Klaus Wittstadt

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Klaus Wittstadt (born April 17, 1936 in Fulda ; † March 2, 2003 in Münster ) was a German church historian . He held the chair for church history in the Middle Ages and in modern times at the University of Würzburg .

Live and act

From 1957 Klaus Wittstadt studied history, German, philosophy and theology at the University of Frankfurt am Main . He was sponsored by Johannes Hirschberger . In Frankfurt, he was in 1962 with one of Otto Vossler supervised work on the Fulda Prince Abbot Placidus Droste doctorate . A year later he finished his teacher training with the first state examination. On November 1, 1964, he became a research assistant at the Roman Institute of the Görres Society . In June 1967 the second state examination for teaching at grammar schools followed. In 1971 he obtained a doctorate in theology with a thesis on church history on Nuncio Attilio Amalteo and the Cologne Nunciature in the early 17th century. The basis for this work was a research stay from 1964 to 1967 at the Vatican Archives in Rome.

In November 1970 Wittstadt was appointed Academic Councilor and promoted to Academic Senior Councilor on November 15, 1971. Wittstadt completed his habilitation in 1972 with a series of individual studies on the ecclesiastical history of the 16th and 17th centuries. He took over the chair for Franconian church history in Würzburg in 1973 and held it until 1998. In 1984 his chair was expanded to include the field of Church History of the Modern Age. In 1999, in the course of the restructuring of the university, he moved to the chair for church history of the Middle Ages and modern times. He took on numerous offices in the academic self-government. He was chairman of the Catholic Theological Faculty Conference, dean (1989–1991), several years vice dean (1991–1995), member of the Senate and member of the university's budget commission.

He earned lasting services for the history of the Würzburg diocese. He presented numerous papers on the Diocese of Würzburg and the Würzburg Theological Faculty during the Nazi era. He published essays on Heinrich Leier , Bishop Matthias Ehrenfried , Georg Häfner . In addition, as a result of his Nazi research in collaboration with Dieter Albrecht, an annotated source volume with the reports of the regional presidents from Lower Franconia from 1933 to 1945 was created. The volume published in 1981 became the standard work. In the last years of his life, his research focused on the Second Vatican Council and above all on Julius Döpfner and Pope Johannes XXIII. With Giuseppe Alberigo he gave an anthology in 1992 with individual research on Pope John XXIII. out. In 2001 he published a scientific biography and an illustrated book about Döpfner. Wittstadt was the editor of the first three volumes in the history of the Second Vatican Council , which were published between 1997 and 2002. Since 1982 he has published the series of sources and research on the history of the diocese and the monastery of Würzburg . 28 volumes were published under his responsibility. He also published the Würzburg diocesan history sheets. After Theodor Kramer's death on June 5, 1980, he became first chairman of the Würzburg Diocesan History Association and on January 1, 1982 scientific director of the Würzburg diocesan archive.

He has received numerous honors. In 1980 he was appointed honorary professor at the University of Frankfurt. In 1983 he became an honorary member of the KDStV Cheruscia Würzburg . For the development of a theological course for Catholic religious teachers after the fall of the Wall , he was recognized at the Technical University of Dresden in 1999 with the appointment of honorary professor. He was awarded the Liborius Wagner plaque of the Diocese of Würzburg in 1981, the Papal Order of Gregorius in 1996, the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon in 1987 and the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class in 1993. He was honored with two festschrifts for his 60th and 65th birthday.

Wittstadt married a student teacher in Münster in 1966. The marriage produced a son.

Fonts (selection)

Monographs

  • Julius Cardinal Döpfner (1913–1976). Advocate of God and man. Don Bosco, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-7698-1124-0 .
  • Saint Kilian. Monk - missionary - martyr. Echter Verlag, Würzburg 1989, ISBN 3-429-01215-5 .
  • Placidus von Droste. Prince Abbot of Fulda (1678–1700). A contribution to the history of the Hochstift Fulda (= publication of the Fulda History Association. Vol. 39). Parzeller, Fulda 1963.

Source edition

  • The ecclesiastical situation in Bavaria according to the regional president reports 1933–1943. VI. Administrative region of Lower Franconia 1933–1944 (= publications by the Commission for Contemporary History: Series A, Sources. Volume 31). Matthias Grünewald Verlag, Mainz 1981, ISBN 3-7867-0886-X .

literature

  • Enno Bünz : Klaus Wittstadt (1936–2003). In: Historisches Jahrbuch 123 (2003), pp. 535-538.
  • Manfred Gerwing : The Second Vatican Council in the view of the church historian Klaus Wittstadt. Notes from a systematic perspective. In: Christoph Böttigheimer, Ernst Naab (ed.): Cosmopolitan out of loyalty. Study day for the Second Vatican Council (= Extemporalia. Questions of theology and pastoral care. Vol. 22). EOS-Verlag, Sankt Ottilien 2009, ISBN 978-3-8306-7401-6 , pp. 39-50.
  • Winfried Jestaedt : Klaus Wittstadt * April 14th, 1936 † March 2nd, 2003. In: Fuldaer Geschichtsblätter 79 (2003), pp. 222-225.
  • Rudolf Laufen: [Obituary by Klaus Wittstadt]. In: Institute for teacher training, Mülheim (Ruhr). Establishment of the dioceses in North Rhine-Westphalia. Events 2003, 2nd half year, p. 2f.
  • Wolfgang Weiß : In memoriam Klaus Wittstadt. In: Klaus Wittstadt: From the dynamic of the mind: Aspects of the mind. Aspects of Church and Theological History of the 20th Century. Edited by Wolfgang Weiß. Echter, Würzburg 2004, ISBN 3-429-02596-6 , pp. 11-21.
  • Wittstadt, Klaus. In: Friedhelm Golücke : Author's lexicon for student and university history. SH-Verlag, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-89498-130-X . Pp. 354-356.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Weiß: In memoriam Klaus Wittstadt. In: Klaus Wittstadt: From the dynamic of the mind: Aspects of the mind. Aspects of Church and Theological History of the 20th Century. Edited by Wolfgang Weiß. Würzburg 2004, pp. 11–21, here: p. 12.
  2. ↑ See the review by Stephan Hilpisch in: Fuldaer Geschichtsblätter 39 (1963), pp. 26–28.
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Weiß: In memoriam Klaus Wittstadt. In: Klaus Wittstadt: From the dynamic of the mind: Aspects of the mind. Aspects of Church and Theological History of the 20th Century. Edited by Wolfgang Weiß. Würzburg 2004, pp. 11–21, here: p. 14.
personal data
SURNAME Wittstadt, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German church historian
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Fulda
DATE OF DEATH March 2, 2003
Place of death Muenster