lively political exchange of ideas and correspondence with the publicist Joseph Görres .

During the time of the French occupation of the territories on the left bank of the Rhine , Dautzenberg took over the reorganization of the French postal system, was appointed chairman of the examination committee for elementary teachers and was finally head of the Aachen prefecture of the Département de la Roer from 1802 to 1804 . After the end of the French occupation and the incorporation into the Kingdom of Prussia in 1814, Dautzenberg was first special commissioner of the billeting commission before he was finally elected to the city council in 1822.

Throughout his career he was still active as a private scholar and journalist and as a collector of historical books of all disciplines with a clear preference for French literature. He compiled this universal library without individual priorities in times of revolutionary unrest, mainly through the purchase of various private libraries such as the Cologne Chancellor Johann Friedrich Karg von Bebenburg , the Cologne Auxiliary Bishop Clemens August von Merle or the Vicar General Johann Arnold de Reux . After all, his collection comprised more than 10,000 copies, which he bequeathed to the city of Aachen after his death. This foundation, together with the old, hitherto non-public council library and other scholarly libraries, formed the basic holdings of the public city library that he made and initiated and which was then officially opened in 1831.

literature

  • Wilhelm Hermanns: PJ Franz Dautzenberg and his 'Aachner Viewer' (Politischer Merkur) 1790–1798 : A contribution to Rhenish newspaper studies, cultural history and attitudes towards the end of the 18th century, Deterre, 1931
  • Thomas R. Kraus : On the way to the modern age. Aachen in the French period 1792/1793, 1794–1814 , Aachen: Verlag des Aachener Geschichtsverein 1994.
  • Frank Pohle: Dautzenbergs books: Life and work of Peter Joseph Franz Dautzenberg (1769-1828) in the mirror of his library , Aachen: Shaker 1999. ISBN 3-8265-4996-1 (Diss. Aachen 1998)
  • Franz Dautzenberg (1769-1828) . In: Bert Kasties / Manfred Sicking (eds.): Aacheners making history, Vol. 2. Aachen 1999, pp. 40–48.
  • Franz Dautzenberg (1769-1828) . In: Herbert Dautzenberg / Jo Hoen: 500 years of Dautzenberg . Aachen 2005, pp. 60-70.

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personal data
SURNAME Dautzenberg, Peter Josef Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, newspaper publisher and initiator of the Aachen City Library
DATE OF BIRTH April 20, 1769
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 1828
Place of death Aachen