Josias Friedrich Löffler

Josias Friedrich Christian Löffler (born January 18, 1752 in Saalfeld , † February 4, 1816 in Gamstädt ) was pastor in Gotha , general superintendent and co-founder of the Gotha school system.

Life

Löffler was the son of a city councilor who died early and grew up in the orphanage in Halle from the age of 11 , where he also studied Protestant theology from 1769 to 1774 . He then worked as a private tutor in Berlin , u. a. von Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt , active. In 1777 he accepted a position as a preacher at the Holy Spirit Church . In 1778 he was a field preacher in Silesia . From 1783 to 1788 he was professor of theology in Frankfurt an der Oder and at the same time first deacon at the Marienkirche , from 1786 superintendent. In the winter semester of 1787/88, the brothers Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt lived in Löffler's house during their studies at the request of their mother Marie-Elisabeth von Humboldt . In 1788 he came to Gotha, where he earned services as general superintendent in the church and school system. In 1796 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Theological Faculty of the University of Copenhagen .

As a member of the poor commission, he applied for the establishment of a school for the poor in Gotha in 1798. In 1800 the free school behind the Margarethenkirche was opened for destitute and orphaned children; their pupils received a small income there with work such as spinning, knitting, sewing or weaving. The school was regarded as a model project and ultimately enforced the compulsory education that had been in force in Gotha since 1640.

Löffler has published a total of around 30 writings, in addition to a selection of his sermons, a reader for city and country schools as well as the news from the free school in Gotha, which appeared from 1802 to 1810 . Löffler died on February 4, 1816 when a pastor was inaugurated in Gamstädt. In 1821 a memorial was dedicated to him in the cloister of the Augustinian Church , which was moved in 1996 to the school yard of the “Josias Friedrich Löffler” state primary school named after him .

literature

• Rudolf Schwarze :  Löffler, Josias Friedrich Christian . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 106 f.
• City administration Gotha (ed.): From the school and structural history of the state primary and mainstream schools of the city of Gotha . Gotha 2000, pp. 92-106.
• Urania Culture and Education Association Gotha eV (Ed.): Alexander von Humboldt and Gothaer scholars . Gotha 1999, p. 11

Web links

• Portrait of Josias Friedrich Löffler (c. 1840/1850)