Joseph König (archivist)

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Joseph König (born September 24, 1915 in Kiel , † February 10, 1996 in Wolfenbüttel ) was a German historian and archivist . From 1967 to 1978 he was director of the Lower Saxony State Archives in Wolfenbüttel . The focus of his research was the East Frisian and Brunswick regional history.

Life

König spent his childhood in Kiel and moved to Osnabrück with his parents in 1925 . After graduating from the Carolinum grammar school there , he studied history, German and Latin from 1934, first in Münster and later in Munich . Since 1934 he was a member of the Catholic student association KDStV Sauerlandia Münster . He received his doctorate in Münster in 1939 with a thesis on the Prince-Bishop's Office of Reckenberg. Between November 1939 and March 1941 he recorded the rural legal sources of Westphalia for the Historical Commission of the Provincial Institute for Westphalian Regional Studies and Folklore in Münster. For this he used the holdings of the State Archives in Münster and Osnabrück , which for him was the key to archive work. In March 1941 he joined the Prussian archives service at the Secret State Archives in Berlin-Dahlem . In July 1941 he was called up for military service. He was a soldier until the end of World War II and was then briefly captured. In October 1945 he began again with the training in Osnabrück, which he completed in Hanover with the assessor examination.

In 1947 he was transferred to the Aurich State Archives (since 2014: Lower Saxony State Archives (Aurich location)). He was appointed archives councilor in 1952. In recognition of his work, the East Frisian landscape awarded him the “ indigenous ”, a kind of honorary citizenship for non-East Frisians.

His work at the main state archive in Hanover began in 1954. At this time, the archive was suffering from severe war damage and flood damage. Access to files was made difficult by the loss of finding aids.

Head of the Wolfenbüttel State Archives

In 1964, König was transferred to Wolfenbüttel in order to be incorporated into the management of the Lower Saxony State Archives. In 1967 he became archive director as successor to Hermann Kleinau . During his directorate extensive archival order work was carried out and the third storey floor was built. The opening of the archive to the citizens was a particular concern of König. After his retirement he was followed in 1978 by the historian Günter Scheel as archive director.

Other activities

Until 1964, König was managing director of the Historical Commission for Lower Saxony and Bremen . From 1968 to 1982 he was the second and executive chairman of the Braunschweigischer Geschichtsverein , of which he was made an honorary member in 1982. From 1965 to 1981 he was editor of the Braunschweigischer Jahrbuch , "... since 1902 the scientific organ for the history of the state of Braunschweig and the area of ​​south-east Lower Saxony." In 1975, König was elected a full member of the Braunschweig Scientific Society . For 18 years he was the chairman of the Catholic Education Center in Wolfenbüttel.

König died in Wolfenbüttel in 1996. He was married to Gertrud, geb. Ridders. The marriage had five children.

Fonts (selection)

  • The Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück Reckenberg in its territorial development and internal organization. (= Dissertation, University of Münster) Thiele, Gütersloh 1939, OCLC 246227053 .
  • Administrative history of East Frisia up to the extinction of his princely house. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1955, OCLC 260119971 .
  • with Günther Möhlmann: History and holdings of the Lower Saxony State Archives in Aurich. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1955, OCLC 3177405 .
  • Brief overview of the holdings of the Lower Saxony State Archives in Wolfenbüttel. in: Publications of the Lower Saxony Archive Administration. Brief overviews 1. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1977, ISBN 3-525-85911-2 .
  • Finding aid for the inventory of the city of Bad Gandersheim. Wolfenbüttel 1988, ISBN 3-927495-00-X .

A list of writings from 1939–1985 of the works of Joseph König was created by his daughter Eva-Maria König.

literature

  • Horst-Rüdiger Jarck: Obituary for Joseph König (1915–1996). In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck (Ed.): Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch für Landesgeschichte. Volume 77, 1996, ISSN  0068-0745 , pp. 333-337.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information on the Braunschweigischer Jahrbuch
personal data
SURNAME King, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian and archivist
DATE OF BIRTH September 24, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH Kiel
DATE OF DEATH February 10, 1996
Place of death Wolfenbüttel