Hermann Joachim

Hermann Heinrich Christian Joachim (born August 6, 1868 in Hamburg ; † October 31, 1931 there ) was a German historian and classical philologist .

Life and work

Hermann Joachim's father taught as a senior teacher in the schools of the St. Johannis monastery . Hermann Joachim initially received private lessons at the school of Dr. Otto. From 1879 to 1887 he attended the Johanneum School of Academics , which he left with distinction. In the same year he began studying classical philology, theology and history at the University of Bonn . In the so-called “Hamburger Kreis” there he got to know Aby Warburg and Hans Nirrnheim , with whom he later worked. Joachim concentrated on classical studies and was significantly influenced by his teachers Franz Bücheler and Hermann Usener . In his doctorate for Dr. phil. he occupied himself in 1892 with a text-critical source review of a work by Theophrastus of Eresus . In February 1983 he passed the examination for the higher teaching post: He was allowed to teach Greek, Latin and religion in all classes and propaedeutics and history in the middle classes.

On March 1, 1893, Joachim received a job as a volunteer in the Hamburg State Archives . In the same year he was appointed scientific assistant. In the following years he was considered a recognized expert on legal issues and the history of the organization of administration in Hamburg. Since he collected and evaluated documents from the official archives and local court in Ritzebüttel at a central point, he later worked as a legal expert on questions of dike and water law. In addition, he rearranged the archive of the general institution for the poor and wrote several reports relating to welfare.

In 1899 the State Archives set up new posts. Hermann Joachim was promoted to scientific assistant with civil servant status. In 1919 he was given the title of professor, a year later he took over the management of the department for Senate files as archivist. Joachim wrote remarkable reports on finding names for new streets, taking historical connections into account. In 1926 he was appointed senior archivist and thus the institution's second highest official. The Hamburg Senate decided to retire Joachim for cost reasons; However, after previous long cardiac arrhythmias, he died while he was still on duty at the end of October 1931.

Volunteering

Hermann Joachim worked as a part-time charity for almost 40 years. Since 1894 he worked as a nurse, later as district head for the Hamburg poor relief, for which he wrote in 1901 the "Handbook of Charity". This included information on around 820 public and private welfare organizations and foundations in Hamburg. He frequently lectured on welfare and social law, including in 1900 at an event organized by the General German Women's Association and in 1901 in the “Volksheim”. He gave further lectures on the history of the poor in Hamburg. He spoke about this in 1914 at the academic summer courses and in 1915 at the Association for Hamburg History . After the outbreak of the First World War he also worked for the Hamburg War Aid.

Joachim devoted most of his free time to the Association for Hamburg History, to which he had been a member since 1905. Together with Hans Nirrnheim, he put a lot of energy into overhauling the club structures. From 1905 to 1930 Joachim reorganized the lecture system. He engaged respected speakers, thematized current scientific discussions and regularly dealt with important periods and anniversaries of Hamburg's history. As a result, the association developed into a well-known institution outside of Hamburg, also because neither the general lecture system, the Hamburg University nor the adult education center represented the city's history. From 1908 Joachim also worked on the editorial board of the association. He played a decisive role in the professionalization of the club magazine. Joachim worked mostly in the background and paid little attention to public awareness. From 1916 to 1921 he was a member of the association's board of directors, and after this term of office he resigned voluntarily.

The Association for Hamburg History awarded Joachim the Lappenberg Medal in bronze in 1930. In January 1932 the association organized a memorial event together with the State Archives. By 1937 the association published works from Joachim's estate.

Works

Joachim dealt in his works with the history and organization of the community. He worked strictly text-critical. He had adopted this working method from classical philology. In 1905 he presented the guild and township in Freiburg im Breisgau in an extensive article, which was heavily discussed in German urban history research. In 1912 he was able to reconstruct the text of a diploma from Ludwig the Pious . It was the oldest version of the founding document of the Hamburg Archdiocese. Joachim left behind numerous drafts and collections of literature on social life in Hamburg. In it he dealt with the orphanage , the factory and penitentiary or the spinning house. These documents have not yet been published.

For volume 44 of the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie , Joachim wrote an article about Reinhard Woltman, director of hydraulic engineering . In 1925 and 1929 he presented the history of Hamburg street names. These works are still current today.

literature

• Gunnar B. Zimmermann: Joachim, Hermann . In: Franklin Kopitzsch, Dirk Brietzke (Hrsg.): Hamburgische Biographie . tape 6 . Wallstein, Göttingen 2012, ISBN 978-3-8353-1025-4 , p. 141-142 .

Web links

Wikisource: Hermann Joachim  - Sources and full texts