Hugo Weidenhaupt

Hugo Weidenhaupt (born June 15, 1923 in Düsseldorf ; † March 8, 2007 there ) was a German historian , archivist and educator . He published a total of 174 writings, mostly on the history of the Düsseldorf area. His main work is The Little History of the City of Düsseldorf . Weidenhaupt is known as "the historian" of the North Rhine-Westphalian state capital.

Life

Hugo Weidenhaupt was born in Düsseldorf in 1923 into an old-established family. The father was a senior municipal civil servant and the uncle, co-founder of the Düsseldorfer Jonges Heimatverein , ran a bakery in Heinrich Heine's birthplace on Bolkerstraße . Weidenhaupt grew up in Düsseldorf. As a participant in the war, he was taken prisoner. After the war he began to study classical philology and history at the University of Bonn , which he completed in 1954 with the state examination for higher teaching and a doctorate from the Gerresheim Abbey .

Weidenhaupt became a teacher, first at the Comenius Gymnasium in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel , then at the boys' gymnasium in Düsseldorf-Gerresheim . In 1957 Weidenhaupt was offered the management of the Düsseldorf City Archives, where he worked for over 30 years. In 1988 he retired. Weidenhaupt was a member of numerous local associations, some in management positions, including a board member of the Düsseldorfer Geschichtsverein and, until 1995, on the extended board of the Düsseldorf Jonges. On March 8, 2007 Hugo Weidenhaupt died after a long illness in his apartment in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel.

plant

As early as the 1950s, Weidenhaupt was released from school service in order to prepare a "Great City History" on behalf of the city of Düsseldorf for the 700th anniversary of the city in 1988. As a first step, the Little History of the City of Düsseldorf was published in 1962 , a 280-page volume that was printed in its 10th edition in 1993 and is still a standard scientific work on the city's history. Weidenhaupt, who was also editor, made several contributions to the Festschrift for the 1100th anniversary of Gerresheim's existence. In 1988 and 1989 the four-volume Große Stadtgeschichte was published . In addition to the editorial work as editor, Weidenhaupt himself made an extensive contribution of his own over the period from 1806 to 1856. Even after his retirement, Weidenhaupt continued to publish. His last major work in 2004 was a book on the parish history of Ratingen-Homberg .

Honors

In 1984 the North Rhine-Westphalian state government appointed Weidenhaupt a professor. In 1997 he received the Rhineland Thaler from the Rhineland Regional Council .

literature

Clemens von Looz-Corswarem : Prof. Dr. Hugo Weidenhaupt 1923–2007, obituary . In Düsseldorfer Jahrbuch Vol. 77, Droste, Düsseldorf 2007, pp. 12–15, ISBN 978-3-7700-3053-8 .

Web links

• Literature by and about Hugo Weidenhaupt in the catalog of the German National Library
• Rheinische Post: Hugo Weidenhaupt has died . RP-Online of March 12, 2007 , last accessed on May 16, 2011