Friedrich Delbrück

Friedrich Delbrück

Johann Friedrich Gottlieb Delbrück (born August 22, 1768 in Magdeburg , † July 4, 1830 in Zeitz ) was a Prussian theologian and educator ( educator ).

family

JFG Delbrück's brother Karl was the Prussian trade consul in Bordeaux ; the brother Johann Friedrich Ferdinand was a university teacher in Bonn .

Friedrich, since 1815 with Emilie Juliane geb. Meckelnburg, founded the most famous tribe of the old Delbrück family, known above all for lawyers, politicians, theologians and bankers , who also produced the Nobel Prize winner Max Delbrück . The son of Johann Friedrich Gottlieb Delbrück was the Prussian politician and head of the Chancellery under Otto von Bismarck Rudolph von Delbrück , his nephew Adelbert Delbrück was the founder of today's Deutsche Bank .

Life

Friedrich Delbrück, eldest son of the Magdeburg lawyer and councilor Friedrich Heinrich Delbrück († 1783), made the acquaintance of the reform pedagogue Johann Bernhard Basedow before beginning his studies and spent a lot of time in his company in 1786. Delbrück was not an absolute supporter of the pedagogue and writer Johann Bernhard Basedow, but his humane educational concept certainly had an influence on him. Basedow had been an advocate of so-called philanthropinism , an Enlightenment current that made the child's nature the point of reference for all educational measures.

From 1787 Delbrück studied Protestant theology , philology and philosophy at the University of Halle , among others with Friedrich August Wolf . In 1790 he obtained a doctorate with a dissertation on Aristotle 's Nicomachean Ethics . From 1792 he was rector of the Magdeburg Education Department . In 1800 he was employed at the Prussian court on the recommendation of his former teacher August Hermann Niemeyer . There he was the tutor of the later Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Delbrück initially had big problems with the extremely lively Friedrich Wilhelm. But over time he succeeded in gaining his trust by recognizing and promoting the prince's artistic abilities. With his sentimental and romantic nature, Delbrück also became a close confidante of Friedrich Wilhelm.

Since May 24, 1801, Friedrich Wilhelm's brother, who later became Emperor Wilhelm I of Delbrück, was brought up. During his time as monarch, Wilhelm was to honor this day with an annual memorial service. For Delbrück, Wilhelm turned out to be much less complicated in character than Friedrich Wilhelm. He was calm, adaptable, and understanding - the exact opposite of his older brother. Later Delbrück also took over the education of Charlotte of Prussia , who was born in 1798 and later became the Russian tsarina. In order to teach the three royal siblings how to properly deal with responsibility, Delbrück resorted to unusual approaches: for example, he had them grow vegetable gardens that they should "water, cut and harvest" themselves. In addition to his upbringing, Delbrück also interacted with Queen Luise , who regularly invited him to tea and to talk about scientific and artistic topics.

Queen Luise was also Delbrück's most important advocate. King Friedrich Wilhelm III. often criticized Delbrück's softness in dealing with adolescents. He was convinced that the princes should be brought up primarily in military discipline, since they might no longer rule in peace. From the king's point of view, Delbrück, as a civilian, did not seem to be up to these demands. In order to check Delbrück's abilities as an educator, Delbrück therefore had to present the king and queen with diary-like reports on the learning progress. For historians, these records are still the most important sources on the childhood and early adolescence of the later monarchs Friedrich Wilhelm IV and Wilhelm I.

In 1809 he was appointed a secret councilor and released from the education of the Crown Prince. His allegedly too "lax" handling, especially by Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, is seen as the reason; Delbrück's attempt to make the prince an aesthetically and morally sensitive person was from the point of view of the parents Friedrich Wilhelm III. and Queen Luise come into conflict with political necessities. Delbrück turned down the offer to continue to lead the education of Princes Wilhelm and Karl. But he was allowed to stay with the children until mid-1810. His successor as educator was Jean Pierre Frédéric Ancillon .

Delbrück was considered a "enthusiastic" romantic . In 1811 he published a book with the title Views of the Mind World , in which he made reform proposals for pedagogy from a very idealistic point of view.

After traveling through Italy, France and Switzerland, Delbrück returned to Germany in 1813, where he wanted to work as a field preacher in the Wars of Liberation ; in fact, however, he only served in field hospitals. From 1814 to 1817 he preached in Berlin, in 1817 he took over the pastorate at St. Michaeliskirche and the associated superintendent in Zeitz, where he died in 1830.

Works

• Views of the world of mind. Magdeburg 1811.
• Sermons with regard to the ecclesiastical zeitgeist and the history of the fatherland . Nicolai, Berlin 1816.

literature

• Georg Schuster (ed.): The youth of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and the Emperor and King Wilhelm I. Memories of their educator Friedrich Delbrück. in: Monumenta Germaniae paedagogica, Vols. 36, 37 and 40, Hoffmann, Berlin 1906ff.

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Delbrück  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Friedrich Delbrück in the Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon
• Genealogy.net: Familjens databaser Magdeburg.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dirk Blasius: Friedrich Wilhelm IV. 1795–1861. Psychopathology and history. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1992, ISBN 978-3-525-36229-7 , p. 27.
2. ↑ Guntram Schulze-Wegener: Wilhelm I. German Kaiser - King of Prussia - National Myth. Middle. Berlin 2015. ISBN 978-3813209648 . P. 18
3. ↑ Guntram Schulze-Wegener: Wilhelm I. German Kaiser - King of Prussia - National Myth. Middle. Berlin 2015. ISBN 978-3813209648 . P. 20
4. ↑ Guntram Schulze-Wegener: Wilhelm I. German Kaiser - King of Prussia - National Myth. Middle. Berlin 2015. ISBN 978-3813209648 . P. 24