Helgoland Chronicle (Erwin Weber)

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The Helgoland Chronicle describes the history of the island of Helgoland .

description

The private scholar Erwin Weber (born March 8, 1877 in Hamburg ; † March 3, 1945 on Helgoland ) worked from 1925 until his death, later on the island, supported by the then NSDAP local group leader Karl Meunier (scientist at the Biological Institute Helgoland), machine-written copies of sources and elaborations on the history of Heligoland produced. The National Socialist tendency is only noticeable in a few sections. Weber had sold copies of the typescripts to interested parties. It cannot be ruled out that this will result in different combinations. From these typescripts, multiple selected volumes were created without editorial reports.

First volume of the complete Weber chronicle from the Helmut Schmidt University . Other copies of the Huster copy have a semi-woven or leather binding.

His main work with the title Contributions to the history of the island of Helgoland comprises four volumes (in five) for the periods

  • 1584–1714, The Time of the Dukes of Gottorp (pag. To 452, 469 sheets in total),
  • 1714–1807, The Danish Period (pag. To 367, 380 pp. In total)
  • 1807–1890, The English Crown Colony (585 sheets)
  • 1890–1933, Heligoland in German times (369 sheets).

Here you can find chronologies by his hand, treatises by him and others on individual topics as well as many copies of files, today mostly in the Schleswig-Holstein State Archives . The volumes were mostly handwritten, the pagination is not always preserved in the first two volumes, additional pages were given a page number extended with an a, all pages are only described on one side. The third volume was often bound in two volumes. Weber cites sources from 1938 and 1939 in the first volume, in the third volume he cites a source from 1940 for the year 1841 and in the fourth volume the death of the Kur-Kapellmeister Warnke in 1941, a retrospective short version of volume 3 is verifiable, therefore one Dating of the main volumes to the years 1942–1943 plausible.

According to his information in the first volume, at the end of the notes on the sources of Heligoland research, there are four additional works:

  • Contributions to the history of the bar on the island of Helgoland in the 17th century, in particular about the "Herr Krug" or the "Schenke bottom am Lande"
  • History of the school system by Rector Erichsen, from the school chronicle
  • The career of the Landeskasse and the Spar- und Leihkasse of the rural community of Helgoland
  • The minutes of the Badeanstalt Aktiengesellschaft 1825–1872

In addition, a copy of Bolzendahl's chronicle by him is in circulation and a compilation of church history can be verified. His works are not completely available anywhere.

At the beginning of 1970 the Heligoland enthusiast and publisher Herbert Huster donated a complete copy of the main volumes he had made to the Lower Saxony State Archives in Stade , others to private individuals; a copy of these copies is available at the Helmut Schmidt University - source for the description here.

Later in the 1970s a numbered copy edition in paperback with a light red cover and black back, without any bibliographical information, was published under the title Helgoländer Chronik :

Lying three volumes from the 1970 copy edition, standing one volume from the 1980 reprint
  • Volume I: Bolzendahl Chronicle, 761–1723, copy 1973, 160 p.
  • Volume II: Seebadeanstalt Helgoland 1825–1872, copy 1975, 240 sheets.
  • Volume III: The English Crown Colony 1807–1890, copy 1976, 138 p.
  • Volume IV / 1: Heligoland in German times 1890–1914, copy 1976, 150 sheets.
  • Volume IV / 2: 1914-1933, copy 1976. 219 sheets pag. To 369

Weber did not include Bolzendahl's Chronicle, here in Volume I, in his chronicle. Volume II of this edition is the very rare additional volume with protocols from the seaside resort. Volume III is a subsequent short version from Weber's hand of Volume 3, it only contains the chronology and refers to the main edition. The original differs from the volume of the main edition by the title in capital letters, the pagination at the bottom instead of the top right and a different sentence. Errors have been corrected. Only volume IV seems identical to the corresponding volume in the main edition.

In the 1980s, a small four-volume edition with an edition of 1000 copies appeared under the original title: Contributions to the history of the island of Helgoland , supplemented by contemporary illustrations without a source, in a dark red, firm linen cover. The tables of contents can be viewed online in the Frankfurt National Library .

  • Part 1, 1584–1700 From the time of the dukes of Schleswig-Gottorp, Cuxhaven 1985, 72 pages,
  • Part 2, 1701–1800 From the Danish time, Cuxhaven 1986, 80 pages
  • Part 3, 1801–1890 From the English period, Cuxhaven 1986, 144 pages
  • Part 4, 1890–1933 Helgoland in German time, Helgoland 1998, 160 pages

The template is not the main volumes given above, but a three-volume typescript of almost 1000 pages from the years 1936, 1937 and 1938 for the first three volumes, which was considerably smaller than the first three typescripts described above from the years 1942-43 with almost 1500 Pages. The actual chronicles are particularly missing here, the focus is on the printing of files, the subtitle here is "A chronological collection of ordinances, judgments and news". No information is given about the template for the fourth volume. However, it seems that Volume IV of the main edition, including the chronicle, has been reprinted in full, the subtitle here is "A chronicle of the island of Helgoland". It is astonishing that even Herbert Huster does not mention his large copy edition of the main edition in his forewords. The anti-Semitic and National Socialist orientation, which is clear in the last volume, is also not discussed. Even Weber was not always reliable when transcribing the files, and the repeated transcription resulted in further errors.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hartmuth Merleker: Erwin Weber's Helgoland factory is back. In: Helgoland. A newsletter for Hallunner Moats, January – February 1954. Otto-Erwin Hornsmann mentions the working hours 1925–1945 in his booklet "History and stories of the island of Helgoland, Helgoland 2006" on page 7.
  2. ↑ In the first foreword to the reprint of the 4th volume (Helgoland 1998), a letter from Erwin Weber dated March 29, 1944 is quoted, which deals with the binding of his work.
  3. ↑ Weber referred to this copy as early as 1938 in a foreword, cf. new print from his work (see below), Cuxhaven 1986, 3rd volume
  4. ^ Catalog of the German National Library with a link to the table of contents
  5. ↑ See foreword by Gerhard Röper to Volume 1