Heinrich Langethal

Heinrich Langethal

Heinrich Langethal (born September 3, 1792 in Erfurt , † July 21, 1879 in Keilhau ) was a German educator.

biography

Heinrich Langethal came from a family of craftsmen . His father was the master shoemaker Christoph Heinrich Langethal from Kranichfeld, who settled in Erfurt after his years of traveling. His younger brother is the botanist and agricultural historian Christian Eduard Langethal . Another brother, Gottlieb Langenthal, learned the shoemaking trade and worked as a master shoemaker in Erfurt. Little is known about Langethal's childhood. His mother died in 1809. During his school days he was a singer in a choir .

After finishing high school , he began studying theology at the University of Erfurt in 1810 . Langethal continued this from Easter 1811 at the Berlin University . Even before his time as a Lützower hunter , Heinrich Langethal attended lectures by Schleiermacher and Fichte . In the years 1811 and 1812 he already gave some sermons , u. a. in Storkow and Kerspleben .

Langethal first came into contact with Friedrich Fröbel and Wilhelm Middendorff during the 1813 campaign . In the course of their conversations, many common ideas emerged. As a result, the three men promised each other that they would later work together to educate the youth. Together with Middendorff, Langethal continued his studies in Berlin in 1814. There the contact between both of them and Froebel was refreshed and deepened.

In September 1817 Langethal joined the Keilhau educational institution as the third founder, where he taught religion , music theory and geography . The early years there allowed him to experience and help shape the first bloom of the educational institution. On his initiative, a movement was launched at the time that wanted to erect a monument to the reformer Martin Luther . The idea of ​​a living memorial for Luther came up. Not least because of Langethal's good connections to his former Berlin professors, a considerable amount of money was raised. It formed the basis to enable two descendants of a brother of Luther to be trained in Keilhau. Both came from Möhra in the Rhön and grew up in very poor conditions with almost no schooling. Georg Luther completed a degree in theology, and Ernst Luther later became a skilled stonemason .

The Prussian Interior Minister Schuchmann had found out that Johannes Arnold Barop, who had been active in Keilhau since 1823, had joined a secret fraternity during his student days in Halle . Schuchmann then commissioned the Rudolstadt “Geheime Rathscollegium” to prove this by interrogating Barop and to remove him from the educational institution as a teacher.

This gave Keilhau the reputation of being a “ demagogue nest ”. This reputation was promoted in conservative circles by the already modern and therefore disreputable way of teaching that prevailed in Keilhau. The accusation against Barop himself was finally proven after several interrogations. The school, however, withstood a review by the general superintendent Zeh from Rudolstadt in 1825.

In 1826 Heinrich Langethal married Mrs. Ernestine (1797–1865), b. Crispini. She was a foster daughter of Friedrich Froebel's first wife Wilhelmine Henriette Hoffmeister. Langethal's marriage resulted in a daughter (1827) and a son (1834). However, both children died in their first year of life.

In 1834, Langethal followed Fröbel's call and also went to Switzerland. He first worked in Willisau in the canton of Lucerne in an educational institution based on the Keilhauer model. Langethal Froebel followed again a year later. This time it went to Burgdorf in the canton of Bern, where Fröbel was given the management of an orphanage by the cantonal government.

From 1837 on, when Froebel returned to Thuringia, Heinrich Langethal initially stayed in Burgdorf as a manager. In 1841 he also returned to Germany. Little is known about his whereabouts during this period. It seems certain that he stayed in Keilhau for some time in 1852. Langethal later went to Schleusingen to take over a ministerial office there. Since then he has carried the title of Archdeacon .

In 1862 Langethal finally moved to Keilhau. His eyesight deteriorated significantly with age and he was almost blind. Nevertheless, the students were very happy to come to him to hear his stories, especially about his time in Lützow. From 1863 until his death, Fraulein Anna Reichardt was an indispensable carer for him.

Heinrich Langethal died on July 21, 1879 in Keilhau. As an old Lützow fighter, he was buried with military honors. His grave is located in the historical Keilhau cemetery.

Awards

A high honor that honored Heinrich Langethal's life's work was the appointment to Church Council Whitsun in 1878 by the Princely House of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt on the occasion of the inauguration of the Barop Tower .

Literature and Sources

• Association of former Keilhauer (ed.): Keilhau in words and pictures - described by teachers, students and friends Keilhaus. Leipzig 1902.
• Association of former Keilhauer (ed.): Christian Eduard Langethal: The history of the Keilhaus in the state history. Leipzig 1910.
• Albert Gerst: Family table Fröbel-Middendorff-Langethal-Barop. Keilhau 1932.
• Friedrich Froebel. Selected Writings. Fifth volume: letters and documents about Keilhau. First attempt at spherical education. Edited by Erika Hoffmann and Reinhold Wächter (= educational texts. Edited by Wilhelm Flitner), Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta 1986.
• Handwritten records of Heinrich Langethal in the Keilhau manuscript estate of the Froebel archive in Keilhau, KHN II Aa-Ek.
• Interrogation files of the Secret Council College, Thuringian State Archives Rudolstadt, C IX, 3d, No. 1.
• Alexander Hübener: Johannes Arnold Barop - a worthy successor to Friedrich Froebel. In: Neuer Thüringer Fröbelverein (ed.): Neue Keilhauer Blätter 4 (1999) 5, pp. 3-5.
• Association of former Keilhauer (ed.): Keilhauer Blätter. XXIII (1926) No. 2, p. 12 and p. 16; No. 3, p. 24. XXIV (1927) 4, p. 65.
• Manfred Berger : Langethal, Johann Heinrich. In: Felicitas Marwinski (Hrsg.): Lebenswege in Thüringen, Fifth Collection, VOPELIUS Jena, 2015, pp. 171–176