Hugo Hantsch

Father Hugo Hantsch OSB (born January 15, 1895 in Teplitz-Schönau as Hugo Alois Emmanuel Hantsch , Austria-Hungary ; † August 6, 1972 in Vienna ) was an Austrian Benedictine monk , Roman Catholic pastor, university professor and historian .

Life

Hugo Hantsch was born in 1895 as the son of the rolling mill employee Hugo Heinrich Hantsch and his wife Maria Theresia Hühle. In 1913 he entered the Benedictine monastery of Melk (which was then headed by his uncle Amandus John as abbot). He studied theology and philosophy at the University of Innsbruck . During his studies in 1913 he became a member of the Catholic student association KDStV Ferdinandea Prague . In 1918 he was in St. Pölten for priests ordained. In 1921 he received his doctorate in philosophy . At first he worked as an archivist in the library of Count Schönborn in Wiesentheid. In 1930 Hantsch completed his habilitation with the Greater German historian Heinrich von Srbik and Alfred Francis Přibram at the University of Vienna with a thesis on Austrian history from the 18th to the 20th century.

Hugo Hantschmann received in 1935 a reputation as a full professor at the Karl-Franzens University Graz . Shortly after the publication of his work History of Austria (1937), the book was banned by the National Socialists . Hantsch was arrested by the Gestapo in 1938. Until 1939 he was in various concentration camps , including a. interned in Buchenwald concentration camp . After his release, he took up a pastor's post in Ravelsbach, Lower Austria .

Only after the end of the Second World War could he (1946) teach as professor and full professor for modern history at the University of Vienna , where he succeeded Srbik, who had been dismissed after the war.

Hantsch was chairman of the commission for the modern history of Austria and published the Viennese historical studies from 1953 and 1962 designer of the fortunes of Austria . The International Mozarteum Foundation elected Hugo Hantsch as President in 1955. From 1935 to 1951 he was a member of the State Historical Commission for Styria . In 1965 he was awarded the City of Vienna Prize for Humanities .

Fonts (selection)

• The German Peasants' War , Becker, Würzburg 1925.
• Jakob Prandtauer. The monastery architect of the Austrian Baroque. , Krystall, Vienna 1926.
• The development of Austria-Hungary into a great power , Herder, Freiburg 1933.
• The history of Austria , 2 volumes, Styria, Graz 1937/50 (new edition 1994).
• The question of nationality in old Austria , Herold, Vienna 1953.
• Leopold Graf Berchtold. Grand Seigneur and Statesman , 2 volumes, Styria, Graz 1963.

literature

• Institute for Austrian Historical Research (Ed.): Austria and Europe. Ceremony for Hugo Hantsch on his 70th birthday , Styria, Graz / Vienna 1965.
• Johannes Holeschofsky: Hugo Hantsch (1895–1972). A great Austrian advocate of the imperial idea? In: Karel Hruza (Ed.): Austrian Historians. CVs and careers 1900–1945. Böhlau, Volume 2, Vienna 2012, ISBN 978-3-205-78764-8 , pp. 451-489.
• Johannes Holeschofsky: Hugo Hantsch. A biographical study. (= Studies and research from the Lower Austrian Institute for Regional Studies , 59), Lower Austrian Institute for Regional Studies, St. Pölten 2014, ISBN 978-3-901635-73-1 (also dissertation, University of Vienna, 2012, PDF, 2 MB ).

Web links

• Literature by and about Hugo Hantsch in the catalog of the German National Library
• Entry on Hugo Hantsch in the database of the state's memory of the history of Lower Austria ( Museum Niederösterreich )
• Literature for / about Hugo Hantsch (selection) on the website of the Historical Commission for Styria

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fritz Fellner : Historiography and national identity. Problems and achievements in Austrian history , Böhlau Verlag , Vienna 2002, ISBN 320-577-0536 , p. 361.
2. ↑ Complete index of the ACA. 1935, p. 120.
3. ^ Günther Hamann: Hugo Hantsch, obituary. In: Almanach der Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften 123 (1973), pp. 338–367, here p. 350.