Hans Christian Dreis

Hans Christian Dreis (born June 25, 1806 in Gaarden , Holstein ; † July 22, 1872 in Davenport , Iowa ) was a German teacher, geographer and parliamentarian.

Live and act

Hans Christian Dreis was a son of Hufners , innkeeper and farmer Vogts Georg Friedrich Dreis (* October 18, 1767 in Gaarden, † March 25, 1809 ibid) and his wife Magdalena Christina Dorothea, nee Timmermann (born December 17, 1773 Meimersdorf ; † October 4, 1822 in Gaarden).

In 1830 Dreis began studying in Kiel and continued in Berlin in 1832/33 . After graduating as Dr. phil. In 1835 at the University of Kiel he worked from 1838 as an auxiliary teacher at the Johanneum in Hadersleben . A year later he switched to teaching at the Meldorfer School of Academics , where he became sub-rector in 1843. In November 1847 he moved to Heidelberg and was aiming for a habilitation. In 1848 he noted that he had refrained from doing so because of the “ change in ideas brought about by the Paris events [and the] relegation of them to German conditions”.

Dreis went back to Meldorf and joined the Freikorps von Wasmer, to which he belonged until its dissolution in May 1848. Then he tried to get a professorship for geography at the University of Kiel. The faculty rejected his request due to the alleged lack of professional qualifications and also stated that the university was not sufficiently frequented to set up a chair in geography. Nevertheless, Dreis got a position as a private lecturer .

In the fall of 1848, Dreis received a scholarship that should enable him to go on a study trip for further training in geography at a larger university. It is not documented whether he actually used it. In August 1848 he joined the constituent assembly of the Meldorf district as a left-wing liberal member of the state assembly, and in the summer of 1850 he joined the Schleswig-Holstein state assembly . After the battle of Idstedt he voluntarily joined the 5th Rendsburg fortress battery, then the 24-pound grenade cannon battery.

From September 1850, Dreis again participated in meetings of the state assemblies. During his time as a politician, he campaigned for the interests of schools. He spoke out in favor of establishing secondary schools and passing a law according to which the teaching system should be revised.

In 1851 Dreis emigrated to the USA and initially taught at a free German school in St. Louis . His brother Johann Christian Dreis (1800-1858), who worked as an innkeeper and brewer in Gaarden, asked him in 1853 to open a brewery in Davenport. Since his brother did not move to Davenport as announced, Dreis took over the management of the company himself, the processes of which were largely unknown to him.

In 1856, Dreis married a woman of unknown name in Davenport. Due to the lack of economic success of his brewery, he sold it in 1869. He then worked again as a teacher.

Working as a geographer

Since his time in Meldorf, Dreis had increasingly occupied himself with natural history and reduced philological work. He preferred to give geography lessons and in 1840 founded the "Geographical Association of Meldorf". He wrote some articles in which he campaigned to promote the teaching of natural and geography.

Dreis was the first private lecturer in geography to receive a position in this subject at a German university. With his appointment, the Kiel University established geography as an independent department. In his lectures he dealt in particular with comparative geography with its principles and methods. In addition, he spoke about geography in Germany, Europe and Asia.

In his understanding of comparative geography, Dreis based himself on Carl Ritter and Alexander von Humboldt . In his view, this meant looking at the integral parts of the earth's surface and exploring their laws and interrelationships. The aim should be to finally capture the earth as an organism. In 1848 he announced an extensive work on the nature and importance of comparative geography, which, however, was never published.

After emigrating to the USA, Dreis frequently lectured in the field of general folklore. According to the Davenport Democrat of July 1872, his lectures "left nothing to be desired in terms of thoroughness, clarity of conception and freedom of spirit."

literature

• Fritz Treichel: Dreis, Hans Christian . in: Schleswig-Holstein Biographical Lexicon . Volume 3. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1974, pp. 85-87