Josef Schepers

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Josef Schepers (born March 9, 1908 in Mesum ; † January 17, 1989 in Münster ) was a German folklorist , in- house researcher , museum director and university lecturer .

Life

Schepers grew up in Mesum near Rheine. After leaving school, he studied German and art history at the Universities of Königsberg , Innsbruck and Münster . In 1934 he became an assistant to German studies specialist Jost Trier . Encouraged, among other things, by the work of Bruno Schier , he founded the "Münster House Studies Working Group" as a student working group. He and his students explored, photographed and drew the history and distribution of historical house and settlement forms in northwest Germany by bicycle . His focus was not only on the building design, but also on the details of the half-timbered structure , the equipment, the design of the open space and finally the links with the settlement, social and economic history of the respective space. When the University and the Folklore Commission for Westphalia, headed by Trier, came under increasing pressure from the National Socialist cultural policy, in 1939 he moved to the building maintenance office of the Province of Westphalia , whose new director Gustav Wolf had recruited him with the words: "Come to us while building there is no ideology " . There he was able to continue his studies and in 1943 finish his dissertation on " The Farmhouse in Northwest Germany ". After the war effort u. a. in the Balkans and as a prisoner of war he first returned to the building maintenance office in Münster.

Reconstructed courtyard in the Westphalian Open-Air Museum Detmold (2009)

In 1953 he was commissioned with preparatory work for a Westphalian open-air museum. In 1960 his fundamental work "House and Farm of Westphalian Farmers" was published as the second volume in a series begun by Gustav Wolf, which aimed at a comprehensive topography of the farmhouse in German-speaking countries. In the same year he was appointed the first director of the Westphalian Freichtmuseum rural cultural monuments . On the basis of his research, based on the traditional forms of landscape and settlement in Westphalia, Schepers developed a generous concept that is still valid today, which he was able to implement to a large extent by his retirement in 1976.

In 1967 he became a lecturer at the University of Münster and introduced folklore students to house and furniture research. In 1975 he was appointed honorary professor, a year later the establishment of a "special research program on home research" was set up within folklore. He continued his teaching and research work into old age. His students include a. G. Ulrich Großmann , Fred Kaspar and Heinrich Stiewe.

Schepers was one of the first members of the " Arbeitskreis für Hausforschung eV ", founded in 1950, and was its executive chairman from 1971 to 1982.

Fonts

  • On the history of the development of the farmhouse with tapped anchor beams , ed. from "Bond der oostvlaamsche folkloristen", Gent 1935
  • The farmhouse in north-west Germany , Aschendorff-Verlag , Münster 1943, DNB 362590338 ((218 pages, with illustrations, 7 boxes, 4), DNB 810433389 (Dissertation Münster in Westphalia, Aschendorff, 1943, Küster-Pressedruck, Bielefeld 1978, 250, [ 58] pages, numerous illustrations and graphic representations 7 boxes, 30 cm, originally as: Writings of the Folklore Commission in the Provincial Institute for Westphalian Regional Studies and Folklore , Book 7)
  • Status and tasks of the north-west European house research In: Rhein. Jahrbuch für Volkskunde, 4/1953, pp. 7–68.
  • Westfalen-Lippe , Aschendorff-Verlag, Münster 1960
  • Guide to the Bielefeld Farm Museum , Farm Museum, undated [around 1962]
  • Fixed towers and weir storage at Remscheider Höfe as well as in the rest of the home area , ed. from the Remscheid City Archives, Remscheid 1962
  • Rural architecture in the eastern Netherlands , Aschendorff-Verlag, Münster 1970
  • The Westphalian open-air museum of rural cultural monuments , Detmold 1970
  • Four decades of house research , Sennestadt 1973
  • House and farm of Westphalian farmers , Aschendorff-Verlag, Münster 1st edition 1973, 7th new edit. 1994 edition
  • The cultural-historical importance of the framework , ed. from the State Office for Building Maintenance in the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe, * circular route through the open-air museum of rural cultural monuments of the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe Detmold 1976
  • Village forms in Westphalia-Lippe , with Justinus Bendelmacher, Jarschel-Verlag, Troisdorf 1977
  • The Lippe Meierhof in the Westphalian Open-Air Museum Rural Cultural Monuments Detmold , Detmold 1978
  • Spieker, "Bauernburgen", Kemenaden , with Alfons Eggert, Aschendorff-Verlag, Münster 1985
  • Medieval secular stone construction in Westphalia in a European context , ed. by Fred Kaspar, Detmold 1997

Awards

  • In the city of Rheine the "Josef-Schepers-Straße" was named after him.

literature

  • Working group for house research: House building in the Middle Ages Vol. 3. Special volume for Josef Schepers, Sobernheim 1988
  • Klaus Freckmann: 50 years working group for house research
  • Fred Kaspar: Obituary for Josef Schepers (1908–1989), Westphalian Research - Journal of the Westphalian Institute for Regional History of the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe 39 1989, pp. 468–472

Exhibitions

  • Houses and farms from Westphalia, disappeared rural worlds , special exhibition with photos from the estate of Josef Schepers, edit. by Heinrich Stiewe, April 19 to July 24, 2005 in the Westfälisches Freilichtmuseum Detmold, October 23 to December 18, 2005 in the Bielefeld Farmhouse Museum

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schepers, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German folklorist, house researcher, museum director and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Mesum
DATE OF DEATH January 17, 1989
Place of death Muenster