Gottfried Wentz

Gottfried Friedrich Albert Wentz (born March 24, 1894 in Lüchow (Wendland) , † September 8, 1945 in Berlin ) was a German archivist and historian .

Live and act

Gottfried Wentz grew up as the son of a linen manufacturer in Wustrow (Wendland) and attended the Johanneum grammar school in Lüneburg . Since April 1, 1913, he studied history and German philology for three semesters at the University of Tübingen . During his studies he became a member of the Tübingen fraternity Derendingia in 1913 . At the outbreak of World War I , he joined as a volunteer in the Lüneburg dragoon regiment no. 16 one, was later in the infantry regiment no. 167 and was at war with the Iron Cross awarded II. And I. Class, on 12 May 1919 as a lieutenant from Dismissed from military service. Wentz then continued his interrupted studies with two semesters each in Göttingen , Hamburg and Berlin . In December 1921 he did his doctorate with Dietrich Schäfer with the thesis The economic life of the Altmark monastery of Diesdorf in the late Middle Ages .

After he had also passed the state examination for the higher teaching post in the subjects of history, German, Latin and geography, he started work at the Prussian Secret State Archives in Berlin on October 1, 1922 at the suggestion of Hermann Krabbo . Paul Fridolin Kehr , General Director of the Prussian State Archives, selected Gottfried Wentz to work on the ecclesiastical province of Magdeburg as part of the Germania Sacra and from the summer of 1924 to 1927 assigned him to the Prussian Historical Institute in Rome . After returning to the Secret State Archives in Berlin, he was appointed State Archives Council on January 1, 1928. 1929 appeared as the first volume (in the systematic order, however, Volume 3) of the I. Department ( The Dioceses of the Church Province of Magdeburg ) of the Germania Sacra , edited jointly by Gustav Abb and Gottfried Wentz, The Diocese of Brandenburg (1st part). From 1927 Wentz worked on behalf of Dietrich Schäfer for the Hanseatic History Society on the continuation of the Hanseatic trials . He enriched the newly founded 4th series of the Hanseatic Trials (from 1535) with two manuscript volumes, of which only the first was published during his lifetime (1941).

From October 1, 1931 to 1936, Gottfried Wentz was transferred to the material collection for the (according to planning) 4 volumes of the Germania Sacra to the Archbishopric of Magdeburg and its diocese at the Magdeburg State Archives . The most important result of this time was Volume 2 ( The Diocese of Havelberg ) of the I. Department of the Germania Sacra in 1933 . He also wrote, among other things, small essays on the documentary tradition of the Augustinian Canons' monastery on the Holy Spirit before Salzwedel, on the medieval town charter of Salzwedel and for the Historical Atlas of the Province of Brandenburg the map of the spiritual real estate in the Mark Brandenburg and adjacent areas around 1535 . After the death of student teacher Fritz Bünger, Wentz was transferred back to the Secret State Archives in Berlin in order to complete the 2nd part of volume 3 ( The Diocese of Brandenburg ) of Department I of the Germania Sacra, which had been edited by Bünger ; this work was published in 1940 on the 80th birthday of Paul Fridolin Kehr. Volume 1 (1st part: The Cathedral Monastery of St. Moritz in Magdeburg , 2nd part: The Collegiate Monastery of St. Sebastian, St. Nicolai, St. Peter and Paul, St. Gangolf in Magdeburg ) of the I. Department the Germania Sacra was only published in 1972 by Berent Schwineköper .

As head of department for the central holdings of the Secret State Archives, he was primarily concerned with administrative matters and rescue operations since 1942; Recent academic assignments included reviews for the German Landscapes section of the Historical Journal and for the German Archive for the History of the Middle Ages . His membership (1925–1933) in the Salzwedeler Masonic Lodge Johannes for the good of mankind (in which his father Ernst Otto Wentz was the last master of the chair until the dissolution ) probably prevented further career progress in the Prussian archive administration during the Nazi era, as in 1936 Appointment as director of the Bremen State Archives or appointment to a chair at the University of Tübingen in 1944.

In February 1945 Wentz was drafted into the Volkssturm , but survived the war and then helped to rescue the remains of the Secret State Archives, until he was finally appointed provisional management of the Secret State Archives on July 18, 1945, succeeding Erich Randt and Georg Winter . In this role, however, there was hardly any time left to work, as he died of dysentery on September 8, 1945 after a short hospital stay.

Works (selection)

• The open country and the Hanseatic cities. Studies on the economic history of the Diesdorf monastery in the Altmark In: Hansische Geschichtsblätter 28 (1923), pp. 61–98.
• Commerce and monastery. On the economic history of the Diesdorf monastery In: Research on Brandenburg and Prussian History 36 (1924), pp. 1–13.
• Lower Saxony in Rome . From the Confraternity books of Santa Maria dell 'Anima and San Spirito in Sassia In: Journal of the Association for Church History of the Province of Saxony 21 (1925), pp. 1–12.
• The Krautt family in Berlin and Magdeburg (officials and officers of the Prussian ancien regime). In: Research on Brandenburg and Prussian History 38 (1926), pp. 1–29 (with family tree).
• The beginnings of a historiography of the Diocese of Brandenburg In: Research on Brandenburg and Prussian History 39 (1927), pp. 28-50.
• Philipp Wilhelm Gercken In: Mitteldeutsche Lebensbilder , Volume 3, Magdeburg 1928, pp. 24–45.
• with Gustav Abb (arrangement): The Diocese of Brandenburg . Part 1. (= Germania sacra . I. Department: The dioceses of the ecclesiastical province of Magdeburg. 3). Berlin and Leipzig 1929. ( PDF )
• The constitutional status of the Jerichow Monastery In: Saxony and Anhalt 5 (1929), pp. 266–299.
• Samuel Lentz In: Mitteldeutsche Lebensbilder , Volume 4, Magdeburg 1929, pp. 88–107.
• Gerhard Cornelis von Walrave In: Mitteldeutsche Lebensbilder , Volume 5, Magdeburg 1930, pp. 63–85.
• Havelberg, Jerichow and Broda. Problems of the Brandenburg church history and contributions to their solution In: Festschrift für Albert Brackmann , ed. by Leo Santifaller, Weimar 1931, pp. 324–346.
• Regesta from the Vatican archive on the church history of the Mark Brandenburg and adjacent areas in the area of ​​the dioceses of Brandenburg and Havelberg. Part I: 1450-1499 In: Yearbook for Brandenburg Church History 26 (1931), pp. 8–21.
• The Principal Jürgen Wullenwevers and the Wendish cities In: Hansische Geschichtsblätter 56 (1932), pp. 83–111.
• Regesta from the Vatican archive on the church history of the Mark Brandenburg and adjacent areas in the area of ​​the dioceses of Brandenburg and Havelberg. Part II: 1501-1540 In: Yearbook for Brandenburg Church History 27 (1932), pp. 3–23.
• The sources for the local history of the Altmark in the Prussian Secret State Archives in Berlin-Dahlem In: Alte Mark 4 (1932), pp. 1–18.
• Documentary contributions to the history of the Augustinian canons of the Holy Spirit before Salzwedel In: Journal of the Association for Church History of the Province of Saxony and the Free State of Anhalt 28 (1932), pp. 64–85.
• The beginnings of the Salzwedeler Wochenblatt in the files of the state authorities (1830/33). In: Festschrift 100 years of Salzwedeler Wochenblatt 1832-1932 , Salzwedel 1932, pp. 117–119.
• The diocese of Havelberg . (= Germania sacra . I. Department: The Dioceses of the Church Province of Magdeburg. Volume 2). Berlin and Leipzig 1933. ( digitized version )
• The lost documents of the Augustinian canons of the Holy Spirit before Salzwedel In: Journal of the Association for Church History of the Province of Saxony and the Free State of Anhalt 29 (1933), pp. 59–78.
• The old law of the city of Salzwedel . An attempt in: Salzwedel, the old margrave and Hanseatic city in Altmark 1233-1933. Contributions to 700 years of city history , ed. by Franz Hartleb, Salzwedel 1933, pp. 63–74.
• State Archives and Family Research. A contemporary view In: Saxony and Anhalt 10 (1934), pp. 1–29.
• Adolf II von Schauenburg In: Westfälische Lebensbilder , Volume 5, Münster / Westphalia 1935, pp. 29–47.
• The membership of the Magdeburg Cathedral Chapter in the Middle Ages In: Magdeburger Geschichtsblätter 70/71 (1936), pp. 170–194.
• The church in the Altmark, Prignitz and Havelland in pre-Austrian times In: Brandenburgische Jahrbücher Heft 4 (1936), pp. 41-48, with map.
• Luther in Zerbst In: History of the Elbe-Saale area. Festschrift for Walter Möllenberg , Burg 1939, pp. 198–210.
• Karl Koppmann on his 100th birthday In: Hansische Geschichtsblätter 64 (1940), pp. 88–110.
• with Fritz Bünger (arr.): The Diocese of Brandenburg . Part 2. (= Germania sacra. I. Department: The Dioceses of the Church Province of Magdeburg. 3. Volume) . Berlin and Leipzig 1941. ( digitized , PDF )
• Hanseatic trials . 4th department. Volume 1: 1531-1535 June (Weimar 1941)
• The Germania sacra of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for German History In: Blätter für deutsche Landesgeschichte 86 (1941), pp. 92-106.
• with Berent Schwineköper : The St. Moritz Cathedral Monastery in Magdeburg. and The Collegiate Donors St. Sebastian, St. Nicolai, St. Peter and St. Paul and St. Gandolf in Magdeburg. (= Germania Sacra. The dioceses of the ecclesiastical province of Saxony. Part 1 and 2.) Berlin 1972, ISBN 3-11- 001811-X . ( pdf )

literature

• Johannes Bauermann : In memoriam Gottfried Wentz. (In: Hansische Geschichtsblätter , edited by the Hansischen Geschichtsverein, 70th year 1951, pp. 105-107)
• Eckart Henning : Wentz, Gottfried, church historian a. Archivist (In: Brandenburgisches Biographisches Lexikon. Ed. By Friedrich Beck and Eckart Henning [= individual publication by the Brandenburg Historical Commission , Volume V], Potsdam 2002, p. 413).
• Eckart Henning: Gottfried Wentz - “a stepchild of happiness”? On the Brandenburg volumes of the Germania sacra, their editor and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for German History (In: Dahlemer Archive Talks , Volume 12, for the archive of the Max Planck Society edited by Lorenz Friedrich Beck and Hubert Laitko, Berlin 2007 , Pp. 11-23).
• Eckart Henning: Gottfried Wentz (1894-1945). Prussian state archivist, church historian (In: Lebensbilder Brandenburgischer Archivare und Historiker , edited by Friedrich Beck and Klaus Neitmann [= Brandenburg historical studies. Edited on behalf of the Brandenburg Historical Commission e.V. , Volume 16 = Publications of the Brandenburg State Association of the Association of German Archivists and Archivare eV , Volume 4], Berlin 2013, pp. 536-544).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Membership directory of the Derendingia fraternity in Tübingen. October 1933, p. 46.