Historical commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen

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Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen eV
purpose Research into the history of Lower Saxony and Bremen
Chair: Henning Steinführer
Establishment date: 1910
Number of members: about 300
Seat : Am Archiv 1
30169 Hanover
Website: Official website
Seal of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen eV

The Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen eV based in the building of the Lower Saxony State Archives - Main State Archives Hanover - is an association of currently approx. 300 scientists who work in the field of Northwest German state history. It is supported by the states of Lower Saxony and Bremen and supported by more than 100 municipalities, corporations, institutions, associations and private individuals who sponsor it as patrons. The annual meetings, which are usually held over two days, include lectures and opportunities for discussion, and are open to the public.

Goal setting

The task of the commission is to “advance regional historical research in all its forms and directions. First and foremost, it takes on projects that exceed the strengths of the regional history societies or individual researchers. "

history

The commission was founded in 1910 at the instigation of the Göttingen historian Karl Brandi (1868–1946), who remained its chairman until 1938. It saw itself from the beginning as an academic association and thus set itself in a certain contrast to the Heimat movement and the historical associations. The first scientific endeavors included a historical atlas of Lower Saxony including the necessary preparatory work, the publication of registers and editions of medieval documents and the publication of university registers.

In 1924 the commission published its scientific periodical Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte for the first time as a joint organ for the Prussian Province of Hanover, the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, the Duchy of Braunschweig, the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe and the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and also served the Braunschweigisches Geschichtsverein, the Museum Association for the Principality of Lüneburg, the Association for the History of the City of Einbeck and the City of Göttingen.

When the National Socialists came to power in 1933, the leadership principle was enforced in the commission. In 1938 the archives director Georg Schnath (1898–1989) , who was then in Hanover, took over the management of the commission and held it until 1971. During the National Socialist period, the commission under Schnath's leadership also dealt with questions of so-called folk and peasant research. Nothing is known about the exclusion of those persecuted for racial or political reasons.

After the end of the war, the commission resumed its work in 1947. As recently as the early 1950s, people were elected members of the commission who had been actively committed to National Socialism. It was not until the end of the more than thirty-year Schnath era at the end of the 1960s that the commission was modernized: the number of members increased, the commission opened up to new questions and increasingly worked on an interdisciplinary basis, working groups were established (currently: for economic and social history, for History of the 19th and 20th centuries, for the history of the Jews, for the history of the Middle Ages).

Under the chairmanship of Göttingen historian Hans Patze (1919–1995), chairman from 1971 to 1986, work began on a multi-volume history of Lower Saxony that has not yet been completed . Incidentally, the work concentrated on the document books of Lower Saxony institutions and cities, which were published in quick succession.

The Oldenburg historian Heinrich Schmidt followed Patze in 1986 in the chairmanship and, in addition to the previous activities of the commission, advocated research into the National Socialist era, which was promoted in several projects. Ernst Schubert (1941–2006) from Göttingen, chairman from 1998 to 2006, placed particular emphasis on researching the parliamentary traditions of Lower Saxony's territories and initiated a handbook on the history of the state parliament and the estates, combined with publications of the corresponding state parliament farewells. From 2006 to 2016 the commission was headed by the Osnabrück historian Thomas Vogtherr . In 2010, the commission existed for 100 years and on this occasion presented the first monograph on its own history.

organization

Board, committee, members

The commission is organized as a registered association. It is led by a four-person board. The chairman of the commission has been the director of the Braunschweig city archive, Henning Steinführer , since 2016 . A committee of approx. 15 scientists advises and decides on the scientific work of the commission as well as on proposals for the admission of new members. The general assembly elects the members of the board and committee and votes on the admission of new members.

Annual public meetings

The annual scientific conferences take place together with the general assembly at annually changing locations in Lower Saxony and Bremen (2005 Uelzen, 2006 Stade, 2007 Clausthal, 2008 Bremerhaven, 2009 Göttingen, 2010 Hanover, 2011 Helmstedt, 2012 Jever, 2013 Hanover, 2014 Wilhelmshaven, 2015 Hildesheim , 2016 Lüneburg, 2017 Oldenburg, 2018 Wolfenbüttel). The annual meetings are public.

Working groups and their public meetings

In addition to the annual meetings, the four different working groups usually meet twice a year, also public:

  • Economic and Social History Working Group
  • Working group for the history of the 19th and 20th centuries
  • Working group on the history of the Jews
  • Working group for the history of the Middle Ages

Prize for Lower Saxony State History

Since 2008 the commission has been awarding a prize for Lower Saxony regional history endowed with 5000 euros, which is expressly declared as a prize for young talent. The prize money is provided by the Lower Saxony Foundation. The first winners are:

  • 2008: Söhnke Thalmann (dissertation: Late medieval indulgences in the diocese of Hildesheim)
  • 2008: (Sponsorship Award) Sebastian Stiekel (Master's thesis: Aryanization and reparation in Celle)
  • 2010: Michael Hecht (dissertation: patriciate education as a communicative process. The salt towns of Lüneburg, Halle and Werl in the late Middle Ages and early modern times)
  • 2012: Jasper Heinzen (Dissertation: Making Prussians, Raising Germans: Hohenzollern State-Building in the Province of Hanover, 1866–1914)
  • 2014: André R. Köller (Dissertation: Agonality and Cooperation. Leadership Groups in the Northwest of the Empire 1250–1550)
  • 2016: Ansgar Schanbacher (Dissertation: Potato Disease and Food Crisis in Northwest Germany 1845–1848)

Publications

Lower Saxony yearbook for regional history

The commission has been publishing its scientific journal since 1924 (also known as the “Niedersächsisches Jahrbuch”) as the only periodical covering the entire area of ​​work of the commission . The volumes of around 600 pages include a. “Lectures transformed into articles” and annual reports. In addition, they serve as an organ for the Historical Association for Lower Saxony . Most volumes since 1924 are publicly accessible online.

Further

  • The historical commission's publication series currently comprises more than 290 volumes.
  • The commission is the editor of the history of Lower Saxony (currently 5 vols., 1977-2016 published)

Collections

"Scientific users" have access to:

  • the collection of all Lower Saxony documents up to 1500 (as photographs)
  • historical location views from Lower Saxony and Bremen (as a digitally saved catalog)
  • the database of the Welfensiegel

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Headquarters: Am Archiv 1, 30169 Hanover
  2. ↑ Tasks of the Historical Commission , accessed on March 5, 2018.
  3. ↑ a b c http://www.nla.niedersachsen.de/live/live.php?navigation_id=24827&article_id=85867&_psmand=187 .
  4. ↑ Working groups and their downloadable PDF files .
  5. ↑ See web links.