Georg Kerst

Georg Kerst (born September 11, 1895 in Hanover ; died November 7, 1980 ) was a German historian and Japanologist.

life and work

Georg Kerst studied newspaper studies and history in Cologne, Freiburg, with a minor in Japanese studies. In Cologne he founded a group of "Friends of Japan" which later became a branch of the German-Japanese Society in Berlin. After the war and after the death or emigration of his two teachers from Cologne, Martin Spahn and Oscar Kressler (1876–1970), he found a new mentor in Otto Becker at the University of Kiel in 1946 , with whom he wrote his dissertation in 1953 on the topic “The Beginning of the development of Japan in the mirror of contemporary journalism ”. However, he did not find a job at Kiel University, and so he earned his living as a freelance historian with a focus on Japan.

The appearance of the Japanese ballet Yoshio Aoyama on February 7, 1955 in the Kiel city theater was the impetus for Kerst to found the German-Japanese Society Schleswig-Holstein. As Honorary President Admiral a. D. Gottfried Hansen , as Chairman of the Advisory Board Admiral Otto Kähler , as Chairman of the Board of Trustees Prof. Dr. Adolf Remane and Consul Thomas Entz as chairman of the support group . Georg Kerst himself was elected chairman and the Japanese consul general in Hamburg as his deputy at the first general meeting in 1956.

In 1964, Kerst visited Japan, where he stayed for three months, toured the country and gave lectures. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs largely financed the visit.

In 1967 Kerst gave up the chair for reasons of age, and was succeeded by Prof. Dr. Erich Bagge elected. In 1980 the DJG Schleswig-Holstein had its 25th anniversary and Kerst was 85 years old on September 11th. Both events should be celebrated together on November 21st. Kerst could no longer witness the anniversary of "his" company: he died on November 7, 1980.

Awards

• 1969: Japanese Order of the Sacred Treasure
• 1976: Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon

Fonts

• Möllenbeck Monastery near Rinteln ad Weser. Brief overview of history, presented in a popular way. Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1949.
• The beginnings of the development of Japan as reflected in contemporary journalism. Hamburg, Übersee-Verlag, 1953.
• Jacob Meckel - his life, his work in Germany and Japan. Musterschmidt Verlag, Göttingen 1970.
• The Japanese special embassy to Europe in 1862. Yearbook of the Bremen Historical Society. Carl Schünemann, Bremen. 1971.
• The German expedition to Japan and its effects . Reprint. De Gruyter, 2017. ISBN 978-3-11-179944-5 .

literature

• Peter Janocha: 50 years of the German-Japanese Society Schleswig-Holstein 1955 to 2005.

Web links

• CV from Schleswig-Holstein and Japan