Hans Edelmann

Hans Edelmann (born June 28, 1888 in Mühlhausen / Thuringia , † December 17, 1973 in Kulmbach ) was a local researcher in Kulmbach .

Life

Professional background

Hans Edelmann was born on June 28, 1888 as the son of the photographer Heinrich Edelmann. His parents came from Hof , where the family returned in 1900. After Edelmann graduated from secondary school in Hof, he entered the teachers' college in Bayreuth in 1904 . He got his first job as a teacher in 1906 as a "school service inspector" in Köditz bei Hof. In 1906 he became a teacher at the Blaich School in Kulmbach . In 1908 Hans Edelmann was called up for military service. After his discharge as a sergeant in the reserve, he returned to Kulmbach, where he became a teacher at the later Pestalozzi School. In the First World War he made it to the command of the 12th Company of the 7th Bavarian Landwehr Regiment. After his military service he returned to Kulmbach, where he returned to school and in 1919 married the innkeeper, Paula Schiffauer. During the Second World War, Hans Edelmann was initially employed in training new recruits, in 1942 he completed a course for commanders of prisoner-of-war camps and, meanwhile promoted to major, became deputy head of the prisoner-of-war camp in the Russian city of Gorlowka . After the end of the war he returned to Kulmbach, where he was appointed rector of the Pestalozzi School in 1949 , a position he held until his retirement in 1953.

Activities as a local researcher

He was interested in botany as a child and began to create a herbarium at the age of 10 . When he came to Kulmbach as a young teacher in 1907, lectures and excursions in the "Nature and Homeland" association aroused his interest in the geological conditions of his new home. Soon after it was founded in 1924, he joined the " Colloquium Historicum Wirsbergense " and there came into contact with various historical researchers.

Hans Edelmann's local history interests turned out to be extremely varied. He dealt with

• Geology and mineralogy , but also with botany. He researched coal mining in the boiler near Kulmbach, published a booklet on "Kulmbach's Plant World" in 1932 and led botanical excursions with young pharmacists for decades. In 1935, together with Professor Hans Günther , he set up the scientific collection founded by Hugo Hesse in the premises of the Plassenburg , which was soon supplemented by Johannes Kaulfuss's insect collection , which then numbered over 10,000 individuals. In addition, at the same time he was involved in setting up the "Dr. Fritz Hornschuch nature trail" in Kasendorf . In 1936 he was appointed nature conservation officer for the district of Kulmbach .
• Edelmann also participated in the collection of field names in the district of Kulmbach. In 1954 he published the booklet "Field names as historical and cultural-historical witnesses" in the series "Kulmbacher Heimatkunde".
• During his numerous trips to the near and far Kulmbach he sought systematically to prehistoric and early historic grounds monuments , hallway monuments , but also remnants of old streets . The finds were documented by photos and descriptive notes, which are now in the Kulmbach city archive. In 1955 his book "Oberfränkische Altstraßen" was published.
• Many of Edelmann's publications deal with the history of his adopted home, the city of Kulmbach and the surrounding area.

Hans Edelmann was an avid photographer, but he was also not untalented as a draftsman and painter. In 1930 he gave the widely acclaimed lecture "The photograph in the service of local research". His estate includes around 1200 photos of landscapes, rocks, springs, protected plants and animals, but also of land and ground monuments and historically memorable buildings of all kinds. In 1907, Edelmann joined the "scientific circle" in Kulmbach. After the First World War, the "Nature and Homeland" association with two departments emerged. The history department was headed by Colonel a. D. Frhr. directed by Guttenberg. Hans Edelmann took over the management of the natural science department.

Honors

For his diverse commitment to nature and home, Hans Edelmann received various honors:

• In 1956 the city of Kulmbach awarded him its Silver Citizen Medal.
• In 1959 he received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon.
• In 1964 he was awarded the Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany .
• 1664 made him an honorary member of the Colloquium Historicum Wirsbergense .
• In 1968 the city of Kulmbach honored him on his 80th birthday by awarding him the Golden Citizen Medal.

After his death on December 17, 1973, not only a hiking trail, but also the elementary school in the Kulmbach district of Ziegelhütten was named after him.

swell

Kulmbach city archive, information file "Hans Edelmann".

Publications by Hans Edelmann (selection)

• The birds of Kulmbach and its surroundings, published by the association "Natur und Heimat", Kulmbach 1932
• Kulmbach's surroundings. A geological and natural history study, published by the association "Natur und Heimat", Kulmbach 1933
• Kulmbach's flora, local sources from the association "Natur und Heimat", Kulmbach 1952
• Field names as historical and cultural-historical witnesses, local history sources of the association "Natur und Heimat", Kulmbach 1954
• Upper Franconian Altstrasse, Volume 8 of the series "Die Plassenburg", Kulmbach 1955
• Wüstungen in the Kulmbach area, writings on home care Volume 8, Kulmbach 1968

In addition, Hans Edelmann published more than 250 articles in various magazines and worked on the "Dictionary on Kulmbacher Heimatkunde" published in 1950 by City School Councilor Max Hund.

estate

Half a year before his death in 1973, Hans Edelmann handed over most of his local history library with extensive files, photos and maps on the history, geography and geology of his closer and wider homeland with many documents on his research to the Kulmbach city archive.