Johannes Selenka

Selenka's tomb in the Magnifriedhof

Street sign for Johannes-Selenka-Platz in Braunschweig

The vocational school in Braunschweig named after Selenka

Johannes Jacob Selenka (born June 25, 1801 in Hochheim am Main ; † May 14, 1871 in Braunschweig ) was a German bookbinder , pioneer of the German craftsmen's movement and craft regulations and co-founder of a forerunner of the Braunschweig University of Fine Arts (HBK).

The court bookbinder

Johannes Selenka was one of six children of the Hochheim prefect Philipp Selenka and his wife Josepha. After his parents' death in 1813, the twelve-year-old apprenticed to a bookbinder. On his journey as a journeyman, Selenka came to Braunschweig in 1824, settled down there, became a member of the "Honorable Bookbinder Guild" and became a master bookbinder that same year. In 1826 he married Clara Pilf, daughter of the Braunschweig master bookbinder Johann Joseph Pilf. The marriage resulted in seven children, including the future scientist Emil Selenka . Johannes Selenka initially worked in his father-in-law's workshop, and from 1834 in his own company.

Due to his extraordinary technical and artistic skills, the Duke of Brunswick awarded him the title of master bookbinder in 1839 . Selenka employed draftsmen and engravers, and his work was seen as a model of quality craftsmanship and artistic design.

Founding of the "Sign Institute"

Selenka was involved in the "Trade Association of the Duchy of Braunschweig " founded in 1838 , which looked after the promotion of young talent and in 1841 founded a training center for young craftsmen, the "Sign Institute" - first of its kind in Braunschweig and forerunner of the HBK (University of Fine Arts) . It was taken over in 1855 by the city and turned into the "artisans and continuation school", today in the tradition of vocational school Johannes-Selenka-Schule in Braunschweig with its printing department and the Technical College design looks.

The craft movement

In the revolutionary year of 1848, Selenka took part as a representative of the Brunswick guilds at the North German Craftsmen's Congress in Hamburg , was elected its vice-president (he declined the presidency) and presented a program that was unanimously approved by the assembly.

Its central content was the convening of the first German trade and industry congress a month later in Frankfurt am Main . This congress of the master craftsmen , in which Selenka again participated as the only Braunschweig member, formulated the "draft of a general craft and trade regulation for Germany" and presented it to the Paulskirche assembly . The aim was to protect handicrafts from impoverishment and unrestricted freedom of trade at the beginning of industrialization . Other central elements that are still valid today were uniform in-company and school apprenticeship training as well as the master craftsman's examination as the only prerequisite for management and training.

At that time, however, the program had largely no consequences. Selenka was elected President of the first Braunschweig Craftsmen's Congress in Wolfenbüttel in November 1848 and as such tried in vain to implement his programmatic ideas at least in the Duchy of Braunschweig. Ultimately, the demands of the craftsmen were only fully accepted in the Federal Republican law on the order of the crafts of 1953.

"German Catholic" Christian

Selenka was baptized Catholic , but renounced Catholicism in 1845 and was instrumental in founding a German Catholic community in Braunschweig, which he headed until it was dissolved in 1853.

In Braunschweig, in addition to the vocational school, the square in front of the HBK is named after Johannes Selenka.

Works

• The German Catholic community in Braunschweig. From its creation on March 7, 1845 to Pentecost 1847. Compiled there from the acts and documents relating to the rights of the Roman Catholic Church. Self-published, Braunschweig 1847, OCLC 256105216 .

literature

• Karl Traupe: Johannes Jacob Selenka. A Braunschweig man fighting for the German craftsmen's program in 1848. Chamber of Crafts, Braunschweig 1983, OCLC 35526119 .
• Josef Daum : The Braunschweig master bookbinder Johannes Jacob Selenka (1801–1871). In: Dag-Ernst Petersen (ed.): Bound in the steam bookbindery. Bookbinding through the 19th century. (Exhibition in the armory of the Herzog August Library from February 26 to May 29, 1994). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1994, ISBN 3-447-03507-2 , pp. 55-60.
• Karl Traupe: Jacob Selenka (1801–1871). A Braunschweiger in the fight for the German craftsmen program in 1848. In: Helmut Bleiber, Walter Schmidt , Susanne Schötz (ed.): Actors of a radical change. Men and women of the revolution of 1848/49. Fides, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-931363-11-2 , pp. 835-870.
• Ute Maria Etzold: Case study Selenka . In: The bookbinders and their craft in the Duchy of Braunschweig: from the founding of the guild under Duke August to the First World War; 1651 to 1914 . Sources and research on the history of Braunschweig . Volume 43, Appelhans, Braunschweig 2007, pp. 257-270, ISBN 978-3-937664-64-4

Web link

Commons : Johannes Selenka  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files