Johann Friedrich Richter (teacher)

Johann Friedrich Richter (born April 3, 1794 in Tübingen , † October 10, 1853 in Marbach am Neckar ) was a schoolmaster in Marbach am Neckar from 1822 to 1853. He took in the foreign pupils at his place of work in his own house, so that from 1815 to 1844 around 400 boarders passed through the Richter's house. By setting up a private gymnasium in his garden in 1842, he is also known as the Marbach “gymnastics father”. Even decades after his death, his group of students held honorable meetings in Marbach, and his descendants hold what is known as the Judges' Day to this day. In 1994 there was an exhibition about Richter's life, work and environment.

Life

He was the son of the Tübingen printer Christian Adam Richter and was already noticed during his school days in Tübingen for his erudition. In 1806 he gave tutoring to up to three students . From March 1810 he completed an apprenticeship as a Latin teacher at the Tübingen trainee. From January 15, 1815 he was vicar of the Preceptor at the Stuttgart grammar school, from June 27, 1815 he was the Preceptor in Balingen . There he married the teacher's daughter Luise Sting (1796-1884) on June 23, 1818. The marriage had eleven children, most of whom reached adulthood. In February 1822 Richter came to the Marbach Latin School as a preceptor. In addition to his own children, he took in the foreign pupils at his place of work, sometimes for longer periods in his apartments in Balingen and from 1822 in the old Marbach schoolhouse, so that from 1815 to 1844 around 400 boarders passed through Richter's house. In official assessments, the poor writing of the students is criticized several times, so that Richter was certainly not an exceptionally talented teacher. Nevertheless, primarily because of his personal commitment to foreigners, he had a good reputation that went beyond Marbach.

In 1842 the private gymnasium in Richter's garden is mentioned for the first time, which he had set up on a private initiative and where the students could receive voluntary gymnastics lessons. In 1844 the community set up Richter's Turnjugend on a plot of land on Schafwasen, where the gymnasium was built in 1903. Richter is therefore also known as the “Marbacher gymnastics father”.

Richter's last years of life were marked by poverty, mainly due to the support of his own children. In 1849 he stayed in Cannstatt for spa treatments . According to various sources, he died in 1853 either of a "stomach stroke" or a stroke.

progeny

The marriage with Luise Sting (1796-1884) had eleven children, three of whom died in infancy. The daughter Johanna Louise, born in Balingen in 1821, died of illness at the age of 20.

• Friedrich Richter (1819–1879), parish priest in Neuenstein from 1853 until his death
• Wilhelm Richter (1823–1902), businessman in Stuttgart
• Gustav Richter (1825–1889), followed his father as Preceptorate Administrator in Marbach until 1854 and was then pastor in various places
• Carl Richter (1827–1907), businessman in Marbach
• Otto Richter (1828–1895), court chamber administrator in Stammheim, Altshausen and Cannstatt, raised to the nobility in 1873, co-founder of the student union Landsmannschaft Scotland
• Ludwig Richter (1832–1876), mayor in Neckargartach
• Luise Richter (1835–1895), married the secret judge Rudolf Stroh in 1861

souvenir

Richter is recognized as an extraordinary personality in Marbach in numerous writings. His students, who held on to gymnastics even after his death, from which the founding of the Marbach gymnastics club can be traced back, held honorary gatherings at his grave some 30 years after his death. A replica of his grave cross is still preserved in Marbach today. The large number of his descendants hold the Judges Day to this day. The city of Marbach honored Richter in 1994 with an exhibition about his life, work and environment.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Otto Kleinknecht: Stadtgeschichte von Marbach 1972, quoted from Gühring p. 26
2. ^ Marbach Book of the Dead, 1853
3. ^ Richter family chronicle 1866

literature

• Albrecht Gühring: Johann Friedrich Richter (1794–1853) - A Marbach country school master in the first half of the 19th century (= writings on the Marbach town history, Volume 8), Schillerverein Marbach am Neckar 1994
• Otto Richter: Chronicle of the descendants of Johann Friedrich Richter, Preceptor zu Marbach , Friedrichshafen 1866
• 600 years of Latin school in Marbach am Neckar , Marbach 1992