Johann Matthias German
Johann Matthias Deutsch (born June 6, 1797 in Euren ; † July 10, 1858 in Merchingen ) was a pastor and agricultural reformer .
Life
Johann Matthias Deutsch was born on June 6, 1797 in Euren near Trier and came from a farming family. He was ordained a priest in Trier Cathedral in 1820 and came to Merchingen in 1824 after serving as a vicariate in Noviand on the Moselle . He was the first pastor to reside in Merchingen.
In Merchingen he found a parish that was facing great challenges. On the one hand, the consequences of the French Revolution could still be clearly felt and, on the other hand, poverty increased with the increase in the population and changed property regulations.
Pastor Deutsch saw the key to improving the situation of the population in reforming agriculture . He introduced the iron plow developed by Mathieu de Dombasle , he improved the three-field economy through crop rotation and brought new crops to be grown, such as alfalfa . He was active as director of the local agricultural department from 1840 to 1848 in the districts of Saarlouis , Merzig and Saarburg and published numerous agricultural articles.
Pastor Deutsch found a companion in Wilhelm Tell von Fellenberg who also looked after people in the spirit of social economy. Pastor Deutsch like Fellenberg wanted to strengthen people's independence through education and meaningful employment in order to raise the prosperity and the “ morality ” of society. Fellenberg had the idea of founding an agricultural school and proposed this idea in a letter to the head of the government, von Schaper in Koblenz. For the agriculture school, which was to be the first of its kind in the Rhine Province, he saw in Johann Matthias Deutsch as a “capable farmer who had raised his community in an agriculturally and morally striking way”, the suitable leader. In 1846 the agricultural school was founded as a boarding school in Merchingen. In the statutes, Deutsch describes the aim of the school: “The school has to train young people in the main branches of agriculture theoretically and practically so that they can later build a farm for themselves or others in the most advantageous way possible.” The school was not granted a long duration of action. It had to close as early as 1852 because it did not find the desired response from the rural population. The idea of agricultural schools, however, was carried on with the experience gained in Merchingen. Successor facilities were set up in Niederweis near Bitburg and later in the Roscheiderhof near Konz.
Pastor Deutsch retired to Konz in 1857 . An educational trip took him to Switzerland and there he found out about Pestalozzi's work . He envisioned building an orphanage. When he encountered a lack of understanding at the local Franciscan Order , he wanted to implement the project in Merchingen, where his nephew Hilarius Deutsch also lived. On the day of his arrival, on July 10, 1858, he died in the village where he had worked as a pastor and philanthropist in the spirit of the Enlightenment for over 32 years .
literature
- Josef Bohr: The farmer pastor of Merchingen, How 150 years ago a village pastor reformed agriculture in the Saargau and founded a school, in: Saargeschichten 4, 2008, p. 22f.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b The Church History , St. Agatha Merchingen, accessed on August 29, 2017
- ↑ a b c d Living conditions in rural areas have improved. In: Saarbrücker Zeitung , June 10, 2008, accessed on August 29, 2017
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | German, Johann Matthias |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Pastor and agricultural reformer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 6, 1797 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Yours , Electorates , Holy Roman Empire |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 10, 1858 |
| Place of death | Merchingen (Merzig) , Rhine Province , Kingdom of Prussia |