Hermann Waetjen

Hermann Wätjen (born February 14, 1876 in Bremen , † March 5, 1944 in Nimptsch ) was a German historian . Wätjen initially taught history at the Technical University of Karlsruhe from 1919 and from 1922 to 1942 was a full professor of modern and medieval history, particularly economic history, at the University of Münster . He is best known for his work on European overseas history.

Live and act

Hermann Wätjen was the son of businessman and banker Eduard Wätjen (1848–1928), owner of the Hermann Wätjen company and owner of the Alteneichen estate in Bremen - Horn . He graduated from the Alte Gymnasium in Bremen and studied law and history for two semesters at the University of Strasbourg since 1895 . From the third semester he studied history at the University of Heidelberg . He was particularly influenced by Dietrich Schäfer . From 1896 he was a member of the Corps Rhenania Strasbourg .

He received his doctorate in Heidelberg in 1900 with a thesis on the first English revolution and public opinion in Germany. In July 1905 he married Ilse Hepner. The marriage resulted in two sons and a daughter. In 1908, Wätjen also completed his habilitation in Heidelberg with Hermann Oncken on Dutch relations with the Mediterranean. In 1914 he became an associate professor in Heidelberg. He spent time in Oxford and Geneva and traveled overseas for several years.

In 1918 he was appointed to a chair for history at the Technical University of Karlsruhe as the successor to Arthur Heinrich Böhtlingk . From 1922 to 1942 he taught as a professor for "modern and middle, especially economic history" at the University of Münster . Gerd Wunder was one of his academic students . He was an honorary member of the Historisch Genootschap te Utrecht and the Maatschappij of the Nederlandse Letterkunde . Wätjen was first chairman of the Historical Commission for Westphalia from 1929 to 1933 , which was dissolved at the beginning of his tenure as an association and integrated into the Westphalia Provincial Association (forerunner of the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association ).

His subjects were the colonial history of the Netherlands, the history of South America and Australia and the Hanseatic trade history on the west coast of America. In 1921 Wätjen published a work on The Dutch Colonial Empire in Brazil . He began preparatory work for this work in Holland in 1910 and continued in Brazil in 1914. Wätjen published a number of articles in the World Economic Archives . He wrote articles about sugar, the German emigration to Brazil in the years 1820 to 1870 or the Hanseatic cities and Brazil. For the Propylaea world history he wrote the sections on the Dutch and Iberian expansion from the 16th to the 18th centuries and on Central and South America in the 19th century.

During the Second World War he lost his house and property due to the first bombing raids on Münster. Wätjen died at the age of 68. He was buried on April 29, 1944 in his father's hereditary funeral in the Riensberg cemetery in Bremen.

Fonts

• The Dutch in the Mediterranean region at the time of their highest position of power (= Treatises on Transport and Maritime History. Vol. 2). Curtius, Berlin 1909.
• The Dutch colonial empire in Brazil. A chapter from the colonial history of the 17th century. Perthes, Gotha 1921.

literature

• Helga Austria: History and history studies in Muenster in the late 19th and 20th centuries. In: Heinz Dollinger (Ed.): The University of Münster 1780–1980. Aschendorff, Münster 1980, ISBN 3-402-05196-6 , pp. 347-374
• Friedrich Prüser : Hermann Wätjen (1876–1944). In: Hansische Geschichtsblätter 69 (1950), pp. 93–97.
• Herbert Black Forest : The Great Bremen Lexicon . Volume 2: L-Z. 2nd, updated, revised and expanded edition. Edition Temmen, Bremen 2003, ISBN 3-86108-693-X , p. 956.
• Carl Brinkmann : Hermann Wätjen † In: Historische Zeitschrift 169 (1949), p. 663 f.

Web links

• Biographical information on the website of the Historical Commission for Westphalia
• Hermann Wätjen's estate in the University and State Library of Münster

Remarks

1. ^ Friedrich Prüser: Hermann Wätjen [obituary]. In: Hansische Geschichtsblätter 69 (1950), pp. 93–97, here: p. 94.
2. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 100 , 172
3. ↑ Dagmar Drüll: Heidelberger Gelehrtenlexikon 1803-1932. Berlin et al. 1986, p. 280.
4. ^ Hermann Wätjen: The German emigration to Brazil in the years 1820-1870. In: Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv, magazine of the Institute for World Economy and Maritime Transport at the University of Kiel 19, 1923, pp. 595–609.
5. ^ Hermann Wätjen: The Hanseatic Cities and Brazil 1820-1870. In: World Economic Archive. Journal of the Institute for World Economy and Shipping at Kiel University 22 (1925, II), pp. 33–57 and pp. 221–250.