Karl Völker (gymnastics father)

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Karl Völker, 1796–1884

Heinrich Karl Nicolaus Völker (born January 5, 1796 in Eisenach ; † October 2, 1884 in Kappel ) was a German gymnastics teacher as a student of gymnastics father Jahn .

Life

Karl Völker was the son of Wilhelm Bernhard Völker, a sergeant at the Wartburg , and Sophie geb. Hops. In his first marriage in 1822 he married Menga Jecklin, daughter of the chief guild master Peter Churer and in his second marriage in 1857 Margaretha Fluri. 1814-18 he studied law in Jena , in 1819 he began studying the humanities in Tübingen . During his studies he became a member of the Landsmannschaft Saxonia Jena in 1814 , in 1816 a member of the original fraternity and in 1819 a member of the old Tübingen fraternity Germania / Burschenverein .

He took part in the Wartburg Festival as a fraternity member . In a political speech on October 18, 1818, he called on the German rulers to restore the free estates constitution, unrestricted freedom of the press and speech, and the abolition of that which hindered the free movement of the people, i.e. inhibited their education and development.

Karl Völker was the first instructor on the first gymnastics area in Tübingen, which was set up with the approval of the university rector in 1819 based on the Jahn'sche gymnastics movement on the "Untere Wöhrd" (today Bismarckstrasse and Schaffhausenstrasse). Up to 200 people took part in gymnastics at times, with citizens and academics practicing separately.

After the murder of the poet August von Kotzebue by the fraternity gymnast Karl Ludwig Sand , who had studied in Tübingen, the gymnastics and fraternity system was banned in 1820 as part of the so-called gymnastics lock, so that gymnastics had to be done in secret. The turn lock was retained until 1838, i. H. until the university senate voted positively on the students' request for the gymnasium to be restored, as it was assumed that "this would lead to a derivation of some offenses against the discipline".

After the assassination attempt on Kotzebue, he settled in Switzerland in 1819, where he was a gymnastics teacher in Hofwil and from 1821-24 at the canton school in Chur. He then moved to England and became a teacher in London . In 1827 he founded a boarding school for boys in Liverpool , which he continued at Heerbrugg Castle from 1839–50 .

1850–57 he was President of the Agricultural Society of the Canton of St. Gallen , 1849–61 District Court President, 1845–62 liberal St. Gallen Cantonal Council, 1847–60 Protestant Education Council. Then he began publishing activities. Völker rendered great services to the regulation of the Rhine .

He had been on George Stephenson's maiden railroad voyage in September 1825 and had come back as an avid railroad fan. He lobbied for the construction of the Rorschach-Chur Rhine Valley line for the Südostbahngesellschaft (SOB) and was instrumental in ensuring that the line was actually built. He gave the municipality of Berneck the land on which the Heerbrugg train station was built.

Appreciation

Karl Völker Strasse in Heerbrugg is named after the gymnast of the same name
  • In Tübingen the Völkerweg and the Jahn-Völker-Eiche are named after him.
  • Karl-Völker-Strasse in Heerbrugg is named after him.

literature

  • Karl Völker. 1796-1884. 30 years as a lord of the castle on Heerbrugg. A portrait of Jacob Boesch's life. From the yearbook “Our Rhine Valley 1960” ( online , PDF; 7.95 MB).
  • M. Krüger: Karl V. - “Bundner. The father of gymnastics “and European educator in the age of revolutions. In: SZG. 61, 2011, pp. 168-188.
  • Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Volume 6: T-Z. Winter, Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-8253-5063-0 , pp. 144-148.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Kaupp (edit.): Stamm-Buch of the Jenaische Burschenschaft. The members of the original fraternity 1815-1819 (= treatises on student and higher education. Vol. 14). SH-Verlag, Cologne 2005, ISBN 3-89498-156-3 , p. 172.
  2. ↑ 125 years of the Sindlingen gymnastics club.
  3. ↑ a b Hartmut Gabler: 50 years of the City Association for Sport Tübingen - 50 years of development of gymnastics, physical exercises and sport in Tübingen.
  4. ^ Joachim Burkhard Richter: Hans Ferdinand Maßmann. Walter de Gruyter, 1992, page 145.
  5. ^ A b Albert Portmann-Tinguely: Karl Völker. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . July 24, 2013 , accessed July 7, 2019 .
  6. ^ Starting shot for the Rhine Valley route of the south-east railway. (PDF) Balgach municipality, accessed on January 29, 2014 .
  7. ^ Unsuccessful fight for your own train station. (PDF) Balgach municipality, accessed on January 29, 2014 .
  8. ^ Völkerweg on TÜpedia.
  9. ↑ Haußerhöhe on TÜpedia.
personal data
SURNAME Völker, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Völker, Heinrich Karl Nicolaus (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German gymnastics teacher
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1796
PLACE OF BIRTH Eisenach
DATE OF DEATH October 2, 1884
Place of death Chapel