Hans Hecht

Hans Paul Jakob Hecht (born July 16, 1876 in Mannheim , Baden , † February 8, 1946 in Berlin ) was a German linguist ( Anglist ).

family

Hecht was the eldest son of the Jewish lawyer, businessman and banker Felix Hecht (born November 27, 1847 in Friedberg ; † October 18, 1909 in Weimar ) and his wife Helene Hecht (born August 19, 1854 in Mainz ; † 22 or 24 October 1940 at an unknown place), born. Bamberg. Hans Hecht had three younger brothers, August (* May 24, 1878 - December 30, 1879), Rudolf Ludwig (* October 31, 1880; † 1959) and Arnold Robert (* August 12, 1885; † April 2, 1886) , two of whom died in infancy or early childhood.

His father was the founding director of the Rheinische Hypothekenbank and the Pfälzische Hypothekenbank in Ludwigshafen am Rhein in 1871 on the recommendation of his professor Johann Caspar Bluntschli . In 1875 his parents married. The guests of the family, who had owned a representative villa in Mannheim since 1892, included the composer Johannes Brahms and the painter Franz von Lenbach . The latter made paintings for the Hecht family, which are now in the Reiss-Engelhorn Museum in Mannheim . Today there is a psychiatric day clinic in Villa Hecht.

At the age of 86, his mother was picked up by the police on the night of October 21-22, 1940 , to be deported to the French internment camp in Gurs . She did not reach the planned destination alive.

Hans Hecht was married and had two children, the son Hans and the daughter Rosemarie.

School and study

Hans Hecht attended school in Mannheim until he graduated . He then studied history at the University of Oxford , then at the University of Heidelberg and at the University of Berlin with a focus on English philology. In 1900 he received his doctorate there and then did his military service as a one-year volunteer . He then stayed again between 1901 and 1902 for a study visit to Great Britain and then went to Bern in Switzerland .

Professional development

In 1905 he completed his habilitation at the University of Bern , where he taught as a private lecturer . He then moved in 1909 as an associate professor at the University of Basel , where he personally 1911 Ordinariat received, and there have a decent professorship in summer 1912th

Although he was not obliged to go to war in the German Reich , he returned there out of patriotic sentiments at the beginning of the First World War and served as a volunteer in the 2nd Nassau Field Artillery Regiment No. 63 Frankfurt, in which he had already served regularly in peacetime. Used, he was also in the Battle of Verdun (1916), the position battles on the Putna and the Siret (1917) and the defensive battles between Cambrai and St. Quentin (1918). Awarded the Iron Cross (EK II and EK I) and the Austro-Hungarian Order, he was dismissed as captain of the reserve and returned to Basel in 1919. In 1922 he received a call to the Department of English Philology at the University of Göttingen , which he followed. There he was the successor to Lorenz Morsbach , who retired in 1921 and who had succeeded the first professor, Alois Brandl (from 1888). Hecht had been a student of Brandl.

Like his predecessor Morsbach, Hecht tried to maintain good contact with the English teaching teachers in schools.

With a German national attitude, he called on his students in 1923 to resist the occupation of the Ruhr by French troops.

He welcomed the transfer of power to the National Socialists , but his status as a so-called “ half-Jew ” quickly came into focus. Due to his service as a soldier at the front, he was not immediately removed from office according to the standards of the law for the restoration of the professional civil service , because he fell under the provisions of paragraph 3 (front-line combatant clause) contained therein.

In April 1933, under the impression of the Nazi boycott of Jewish businesses, he resigned his posts in academic self-administration, such as his post in the commission of the Göttingen university library and the post in the student fee office. From the spring of 1934, however, he was increasingly exposed to hostility within the university. Both colleagues and the local section of the Nazi student union tried to destroy his impeccable reputation by denouncing him. In particular, a colleague, the private lecturer in English, Georg Weber, launched an anti - Semitic agitation against Hecht. Weber, who was considered only moderately gifted, had his habilitation in 1931 largely thanks to Hecht's advocacy. The Göttingen colleagues did not help Hecht in any way.

In April 1934, during the annual meeting of the German Shakespeare Society, he gave a lecture on Shakespeare in our presence . This lecture was apparently used as a reason for a denunciation directed against him, which accused him of having aligned himself with the German Shakespeare Society . On the other hand, he wrote to the head of the local district personnel office, Heinrich Büsselmann, to defend himself. This was responsible to the Gaupersonalamt for the political assessment.

Opposite the Gaupersonalamt, Büsselmann made it clear that Hecht was impeccable in his administration and that his relationship with students and listeners was exemplary. As a “Jewish parent”, however, he was rejected “racially” and thus also “ideologically”. There is no doubt that he was "intolerable" for the National Socialist movement as head of the university's English Philology seminar or as a professor.

On September 3, 1934, Hecht's authorization to take examinations was revoked, and representatives of the student council raised the mood against him until Hecht's proseminar was boycotted in early November 1934. His application on December 13, 1934 for a leave of absence for health reasons and to complete long-deferred scientific work was rejected. Dean Hans Plischke and Rector Friedrich Neumann wanted to achieve his early retirement instead. To do this, they used disruptive actions as a means of pressure, in which students in SA uniforms acted. Hecht was not granted a planned lecture tour to Switzerland in January 1935.

On March 15, 1935, Hecht applied for retirement. Nevertheless, he was able to go on a study trip to Scotland from mid-June to mid-August 1935 after approval . Hans-Oskar Wilde was appointed Hecht's successor on July 31, 1935 . Hecht's attempt to return to the University of Basel failed.

In the spring of 1936 he was forced to leave the German Shakespeare Society.

He moved from Göttingen to Berlin-Charlottenburg , where he was initially relatively protected due to his “ Aryan ” (Nazi diction) wife. In July 1938, he applied to the curator of the University of Göttingen to be allowed to travel to the United States in order to find academic work there. He was ready to support the emigration, but there were currency problems.

Hecht continued to rely on his rehabilitation as a former front-line fighter with a sense of German nationalism. For example, to the annoyance of his wife, he refused to accept the option of teaching in the British Mandate of Palestine ( Tel Aviv ) in late 1939 / early 1940. Instead, after the outbreak of war , Hecht reported four times to the military and civil authorities until April 1940 in order to be drafted, each time without success. Hidden by good friends and repeatedly warned of raids in good time, Hecht survived the Third Reich without emigrating.

After the war ended, Hecht worked as a German teacher for US officers. In addition, he led preliminary courses that prepared students for attending university. The Philosophical Faculty of the University of Göttingen under the dean's office of Herbert Schöffler initiated Hecht's rehabilitation, which, however, no longer came about. The fact that he lived in eastern Berlin after the war ended may have delayed the matter. He died of a wound infection in a Berlin hospital .

Engagements (selection)

Hecht sponsored the reform pedagogical school by the sea on the North Sea island of Juist , founded and directed by the Shakespeare researcher Martin Luserke , in whose theater hall , which was unique in Germany's school landscape, among other things, English-language plays in the style of Shakespeare's all-round theater were performed.

Memberships (selection)

• German Shakespeare Society

Publications

• The language of the old English dialogues of Gregory the Great: The vowels of the stem syllables in the HSS. C and O. , inaugural dissertation, Kaiser-Friedrichs-Universität Berlin. Mayer & Müller, Berlin 1900.
• Bischofs Wærferth von Worcester Translation of the dialogues of Gregory the Great On the life and miracles of Italian fathers and on the immortality of souls . Wigand, Leipzig 1900.
• with Walter Pater : Plato and Platonism - Lectures . Diederichs, Jena et al. 1904.
• Songs from David Herd's manuscripts . Hay, Edinburgh 1904.
• Thomas Percy and William Shenstone . An exchange of letters from the time when the Reliques of ancient English poetry was created . Trübner, Strasbourg 1909.
• Robert Burns - The Man and his Work . Alloway Publishing Ltd., East Ayrshire 1989. ISBN 978-0907526513 .
• Robert Burns - life and work of the Scottish folk poet . Winter, Heidelberg 1919.
• as publisher: Library of Anglo-Saxon Prose , 1912., Arkose Press 2015. ISBN 978-1345515770 .
• Daniel Webb. A Contribution to Eighteenth Century English Aesthetics . Grand Hamburg 1920.
• The 2nd wet. Field Artillery Regiment No. 63 Frankfurt during the World War (up to the Somme battle in 1916). C. Adelmann, Frankfurt am Main 1924.
• Letters from G. Chr. Lichtenberg's English circle of friends. From the manuscripts of the Lichtenberg archive . Pellens, Göttingen 1925.
• The Elizabethan drama up to the appearance of Shakespeare , in: M. Wolff (ed.), "Shakespeares Werke", Vol. 22, Insel, Leipzig 1925.
• as editor: Studies in English Philology , Periodical, 1926–1935.
• with Levin Ludwig Schütting: The English literature in the Middle Ages . Academic Publishing House Athenaion, Wildpark-Potsdam 1927.
• Thomas Platters the Younger Journey to England in 1599 based on the manuscript in the public library of the University of Basel . Niemeyer, Halle an der Saale 1929.
• with Wilhelm Wetz : The life news about Shakespeare with the attempt at a youth and educational history of the poet . Carl Winters University Bookstore, Heidelberg 1912.
• FJ Childs' Scottish ballad collectors . Weidmann, Berlin 1930.
• as ed. with Lorenz Morsbach: Friedrich Dubslaff: Die Sprachform der Lyrik Christina Rossetti , in: Studies on English Philology. Booklet LXXVII. Max Niemeyer Verlag, Halle an der Saale 1933.
• T. Percy, R. Wood, and JD Michaelis . A contribution to the literary history of the genius period . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1933.

literature

• Lars U. Scholl: For the best of the English studies, which are particularly cultivated in Göttingen. The English Philology Seminar . In: Heinrich Becker, Hans-Joachim Dahms, Cornelia Wegeler: (Ed.): The University of Göttingen under National Socialism . 2., ext. Edition, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1998, ISBN 978-3110976434 , pp. 391-426.
• Dietrich Denecke , Rudolf von Thadden (ed.): Göttingen , Vol. 3: From the Prussian central city to the southern Lower Saxony city 1866–1989 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999, ISBN 978-3525361986 .
• Frank-Rutger Hausmann : English and American Studies in the Third Reich . Vittorio Klostermann Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2003. ISBN 978-3465032304 , pp. 60-74.
• Nicole Kramer, Armin Nolzen (Hrsg.): Inequalities in the Third Reich: Semantics, Practices, Experiences . ISBN 978-3835311138 .
• Ruth von Ledebur: The Myth of the German Shakespeare. The German Shakespeare Society between Politics and Science 1918–1945 . Cologne 2002, ISBN 978-3412141011 .
• Uta Schäfer-Richter, Jörg Klein: The Jewish Citizens in the Göttingen District 1933–1945. A memorial book. Göttingen, Hann. Münden, Duderstadt . Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 1992. ISBN 978-3892440482 .
• Anikó Szabó: eviction, return, reparation. Göttingen university professor in the shadow of National Socialism . Series: Publications of the Working Group on the History of Lower Saxony (after 1945). Edited by Bernd Weisbrod. Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen. ISBN 978-3892443810 .
• Kerstin Thieler: ›Volksgemeinschaft‹ with reservation. Attitude control and political mobilization in the rulership practice of the NSDAP district leadership Göttingen . Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2014. ISBN 978-3835316546 .

Web links

• Hans Hecht in the German biography

Individual evidence

1. ^ Villa Hecht in Mannheim , from: bildindex.de, accessed on December 9, 2017.
2. ↑ Press release: Kunsthalle has been handing over looted art pictures since 1951 to Reiss-Engelhorn-Museums , at: kunsthalle-karlsruhe.de, accessed on December 9, 2017.
3. ^ Lecture on Helene Hecht , at: zi-mannheim.de, accessed on December 9, 2017.
4. ↑ Uta-Caecilia Nabert: The honored woman invites you , in: Mannheimer Morgen, January 12, 2011, on: morgenweb.de, accessed on December 9, 2017.
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} Anikó Szabó: Expulsion, return, reparation. Göttingen university professor in the shadow of National Socialism . Series: Publications of the Working Group on the History of Lower Saxony (after 1945). Edited by Bernd Weisbrod. Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2000. ISBN 978-3892443810 , pp. 58-61.
6. ↑ Hecht, Hans , on: uni-osnabrueck.de, accessed on December 9, 2017.
7. ↑ Göttingen University Archives, K XVI. IV. A. a. 120 Prof. Hecht, military service certificate
8. ↑ Lorenz Morsbach: My teaching activity at the University of Göttingen from 1892 to 1922 , in: Englische Studien 58 (1924), pp. 230–234.
9. ^ Brief history of the seminar , Seminar for English Philology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, at: uni-goettingen.de, accessed on December 9, 2017.
10. ↑ Kerstin Thieler: ›Volksgemeinschaft‹ with reservation: Attitude control and political mobilization in the rulership practice of the NSDAP district leadership Göttingen , Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 2014. ISBN 978-3835316546 , pp. 381–382.
11. ↑ Lars U. Scholl: For the best of the English studies, which are particularly cultivated in Göttingen. The English Philology Seminar . In: Heinrich Becker, Hans-Joachim Dahms, Cornelia Wegeler: (Ed.): The University of Göttingen under National Socialism . Berlin 1998, pp. 391-426.
12. ^ Nicole Bartels, Juliane Deinert, Wilfried Enderle, Helmut Rohlfing: books under suspicion. Nazi looted and looted property at the SUB Goettingen. Catalog of the exhibition from May 13th to July 10th 2011 . (= Göttinger Bibliotheksschriften, 38) Universitätsverlag, Göttingen 2011. ISBN 978-3863950279 , p. 394f.
13. ↑ Hans Hecht: Shakespeare in our presence , in: Yearbook of the German Shakespeare Society 70 (1934), pp. 116-133.
14. ↑ Dietrich Denecke, Rudolf von Thadden (ed.): Göttingen, Vol. 3, From the Prussian Mittelstadt to the southern Lower Saxony city 1866–1989 . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1999. ISBN 978-3525361986 , p. 213.
15. ↑ Nicole Kramer, Armin Nolzen (Ed.): Inequality in the Third Reich: Semantics, Practices, Experiences . ISBN 978-3835311138 , p. 130.
16. ↑ Hans Hecht to the head of the district personnel office, Heinrich Büsselmann, June 3, 1934, in: Bundesarchiv, BDC PK Hans Hecht.
17. ↑ The head of the district personnel office, Heinrich Büsselmann, to the head of the Gaupersonalamt, June 26, 1934, in: Bundesarchiv, BDC PK Hans Hecht.
18. ^ ^{A b} Uta Schäfer-Richter, Jörg Klein: The Jewish Citizens in the Göttingen District 1933–1945. A memorial book. Göttingen, Hann. Münden, Duderstadt , Wallstein-Verlag, Göttingen 1992. ISBN 978-3892440482 .
19. ↑ Hans-Oskar Wilde: The study of England in Göttingen , Niedersächsische Hochschul-Zeitung February 20, 1936, pp. 12-13.
20. ↑ Ruth von Ledebur: The myth of the German Shakespeare. The German Shakespeare Society between Politics and Science 1918–1945 . Cologne 2002, ISBN 978-3412141011 , pp. 92-102, 131-141.
21. ↑ Lars U. Scholl: For the best of the English studies, which are particularly cultivated in Göttingen. The English Philology Seminar . In: Heinrich Becker, Hans-Joachim Dahms, Cornelia Wegeler: (Ed.): The University of Göttingen under National Socialism . Berlin 1998, p. 421; Frank-Rutger Hausmann: English and American Studies in the Third Reich . Vittorio Klostermann Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2003. ISBN 978-3465032304 , pp. 60-74.
22. ↑ Hans Hecht (Ed.): Library of Anglo-Saxon Prose , 1912.