Heinrich Gerlach (printer)

Portrait of Heinrich Constantin Gerlach (1828–1899)

Heinrich Constantin Gerlach (born March 28, 1828 in Freiberg ; † February 28, 1899 there ) was a German printer , historian and city councilor .

life and work

Gerlach comes from a family of printers and booksellers that has worked for several generations. This was founded by his grandfather Johann Christoph Friedrich Gerlach (1756-1820) when he took over the Barthelsche Buchdruckerei by marriage in 1791. In 1801 he acquired the Crazische Buchhandlung , which from 1802 operated as the Craz & Gerlach bookshop . After his death, the business was continued by Heinrich's father Friedrich Constantin Gerlach (1793–1847), who modernized and expanded it.

At the age of just 15, Heinrich began an apprenticeship as a printer in his father's business in 1843, which he continued with Oskar Leiner in Leipzig from 1845 and completed at Easter 1847. On June 9, 1847, as was customary at the time, he went on a journey . This took him through Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland in just six months. In Lucerne he received news of his father's death. He broke off his wandering and took care of the business together with his brother-in-law Eduard Stettner. As Heinrich was absent for a few months when he came of age , he was unable to continue the flagship newspaper Freiberger non-profit news , especially since this was a privilege that was personal and had meanwhile been given to another applicant. With the Freiberg city, country and mountain calendar and the Freiberg news , however, he later published something similar. On November 1, 1850, he officially took over the Gerlach'sche Buchdruckerei , which, founded in 1550 by Wolfgang Meyerpeck, was the oldest in Saxony with its 300-year history. ^{Note 1} He left the other part of his father's inheritance, the Craz & Gerlach bookstore, to his brother-in-law, Eduard Stettner.

Over the years he developed into a respected member of the Freiberg citizenship. On January 12, 1849, he was solemnly raised to the civil status. A few months later he took part in the Dresden May uprising as a citizen guard . He was admitted to the city council in December 1858 and to the council on May 4, 1869. a. for the establishment of a secondary school , the preservation of the city wall and the keeping of the promenades free from development. After he resigned from the city council at the end of 1874, he was given the honorary title of "city councilor for life".

He developed extensive activities outside of his professional activity. He joined the trade association on March 26, 1850 and headed it for many years. On March 14, 1860 he founded the Freiberg Antiquities Association with 151 interested parties , and remained chairman for almost 39 years. With the Natural Science Association (December 8, 1863) and the Freiberg Art Association (May 19, 1885), he founded two other important associations. He was also a member of the Freiberg gymnastics club and an honorary member of the Saxon antiquity club . Gerlach was elected to the general church council of Freiberg on August 23, 1868. In 1881 he became master of the chair of the Masonic Lodge "To the three mountains in Freiberg in the Orient", which he had joined in 1856 and where his father was already active as a librarian. In 1893 Heinrich Gerlach was finally a member of 12 scientific and 18 other associations.

The result of these activities is the opening of the antiquity museum on March 17, 1861. The collection was able to move to the then department store at Freiberg Cathedral as early as 1866 . On August 28, 1864, the Freiberg Natural History Museum opened , which was closed in 2009 and was last housed in the Logenhaus at Waisenhausgasse 10. He supported both collections extensively with financial means and numerous exhibits that he and his club members explored in the Freiberg area. He donated an extensive library to the antiquity collection, begun by his grandfather, which also contained numerous old documents and pictures.

His work as an author of local history writings is also remarkable. He published these mainly in the communications of the Freiberg Altertumsverein , whose editor he was between 1862 and 1897. This work earned him the nickname " Möller of the 19th century".

Crypt of the Gerlach family in the Donatsfriedhof

Heinrich Constantin Gerlach was married to Marie Auguste Guidow. Their marriage has two children. The daughter Lina Marie Amalie Gerlach was married to Georg Franke , professor of mining studies at the then Bergakademie Berlin . His son Guido Heinrich Gerlach (1860–1880) died at the age of just 20. Heinrich Gerlach died on February 28, 1899 after a long illness and was buried in the family cemetery on March 3 at Donatsfriedhof in Freiberg .

Honors

On June 20, 1894, he was made an honorary citizen of the city of Freiberg for “promoting history” .

He received the Knight's Cross, Class II, of the Order of Albrecht in 1890.

In 1994 the newly built Heinrich-Gerlach-Strasse in the Freiberg district of Neufriedeburg was named after him.

Fonts (selection)

Small chronicle of Freiberg as a guide through Saxony's mountain capital and contribution to local history. Freiberg: Gerlach, 1876 (1st edition, digitized version ), 1898 (2nd edition, digitized version )
As editor: Mitteilungen des Freiberg Altertumsverein, issue 1.1862–34.1897 ( digitized version ).

Remarks

^{Note 1}The printing works passed through numerous hands in these 300 years. But even after Gerlach's death, the Gerlach'sche Buchdruckerei (Heinrich Gerlach) continued to be family-owned under this name until the middle of the 20th century. His widow Marie Auguste can be verified as the owner until 1911. From 1913 the Freiberg address book lists the daughter Lina Marie Amalie Franke as the owner, and between 1921 and 1940 his granddaughter Katharina Minna Marie Ranfft, née Franke. In terms of importance, Craz & Gerlach and the Gerlach'sche Buchdruckerei were replaced by the printing and publishing house Ernst Mauckisch .

literature

Heinrich Gerlach, Theodor Gerlach: Family Chronicle. The Gerlach house in Freiberg . Gerlach'sche Buchdruckerei, Freiberg 1893 ( digitized version ).
Konrad Knebel : Life and Work of Heinrich Gerlach . In: Messages from the Freiberg Antiquities Association . No. 35 , 1898, pp. 1–16 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
Franz Eisel: collector, benefactor, founder. A study of the history of museums in Saxony from the beginnings to the Second World War; with a time table of selected dates on the history of the Saxon museum system (= experiences and reports ). Saxon State Office for Museums, Chemnitz 2001, p. 25-26 .
Famous Freiberger. Selected biographies of well-known and deserving personalities. Part 3: Personalities from the decades between 1800 and 1875 . In: Werner Lauterbach (Hrsg.): Communications of the Freiberger Altertumsverein . No. 90 , 2003, Heinrich Constantin Gerlach, p. 94 f .
Gisela-Ruth Engewald: Selected biographies . In: Messages from the Freiberg Antiquities Association . No. 104 , 2010, Heinrich Gerlach, p. 403-408 .

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Gerlach - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Heinrich Gerlach - Sources and full texts

Literature by and about Heinrich Gerlach in the Saxon Bibliography

Individual evidence

↑ To the message . In: Freiberger non-profit news . No. 16, February 26, 1848, p. 202 ( digitized version ).
↑ H. Gerlach: Family Chronicle p. 31 ( digitized version )
↑ H. Gerlach: Family Chronicle p. 36 ( digitized version )
↑ H. Gerlach: Family Chronicle p. 37 ( digitized version )
^ W. Lauterbach: Freiberg personalities. 2003, p. 95.
^ Heinrich Konstantin Gerlach. Retrieved November 25, 2018 .
↑ Wolfgang Jobst, Werner Lauterbach, Dieter Reuss: Where our streets get their names from. Part 9 . In: Messages from the Freiberg Antiquities Association . No. 91 , 2002, Heinrich-Gerlach-Straße, p. 173 f .
↑ Little Chronicle of Freiberg . 1876, p. 64 ( digitized version ).
^ Historical address books Freiberg. Retrieved November 25, 2018 .
↑ Inhabitants and information book of the Bergstadt Freiberg , book printing and publishing house Ernst Maukisch, Freiberg 1940, p. 101 ( link to the digitized version in the State and University Library Dresden )

personal data
SURNAME	Gerlach, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Gerlach, Heinrich Constantin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German printer, historian and politician
DATE OF BIRTH	March 28, 1828
PLACE OF BIRTH	Freiberg
DATE OF DEATH	February 28, 1899
Place of death	Freiberg

[FgN_1848-1] To the message . In: Freiberger non-profit news . No. 16, February 26, 1848, p. 202 ( digitized version ).

[Familie_31-2] H. Gerlach: Family Chronicle p. 31 ( digitized version )

[Familie_36-3] H. Gerlach: Family Chronicle p. 36 ( digitized version )

[Familie_37-4] H. Gerlach: Family Chronicle p. 37 ( digitized version )

[MFA_90_95-5] W. Lauterbach: Freiberg personalities. 2003, p. 95.

[Gruft-6] Heinrich Konstantin Gerlach. Retrieved November 25, 2018 .

[MFA_91_173-7] Wolfgang Jobst, Werner Lauterbach, Dieter Reuss: Where our streets get their names from. Part 9 . In: Messages from the Freiberg Antiquities Association . No. 91 , 2002, Heinrich-Gerlach-Straße, p. 173 f .

[Freiberg_64-8] Little Chronicle of Freiberg . 1876, p. 64 ( digitized version ).

[Adressen-9] Historical address books Freiberg. Retrieved November 25, 2018 .

[10] Inhabitants and information book of the Bergstadt Freiberg , book printing and publishing house Ernst Maukisch, Freiberg 1940, p. 101 ( link to the digitized version in the State and University Library Dresden )