Gerhard Kaufmann (folklorist)

Gerhard Kaufmann (born July 27, 1936 in Kiel ; † July 4, 2009 in Hamburg ) was a German geographer , folklorist and director of the Altona Museum .

Live and act

Gerhard Kaufmann was the son of Hermann Kaufmann and his wife Anna, née Schnack. He had a brother named Günter. After the father's death on August 27, 1945, both children grew up with their mother. Gerhard Kaufmann graduated from high school in his hometown Kiel and studied geography, mathematics, art history, philosophy, pedagogy and folklore at the University of Kiel from the summer semester 1956 . In the summer semester of 1957, he moved to the University of Freiburg im Breisgau . He completed his studies at Kiel University in 1964 with a doctorate in geography as a Dr. rer. nat on the structural change in rural settlements in Schleswig-Holstein since the middle of the 19th century. On September 1, 1964, he got a job as a volunteer at the Altona Museum. On January 1, 1967, he took over the management of the general cultural history department of the museum from Hildemarie Schwindrazheim and acted as deputy to the museum director Gerhard Wietek .

Kaufmann dealt in particular with general cultural history, north German folk life and landscape paintings, art popularization, graphics and handicrafts. In 1973 he curated the exhibition “Folk Life Pictures from Northern Germany” at the museum, which was held alongside the “Urban-Rural Relations” congress of the German Folklore Society . He decided to add printed picture postcards to the collections of well-known graphics, and in particular to the museum's picture sheets. This brought together around 1.7 million exhibits, which are probably rare in this number.

On July 1, 1978, Kaufmann took over the post of director of the Altona Museum as the fifth director after Otto Lehmann , Hubert Stierling , Günther Grundmann and Gerhard Wietek. The Hamburg Senate also awarded him the title of professor. A major fire in the museum on the night of May 30, 1980 had a decisive influence on Kaufmann's further work. A little later he decided to reopen, rebuild, modernize and expand the museum as soon as possible. As part of his initiative, he was exposed to controversial discussions. Kaufmann described the results of extensive internal disputes about a new direction of the museum in 1989 in the "Concept for the reconstruction and reorganization of the Altona Museum".

During his time as director, Kaufmann gave more space to the mediation of cultural-historical and cultural-geographic contexts compared to the fine arts. In 1979 the museum donated, among other things, the zoological collection, which had been part of Otto Lehmann's exhibition concept, to Hamburg University. Kaufmann wanted to keep a modernized geological department in the field of natural sciences, which was supposed to present the natural spatial background of northern German cultural history in a new form.

The modernization of the museum took place in several steps and took years. In addition to many special exhibitions, Kaufmann also curated art exhibitions at the Hamburgische Landesbank . He also selected historical north German pictures from the period 1969 to 2002, which appeared in the calendars of the Vereins- und Westbank and whose cultural and historical background he depicted. In 1991 the Altona Museum took part in the project "The Elbe - A Life Course" of the German Historical Museum . Kaufmann directed the section to the lower Elbe. At a special exhibition in 1992/93 in Dresden , Hamburg and Prague he presented numerous loans from the Altona Museum.

Kaufmann's service ended on July 30, 2001. On that day he opened a newly established geological department on the ground floor of the museum. In retirement he continued to work for the "Friends of the Altona Museum". During his time as director, he had already organized series of lectures for the association and, together with his wife Ingeburg, prepared and led many domestic and foreign excursions.

For many years, Kaufmann was involved in local politics in the Stade district and at his place of residence in Jork . He also campaigned for culture and monument preservation. He took over the deputy chairmanship of the Altes Land Cultural Foundation, which had its own series of publications. By 2009 Kaufmann had published the first three volumes of this collection and wrote his own forewords for them.

literature

• Frank Schlichting: businessman, Gerhard . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 6 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8353-1025-4 , p. 153-154 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Gerhard Kaufmann in the catalog of the German National Library