Herbert Grabert

Herbert Grabert (born January 17, 1901 in Lichtenberg near Berlin ; † August 2, 1978 in Tübingen ; pseudonym: Hugo Backhaus ) was a German theologian and publicist. He was the founder and for many years director of the right-wing extremist Grabert Verlag , formerly the publisher of the Deutsche Hochschullehrerzeitung .

Childhood, Adolescence and Academic Education

Herbert Grabert was born on January 17, 1901 in Lichtenberg near Berlin as the son of the teacher Emil Grabert and his wife Anna. Before graduating from school, he joined the right-wing Guards Cavalry Rifle Division as a free corps fighter and took an active part in their battles. For this he received the honorary certificate for free corps fighters.

In 1922 he passed the Abitur at the Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster in Berlin. At the request of the father, he began studying theology. His father wanted Herbert Grabert to become a pastor. During his studies in Berlin, he also completed a degree at the University of Physical Education in Spandau and in 1926 passed his exams as a gymnastics and sports teacher. After the first theological exam in Berlin in 1927, Grabert attended two semesters of psychiatric lectures in Tübingen and Marburg and took part in clinical examinations. Finally he received his doctorate in 1928 with Jakob Wilhelm Hauer at the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Tübingen with a dissertation in the psychology of religion . From the end of April 1928, before completing his doctorate, he was in the Evangelical Preacher Seminary in Soest / Westphalia. In 1929 Grabert finally decided not to go into church service after a break with the church and he did not want to take the ordination vows.

Grabert initially represented a liberal theology and belonged to a free form of Christianity . However, he increasingly broke away from the Church and later - under the influence of Jakob Wilhelm Hauer - from Christianity.

In the years 1928 to 1933 Grabert published on Hauer's mediation in the free Protestant organ Die Christliche Welt , which appeared every six months. At times he was part of its editorial team. In this function he also attended religious world church and peace conferences, of which he reported with "joy of hope". He saw the goal of this “religious community of action” in “finding and walking a path to world peace as people of so different religious convictions”. In 1936 Grabert was mentioned as an employee of the Christian World.

Before 1933, Grabert was a clear opponent of National Socialism. In the Christian world, for example, he accused the National Socialists of creating conditions similar to civil war. Because of their lack of ethics and their lack of spirit, they are not able to achieve the national unity of all Germans and to overcome their inner turmoil. He accused Alfred Rosenberg of the “deification of people and race”, which was a caricature of genuine religiosity. At that time Grabert still criticized the "thoroughly unchristian practice" of National Socialism and rejected the idea of ​​an Aryan race:

"" It leads to a self-glorification, which, when combined with an ego-like, personal urge to assert oneself, must lead to arrogance, contempt for those of different races and beliefs and finally to a planned extermination practice, regardless of whether it is a political or ideological practice Opponent acts ""

Grabert soon changed political camps, which he hoped would be of particular benefit to his university career.

1933 to 1945

Since January 1934 he was editor of the monthly German Faith published by Hauer , in which he also published regularly himself.

Grabert became a supporter and soon afterwards a leading member of the German Faith Movement , co-founded by Hauer , which was founded at the end of July 1934 and which was in direct competition with the German Christians, and emerged in the same year with a text The Church in the year of the German uprising . Grabert was also the head of the Tübingen local community, where he also carried out religious ordinations that he himself had designed. However, these were not very neo-pagan , but rather resembled Protestant church services with pagan accessories. Hauer belonged to the radical faction of the German Faith Movement. The result of the confrontation course was the split in the German Faith Movement in 1936.

In 1936, in the course of radicalization and in turning away from Hauer, Grabert split off the German Belief Movement from the German Belief Movement , which only existed for a short time. In a leaflet from autumn 1936, for which Grabert was responsible, Christianity is understood as religious Judaism, which is an obstacle to the development of the Germans:

"But religious Judaism in the form of its Christian churches and sects still stands in the life of our people and prevents German people from belonging entirely to their people and only to their people." "

After the failure of the German-Believing Movement, after another abrupt change, he turned himself completely to the service of the “ Third Reich ” and took the view that no independent pagan religious communities were necessary under National Socialism. Outside the NS party structures, there is no need for independent religious communities, since "National Socialism is sufficient in every respect". This turning away from traditional ecclesiasticalism and turning to a kind of civil religion was also characteristic of Grabert's development after 1945. In 1937 he was quoted by the Christian World and Young Church as saying:

"For us, as for countless Germans, National Socialism is the new faith that makes every denomination and ideology group superfluous."

In 1939 Grabert joined the NSDAP (membership number 7,291,699). Grabert was temporarily financed and supported by the Alfred Rosenberg Foundation. In 1941 he completed his habilitation in Würzburg and became a lecturer in "Weltanschauungskunde". During the Second World War he worked in Alfred Rosenberg's Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories . In 1942, by order of the Ministry, Grabert was an advisor for science and university issues to the General Commissioner in Riga . In 1943 he was discharged from the Wehrmacht .

After 1945

Grabert was arrested on May 3, 1945 in Tübingen and relieved of his lectureship in Würzburg on July 26, 1945. This was followed in Tübingen by a trial chamber in which he was classified as a follower on October 8, 1948 , which was connected with a teaching ban, dismissal from university and the withdrawal of the right to stand as a candidate. In a retrial, some restrictions were lifted. He initially maintained contact with religious circles and took part in some meetings, for example on September 27, 1947 "on the Klüt mountain near Hameln to discuss the possibilities for a German-believing or non-Christian free-religious collection movement", but withdrew returned to the religious scene in order to devote himself entirely to political and later publishing work.

In 1950 he founded the "Association of non-officiating (ousted) university teachers", with which he fought - based on the processing of his own life story - for the reinstatement of university teachers who, in his opinion, had been deprived of their rights. Since 1953 the information sheet for the 131 university professor, initially consisting of only four printed pages, was published on behalf of the Association of Non-Official University Professors and Research Aid eV Paragraph 131 regulates the removal of National Socialist university professors from office. This magazine, which was renamed the Deutsche Hochschullehrer-Zeitung in 1955 , developed into a forum for National Socialist academics, who were not allowed to work at German universities after 1945, in which they sometimes struggled for their rehabilitation, but mostly pursued the old ideas. Grabert campaigned for “ousted” university teachers and their reuse at German universities, including for his former teacher Jakob Wilhelm Hauer. Hauer and Grabert - unlike many others - did not succeed in returning to the university. The failure in his own cause led to a hardening of his opposition to the system of the newly formed Federal Republic. His son Wigbert Grabert continued to run the Hochschullehrer-Zeitung since 1972 due to the expansion of the range of topics and the scope of the Hochschullehrer-Zeitung as a quarterly magazine Germany in Past and Present (DGG).

Also in 1953 the publishing house of the Deutsche Hochschullehrer-Zeitung was founded. It was renamed Grabert Verlag in 1973 . In both, " revisionism ", the pseudoscientific denial of the Holocaust and the German war guilt, was given a broad place. The DGG magazine advertised itself: “One of the leading revisionist magazines in Germany”. In the Grabert-Verlag mainly revisionist literature appeared. In particular, the book The Forced War - the causes and originators of World War II by the American author David L. Hoggan contributed to the economic success of the publisher. Grabert himself published the book People Without Leadership in 1960 under the pseudonym Hugo C. Backhaus , for which he was sentenced to nine months in prison by the 3rd Senate of the Federal Court of Justice . In 1959/60 Herbert Grabert was sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment on probation by the criminal senate of the Federal Constitutional Court.

At the beginning of the 1950s, Grabert was an employee of the inner leadership circle of the conspiratorial so-called Gauleiter-FDP in order to restore National Socialist rule; For him, this is a function that was not publicly known until 2012.

Herbert Grabert died on August 2, 1978. An obituary from a "WvO", very likely Wilfred von Oven , appeared in Germany and Europe , among others . Germany in the past and present took over as "main editor ", that is editor-in-chief , initially also Wilfred von Oven, who, as the former personal press officer of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels , was able to bring the necessary qualifications with him. A little later , the magazine took over Grabert's son Wigbert , who "promised him continuity at his grave". He has been running the publishing house since 1972.

family

In 1929 Grabert married Josephine (Josi) Freiin von Maydell . She came from Estonia and was the daughter of a German-Baltic manor owner. After studying in Marburg, she worked for several years in higher education. She wrote for the Christian World and later also for Hauer's magazine Deutscher Glaube , for which Herbert Grabert was editor. The marriage had eight children. The publishing house was taken over by Wigbert Grabert.

Works

• A comparative study of the psychology of mystics and psychopaths. A comparison and a comparison . Diss. Phil., Univ. Tübingen 1928; Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1929 (contributions to philosophy and psychology no.4)
• Religious understanding. Ways to encounter the religions with Nicolaus Cusanus, Schleiermacher, Rudolf Otto and JW Hauer . Hirschfeld, Leipzig 1932 (Books of the Coming Community 2)
• The Protestant mission of the German people. Basic features of the German history of faith from Luther to Hauer . Georg Truckenmüller Verlag, Stuttgart and Berlin 1936
• The Protestant mission of the German people. Basic features of the German history of faith from Luther to Hauer . Gutbrod, Stuttgart ² 1936
• Crisis and abandonment of the national faith . Nordischer Verlag Precht, Berlin 1937
• The national task of religious studies. One goal . Georg Truckenmüller Verlag, Stuttgart and Berlin 1938 (Research on German Weltanschauung and Faith History, No. 1)
• The belief of the German peasantry. A philosophical and religious history investigation. Vol 1. Georg Truckenmüller Verlag, Stuttgart and Berlin 1939
• University professors indict. From the dismantling of German science . Göttinger Verlags-Anstalt, Göttingen ² 1952
• Wehrkraft im Zwiespalt , Göttingen 1952 [under the pseudonym Hugo C. Backhaus]
• People without leadership , Göttinger Verlags-Anstalt, Göttingen 1955, ² 1956 [under the pseudonym Hugo C. Backhaus]
• Victor and vanquished. German nationalism after 1945 . Publishing house of the Deutsche Hochschullehrer-Zeitung, Tübingen 1966
• Ed .: The history book as re-educator. One organized by the Institute for German Post-War History in collaboration with history teachers. Examination of German textbooks ed. v. Herbert Grabert. Verlag der Deutsche Hochschullehrer-Zeitung, Tübingen 1966 (publications by the Institute for German Post-War History 3)
• People and leadership. Germany's struggle for unity and existence . Grabert Verlag, Tübingen 1977; ISBN 3-87847-036-3

literature

• Martin Finkenberger: Herbert Grabert (1901–1978). Religious scholar, revisionist, right-wing extremist . In: Building blocks for the history of the University of Tübingen, part 9; Tübingen 1999; Pp. 55-100.
• Martin Finkenberger: Herbert Grabert and the 'German Peasant Faith' in National Socialism . In: Jahrbuch für Volkskunde 2000, pp. 51–76.
• Martin Finkenberger, Horst Junginger (ed.): In the service of lies. Herbert Grabert (1901–1978) and his publishers. Aschaffenburg: Alibri, 2004; ISBN 3932710762 .
• Friedrich Paul Heller , Anton Maegerle : Thule. From folk occultism to the new right ; Stuttgart: Schmetterling-Verlag, ² ; 1998; ISBN 3896570900 .
• Horst Junginger : From philological to folk religious studies. The subject of religious studies at the University of Tübingen from the middle of the 19th century to the end of the Third Reich ; Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1999 (Diss. Univ. Tübingen 1997) ISBN 3-515-07432-5 (Contubernium, Vol. 51).
• Horst Junginger: Herbert Grabert. In: Ingo Haar , Michael Fahlbusch (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Völkischen Wissenschaften. People - institutions - research programs - foundations ; Munich 2008; Pp. 203-209.
• Ulrich Nanko: The German Faith Movement: A Historical and Sociological Investigation ; Religious Studies Series, 4; Marburg: Diagonal-Verlag, 1993; ISBN 3-927165-16-6 ; at the same time Tübingen, Univ., Diss., 1989.

Web links

• Literature by and about Herbert Grabert in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Herbert Grabert  in the German Digital Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Horst Junginger (2008), p. 204.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Horst Junginger (2008), p. 209.
3. ↑ Hauer brokered a conversation between Grabert and Rudolf Otto , but also wrote to Otto that he considered Grabert to be a "very good average talent" whose creative and scientific strength would at best be sufficient for a Prussian teachers' academy. See Horst Junginger (1999), p. 115
4. ↑ Martin Finkenberger (1999), pp. 55-100
5. ↑ Herbert Grabert: To world peace through the religions . In: The Christian World, Col. 916; quoted from Martin Finkenberger (1999), p. 61
6. ↑ Ulrich Nanko (1993), p. 56
7. ↑ Horst Junginger (2008), p. 205.
8. ^ Herbert Grabert in Leopold Klotz (ed.): The Church and the Third Reich. Questions and demands of German theologians . Vol. 2, Gotha 1932, p. 53; quoted from Horst Junginger (1999), p. 123.
9. ↑ ^{a b c} Horst Junginger (2008), p. 206.
10. ↑ Ulrich Nanko (1993), p. 56
11. ↑ Horst Junginger: Paganism and Indo-Germanism as identification elements of the New Right. In: Uwe Puschner, G. Ulrich Großmann: Völkisch und national. Darmstadt 2009, p. 282 f.
12. ↑ Horst Junginger (1999), p. 123
13. ↑ Horst Junginger (2009), p. 283 f.
14. ↑ ^{a b} Horst Junginger (1999), p. 121
15. ↑ ^{a b} Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 195.
16. ^ Angela Driver, Folklore and Protestant Theology: the village church movement 1907-1945 , Böhlau 2004, p. 388.
17. ↑ ^{a b} Horst Junginger (2008), p. 208.
18. ↑ ^{a b} Journalism. Restoration of a German sense of identity. Publisher Wigbert Grabert on his professional conception, the intellectual battle against the one world and his hopes , in: German Voice 11 (2003), p. 3
19. ↑ ^{a b} Horst Junginger (1999), p. 293
20. ↑ Horst Junginger: Paganism and Indo-Germanism as identification elements of the New Right . In: Uwe Puschner, G. Ulrich Großmann: Völkisch und national . Darmstadt 2009, p. 290
21. ^ Juliane Wetzel: The historical revisionism and the Grabert publishing house . In: Finkenberger / Junginger (2004); P. 144
22. ↑ Beate Baldow, episode or danger? The Naumann affair. Diss. Phil. FU Berlin, 2012, p. 313