Fritz Klein (historian)

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Fritz Klein junior (born July 11, 1924 in Berlin ; † May 26, 2011 there ) was a German Marxist historian .

Life

His father, the journalist Fritz Klein senior, was editor-in-chief of the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung from 1924 to 1933 . Fritz Klein junior and Peter, the older of his three brothers, came to Heinrich Deiters in 1937 after the death of their father and their mother's illness . In order to escape the labor service, he took part in the Second World War as a soldier. In 1947 he married Dorle Deiters, with whom he had the son Wolfgang. He studied history at the Humboldt University in Berlin from 1946 to 1952 and received his doctorate in 1952 with the thesis The diplomatic relations between Germany and the Soviet Union 1917-1932 . From 1953 to 1956 he was the editorial secretary of the Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft (ZfG) and from 1956 to 1957 its editor-in-chief. After being replaced for political reasons, he became a research associate at the Institute for History of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR , professor in 1970 and head of the “General History” department there in 1973. In 1968 he completed his habilitation at the University of Leipzig under Walter Markov . In 1986 he moved to the newly founded Institute for General History of the AdW and was director of this institute from 1990 to 1991. There he was able to accommodate oppositional historians like Armin Mitter in his institute and thus protect them from regulations in their research.

After the fall of the Wall he was exposed as an unofficial employee (IM) of the Ministry for State Security (MfS). From 1979 to 1989 he was registered as IM "Wilhelm" by the MfS. In his autobiography, published in 2000, he deals with this fact in a very self-critical manner.

Most recently he lived as a freelance author in Berlin-Johannisthal . In 1999, the University of Lüneburg Klein awarded the only honorary doctorate from a West German university to an East German historian. Klein was one of the editors of the historical journal .

tomb

He is buried in the cemetery of the Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichswerder communities in Berlin-Mitte.

plant

Klein's main work is the three-volume edition of Germany in World War I , written by a collective of authors under his direction. In the first volume, Klein deals extensively with West German literature and also discusses the results of Fritz Fischer's research , the results of which were noted with interest in the GDR

Fonts

  • Germany's diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union 1917–1932 . Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1952.
  • It started in Sarajevo . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1964.
  • German imperialism and the emergence of the first world war . Leipzig 1968.
  • Germany in the First World War. 3 volumes. From a collective of authors led by Fritz Klein. Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 1968–1970. New edition: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2004, ISBN 3-937209-84-0 .
    • Volume 1: Preparation, unleashing and course of the war until the end of 1914 . Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2004, new edition based on the 3rd, reviewed edition 1971. With a foreword by Fritz Klein to this edition.
    • Volume 2: January 1915 to October 1917. Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2004, new edition based on the 2nd, reviewed edition 1970.
    • Volume 3: November 1917 to November 1918. Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2004, new edition based on the 2nd, reviewed edition 1970.
  • Inside and outside. A historian in the GDR. S. Fischer , Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-10-039609-X .

literature

  • Klein, Fritz . In: Collegium Politicum at the University of Hamburg. Historiography Working Group (Ed.): Historians in Central Germany . Ferd. Dümmerls Verlag, Bonn, Hanover, Hamburg, Munich 1965, p. 53.
  • Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk : The well-known GDR historian Fritz Klein wrote his autobiography - and missed a chance. In: Der Tagesspiegel . March 13, 2000, p. 7.
  • Volker Ullrich A grandiose deception: the important GDR historian Fritz Klein wrote his memoirs. In: The time . March 9, 2000. ( Online )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Kowalczuk: Klein, Fritz .
  2. ↑ Inside and outside. A historian in the GDR. P. 358 f.
  3. ↑ Friedrich Küttler: A problem mirror of critical self-understanding. On Fritz Klein's autobiography . In UTOPIE Kreativ , issue 115/116 (May / June 2000), pp. 584–589, online here [1]
  4. ↑ Volker Ullrich: A grandiose deception. The interpreting GDR historian Fritz Klein wrote his memoirs. In: The time . March 9, 2000 ( online ).
  5. ↑ Leipzig, Phil. F., habilitation thesis from February 7, 1968.
personal data
SURNAME Klein, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Klein, Fritz junior (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH May 26, 2011
Place of death Berlin