Heinz Heitzer

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Heinz Heitzer (born May 7, 1928 in Zwickau , † April 19, 1993 in Berlin ) was a German historian. He was one of the most influential historians in the GDR and was involved in major party and state-related projects on contemporary history.

Life

During the Second World War he volunteered for the SS division "Hitler Youth" . After the end of the war he joined the SED and was initially a new teacher .

Between 1946 and 1949 he studied in Leipzig . He became a lecturer in the history of the Workers 'and Farmers' Faculty at the University of Leipzig before he switched to the Institute for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the SED (IfG). In 1956 Heinz Heitzer received his doctorate. Between 1956 and 1961 he was a lecturer at the IfG. He later worked at the Institute for History of the German Academy of Sciences . Between 1961 and 1968, Heitzer was head of the “Recent History” department. Among other things, he played a key role in the party's official outline of the history of the German labor movement . Between 1970 and 1985 he was deputy director of the Institute for History and editor of volumes 6 to 8 of the Jahrbuch für Geschichte . He represented the line between party and state. He described the uprising of June 17, 1953 as a “ counter-revolutionary coup attempt ” and praised the fact that the Soviet troops had “thwarted the intentions of imperialism ”. After 1985, Heitzer was a member of the editorial board up to volume 39. Between 1963 and 1990, Heitzer was also a member of the editorial team of the Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft .

In addition to his institute activities, from 1966 he was a part-time professor with a teaching assignment for the history of the German labor movement.

As a reviewer for 14 dissertations or post-doctoral theses, he had a considerable influence on the recruitment of young academics.

Under the code name "Werner" he was an unofficial employee of the Ministry for State Security from 1965 .

Works (selection)

  • Karl Marx as a historian. Lecture given on May 28, 1953 at the Klub der Kulturschaffenden, Berlin . Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 1953 (lectures on the dissemination of scientific knowledge 36) (2nd edition. Urania-Verlag, Leipzig, Jena 1955).
  • Insurrections between the Weser and the Elbe. Popular movements against French rule in the Kingdom of Westphalia 1806-1813 . Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1959 (previously Phil. Diss. 1956).
  • Horst Bartel , Heinz Heitzer (Hrsg.): German history in data . German Science Publishing House, Berlin 1967.
  • Heinz Heitzer, Lieselotte Kramer-Kaske: Why are we proud of our republic? . Dietz Verlag 1969 (your question).
  • Others about us. The "GDR image" of West German imperialism and its bourgeois critics . German publishing house of the sciences. Berlin 1969.
  • Heinz Heitzer, Klaus Mammach (ed.): Georgi Dimitroff - Struggle and Legacy. Historikerkommission GDR - People's Republic of Bulgaria, Sect. Of the GDR. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1972.
  • Heinz Heitzer (Head): GDR. Becoming and growing . 2., through Edition Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1975.
  • Rolf Badstübner , Heinz Heitzer (ed.): The GDR in the transition period. Studies on the prehistory and history of the GDR 1945-1961 . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1979.
  • A core piece of socialist tradition. Speeches on the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Workers and Peasants Faculty at Karl Marx University. [Welcome address by Rector Lothar Rathmann and lecture by Heinz Heitzer at the festive event of the Karl Marx University in the Leipziger Schauspielhaus on October 25, 1979], Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Leipzig 1980 (= Leipziger Universitätsreden. New episode, issue 58).
  • GDR. Historical overview . Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1979 (= series history ) (4th, complete and extended edition 1987).
  • Robert Neddermeyer: It began in Hamburg ... A German communist tells from his life [written down and edited by Martha Born and Heinz Heitzer] Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1980 (= history series ).
  • Problems of the transition period from capitalism to socialism in the GDR . Historian Society of the GDR, Berlin 1983.
  • Heinz Heitzer, Wolfgang Küttler : A revolution in historical thinking . Marx, Engels, Lenin and the science of history. Dietz Verlag, Berlin 1983.
  • Heinz Heitzer, Günther Schmerbach: Illustrated history of the German Democratic Republic . Dietz Verlag 1984 (3rd, complete edition 1986).
  • Heinz Heitzer u. a. (Ed.): Relations between the German Democratic Republic and the People's Republic of Poland . State Publishing House of the GDR, Berlin 1986.
  • Heinz Heitzer, Karl-Heinz Noack, Walter Schmidt: Trailblazers of GDR history. Biographies . Dietz Verlag 1989, ISBN 3-320-01055-7 .
  • For a radical renewal of the history of the GDR . In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft 38 (1990), Issue 2, pp. 498-509.

literature

  • Collegium Politicum at the University of Hamburg. Historiography working group: historians in Central Germany . Ferd. Dümmlers Verlag, Bonn Hanover Hamburg Munich 1965, p. 39.
  • WB: In memoriam of the club, Prof. Dr. Heinz Heitzer. May 7, 1928 - April 9, 1993. In: Fritz Gebauer, Manfred Neuhaus (ed.): Rosa-Luxemburg-Verein eV Mitteilungen 9 . Leipzig 1993, pp. 45-47.
  • Heinz Heitzer in memory . In: Journal of History . 41: 926 (1993).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Lothar Mertens : Priest of the Klio or court chronicler of the party? Collective biographical analyzes of the GDR historians. Göttingen 2006 p. 71.
  2. ^ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk : Legitimation of a new state party workers on the historical front. History in the Soviet Zone / GDR 1945 to 1961. Berlin 1997, p. 187.
  3. ↑ Historians in Central Germany , p. 39.
  4. ^ Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk: Legitimation of a new state. Party workers on the historical front. History in the Soviet Zone / GDR 1945 to 1961. Berlin 1997, p. 258.
  5. ^ Heinz Heitzer: GDR. Historical overview , p. 111.
  6. ^ Academy of Sciences of the GDR, Central Institute for History (Hrsg.): GDR, becoming and growing. On the history of the German Democratic Republic , Berlin (East) 1974, p. 242 f.
  7. ^ Lothar Mertens: Priest of the Klio or court chronicler of the party? Collective biographical analyzes of the GDR historians. Göttingen 2006, p. 45 f.
  8. ^ Lothar Mertens: Priest of the Klio or court chronicler of the party? Collective biographical analyzes of the GDR historians. Göttingen 2006, p. 53.
  9. ^ Lothar Mertens: Priest of the Klio or court chronicler of the party? Collective biographical analyzes of the GDR historians. Göttingen 2006 p. 78.
  10. ↑ Martin Sabrow : The dictate of the consensus. History in the GDR 1949–1969, Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2001, p. 171.
personal data
SURNAME Heitzer, Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH May 7, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Zwickau
DATE OF DEATH April 19, 1993
Place of death Berlin