Joachim Herrmann (prehistoric)

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Joachim Herrmann (born December 19, 1932 in Lübnitz , Zauch-Belzig district , Prussia ; † February 25, 2010 in Berlin ) was a German prehistoric scientist and organizer of science.

The son of a miller grew up in Fläming and attended the two-tier village school in his place of birth. He graduated from high school in Belzig . From 1951 to 1955 he studied history , archeology , ethnography and geology at the Humboldt University of Berlin , where he presented his dissertation in 1958 on the subject of the prehistoric and early historical fortifications of Greater Berlin and the Potsdam district . In 1954 he joined the SED . In 1956 Herrmann became a research assistant at the Institute for Prehistory and Protohistory of the German Academy of Sciences , and in 1960 senior research assistant. In 1964 he finally became a scientific work manager. The Habilitation Herrmanns in December 1965 a thesis on settlement, economy and social relations of the Slavic tribes between the Oder / Neisse and Elbe. An investigation based on archaeological material . He carried out important excavations at early medieval castle complexes, for example in Berlin-Köpenick , in Ralswiek on Rügen and in the Mittelmark.

Somewhat surprisingly, Herrmann, who was just 36 years old, was not only appointed professor at the Academy in 1969, but was also appointed to the head of the newly created Central Institute for Ancient History and Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR . Herrmann got this position not only because of his professional achievements, but also because of his support for the socialist system of the GDR. So it is no wonder that many of his research articles refer to Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels and Lenin and their work, as is not uncommon for other East German archaeologists. Despite but also because of his duties as a science organizer, Herrmann was an extremely productive editor and author.

In retrospect, Herrmann appears as an ambivalent figure. On the one hand, under his leadership, the Central Institute for Ancient History and Archeology became the most important research institute in the GDR with regard to all ancient studies. Almost all important research projects have been settled here, be it the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum , the Inscriptiones Graecae or the Prosopographia Imperii Romani . Apart from prehistoric research, internationally important achievements in these areas in the GDR were almost exclusively carried out by the Central Institute for Ancient History and Archeology within the framework of larger research projects. Joachim Herrmann watched over all of this. For example, he ensured that only East German scholars were allowed to act as editors in the Philologus . It was also difficult for academics to make careers under him who were unpleasant or who were not members of the SED. On the other hand, he also sometimes allowed the scientists leeway. He had the right to object to all articles that were to be printed in specialist journals such as Philologus , Klio and others. He only used this right once with the Philologus, for example. In other areas, too, he placed science above politics. In many of the works he oversaw, West Berlin was not a blank spot on the map, but the research results there were incorporated.

Herrmann was not only highly regarded in the GDR. In 1971 Herrmann was awarded the National Prize of the GDR , 2nd class, and in 1981 the Hero of Labor award . In 1972 he became a corresponding member, in 1974 a full member of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR, and in 1982 a member of the German Archaeological Institute . In 1985 he became a member of the office of the World Association of Historians Comité International des Sciences Historiques (CISH), and since September 1990 he has even been the only German representative here. From 1986 to 1990 Herrmann was President of Urania and, towards the end of the GDR, a member of the Presidium of the GDR Historians' Society . In 1990 he became a member of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences , in 1993 of the Leibniz Society , where he was secretary of the social and human sciences class from 1993 to 2009. The University of Athens awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1990. In 2009 he was awarded the Daniel Ernst Jablonski Medal by the Leibniz Society . Herrmann succumbed to cancer.

Fonts (selection)

  • The prehistoric and early historical fortifications of Greater Berlin and the Potsdam district. without place [1958], DNB 480736545 , OCLC 720444820 (unprinted dissertation).
  • Culture and art of the Slavs in Germany from 7th to 13th centuries. Published on the occasion of the International Congress of Slavic Archeology in Warsaw. Institute for Prehistory and Early History Berlin 1965.
  • with Karl-Heinz Otto (editor): Siedlung, Burg und Stadt (= German Academy of Science in Berlin: Series of publications by the Section for Prehistory and Early History , Volume 25), Berlin 1969
  • Between Hradschin and Vineta. Early cultures of the Western Slavs. Urania, Leipzig-Jena-Berlin 1971.
  • Traces of Prometheus. The rise of mankind between natural history and world history. Urania, Leipzig-Jena-Berlin 1975.
  • Vikings and Slavs. On the early history of the Baltic peoples. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1982.
  • Editor: The Slavs in Germany. History and culture of the Slavic tribes west of Oder and Neisse from the 6th to 12th centuries. (= Publications of the Central Institute for Ancient History and Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR , Volume 14). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1985
  • The Slavs in the Early History of the German People. Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research, Braunschweig 1989.

literature

  • Matthias Willing: Ancient historical research in the GDR (= historical research. Volume 45). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-428-07109-3 (see index).
  • Lothar Mertens : Lexicon of the GDR historians. Biographies and bibliographies on the historians from the German Democratic Republic. Saur, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-598-11673-X , p. 285.
  • Short biography for:  Herrmann, Joachim . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  • Peter Donat , Bernhard Gramsch , Horst Klengel : Joachim Herrmann (1932–2010). In: Report of the Roman-Germanic Commission 91, 2010, pp. 7–21.
  • Sebastian Brather : Prof. Dr. Joachim Herrmann December 19, 1932– February 25, 2010. In: Zeitschrift für Archäologie des Mittelalters 38, 2010, pp. 211–214.
  • Sebastian Brather: Joachim Herrmann (1932-2010). Archaeologist. In: Friedrich Beck , Klaus Neitmann (ed.): Life pictures of Brandenburg archivists and historians. State, municipal and church archivists, state, regional and church historians, archaeologists, historical geographers, regional and folklorists of the 19th and 20th centuries (= Brandenburg historical studies. Volume 16). be.bra-wiss.-verl. Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-937233-90-1 , pp. 655-661.

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personal data
SURNAME Herrmann, Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German prehistorian
DATE OF BIRTH December 19, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Lübnitz , Zauch-Belzig district , Prussia
DATE OF DEATH February 25, 2010
Place of death Berlin