Karl Obermann

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Karl Obermann (born September 22, 1905 in Cologne , † July 10, 1987 in Berlin ) was a German historian . He was the first director of the Institute for History of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin .

Life

Obermann, the son of a factory worker, was initially unable to study in the Weimar Republic for financial reasons , but instead learned the trade of a technical draftsman after attending secondary school . Having become unemployed during the global economic crisis , he attended lectures on history and sociology at the University of Cologne as a guest .

Obermann came to the socialist youth movement through the Wandervogel movement. Since 1925 he was active in the Free Socialist Youth . In 1931 he joined SAP .

In 1933 he emigrated to France via Belgium , where he worked as a journalist and writer for various German-language newspapers and magazines. In 1936 he became a member of the KPD . He studied history as a guest student at the Sorbonne . After the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 he was arrested and interned in France. In August 1941 he emigrated to the United States . From 1943 to 1946 he was a member of the editorial team of the magazine of the Council for a Democratic Germany The German American .

In October 1946 he returned to Germany via the Soviet Union . He joined the SED . From 1947 to 1949 he worked as an editor for the university magazine Forum and at the same time studied at the Humboldt University in Berlin . In 1950 he received his doctorate ("The German Workers in the Period of the Revolution of 1848 ") and in October 1950 took up a teaching position at the Brandenburg State University in Potsdam . In 1952 he completed his habilitation with a thesis on German-American relations at the beginning of the Weimar Republic. In August 1953 he was appointed to the Humboldt University in Berlin. From 1955 to 1956 he headed the Institute for German History. In 1956 he was appointed professor with a chair and continued teaching until his retirement in 1970.

From 1956 to 1960 Obermann was the first director of the newly founded Institute for German History of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin and at the same time until 1970 head of the department “German History from 1789 to 1871”.

Obermann was a member of numerous national and international scientific committees, including the GDR Historian Society .

Publications

  • Joseph Weydemeyer. Pioneer of American socialism. International Publishers, New York 1947.
  • Unity and freedom. German history from 1815 to 1849 in contemporary documents. Dietz, Berlin 1950.
  • The German workers in the first bourgeois revolution. Dietz, Berlin 1950 (2nd edition, 1953).
  • The Relationship of American Imperialism to German Imperialism during the Weimar Republic (1918–1925). Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1952.
  • On the history of the League of Communists from 1849 to 1852. Dietz, Berlin 1952.
  • Joseph Weydemeyer. A picture of life. 1818-1866. Dietz, Berlin 1968.
  • Revolution leaflets. A collection of leaflets from 1848/49 in Germany. Publishing House of Science, Berlin 1970.
  • (together with László Benczédi; ed.): The Hungarian Revolution of 1848/49 and the democratic movement in Germany. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest 1971.
  • Heinrich Billstein: Marx in Cologne. With a contribution by Karl Obermann. Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1983, ISBN 3-7609-0766-0 (= Small Library 287), pp. 138-218.
  • Exile Paris. In the fight against the dismantling of culture and education in Fascist Germany (1933–1939). German Science Publishing House, Berlin 1984.
  • The elections for the Frankfurt National Assembly in spring 1848. The election processes in the states of the German Confederation as reflected in contemporary sources. German Science Publishing House, Berlin 1987.

Awards and honors

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Obermann, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian, professor at Humboldt University
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH July 10, 1987
Place of death Berlin