Heinrich Finke

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Heinrich Finke (1855–1938)

Heinrich Johannes Finke (born June 13, 1855 in Krechting , Borken district , Westphalia, † December 19, 1938 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a Catholic church historian and Medievalist with a focus on the late Middle Ages and Pre-Reformation.

When Heinrich Finke died in Freiburg in 1938 at the age of 83, he was considered one of the most renowned academic church historians of the time, especially in Spain.

Life, academic career and major work

Heinrich Finke was born on June 13, 1855 in Krechting, Münsterland, the son of a weaver. As a teenager, initially excluded from higher education, he conducted self-taught Latin studies in preparation for his high school years. After entering a secondary school late, he passed the Abitur in 1876 at the Paulinum grammar school in Münster . In the same year Finke began a sporadic, short and, due to his financial situation, repeatedly interrupted by necessary sideline work as a private tutor; first in Münster , then in Tübingen . After one and a half regular semesters of study and five months of writing his dissertation, he received his doctorate in 1878 with Bernhard Kugler in Tübingen with a thesis on King Sigismund's imperial politics 1414-1418 (Paderborn 1880). At first he continued to work as a tutor for a Frankfurt banker, who enabled him to study for a semester in Göttingen in 1880 , where Finke acquired knowledge of auxiliary historical sciences , especially palaeography .

After 1880 Finke alternated as assistant archivist and stenographer in the Berlin Reichstag and became a contemporary witness of the Kulturkampf policy under Chancellor Bismarck , whom he venerated. He then worked for two years as a correspondent for a newspaper affiliated with the Center Party , and finally for a year and a half at the Schleswig State Archives.

As a student, Finke became an active member of Catholic student associations in the KV : in Tübingen the K.St.V. Alamannia , in Göttingen of the K.St.V. Winfridia . In the summer semester of 1880 he was a senior at Winfridia and organized the 13th meeting of representatives of the KV in Göttingen. Later, as a lecturer and professor, he also regularly took part in KV events.

Habilitation, certificate books and lectureship

When he received an inquiry in early 1886 to succeed Wilhelm Diekamp (1854–1885) as editor of the Westphalian Document Book , Finke had the opportunity to pursue an academic career.

In 1887 Finke completed his habilitation at the University of Münster with the writing Sources and Research on the History of the Council of Constance (Paderborn 1889). As a result of a stay in Rome, the first document book he edited appeared : Papal documents of Westphalia up to the year 1378 (= Westphalian document book , volume 5.1), Münster 1888, which was followed by the second in 1894: The documents of the Diocese of Paderborn 1251-1300 (= Westphalian document book , volume 4,3), Münster.

In 1891 Finke became a private lecturer in history in Münster and was given a teaching position. Between 1894 and 1898 he was the director of the Association for History and Archeology of Westphalia, Department of Münster . In March 1896 Finke was one of the founding members of the Historical Commission for Westphalia , of which he was a full member. From May 1896 to March 1899 he was chairman of the commission, until 1912 he was a member of the board and was elected honorary member in May 1913.

The extensive source text edition, the document books for the Council of Constance ( Acta Concilii Constanciensis ), the first volume of which Finke published in 1896 and which he completed with the fourth volume in 1928, marked the key dates of an academic life that for decades focused on the late Middle Ages and the pre-Reformation busy. In the course of this work, Finke made important archival finds that were sensational among experts. a. in the Crown Archives in Barcelona, ​​where he found and edited unknown Council acts.

After he had been a full professor at the University of Münster from 1897, Finke accepted a position at the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg in 1898 . In 1899 he became full professor of history on the denominational Catholic chair .

The first book publications from the time of his teaching activity in Freiburg were the treatises From the days of Boniface VIII. (= Research on pre-Reformation history , volume 2), Münster 1902 and Papacy and Fall of the Templar Order (= research on pre-Reformation history , volumes 4–5), Münster 1907.

Heinrich Finke and Spain

Honored by the Real Academia de la Historia, around 1925

With the Acta Aragonensia. Sources on German, Italian, French, Spanish, ecclesiastical and cultural history from the diplomatic correspondence of Jaymes II. (1291-1327) , the first two volumes of which appeared in 1908, Finke founded the beginning of German-Spanish academic relations in the field of late medieval research in the 20th century. Century, which explains his high reputation in the Romance countries, especially in Spain: In the following years he was awarded honorary doctorates from the universities of Barcelona, ​​Valladolid, Milan and Salamanca and honorary member of the Madrid Academia de la Historia . The Acta Aragonensia came to an end with its third volume in 1923.

Heinrich Finke and Martin Heidegger

As a member and dean of the Freiburg Faculty of Philosophy, Finke, who in the years before 1914 proved to be an energetic supporter of young Catholic scholars at Freiburg University, attempted to give the philosopher Martin Heidegger , who was about to complete his habilitation, the vacant chair for "Christian Philosophy" "To be kept free". As early as 1912, the financially unsecured Heidegger asked Finke student Ernst Laslowski to contact Finke for possible support. In his doctoral semester in 1913, Heidegger attended a four-hour lecture on “The Age of Renaissance” with Finke. Finke, who soon took up the young philosophical talent, advised Heidegger in November 1913 to write a habilitation thesis on the history of philosophy, although he had started researching the logical nature of the concept of numbers in 1912 against the background of his mathematical and scientific studies. It is to be attributed to Finke's advice that Martin Heidegger finally turned to the subject of " Duns Scotus " and completed his habilitation on "The Categories and Theory of Meaning of Duns Scotus" with Heinrich Rickert in 1915. In connection with his habilitation process, Heidegger explicitly attributed his “increasing (philosophical) historical interest” to Finke when he wrote in his handwritten curriculum vitae: “... last but not least, lectures and seminar exercises with Privy Councilor Finke resulted in me The aversion to history nurtured by his predilection for mathematics was thoroughly destroyed. ”This did not open up Heidegger's access to an early Freiburg philosophy ordinariate. Heinrich Finke finally dropped his previous favorite because of "lack of 'scholastic' reliability" and in 1916 the appointment committee decided in favor of the Münster professor Josef Geyser . Later, in a letter dated April 8, 1917, Finke expressed his appreciation for his former protégé, after all, "an important theistic speculative philosopher" is more necessary than all historically erring Christian-Catholic philosophers. Heidegger himself felt compelled to break with the “system of Catholicism”.

Finkes Freiburg rectorate and position on the First World War

In several "academic lectures in wartime" at the University of Freiburg or as a guest speaker at the "Fatherland Assemblies", at patriotic events to "strengthen the confidence to win" and "create national meaning" during the First World War , the later university rector (Vice-Rector 1918) also spoke about current events . He was a co-signer of the appeal to the world of culture in October 1914, the so-called Manifesto of 93 , in which the signatories showed their unreserved solidarity with the German warfare of the First World War .

Finke understood the First World War in accordance with the officially Wilhelmine , German national reading as a "war of defense" imposed on Germany, but then a necessary "war of aggression", as a struggle for freedom and cathartic , from the German point of view "just", yes "holy" war and " crusade ":

"Who would want to miss that new thing that has entered our life, that deepening and purification of our being that is unique in the history of mankind, that stormy, poignant crusade mood, where the 'God wills it' sounds again (...), that joyful to die The courage to sacrifice our entire youth like a storm wind. "

- Heinrich Finke

In passages critical of culture , Finke described the “decline of our moral culture before the war”, which he thought could only be remedied by a national-cultural “recovery” brought about during the war.

“In literature and art, there is an extensive dependence on foreign countries, namely on its ugly sides; especially in literature the tendency towards the corrosive, pathological, mean; Rejection of all ideals in the fine arts a fanaticism of reality, rejection of everything deeper, chasing after nonsensical problems. Then came the great times and the call for pure, purer Germanness. After a happy return home, there remains a large field of work for you, fellow students. You, the spiritual leaders of the people, have to remodel the taste, bring back the healthy, the core German, the unadulterated ... "

- Heinrich Finke

In 1919, as rector, he tried to give a meaning to the war in a public address, in which words such as “love of fatherland”, “heroism” and “death for the fatherland” are used as a matter of course. Despite all adversities - Finke lost both sons in the war - the historian continued to hope for that "new spirit that will make our people again the teachers of the people".

President of the Görres Society

Finke became President of the Görres Society in 1924 as the successor to Hermann von Grauert and edited its “Historical Yearbooks” until 1937, where he himself published numerous articles. The office and activities within the Görres Society, whose Roman institute he had initiated and established as early as 1888, determined Finkes' last ten years of life after his retirement in 1928.

Heinrich Finke and National Socialism

After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, the aging president campaigned for the continued existence of the Görres Society in National Socialist Germany - it was finally forcibly dissolved in 1941 - and reflected on its “raison d'etre through the achievements demanded by the fermenting time”, explored the requirements and possibilities a “Catholic science at the turn of today”. He published the essay affirming National Socialist science and cultural policy in 1934:

“We are at a spiritual turning point. A huge storm wind blows through the world of thought, drought is eliminated, unhealthy things disappear, some good and beautiful things are broken in their beginnings, some new things have an initially strange face. (...). But we can look forward to the coming spiritual life and spiritual struggle with a certain optimism. "

- Heinrich Finke

Finke ordered the new version of the critical article National Socialism by Franz Schweyer in the fifth edition of the State Lexicon that was published in 1927 as a kowtow before the National Socialist regime . This was published in five volumes from autumn 1926 to December 1932 on behalf of the Görres Society by Herder-Verlag in Freiburg. After 1933, the Reich Press Office of the NSDAP in Munich immediately demanded not only a fundamental revision and its submission for censorship, but a public declaration of regret for the contentious article and a letter of apology from Finkes to Hitler. The Lord Mayor of Freiburg, Franz Kerber , made the approval of the annual meeting of the Görres Society in Freiburg, which was called in October 1933, dependent on the fulfillment of these requirements. Finke, as their president, gave in and declared that at the opening of the General Assembly he would also speak about the state encyclopedia and expressly and regretfully withdraw the article, which meant a “personal offense” to the “Reich Chancellor and Führer” Adolf Hitler . In addition, on October 4, 1933, he wrote the personal apology letter he had requested to Hitler.

On his 80th birthday, Finke was honored by the highest representatives of the “Third Reich”. The "coronation of all honors", so the typescript of the Freiburg University Library for the celebrations of June 13, 1935: Adolf Hitler bestowed the jubilee with the highest civil honor, the eagle shield of the German Reich , the Heinrich Finke with a personal letter from the "Führer and Reich Chancellor" ”For“ outstanding services to German historical research ”was presented by Freiburg's Lord Mayor Franz Kerber and Reichstatthalter, NSDAP Gauleiter Robert Wagner .

Heinrich Finke died in Freiburg on December 19, 1938. In his obituary, the then university librarian Josef Hermann Beckmann stated in retrospect that Finke's solidarity with the National Socialists was: "He also repeatedly pointed out to the younger generation the obligation to work on the movement and the development work of the Führer ."

Fonts (selection)

  • The Papal Deeds of Westphalia up to 1304 (= Westphalian Document Book . Volume 5: The Papal Deeds of Westphalia up to 1378. Part 1.) Regensberg, Münster 1888.
  • Research and sources on the history of the Council of Constance. Schöningh, Paderborn 1889, archive.org .
  • Unprinted Dominican letters from the 13th century. Schöningh, Paderborn 1891, archive.org .
  • Carl Muller. His life and artistic work (= Görres Society for the Care of Science in Catholic Germany. Association publication . 1896, 1, ZDB -ID 517218-4 ). Bachem, Cologne 1896.
  • From the days of Boniface VIII. Finds and research (= research on pre-Reformation history . Volume 2, ZDB -ID 528184-2 ). Aschendorff, Münster 1902, archive.org .
  • Papacy and fall of the Templar order (= research on pre-Reformation history , volumes 4–5, ZDB -ID 528184-2 ). 2 volumes (Volume 1: Presentation . Volume 2: Sources .). Aschendorff, Münster, 1907; archive.org Volume 1 and 2.
  • The woman in the Middle Ages. Kempten 1913.
  • as editor: Acta Aragonensia. Sources on German, Italian, French, Spanish, ecclesiastical and cultural history from the diplomatic correspondence of Jaymes II. (1291–1327). 3 volumes. W. Rothschild, Berlin a. a. 1908-1922; Volumes 1 and 2: archive.org , Volume 3 archive.org , digitized version of the reprint with incorporated supplements and additions. Scientia, Aalen 1966, (on this: Heinrich Finke: Supplements and supplements to the Acta Aragonensia (I – III). Part 1. In: Spanish research of the Görresgesellschaft. (= Collected essays on the cultural history of Spain. Volume 4, 1933, ZDB -ID 503910-1 ), pp. 355-5.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hugo Ott : Martin Heidegger. On the way to his biography. Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1988, ISBN 3-593-34035-6 , pp. 86 f.
  2. ^ Hugo Ott: Martin Heidegger. On the way to his biography. Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1988, ISBN 3-593-34035-6 , p. 94.
  3. ↑ See also: Heinrich Finke: Speech at the second patriotic evening in Freiburg i.Br. on October 11, 1914. Freiburg 1914; The thought of just and holy war, present and past. Speech on October 28, 1914 in the Auditorium Maximum of the Freiburg University. Printed in: ders .: dass., Troemer's Universitäts-Buchhandlung, Freiburg 1915; German questions about the future. In: Power from on high. A Pentecost greeting from former and current professors to their fellow students in the field. Edited by Heinrich Finke. Kösel, Kempten 1915, pp. 225-233; Law and necessity of the world war (= German culture, Catholicism and world war. A defense of the book: La guerre allemande et le Catholicisme). Edited by G. Arrowshifter. 1915, pp. 19-46; Matriculation speech at the end of the war, on December 20, 1918. Poppen & Ortmann, Freiburg 1918; In memory of our fallen, speech given on March 29, 1919 in the auditorium of the University of Freiburg i. Br. From Rector Privy Councilor Prof. Dr. Heinrich Finke. Herder, Freiburg 1919.
  4. ^ Speech of Prof. H. Finke at the second patriotic evening in Freiburg i. Br. On October 11, 1914. Freiburg 1914, p. 1.
  5. ↑ German questions about the future. In: Power from on high. A Pentecost greeting from former and current professors to their fellow students in the field. Edited by Heinrich Finke. Kösel, Kempten 1915, p. 231 f .; with the same wording in the enrollment speech at the end of the war, go on December 20, 1918. Poppen & Ortmann, Freiburg 1918, p. 12.
  6. ↑ In memory of our fallen, speech given on March 29, 1919 in the auditorium of the University of Freiburg i. Br. From Rector Privy Councilor Prof. Dr. Heinrich Finke. Herder, Freiburg 1919, p. 23.
  7. ↑ a b Better future. At the same time edition of Das Neue Reich , No. 2/3, Vienna 1934, pp. 39–41; 67-69.
  8. ↑ quoted in: Ansgar Frenken: Heinrich Finke, National Socialism and the forced dissolution of the Görres Society. In: Historical yearbook of the Görres Society. Volume 118, 1998, p. 292, note 26; see. Freiburg newspaper , October 9, 1933 Digitized version .
  9. ^ Freiburger Zeitung, June 14, 1935, evening edition ( digitized version ).
  10. ↑ Freiburger Zeitung No. 298, of December 22, 1938.
  11. ↑ No more published.
  12. ↑ No more published.
personal data
SURNAME Finke, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Finke, Heinrich Johannes (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1855
PLACE OF BIRTH Krechting, Westphalia
DATE OF DEATH December 19, 1938
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau