Friedrich Sprater

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Friedrich Sprater

Friedrich Sprater (born June 9, 1884 in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse ; † November 6, 1952 in Speyer ) was a German prehistoric scientist . He dealt primarily with the history of his home region, the Palatinate, and participated in the excavations of numerous historical sites.

Life

After graduating from the humanistic grammar school in Neustadt an der Haardt , Sprater studied prehistory and early history as well as classical archeology at the University of Munich ; in 1908 he received his doctorate under Johannes Ranke . From November 1908 he worked as a curator at the Historisches Museum der Pfalz in Speyer and was its director from 1920 to 1949.

Grave site in the Speyer cemetery

Sprater joined the NSDAP in November 1937 and also worked in the Reich Association for German Prehistory of the Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg . He wrote for the Nazi publications Germanen-Erbe and Germanien , the journal of the German Ahnenerbe research community . After 1945 Sprater tried to restore its reputation and had incriminating material removed or purged of Nazi echoes in the Historical Museum.

archeology

When Sprater was leading the excavation of the Heidenlöcher near Deidesheim in 1907/08 , he made a scientific error. He interpreted it as a settlement from Celtic times, which is also indicated by the first part of the name, which comes from the vernacular. Only more recent research has shown that the complex is more than a thousand years younger and represents the remains of a refuge from the 9th or 10th century.

Sprater discovered the so-called Eisenberg bread stamp in Eisenberg (Palatinate) in 1919 as the earliest evidence of Christianity in the Palatinate. The stamp is now exhibited in the Palatinate Historical Museum as an important artefact of local cultural history.

In 1935 he found the lost grave of Queen Gunhild († 1038), the first wife of Emperor Heinrich III, in the Limburg monastery ruins . on.

Sprater's important project was the investigation of the Reichsburg Trifels , which he began - in preparation for restoration - between 1935 and 1938, before work was interrupted by the Second World War.

Publications (selection)

  • Race and culture of the Younger Stone Age in the Rhine Palatinate. Munich 1910 (= dissertation).
  • The Palatinate under the Romans - at the same time a guide through the Roman section of the Palatinate Historical Museum 2 parts. Palatinate Society for the Advancement of Science, Speyer 1929–1930.
  • The imperial regalia in the Palatinate. Westmark Institute for State and Folk Research, Ludwigshafen am Rhein 1942.
  • The Trifels. 1st edition, Historisches Museum der Pfalz, Speyer 1945. 15th edition, Historischer Verein der Pfalz, Speyer 1989.
  • Early Christian monuments from the Palatinate. Eichenlaub-Verlag, Landau 1947.
  • Limburg and Kriemhildenstuhl . Historical Museum of the Palatinate, Speyer 1948.
  • The Roman Rheinzabern . Historical Museum of the Palatinate, Speyer 1948.
  • The Roman Eisenberg. His iron u. Bronze industry. Historical Museum of the Palatinate, Speyer 1952.

literature

  • Ernst Christmann: Museum director i. R. Dr. Friedrich Sprater. In: Pfälzer Heimat 3, 1952, pp. 65–66.
  • Pfälzer Heimat 11, 1960, pp. 86–88 (= list of publications).

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Wolfgang Freund: People, Empire and Western Frontier . German studies and politics in the Palatinate, Saarland and annexed Lorraine 1925–1945 (=  publications of the Commission for Saarland State History and Folk Research . No. 39 ). Commission for Saarland State History and Folk Research, Saarbrücken 2006, ISBN 3-939150-00-2 , p. 204-205 .
  2. ↑ Eisenberger bread stamp. Evangelical Church Community Eisenberg / Pfalz, accessed on February 9, 2014 . ; Photo of the bread stamp. (No longer available online.) Historisches Museum der Pfalz, archived from the original on February 22, 2014 ; Retrieved February 9, 2014 . 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.museum.speyer.de
personal data
SURNAME Sprater, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German prehistorian
DATE OF BIRTH June 9, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Neustadt an der Weinstrasse
DATE OF DEATH November 6, 1952
Place of death Speyer