Hermann Easter

Hermann Easter (full name Hermann Joseph Easter ; * February 5, 1883 in Mainz , † April 12, 1944 in Unterschondorf ) was a German classical philologist and grammar school director. He taught as a professor at the grammar school in Durlach (1912–1913, director 1930–1932) and at the Kurfürst-Friedrich-Gymnasium in Heidelberg (1913–1930, director 1932–1939).

Life

Hermann Easter was one of the five sons of the winery owner and industrialist Wilhelm Easter and his wife Franziska geb. Becker. From 1889 he attended pre-school and from 1890 the grammar school in Mainz ; after six months he moved to the grammar school in Worms , where his father had become the director of a leather factory. After graduating in 1901, Hermann Ostern gained six months of practical experience in the turning shop, model carpentry, blacksmithing and foundry. He then went to the Technical University of Munich and studied mechanical engineering, mathematics , physics and chemistry ; at the same time he heard at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich lectures in Classical Philology at Wilhelm von Christ , a cousin of his father. After two semesters he moved to the Technical University in Charlottenburg , where he continued his philological studies at the Berlin Friedrich-Wilhelms-University . Under the impression of the lectures and the personality of the philologist Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff , he switched to classical philology after one semester and added history and German studies . After three semesters at the University of Heidelberg , he went again to the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where he was on 23 July 1906, the thesis The armament in Homer's Iliad Dr. phil. PhD . For the winter semester 1906/1907 he went to the University of Heidelberg and in March 1907 passed the teaching examination in Karlsruhe . From April 1907 to 1908 he did his military service as a one-year volunteer in Heidelberg.

In April 1908, Easter went to the grammar school in Durlach as a teaching trainee . Shortly afterwards he married Else Christ, the daughter of his uncle and academic teacher. The marriage resulted in three sons, the eldest of whom died early and one fell in World War II . Hermann Easter was appointed high school professor in Durlach in 1912. In 1913 he moved to the Kurfürst-Friedrich-Gymnasium in Heidelberg, where he spent almost his entire career. When the First World War broke out , he volunteered and was wounded after a short time, so that he was released and returned to teaching. His activities went far beyond the grammar school: he published school editions by Roman poets, was involved in the Baden grammar school association and from 1916 held Greek style exercises at the philological proseminar of the University of Heidelberg. On September 9, 1930 he was appointed director of the grammar school in Durlach; but not even two years later, on July 1, 1932, he returned to Heidelberg as a grammar school director.

In the era of National Socialism Easter stood off to the dominant ideology. As director of the Kurfürst-Friedrich-Gymnasium, member of the board of the Gymnasialverein and editor of the magazine Das humanistische Gymnasium , he championed the humanistic ideal of education against efforts to conform . A colleague at the grammar school denounced him in 1939 when he had seen a Jewish doctor on Easter. For example, Easter was forced into retirement in May 1939 and he also lost his teaching position at the university. A few weeks later, in June 1939, he and his family moved to Schondorf am Ammersee , where his friend Ernst Reisinger had offered him a job at the rural education center . In the winter of 1940/1941, Easter fell seriously ill and had to give up teaching. The next few years were overshadowed by heart problems and the death of his son Hermann on the Eastern Front (1941). On April 12, 1944, he died of an embolism in Unterschondorf .

Fonts (selection)

• About the armament in Homer's Iliad . Tübingen 1909 (dissertation, Munich 1906)
• Selection from Albius Tibullus . Leipzig / Berlin 1922. 2nd, expanded edition under the title: Albius Tibullus und Sextus Autovermietung . Leipzig / Berlin 1932
• Selection from Valerius Catullus . Leipzig / Berlin 1923. 3rd, increased edition 1927. 4th, increased edition 1929
• Selection from M. Valerius Martialis and D. Iunius Iuvenalis . Leipzig 1925. 2nd edition 1929
• Decimus Magnus Ausonius, Mosella, Bissula poems, Pater ad filium. Venantius Fortunatus, De coco, qui ipsi navem tulit, and De navigio suo . Leipzig 1926. 2nd, expanded edition 1934
• with Fritz Bucherer: Advertising leaflet by the German Gymnasium Association and the Bavarian State Association of the Associations of Friends of the Humanistic Gymnasium for 1934 . Leipzig 1934

literature

• Otto Frommel : Hermann Easter in memory . In: Gymnasium . 56th year (1949), pp. 3–11
• Wolf Uebel (editor): The "Golden Book" of the KFG. Autobiographies of Heidelberg Pedagogues (1812–1939) . Heidelberg 1994, p. 128f.
• Angelos Chaniotis , Ulrich Thaler: The ancient studies at the University of Heidelberg 1933–1945 . In: Wolfgang U. Eckart , Volker Sellin , Eike Wolgast (Eds.): The University of Heidelberg in National Socialism . Heidelberg 2006, pp. 391–434 (at Easter especially p. 393; online ).

Web links

Wikisource: Hermann Ostern  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by Hermann Ostern in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Detlef Zeiler: The teaching staff at the Kurfürst-Friedrich-Gymnasium in Heidelberg during the National Socialist era (accessed on November 25, 2014).
2. ↑ Frommel 9.