Friedrich Maria Illert

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Friedrich Wilhelm Josef Maria Illert (born July 3, 1892 in Worms ; † June 26, 1966 there ) was a German cultural scientist, archivist, librarian and historian.

Life

Until the end of World War II

Friedrich Maria Illert (often also mentioned in the literature as Friedrich M. Illert ) was, in addition to the activities mentioned at the beginning, director of all Worms cultural institutions. During his period of activity, the thesis falls that Worms represents the center of Europe in historical matters.

Since the 1930s, Illert drove the establishment of a photo workshop in the municipal museum in Worms, which was under his management, which formed the basis for the later photo archive of the Worms city archive. The archive already contained around 50,000 negatives in 1952 and is now one of the most important photo archives in Rhineland-Palatinate and across national borders.

In retrospect, his work during the Nazi regime is considered at least questionable, because he obviously sought to take advantage of the regime's rule, for example by giving it a clear ideological note when setting up the “new urban cultural institutes” Dismissal of his predecessor Erich Gill, who was considered to be nationally conservative , was not mentioned at the opening in 1934.

The Nibelung topic was given special attention in the Worms cultural policy under Illert's leadership. From 1933 onwards, it was considered one of the pillars of this historical topic. He used this successfully to take on a leading role in Worms cultural history, which, in retrospect, extends far beyond his death, because it was he who took the opportunity to make Worms the "oldest city in Germany", especially in terms of tourism instrumentalize. In addition, Illert first developed the idea of ​​holding a "Nibelung Year" sponsored by the German Reich in Worms in 1933. However, his remarks were only taken up by politicians when he publicly confessed and gave appropriate testimony to National Socialist cultural policy.

On May 1, 1934, Illert initiated a petition from the city to the government to celebrate a “National Celebration of the Reich” in 1936, which should undoubtedly be influenced by the National Socialists. Illert linked this with the continuing hope that Worms would also be the opening location of the Olympics planned for 1936. However, this idea was never implemented in the form intended by Illert. The implementation of a Nibelung Week in Worms, which became apparent in 1937, was put into the planning under different circumstances. Illert lost his role as the mainstay of the idea and from then on was just a guest who was still in the public eye, but no longer showed any active work.

Until then, Illert was in the public eye with dubious motives, but his work changed in the period after the pogrom night . Although the oldest German synagogue in Worms was burned down and the inventory of the museum established in 1924 was destroyed, Illert at least succeeded in bringing the community archive, which had been confiscated by the Gestapo and dating back to the 16th century, back to Worms and in one of the two Hide cathedral towers . In this hiding place the archive survived the turmoil of the Second World War unscathed. Illert succeeded in rescuing an important part of the structural remains of Judaism and, albeit a few, of religious objects of Jewish culture from the remains of the fire and bringing them to safety.

When, towards the end of the war in 1945, the last, yet most powerful, aerial bombs were dropped on Worms, according to official reports 249 people died, almost all cultural monuments were destroyed and many Worms churches burned down, Illert succeeded in removing the cultural goods he had already carefully removed from the endangered city center Archives and museums to preserve stocks on the turmoil of war.

After the Second World War

After the end of the war, Illert was involved in making Jewish culture visible again in Worms by, among other things, committed to rebuilding the synagogue that was destroyed in 1938. The reconstruction began in 1956 and ended in 1961. Nevertheless, there were violent rifts between him and the Jewish Cultural Restitution u. a. about the transfer of the Worms Machsor to Jerusalem.

The French occupying power was confronted by Illert and the industrialist Ludwig von Heyl with the desire to obtain a permit for the establishment of the association “Reconstruction Worms”. The wish was granted. The organization existed until the 1990s under the name "Aufbauverein".

In his function as head of the Worms cultural institute, Illert arranged for, among other things, the creation of photographs of the damage caused by the Second World War in June and July 1945 , which had assumed enormous proportions, especially in large parts of Worms city center.

Illert's son Georg Anton Maria Illert (1925–1991) worked as an archaeologist.

Friedrich Wilhelm Josef Maria Illert died in Worms in 1966; at his funeral all church bells in Worms rang, both the Protestant and the Catholic churches. The Dr.-Illert-Straße in the Worms district of Leiselheim , where he was the mayor in the post-war years , keeps the memory of him alive.

literature

  • Gerold Bönnen : History of the city of Worms . 2nd Edition. Theiss , Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-8062-3158-8 .
  • Detlev Johannes: Bibliography Friedrich Maria Illert . In: Der Wormsgau 5, 1961–1962, pp. 9–30.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Illert, Friedrich Wilhelm Josef Maria. Hessian biography. (As of February 19, 2013). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  2. Gerold Bönnen: History of the City of Worms . 2nd Edition. Theiss , Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-8062-3158-8 , pp. 99 .
  3. ^ Photo archive - history> Stadt Worms. In: worms.de. Retrieved February 22, 2016 .
  4. Gerold Bönnen: History of the City of Worms . 2nd Edition. Theiss , Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-8062-3158-8 , pp. 586 .
  5. Gerold Bönnen: History of the City of Worms . 2nd Edition. Theiss , Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-8062-3158-8 , pp. 605 .
  6. Gerold Bönnen: History of the City of Worms . 2nd Edition. Theiss , Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-8062-3158-8 , pp. 632 .
  7. ^ Elisabeth Gallas : The morgue of books. Cultural Restitution and Jewish Historical Thought after 1945 . Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 2013.
  8. Gerold Bönnen: History of the City of Worms . 2nd Edition. Theiss , Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-8062-3158-8 , pp. 635 f .
  9. Commemoration of Destruction - Wormser Zeitung. (No longer available online.) In: wormser-zeitung.de. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016 ; accessed on February 22, 2016 . 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.wormser-zeitung.de
  10. Georg Illert: Worms, as it was . Droste , Düsseldorf 1976, ISBN 3-7700-0432-9 , p. 79 .