Karl Maria Kaufmann

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Karl (Carl) Maria Kaufmann (born March 2, 1872 in Frankfurt am Main ; † February 6, 1951 in Ranstadt ) was a German Christian archaeologist who was initially close to the Center Party, but later opened up to National Socialism . Kaufmann also published under the pseudonym Marchese di San Callisto . In addition to his academic work, he emerged as a writer and author of historical novels .

Life

Kaufmann, son of a devotional merchant who converted from Protestantism to Catholicism and co-founder of the Frankfurt Center Party, attended Rockwell College near Cashel in the Irish county of Tipperary from the age of eight to eleven as a boarding student . Even in his youth he was interested in archaeological excavations. After finishing school, Kaufmann studied first in Berlin, then in Friborg / Switzerland and then at Campo Santo Teutonico in Rome, where he studied Christian archeology with Anton de Waal and Orazio Marucci from 1894 to 1902 . During his studies in 1892 he became a member of the KDStV Teutonia Friborg in the CV and later of the KAV Suevia Berlin . He was ordained a priest in 1899.

After completing his studies, various archaeological investigations in Rome and his doctorate, Kaufmann carried out several independent research trips from 1905 onwards, with the rediscovery of the pilgrimage site of the early Christian martyr Menas ( Abu Mena ) in the Libyan desert in 1905 being the first high point of his career. Kaufmann, who led the excavations there until 1908, undertook another research trip to Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt and Sudan from 1911 to 1912. In the area of Fayum he managed to recover about a thousand ostracas in Greek, Demotic , Coptic and Arabic languages. He reported on his research results in various publications. In 1911 he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Münster for his research.

Since Kaufmann's research trips were largely financed by the city of Frankfurt am Main, he bequeathed a collection of artifacts from the Menas excavation to the Frankfurt Liebieghaus for the first time in 1905 , including around 1200 terracottas . During his second stay in Egypt, he had acquired a further 800 terracottas in Fayum from middlemen and robbery graves, which he also made available to the Liebieghaus.

Kaufmann, who already held the honorary title of monsignor within the Catholic Church , allowed himself to be laicized , married according to his own statements "in advanced years" and had in this "vita nova" a. a. a daughter named Annegret. In 1919 Kaufmann was appointed professor of Christian archeology and has taught at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main ever since .

Relationship to National Socialism

After the seizure of power of the Nazis Kaufmann proved to be followers of the Nazi state . According to Helmut Heiber's description, Kaufmann was an “ Orientalist ” and “ former priest ” who was friends with the Hitler admirer “ Abbot Schachleitner ” (sic!). In 1937 Kaufmann was judged by the NSDAP to be a " real and enthusiastic National Socialist ". He was one of the people who were involved in the Nazi project to "eliminate Jewish influence" in Frankfurt am Main in 1937.

In 1934 Kaufmann in Heddernheim wanted to realize a Germanic heritage museum with the departments of geology, Germanic prehistory, Germanic time and local history, suggested by the local group leader of the Heddernheim NSDAP , and described the project in a memorandum. Ultimately, the project was rejected by the city's cultural office " for moral reasons ": "... the Roman fortress of our homeland stood in Heddernheim , directed against the Teutons ".

During the Nazi era, Kaufmann wrote various songs and hymns for the Hitler Youth and the National Socialists, including the 1933 cantata Gebet der Jugend (Already wants a golden morning shine), which was set to music by Hermann Zilcher and performed in November 1935 under Zilcher's direction as part of a radio concert was premiered. The work was announced in the press as follows: “ The poem of this small choral work is a homage to the Führer and Reich. Created in 1933, the poet KM Kaufmann leads the youth in adult nature to intimate prayer ... "This Nazi cantata, in which the youth should consecrate our hearts and souls to Hitler under the swastika ", ended with a " jubilant victory Heil to the Führer . "

No scientific books by Kaufmann from the Nazi era are known.

post war period

After the end of the Second World War , Kaufmann lived in Ranstadt. There he wrote his last work Allah is great! , an autobiographical retrospect in which he mainly looked at the time before the First World War and his experiences with locals, guests and traders during his research trips and excavation campaigns. This book was published by Herder Verlag the year before his death . In retrospect, he spoke of “forced allegiance” during the Nazi era: “ Anyone who throws life around hard usually remains prepared for some kinds of course changes, also in the intellectual field, not to mention elementary interventions or even the delusional delusion of wrestling, like we had to experience it bloody and cruel, destroying millions, uprooting millions, and from which half humanity now suffers. Quite a few good Germans experienced their odyssey in forced allegiance, wandering around, suffering much in the Homeric sense of the word . "

Nowadays, Kaufmann and Adolf Furtwängler are considered a “collector-archaeologist”. A permanent exhibition on the upper floor of the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt has been dedicated to both of them since 2008 .

Fonts (selection)

Scientific publications

  • The otherworldly hopes of the Greeks and Romans according to the Sepulcraline writings. A contribution to monumental eschatology. Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) 1897, ( digitized version ).
  • The legend of the Aberkios stele in the light of early Christian eschatology. An attempt to solve the question. In: The Catholic. Episode 3, Vol. 15, 1897, No. 3, ISSN  0935-2244 , pp. 226-247
  • The progress of monumental theology in the field of Christian archaeological research. With special consideration of the works of de Rossi and the Spalatenser Congress. In: The Catholic. Volume 3, Vol. 16, 1897, No. 5, pp. 385-409 ; No. 6, pp. 501-514 .
  • The sepulcral hereafter monuments of antiquity and early Christianity. Contributions to the Vita Beata presentation of the Roman imperial era with special consideration of Christian hopes for the beyond (= research on monumental theology and comparative religious studies. 1, ZDB -ID 528180-5 ). Kirchheim, Mainz 1900.
  • M. di San Callisto (di: Karl Maria Kaufmann): The miracles of the Church of the Catacombs and Martyrs. A book of comfort for the instruction and edification of the Christian people presented. Roth, Stuttgart et al. 1900.
  • Sant Elia. A German sanctuary on classical ground. Memories of an archaeological patrol in Etruria (= Frankfurt contemporary brochures. NF Vol. 20, No. 1, ZDB -ID 213785-9 ). Breer & Thiemann, Hamm (Westphalia) 1901.
  • La Pègè du temple d'Hiérapolis. Contribution à la symbolique du christianisme primitif. In: Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique. Vol. 2, 1901, ZDB -ID 1244356-6 , pp. 529-548.
  • The Imperial Tomb in the Vatican Grottoes. First archaeological-historical investigation of Otto II's crypt. Allgemeine Verlagsgesellschaft, Munich 1902, ( digitized version ).
  • An early Christian Pompeii in the Libyan desert. The necropolis of the "great oasis". Archaeological sketch. Kirchheim, Mainz 1902.
  • Handbook of Christian Archeology (= scientific reference library. Series 3: Textbooks and handbooks for various sciences. Vol. 5, ZDB -ID 574387-4 ). Schöningh, Paderborn 1905, ( digitized version ).
  • The excavation of the Menas sanctuaries in the Mareotis desert. Report on the excavation of the national shrine of the early Christian Egyptians organized by CM Kaufmann and ICE Falls. 3 volumes. Finck & Baylaender, Cairo 1906–1908.
  • The découverte des sanctuaires de Ménas dans le désert de Maréotis. Société de publications égyptiennes, Alexandria 1908, ( digitized ).
  • Manuale di archeologia cristiana. Pustet, Rome 1908.
  • The Mena temple and the sanctuaries of Karm Abu Mina in the Mariût desert. A guide through the excavations of the Frankfurt expedition. Baer, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1909.
  • On the iconography of the Menas ampoules with special consideration of the finds in the Menas town together with an introductory chapter on the newly discovered Nubian and Ethiopian Menas texts (= publications of the Frankfurt Menas expedition. 5, ZDB ID 276260-2 ). Diemer, Finck & Baylaender, Cairo 1910.
  • The Menass city and the national shrine of the early Christian Egyptians in the western Alexandrin desert. Excavations of the Frankfurt expedition on Karm Abu Mina 1905–1907. Volume 1. Hiersemann, Leipzig 1910, ( digitized version ).
  • Preface in: JC Ewald Falls: Three years in the Libyan desert. Travels, discoveries and excavations of the Frankfurt Menas Expedition (Kaufmannsche Expedition). Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 1911, (Abridged edition: In the magic of the desert. Trips, discoveries and excavations of the Kaufmann expedition in the Libyan desert (Menas expedition) (= From all over the world. 3, ZDB -ID 2135342-6 ). Herder , Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 1922).
  • Egyptian terracottas from the Greco-Roman and Coptic epochs, preferably from the El Faijûm oasis (Frankfurt collection). Diemer, Finck & Baylaender Succ., Cairo 1913, (2nd, significantly increased edition, as: Graeco-Ägyptische Koroplastik. Terracottas of the Greco-Roman and Coptic epochs from the Faijûm oasis and other sites. Finck, Leipzig et al. 1915).
  • The holy city of the desert. Our discoveries, excavations and finds in the early Christian Menasstadt are described in words and pictures to wider circles. Kösel & Pustet, Kempten and others J. (around 1914), ( digitized version ).
  • The Frankfurt Imperial Cathedral, its monuments and history. A guide. Kösel, Kempten 1914.
  • Handbook of early Christian epigraphy. Herder, Freiburg (Breisgau) et al. 1917.
  • Prayers on stone for monuments of early Christianity. A guide to uncovered treasures for seekers of all educated classes. Kösel & Pustet, Kempten 1921.
  • America and early Christianity. World traffic routes of Christianity after the empires of the Maya and Inca in pre-Columbian times. Delphin, Munich 1924.
  • Excavators, mummy hunters and dead cities. From the romanticism of research in the Orient based on personal experiences. Scherl, Berlin 1928.

Novels

  • 1897 The last Flavier. The Bride of the Last Flaver , novel trilogy
  • 1899 The Lady's Document
  • 1900 The ring with the Ichthys
  • 1927 The lost city. Roman from the Egyptian excavation life

memoirs

  • 1950 Allah is great! Experiences and encounters of a German researcher in a disappearing world , Herder, Freiburg 1950.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Karl Maria Kaufmann: Allah is great! , P. 24.
  2. ↑ Karl Maria Kaufmann: Allah is great! , P. 1, p. 4 and p. 8.
  3. ↑ Complete directory of the CV The honorary members, old men and students of the Cartell Association (CV) of the cath. German student associations. 1912, Strasbourg i. Els. 1912, p. 149.
  4. ↑ Complete directory of the CV The honorary members, old men and students of the Cartell Association (CV) of the cath. German student associations. 1912, Strasbourg i. Els. 1912, p. 42.
  5. ↑ https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/fb2/zentraleeinrichtungen/dekanat/ehrendoktoren/kaufmann.pdf
  6. ^ Eva Bayer-Niemeyer: Pictorial works from the Kaufmann Collection, Volume I. Greco-Roman terracottas , scientific catalog Liebieghaus Frankfurt am Main, Verlag Gutenberg Melsungen 1988, ISBN 3-87280-044-2 , p. 9.
  7. ↑ Menas, Saint, in: The original catholic enzyclopedia ( Memento of January 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ).
  8. ↑ Karl Maria Kaufmann: Allah is great! , P. XI, p. 91, quotations from p. 127.
  9. ↑ a b c Helmut Heiber: University under the swastika. Part 1. The professor in the Third Reich , KG Saur, Munich, London, New York, Paris 1991, ISBN 3-598-22629-2 , p. 360.
  10. ↑ Frankfurt 1933–1945. The spin-off of the Museum of Local Prehistory and Early History from the Historical Museum .
  11. ↑ Fred K. Prieberg : Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, p. 7984.
  12. ↑ a b Quotation from a program announcement from RRG press releases no. 483 of November 1, 1935, sheet 45, published by Fred K. Prieberg: Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, p. 7984 .
  13. ^ Quotation from the text of the cantata by Fred K. Prieberg : Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 , CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, p. 7984.
  14. ↑ Quote from Karl Maria Kaufmann: Allah is great! 1950, p. 71.
  15. ↑ Article by Michael Zajonz in the Tagesspiegel from July 14, 2008 .
  16. ↑ On the Kaufmann Collection: Birgit Schlick-Nolte and Vera von Droste-Hülshoff: Ägyptische Bildwerke Volume I. Scarabs, Amulets and Jewelry Liebieghaus Frankfurt am Main, Scientific Catalogs , Gutenberg Melsungen 1990, ISBN 3-87280-053-1 , p. 17 , and pp. 410-433.
  17. ↑ Compilation of publications according to BBKL and DNB.
personal data
SURNAME Kaufmann, Karl Maria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kaufmann, Carl Maria; Marchese di San Callisto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Christian archaeologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 2, 1872
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH February 6, 1951
Place of death Ranstadt