Hermann Blumenthal (librarian)

Hermann Blumenthal (born July 11, 1903 in Altkloster ; † August 8, 1941 in Tannroda ) was a German specialist in German studies and librarian.

life and work

From 1923 to 1930 Blumenthal studied German, philosophy and art history at the universities of Freiburg , Heidelberg and Hamburg . Here he passed the doctoral examination and the state examination for the higher teaching post in 1931. After a cure and teaching stay in Davos , he worked for a short time as an assistant at the German seminar in Hamburg. His dissertation on Adalbert Stifter's "Witiko" remained unpublished.

Blumenthal began his career in librarianship as a trainee in 1933 at the Göttingen University Library and the Prussian State Library in Berlin . After passing his exam in 1935, he took up a position at the University Library in Greifswald . In 1938 he took over the post of Paul Ortlepp, who had been dismissed for racial reasons, at the Weimar State Library as a library assessor. After the death of the manager Werner Deetjen , Blumenthal took over the management temporarily; from 1940 he was a library councilor. His early death due to a tuberculosis illness leaves one to speculate as to whether Blumenthal, as a non-member of the NSDAP, could have been appointed director at all.

During his tenure, Blumenthal successfully campaigned for the Shakespeare Library of the German Shakespeare Society and the Dante Library of the German Dante Society to remain in the State Library.

In 1937 Blumenthal married Lieselotte Blumenthal , b. Beuchelt, and was the father of the Egyptologist Elke Blumenthal .

Fonts (selection)

• From the Prussian to the German general catalog , in: Geistige Arbeit 3 ​​(1936), No. 20, p. 7f.
• The libraries of the Dukes of Pomerania (= from the treasures of the University Library Greifswald, Volume 12), Stettin 1937.

Editorships (selection)

• From the history of the Weimar State Library and its collections. Festschrift to celebrate their 250th anniversary and the 175th anniversary of their entry into the green castle (= magazine of the Association for Thuringian History and Archeology , Supplement 23. Fischer, Jena, 1941).
• Contemporary reviews and judgments about Goethe's “Götz” and “Werther” (= Literary History Library; Vol. 14). Junker & Dünnhaupt , Berlin, 1935.
• Georg Lotz 1784-1844. From the literary life of the Hamburg Biedermeier period. Boysen, Hamburg, 1934.
• with Robert Petsch : works. Goethe. (Small fixed edition, 12 volumes). Bibliographical Institute, Leipzig, 1938.

Secondary literature

• Konrad von Rabenau : library management and personal orientation. Notes on Otto Glauning (Leipzig), Theodor Lockemann (Jena) and Hermann Blumenthal (Weimar). In: Michael Knoche and Wolfgang Schmitz (eds.): Scientific librarians in National Socialism. Scope of action, continuities, patterns of interpretation. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2011, pp. 113–141, ISBN 978-3-447-06407-1 (= Wolfenbütteler Schriften zur Geschichte des Buchwesen , Volume 46).
• Roland Bärwinkel: A man of "unusual talent". The Thuringian State Library Weimar in the time of Hermann Blumenthal 1939-1941. In: Michael Knoche, Wolfgang Schmitz (eds.): Scientific librarians in National Socialism. Scope of action, continuities, patterns of interpretation. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2011, pp. 91–111, ISBN 978-3-447-06407-1 (= Wolfenbütteler Schriften zur Geschichte des Buchwesen , Volume 46).