Gotthilf Weisstein

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gotthilf Weisstein
Bookplate Weisstein
Stolperstein Badensche Str. 21 (Wilmd) Margarethe Weisstein
Gotthilf Weisstein's grave in the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee

Gotthilf Weisstein (born February 6, 1852 in Berlin ; † May 21, 1907 there ) was a German journalist , writer and bibliophile .

Life

Weisstein was the son of a merchant. His uncle was the social medicine specialist Salomon Neumann . He attended the Grützmacher pre-school at Hausvogteiplatz and then the Royal French Gymnasium , where he passed the Abitur in 1870. He studied in Berlin with Moriz Haupt , Moritz Lazarus and Heymann Steinthal Classical Philology, Sanskrit and Philosophy, later German studies. A doctoral project seems to have failed. Weisstein gave up his intention to pursue a scientific career and became a journalist. He got his first editorial position at the “Stuttgarter Chronik”, then he worked for the Stuttgarter Tagblatt , from 1880 he was a permanent employee of the Berliner Tageblatt and the Tribune , from 1884 to 1887 he was alongside Oscar Blumenthal feature editor and theater advisor for the Berliner Tageblatts . Then he devoted some time to his discontinued German studies. He later worked for the National-Zeitung , for which he wrote many reviews, essays and feature articles. Along with Fedor von Zobeltitz and others, he was one of the founding members of the Society of Bibliophiles in Weimar and the Berlin Bibliophile Evening ( 1905 ).

plant

He made significant contributions to research in the history of literature ( Goethe , Schiller , Kleist , Maler Müller , Karl Philipp Moritz and others). Berlin history and theater history were his specialties, many of his extensive feature sections deal with old Berlin topics. Many planned works did not materialize due to his untimely death, such as a "History of Berlin Humor", a description of the effectiveness of the Berlin theater director Döbbelin and a bibliography of German private prints. As a bibliographically educated collector, as Fedor von Zobeltitz writes, he took a “literary” approach, and “also moved the short-lived, ephemeral flies and ephemeral things into his field”. . ., "If it seemed important to him to characterize a dramatic epoch". “Weisstein was. . . a tracker of lost rarities with true instincts of discovery, as I later only found with Schüddekopf ”. (Sable seat)

Weisstein Library

His extensive library was cataloged after his death, given to the Berlin State Library as a bequest by his brother, the building officer Herman Weisstein, where it was looked after by Hans Lindau, a son of Weisstein friend Paul Lindau . Herman Weisstein provided all books with a simple bookplate. After Herman's death in 1924, his widow Margarethe Weisstein had the books sold by the antiquarian Martin Breslauer in 1933 (possibly under the impression of increasing anti-Jewish repression) . A small part of the collection could be bought back from the State Library with funds from the Notgemeinschaft der deutschen Wissenschaft ; another 700 books on theater history have been bought by the Clara Ziegler Foundation (now the German Theater Museum ). Today, items from Weissstein's library are often found in second-hand bookshops. The catalog was published in 1913 in 2 volumes with 9124 entries. It is still an informative reference work for prints on German theater history and for rare prints from the classical and romantic literary epoch. Weissstein's presumably extensive estate of manuscripts and letters has been lost. Unique pieces, such as B. a postcard Fontane to Weisstein, are offered in the autograph trade.

Weisstein was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Berlin-Weißensee . The distich is written on his grave:

Your spirit and your always cheerful speech pleased many.
You will remain unforgettable to everyone who knew you.

Works

  • With Richard Nathanson: Paul Lindau. A characteristic. Stuhr, Berlin 1875.
  • Contributions to painter Müller's life story. Mosse, Berlin 1883.
  • Carl Philipp Moritz. Contributions to his life story. Harrwitz, Berlin 1899.
  • Gifts from friends for Karl Frenzel on his golden jubilee doctorate on February 19, 1903. National newspaper , Berlin 1903.
  • The cheerful wine merchant Louis Drucker's humorous estate (= Berliner Curiosa. Vol. 3, ZDB -ID 2014625-5 ). Newly published with biographical-critical notes. Frensdorff, Berlin 1906.
  • Meininger memories. E. Meyer, Berlin 1906.
  • Weisstein Library. Catalog of the books of the late bibliophile Gotthilf Weisstein. 2 volumes. Edited by Fedor von Zobeltitz . Commissioned by the Royal Building Councilor Hermann Weisstein for the Society of Bibliophiles. Drugulin, Leipzig 1913.
  • Cheerful episodes from the history of the theater list (= reprint in the Luttertaler handshake. Vol. 3). According to older sources and own collections, communicated by Gotthilf Weisstein. Luttertaler handshake, Bargfeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-928779-23-4 .
  • Reports from the world of books (= edition in the Luttertal handshake. Vol. 11). Edited by Ulrich Goerdten. Luttertaler handshake, Bargfeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-928779-24-1 .
  • Alt-Berlin in Gotthilf Weissteins feuilletons (= Berlin memorials. Vol. 2). Edited by Ulrich Goerdten. Luttertaler handshake, Bargfeld 2007, ISBN 978-3-928779-25-8 .

Editing

  • Don Carlos, the infantryman of Spain . From Silvius Landsberger. Frensdorff, Berlin 1905. Digitized

literature

Web links