Johann Wilhelm waiter from Zinnendorf

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Johann Wilhelm von Zinnendorf, copper engraving around 1785

Johann Wilhelm Kellner von Zinnendorf (born Ellenberger , born August 10, 1731 in Halle ; † June 8, 1782 ) was field medic in the Seven Years' War , royal Prussian military doctor , field staff medic in the War of the Bavarian Succession of 1778/79 and founder of the Great State Lodge of Freemasons in Germany . Impressed by the shocking misery of the war victims, he had the Berlin war invalids' house built.

Zinnendorf was said to have an intolerant nature and a contentious personality. He played an important role in the Masonic system struggle of his time.

Life

Childhood and youth

Johann Wilhelm was born the son of Friedrich August Ellenberger, the feudal lord and court lord in Erdeborn . His mother was Sophia Wilhelmine waiter from Zinnendorf. Due to a testamentary determination of his maternal grandfather, he and his brother Friedrich Wilhelm were obliged to continue the name of the maternal line. Zinnendorf grew up in a middle-class, affluent environment . In his youth he was particularly interested in scientific studies of medicine and mechanics. He wrote several correspondence to French scholars asking them to send them scientific articles for self-study.

Studies and the first years as a military medic

Zinnendorf enrolled as a student of medicine at the University of Halle in 1751 and received his doctorate in 1756. Around 1757, in the context of the Seven Years' War , he joined the Prussian army as field medic and served in the field hospitals in Breslau . In 1763 he was transferred to Berlin, where he held the office of senior field staff and disabled medic and became a member of the medical staff.

Generalfeldstabsmedikus in the Prussian army

At the beginning of the War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778/79, Zinnendorf was finally promoted to the rank of General Field Staff Medic and the management of the war medical services was transferred. He shared this leadership position with Johann Leberecht Schmucker , surgeon general of the Prussian army. Medicine and surgery were two separate disciplines of medicine at the time.

On May 7, 1778, Zinnendorf wanted to carry out a fundamental reform of the Prussian war medical system. The background to this reform was the lack of training in the medical staff in the field hospitals, which was blatantly evident during the War of the Bavarian Succession. Zinnendorf spoke out in favor of extensive and profound training for the medical staff.

In one of the hospital regulations drafted by Zinnendorf on May 9, 1778 in Breslau, it says in the end:

“Since the work of doctors and surgeons, especially in the field hospitals, concerns the life and health of suffering people and the soldiers entrusted to their supervision, care and healing; so they can go to work carelessly if they feel a conscience in themselves and shy away from public responsibility and punishment. A doctor or surgeon at the Königl. Field hospitals must not regard his business as a trade, whereby he probably only wants to obtain honorary titles, or collect useless money, which both are only a food of the moth and a grimace, but he must always remember that he is God, to give an account of his actions to the king, his superior and his fellow men (...). Therefore he must always have in mind that he always acts in such a way that he may see his soul saved from destruction and that his hands can be kept clean. Only a virtuous, well-behaved doctor or surgeon can be recognized worthy of God's assistance and the trust of men, and whoever may wish that he is well, heed these words and let such a procedure be the guideline of his life. "

- Ferdinand Runkel : The History of Freemasonry , Lempertz: Bonn 2006 (1998), p. 115.

However, his planned reform proposals were completely ignored by his superior, Privy Councilor Christian Andreas Cothenius , who had also proposed him for the post of General Field Staff Medic. Cothenius did not want to present the condition of the staff in a bad light to the king and forbade Zinnendorf to take any further steps. Zinnendorf and Schmucker tried to send a report to Friedrich II , who told him about the grievances in the medical corps, but this report was intercepted.

Zinnendorf resigned in 1779 as a reaction to his superior's unwillingness to undertake a fundamental reform of the Prussian war medical system.

Freemasons

Zinnendorf is one of the most famous and most active Freemasons of German Freemasonry . He was accepted on March 13, 1757 in the lodge "Philadelphia to the three golden arms" in his hometown Halle , which he had to leave again on May 13, 1757 due to his departure. In the following year he became a member of the Breslau lodge "To the three dead skeletons", in 1763 the Berlin mother lodge "To the three world balls". In the same year the English grand master denied him the constitution for a Berlin lodge, which led to a break with English Freemasonry. Zinnendorf turned to the strict observance and in 1764 became prefect of the prefecture of Berlin, Mark Brandenburg and Pomerania of this system. In 1765 he became the master of the chair of his lodge “ To the Three Worlds ” and in the same year co-founder of the Halle lodge, To the three swords . Soon he came into conflict with the method of teaching strict observance , from which he left at the end of 1766. Then he turned to the teaching of the Swedish system . In 1767 he left his box. In 1769 he reactivated the Berlin St. John's Lodge, which was active from 1743 to 1749 in Halle as a subsidiary of the lodge "To the Three Worlds", To the three golden keys according to the Swedish system. In 1770 he founded the Grand State Lodge of the Freemasons of Germany and took over the office of Deputy State Grand Master, from 1774 to 1775 and from 1780 until his death the office of State Grand Master. In 1773 the new grand lodge was recognized by the English grand lodge and thus regularized . In 1776 he founded the major chapter of the order "Indissolubilis", of which he became master of the order . He died on June 8, 1782 while working in a lodge in the arms of his friend and successor Castillon.

The name Zinnendorfs is also borne by the Zinnendorf Foundation , the foundation of the Great State Lodge of Freemasons of Germany, which since June 1991 has been providing a home to 21 people in need of severe care aged 18–50 in Hamburg-Eppendorf, according to the motto: “I live here to live ".

literature

  • Ferdinand Runkel: History of Freemasonry , Edition Lempertz. 2006. Reprint from 1932, ISBN 3-933070-96-1
  • Eugen Lennhoff, Oskar Poser, Dieter A. Binder: Internationales Freemaurerlexikon , Herbig, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-7766-2478-6
  • Karlheinz Gerlach: The Freemasons in Old Prussia 1738-1806. The boxes between the middle Oder and the Lower Rhine . Studienverlag Innsbruck 2007, ISBN 978-3-7065-4037-7 , vol. 1, p. 395
  • Friedrich August Eckstein : History of the Freemason Lodge in the Orient of Halle - A festive offering for the Secular celebration of the Lodge to the three swords . Halle 1844, p. 61., urn : nbn: de: gbv: 3: 3-2480

Web links

Commons : Johann Wilhelm Kellner von Zinnendorf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files