Helmut Richtering

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Helmut Richtering (born January 5, 1922 in Burgdamm (now part of Bremen ), † February 19, 1989 in Münster ) was a German historian and archivist. As head of the State Office for Archive Maintenance (today LWL Archive Office for Westphalia ) in Münster, he made special contributions to the expansion of the municipal archives and the aristocratic archives in Westphalia.

Life

Helmut Walter Richtering was born as the first-born son (seven siblings) of a merchant and tobacco manufacturer in the municipality of Burgdamm , which today belongs to the Burglesum district of the Hanseatic City of Bremen. In 1940 he passed the Abitur at the grammar school in Bremen- Vegesack . Released from military service and labor service for health reasons, he began studying history, German and French in Marburg in the summer semester of 1940. In 1941 he attended the University of Leipzig , and from the winter semester 1941/42 the University of Münster . In January 1945 he passed the last examination for the doctoral thesis supervised by Gerd Tellenbach on farm achievements in medieval Westphalia, other formative university lecturers were Kurt von Raumer and Johannes Bauermann , the director of the Münster State Archives , who held an honorary professorship at the university.

Richtering's particular interest was in the sources, and with the support of Bauermann, he decided to do the archive service. In autumn 1943 he took over the air raid service in the State Archives. He lived in the archive's air raid shelter for almost a year so that he could immediately initiate rescue measures for the archive material in the event of a bomb attack. In December 1944, Bauermann advocated the appointment of Richtering to the director general of the Prussian archives, but this did not materialize due to the circumstances of the time. After a renewed application by Bauermann, Richtering passed the entrance examination at the end of 1945 and began his preparatory service in May 1946. In May 1949 he took part in the first academic course at the newly founded archive school in Marburg , and because of his previous knowledge he was able to take the assessor exam in the spring of 1950. In Marburg, Richtering also met Hildegard Berg, whom he married in April 1951 and with whom he raised two sons and a daughter.

After the examination, Richtering initially worked in the archives advice center in Westphalia, and on January 15, 1951, he was employed by the Münster State Archives. Here he got to know numerous holdings in a good two decades and acquired widely recognized knowledge from all areas of the Westphalian state history. His tasks included the creation of the first inventory overview, which appeared as a photo print in 1962 and made him a connoisseur of even remote parts of the inventory. He was particularly interested in the sources on economic and social history, the history of the labor movement, Protestantism, Judaism and the cities. He also devoted himself to the aristocratic archives held as deposits in the State Archives. In 1954 Richtering was appointed State Archives Councilor, in 1965 Oberstaatsarchivrat (also head of the “State Archives for South Westphalia” department), and in 1971 State Archives Director.

In 1973 the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe Richtering offered the management of the State Office for Archive Maintenance (today LWL Archive Office for Westphalia ) as the successor to Franz Herberhold . Richtering took up his new office on April 1, 1974, and at the same time was appointed Chief State Archives Director. He made the move of the office to new rooms and the increase in staff a condition of his change. The most important task was to advise cities, municipalities and districts on setting up their own archives, which were greatly expanded during his tenure. He was particularly interested in advising the aristocratic archives; he was able to triple the number of members of the United Westphalian Adelsarchive eV during his activity. He was able to win the special trust of the archive owners by considering the archival material to remain at the place of origin as a rule. A central depot was created at Cappenberg Castle for archival materials that could not be properly stored . Richtering personally looked after and recorded several aristocratic archives (including Count von Droste-Vischering at Darfeld Castle, Welbergen House, Count von Kanitz at Cappenberg Castle). At his suggestion, a branch office of the Westphalian Archives Office at the Westphalian Economic Archives was created to better manage the economic archives . On January 30, 1987 Richtering retired.

His list of publications includes around 100 titles, the majority of which were essays with which he sought to make previously unknown or remote sources and information accessible. He presented important studies on economic history, the history of the city and the history of the Jews. Biographies and statements on archival practice can also be found among his works. From 1953 to 1971 he was in charge of the annual journal bibliography of Westphalian Research .

Memberships and honors

In 1961 Richtering was elected a full member of the Historical Commission for Westphalia , and at times he was also a member of its board. From 1976 he was a board member of the Society for Westphalian Economic History , also in the Association for History and Archeology of Westphalia, Department of Münster , he was a member of the board. From 1977 to 1983 he was chairman of the working group of city archivists in North Rhine-Westphalia. In the Association of German Archivists , he was for many years the chairman of Section IV (archivists at house and family archives). In 1982 he received the Federal Cross of Merit on ribbon. In 1987 he was made an honorary member of the United Westphalian Aristocratic Archives .

Works (selection)

  • Rural achievements in medieval Westphalia with special consideration of taxes in kind and their distribution . (Diss. Typed, unprinted). Munster 1949.
  • Gisbert von Romberg . In: Westphalian pictures of life . tape 9 . Aschendorff, Münster 1962, p. 90-107 .
  • With Wilhelm Kohl : Authorities during the transition period 1802–1816 (=  The Münster State Archives and its holdings . Volume 1 ). Self-published by the State Archives, Münster 1964.
  • With Günter Aders: Reichskammergericht A – K (=  The Münster State Archive and its holdings, 2: Courts of the Old Reich . Volume 1 ). Self-published by the State Archives, Münster 1966.
  • With Günter Aders: Reichskammergericht L – Z (=  The State Archive of Münster and its holdings, 2: Courts of the Old Reich . Volume 2 ). Self-published by the State Archives, Münster 1968.
  • With Günter Aders: Courts of the Old Kingdom . Part 3: Register (=  The Münster State Archive and its holdings . Volume 2 ). Self-published by the State Archives, Münster 1973.
  • With Bernhard Brilling : Westfalia Judaica . Documents and registers on the history of the Jews in Westphalia and Lippe, vol. 1: 1005–1350 (=  Studia Delitzschiana . Volume 11 ). Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1967.
  • With Reinhard Oberschelp : The 16th century appraisal registers for the Duchy of Westphalia . Part 1: The registers from 1536 and 1565 (=  publications of the Historical Commission of Westphalia XXX, Westphalian Treasury and Tax Registers . Volume 2 ). Aschendorff, Münster 1971.
  • The estates of the Droste brothers in Vischering . Erbdroste Adolf Heidenreich (1769–1826), Bishop Caspar Max (1770–1846), Canon Franz Otto (1771–1826), Archbishop Clemens August (1773–1845) (=  Westphalian sources and archive directories . Volume 12 ). Westphalian Archives Office, Münster 1986.
  • The archive of the former Drolshagen monastery . Documents and files together with an appendix of supplementary archival material (=  national history series for the Sauerland in Cologne . Volume 3 ). Heimatverein Olpe eV, Olpe 1969.
  • With Peter Freimark (ed.): Commemorative publication for Bernhard Brilling (=  Hamburg contributions to the history of the German Jews . Volume 14 ). Christians, Hamburg 1988.

literature

  • Norbert Reimann: Helmut Richtering in memory . In: Archive maintenance in Westphalia and Lippe . No. 30 , October 1989, p. 35–38 ( lwl.org [PDF; accessed on August 20, 2013] detailed biography with complete bibliography).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Judging ring, Helmut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German archivist
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Castle dam
DATE OF DEATH February 19, 1989
Place of death Muenster