Johannes Zahn (classical philologist)

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Johannes Zahn

Johannes Zahn (born April 16, 1828 in Dresden , † March 13, 1905 in Moers ) was a German classical philologist and high school teacher. For over 30 years he was the director of the Adolfinum Moers high school .

Life

Johannes Zahn was the son of the Protestant educator and director of the teachers' college in Moers, Franz Ludwig Zahn (1798–1890). His mother Anna Zahn (née Schlatter) (1800–1853) was the daughter of St. Gallen Pietist Anna Schlatter-Bernet (1773–1826). His younger brothers were the New Testament scholar Theodor Zahn and the theologian Franz Michael Zahn .

He attended high school in Elberfeld until his Abitur in 1845 and studied classical philology at the universities of Bonn and Halle . In Halle he was promoted to Dr. phil. PhD. During his studies he became a member of the Fridericia Bonn fraternity in 1845 and was its last speaker in the summer semester of 1847.

From 1848 he teaches at a private school. In 1862, Zahn began teaching at the Adolfinum Moers Progymnasium . There he taught until the end of 1864 and moved to Barmen ( secondary school ). Until 1870 he stayed as a teacher in Barmen. When he returned to Moers in 1870, Zahn became director of the Adolfinum Progymnasium. It ushered in a new era for the Progymnasium. The city council of Moers decided on January 10, 1871, a grant of initially 2600 Thalers in the event of a conversion into a full high school. Zahn spoke personally to the Prussian minister of education, Adalbert Falk , in 1872 , and by ministerial decree of March 13, 1874, the Progymnasium became a full-fledged grammar school again. Zahn had thus created an important cultural institution for the city of Moers. As the headmaster of the city of Moers, Zahn had the appropriate attention, especially since he was the son of Franz Ludwig Zahn, who has been the head of the Moers teachers' college for many years, who is also nationally recognized.

Zahn as an educator

The Adolfinum in Zahn's time

Coming from the Reformed tradition, Zahn was a committed advocate of the humanistic grammar school , which was said to have spoken Latin as well as German. In contrast to the real science schools, he saw the aim of the Adolfinum in providing high-quality humanistic education. He complained accordingly when, in the 1880s, Latin lessons were cut from nine to eight hours in upper school and from ten to nine hours in lower school. At that time it was quite common to translate sentences dictated from German into Latin in the so-called “extemporale” ( impromptu ). Another exercise was translating the comment from the Kölnische Zeitung and writing a critical comment on it in Latin.

There were a number of complaints from the population about the high level of demands at the school. Zahn remained very restrictive on this point, advocated strict selection of students at the time of admission and declined to expand the school by increasing the number of students. The spirit of the school was also shaped by national pride and patriotic thoughts. In the foreground of the upbringing were duty, decency, diligence and piety towards the fatherland and the church.

New building of the Adolfinum

Royal Evangelical High School Adolfinum Moers - new building from 1897

In 1882 a fund was set up for a new school building, as the school building, which consisted of six classrooms, had become significantly too small due to the number of around 180 students. However, the available funds and the possibilities of the city of Moers were insufficient for a new building, so negotiations with the school authorities about nationalization should be conducted. However, Zahn was critical of the nationalization of the Adolfinum, as he feared the ecclesiastical influence on the choice of teachers and the teaching content would be lost. In 1893 the Adolfinum came into the possession of the Prussian state without losing the evangelical character of the school. Zahn remained Rector of the Adolfinum until his retirement in 1900.

Johannes Zahn died at the age of 77 and was buried in the private cemetery of the Zahn family in Moers.

Publications (selection)

  • Considerations on the structure of Homeric discourses. 1st part . Barmen 1867 ( digitized ).
  • Considerations on the structure of Homeric discourses. 2nd part . Barmen 1868.
  • Statistical reports on the Adolfinum grammar school since 1821 . In: Festschrift for the 300th anniversary celebration on August 10th and 11th, 1882 . Moers 1882. pp. 55-68.
  • The inauguration of the new grammar school building for the Royal Evangelical grammar school Adolfinum zu Moers . Moers 1897.
  • Report on the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the high school teacher Konrad Günther . In: Program Gymnasium Moers 1897, pp. 11–13.

literature

  • Karl Horn, Oskar Jäger , Hans Wegener: Three speeches in memory of the Kgl. Retired Gymnasium director Dr. Johannes Zahn , held on March 16, 1905 in the Mourning House, Verlag A. Steiger, Moers 1905.
  • Andreas Klein-Reesink: The Adolfinum grammar school in Moers from 1815 to 1950 , published by the association former Adolfiner eV, Moers 1992.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Family tree of the Zahn family .
  2. a b Margret Wensky (Ed.): Moers. The history of the city from the early days to the present. From the Prussian times to the present (from 1702) . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, Weimar 2000, Volume 2, p. 265.
  3. ^ Franz Richarz: List of members of the Fridericia fraternity in Bonn (February 18, 1843 to autumn 1847) as well as the Arminia fraternity in Bonn (1847 to 1849) and the fraternity association Germania in Bonn (1843 to 1849). Bonn 1894, p. 8.
  4. ^ Program of the Progymnasium in Moers . Moers 1865, p. 38; Journal for the Gymnasium , Volume 18, Volume 1, 1864, p. 879 .
  5. ^ Oskar Henke: Chronicle of the high school in Barmen . Verlag Steinborn & Co., Barmen 1890, p. 83.