Fritz Wagner (historian)

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Fritz Wagner (born December 5, 1908 in Ludwigsburg , † March 2, 2003 in Kreuth ) was a German historian .

Fritz Wagner signature 1998

Live and act

Fritz Wagner, the son of a doctor whose ancestors immigrated from Switzerland, was born in Ludwigsburg, attended the humanistic grammar school there and then studied history , German and art history in Tübingen , Paris , Berlin and Munich . In 1931 he received his doctorate with a dissertation on the French liberal Benjamin Constant . He completed his habilitation in 1939 with the work of Emperor Charles VII and the Great Powers 1740–1745 . Doctoral supervisor was Karl Alexander von Müller , with whom he also completed his habilitation. His Christian belief, rooted in family tradition and in his own existential basic experiences, kept him at a distance from the National Socialism of the Munich scene and brought him and his wife, an art historian, closer to the Confessing Church .

After the Second World War , Fritz Wagner was appointed to the Chair of Modern History at the Philipps University of Marburg , previously held by Wilhelm Mommsen , where he worked until 1966, interrupted by a visiting professorship in the USA. From 1955 to 1956 he was the rector of the university. In 1966 Wagner turned down an offer at the University of Hamburg and instead accepted one at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich to the now divided chair of Franz Schnabel . There he represented the history of the early modern period until his retirement in 1974, while Walter Bußmann , appointed at the same time, was responsible for the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1967 Wagner became a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and the Historical Commission , of which he was secretary from 1968 to 1982. From 1972 to 1982 he was chairman of the working group of non-university historical research institutions, which he was instrumental in founding .

In the 1980s, he and his wife moved to the Haus Bruneck senior citizens' home in Kreuth. From there they went on art historical excursions. His wife died in 1994, and he followed her in 2003. Both are buried together in the Ringbergfriedhof in Kreuth.

Wagner researched and taught mainly on Europe in the age of absolutism and the Enlightenment (1648 to 1789), history of the USA and Canada from the time of the discoveries to Pearl Harbor in 1941, theory and self-understanding of historical science ; their methodology and epistemological classification, encounter of natural science , religion , philosophy and history in historical personalities and their works as well as on the history of science . He knew how to see and combine the results of different sciences together. It was his aim to uncover internal spiritual and religious structures. Spiritual and artistic works were seismographs for him, from which the change in maxims of action can be read. In the later years he was particularly interested in the personal in history and its anchoring in the religious.

Fritz Wagner was awarded the Great Federal Cross of Merit in 1978 for his services in research and teaching .

Fonts

  • The Liberal Benjamin Constant . Murnau 1932.
  • Emperor Charles VII and the great powers 1740–1745 . Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1938.
  • Cavour and the rise of Italy in the Crimean War . Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart 1940, 2nd edition 1942.
  • UNITED STATES. Birth and Rise of the New World. History in contemporary documents. 1607-1865 . Münchener Graphische Kunstanstalten, Munich 1947.
  • England and the European balance. 1500-1914 . Münchner Verlag, Munich 1947.
  • History . Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1951, 2nd edition 1966 (= Orbis academicus , Volume I / 1) (also in Spanish).
  • Modern historiography. Outlook on a philosophy of historical science. Duncker & Humblot Publishing House, Berlin 1960.
  • The historian and world history . Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1965.
  • Europe in the age of absolutism and the enlightenment . Union Verlag Stuttgart 1968, 3rd edition, Klett-Cotta Verlag, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-12-907560-7 (= Handbook of European History , Volume 4).
  • Isaac Newton. In the twilight between myth and research. Studies on the Age of Enlightenment . Verlag Karl Alber, Freiburg / Munich 1976, ISBN 3-495-47339-4 .

Editorial activity

literature

  • Harm-Hinrich Brandt : Fritz Wagner (1908-2003). In: Historisches Jahrbuch 2003, pp. 529–533.
  • Harm-Hinrich Brandt: Fritz Wagner (1908–2003) - on his biography and his scientific work. In: Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 100 (2018) pp. 11–64.
  • Helmut Neuhaus: In memoriam Fritz Wagner (December 5, 1908 - March 2, 2003). In: Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 85 (2003) pp. 387–391.
  • Eberhard Weis: Fritz Wagner. December 5, 1908 - March 2, 2003. In: Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Yearbook 2003, Munich 2004 pp. 304–307 ( online ).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Announcement of awards of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In: Federal Gazette . Vol. 30, No. 172, September 13, 1978.
personal data
SURNAME Wagner, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH December 5, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Ludwigsburg
DATE OF DEATH March 2, 2003
Place of death Kreuth