Herbert Obenaus

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Herbert Obenaus (born March 3, 1931 in Cologne ) is a German historian , university professor and author . He is professor emeritus for modern history at the University of Hanover and has published numerous scientific publications on recent social, constitutional and parliamentarian history, as well as regional and local contemporary history.

Life

As a professor of history at the University of Hanover, Herbert Obenaus has for decades been committed to researching and documenting the history of all groups of victims of the Nazi regime. The forms of resistance against the reign of terror, especially in the area of ​​today's state of Lower Saxony, was and still is his educational scientific interest. He exerted an influence on the public far beyond the sphere of influence of an academic teacher. Through his own research work and through expert advice on various initiatives, he has made a significant contribution to the establishment and development of regional memorials.

Obenaus has made a special contribution to the editorial work and editing of the two-volume “Historical Handbook of the Jewish Communities in Lower Saxony and Bremen”, which was published in German and Hebrew in 2005 in collaboration with David Bankier and Daniel Fraenkel from the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem .

Bernd Busemann , then Lower Saxony's Minister of Culture, on the occasion of the award of the Lower Saxony Order of Merit on March 22, 2007 in Hanover:

“If Lower Saxony is characterized today by the diversity and quality of regional memorial work, then it is largely thanks to Herbert Obenau. In addition, his collaboration in investigating Nazi crimes, especially with archives and memorials in Israel , Poland and Latvia , was an important contribution to understanding between the peoples. "

"Prof. Dr. Obenaus has made an outstanding contribution to coming to terms with the Nazi past in Germany and especially in Lower Saxony. Through his work, he not only convincingly conveyed to the scientific world that Germany is honestly facing up to its past. He has made a special contribution to German-Jewish and German-Israeli relations. "

He was married to the historian Sibylle Obenaus (1934-2020).

Work in committees

In 1988 Obenaus was appointed to the then newly established Scientific Advisory Board of the Bergen-Belsen Memorial . From 1991 to 2004 he was chairman of the scientific advisory board for the promotion of memorial work in Lower Saxony. Under his direction, in cooperation with the Göttingen publishing house Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, the series of "Bergen-Belsen-Schriften" was created, in which scientific works on memorial culture and sources critically commented on by surviving contemporary witnesses are published. Since 2001 he has been a member of the international commission of experts for the redesign of the Bergen-Belsen Memorial.

Awards

Works (selection)

  • Law and constitution of the companies with St. Jörgenschild in Swabia. Studies on nobility, unification, arbitration tribunals and feuds in the 15th century (= publications by the Max Planck Institute for History. Volume 7). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1961, DNB 453618839 (also dissertation , University of Göttingen ).
  • The beginnings of parliamentarism in Prussia until 1848 (= handbook of the history of German parliamentarism ). Droste, Düsseldorf 1984, ISBN 3-7700-5116-5 (partly also: Hannover, TU Hannover , habilitation thesis ).
  • (Edited and commented on by Herbert and Sibylle Obenaus): "Writing as it really was ..." Karl Dürkefälden's notes from the time of National Socialism. Edited by the Lower Saxony State Center for Political Education , Hanover 1985, DNB 860034410 , 136 pp.
  • The evacuation of the Hanoverian concentration camps in April 1945. In: Rainer Fröbe u. a. (Ed.): Concentration camp in Hanover. Concentration camp work and the armaments industry in the late phase of World War II. Volume August 2, Lax, Hildesheim 1985, pp. 493-544.
  • On the post-war history of the Hanoverian concentration camps. In: Rainer Fröbe u. a. (Ed.): Concentration camp in Hanover. Concentration camp work and the armaments industry in the late phase of World War II. Volume August 2, Lax, Hildesheim 1985, pp. 545-585.
  • The shootings at the Seelhorster cemetery in Hanover, April 1945. Kulturamt, Hanover 1987, 40 p .; Reprinted in: Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter . Supplement 3 to N. F., Vol. 59, 2005.
  • “Be quiet, otherwise you will come to Ahlem!” On the function of the Gestapo office in the former Israelite Horticultural School of Ahlem (1943–1945) (= Hannoversche Geschichtsblätter. N. F., Volume 41). City of Hanover, Cultural Office, Hanover 1988, 32 pp.
  • Political prisoners in the court prison in Hanover during the National Socialist rule. State capital Hanover, Hanover 1990, 49 pp.
  • Resistance on the sidelines. Hanover 1933–1945. Contributions to the exhibition. Historical Museum Hannover, Hannover 1992, 87 pp.
  • Nazi history after the end of the GDR: a closed past? Lower Saxony State Center for Political Education, Hanover 1992, 20 pp.
  • (Arr., With Sibylle Obenaus): Karl Raloff. An eventful life: from the German Empire to the Federal Republic. Lower Saxony State Center for Political Education, Hanover 1995, 168 pp.
  • The photo from the tree hanging. In: memorial circular , ed. from the Topography of Terror Foundation , Berlin 1995, pp. 3–8.
  • (Ed., With Hans-Dieter Schmid): Post-war period in Lower Saxony. Contributions to the beginnings of a federal state. Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 1999, 182 pp.
  • The Germans: 'An Antisemitic People?' The Press Campaign after November 9, 1938. In: David Bankier (Ed.): Probing the Depths of German Antisemitism. Berghahn Books, New York 2000, pp. 147-180.
  • (Ed.) Country Jews in Northwest Germany (= lectures by the Working Group on the History of the Jews in the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen ). Hahn, Hanover 2005, 285 pp.
  • (Ed., Together with David Bankier and Daniel Fraenkel): Historical manual of the Jewish communities in Lower Saxony and Bremen . 2 volumes. Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89244-753-5 ; 1678 p. With 83 illustrations and 1 folding map.
  • The Socialist Front. In: Hans Coppi , Stefan Heinz (ed.): The forgotten resistance of the workers. Trade unionists, communists, social democrats, Trotskyists, anarchists and forced laborers. Dietz, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-320-02264-8 , pp. 107-128.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ (Ed.) Together with David Bankier and Daniel Fraenkel: Historical manual of the Jewish communities in Lower Saxony and Bremen . 2 volumes. Göttingen 2005.
personal data
SURNAME Upstairs, Herbert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian, university professor and author
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne