Kurd Kisshauer

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Kurd Kisshauer (born December 29, 1886 in Berlin , † November 14, 1958 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German astronomer . During the time of National Socialism he worked as a consultant in the Rosenberg office .

Life

Book title on the Dresden City Planetarium (Graphic: Kurt Fiedler )

Kisshauer was born as the son of a tradesman at Neue Friedrichstrasse 5-8 . As an amateur astronomer, he made a name for himself with his articles for journals such as Sirius and Der Straßenastronom , which were also cited in the annual astronomical report . The von Bülow family commissioned him to look for a buyer for the Bothkamp observatory, which was closed in 1914 , after the family had withdrawn from the donation agreement from 1919 with the Kiel observatory . At that time he headed the Berlin branch of Ingedelia - International Society of Astronomical Lovers under Hans-Hermann Kritzinger , the last astronomer on Bothkamp. Kisshauer pursued these sales plans until around 1922, when Ernst II of Saxony-Altenburg had already brought him to the Hunting Lodge Fröhliche Wiederkunft in Wolfersdorf , where the Duke set up a modern observatory after his abdication in 1918. The sale of the Bothkamp utensils failed and in 1930 they became the property of the Museum Kiel. Kisshauer handed over the drawings he made for the Bothkamp spectrograph to the Deutsches Museum . Already in his early years he was close to national-conservative circles, so he published in the Jungdeutschenimmen , the organ of the Jungdeutsche Bund .

Kisshauer moved from Wolfersdorf to nearby Jena , where he worked for the Carl Zeiss company and published about the Zeiss planetariums , including at the local Urania Verlag and in the magazine Die Himmelswelt . With his wife he was also in contact with Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche .

Kisshauer had a doctorate (Dr. rer. Pol.) And was a member of the Astronomical Society . In 1926 he founded the Dresden City Planetarium as director and scientific director . Kisshauer was a scientist, technician, teacher and entertainer in one. He worked hard to popularize astronomy . In addition to his writings, he appeared repeatedly on the radio. In his book Der Sternhimmel im Feldglas he referred to Adolph Diesterweg and wrote: “Astronomy is a sublime, because uplifting science; therefore it should not be withheld from anyone. ”The Dresden Planetarium initially met with great interest, but had to be closed again after a few years due to the lack of visitors in connection with the global economic crisis and was later rededicated as an event building.

Kisshauer lived in Berlin in the Siemensstadt housing estate . He wrote several critical writings on astrology . As a speaker in the Rosenberg office , he was drawn into internal Nazi conflicts on this subject. In the central organ of the NS student union National Socialist Monthly Bulletin of April 1938, he presented them as oriental and harmful to the people, which in turn was quoted by the Völkische Beobachter . In 1941, after the " Hess Affair ", he took part in the removal of Karl Heinz Hederichs from the party official examination committee for the protection of National Socialist literature . Alfred Rosenberg used Kisshauer during the war to force astrologers like Karl Ernst Krafft to make horoscopes for psychological warfare. In 1944 he arranged for chairs in theoretical physics to be filled with opponents of Einstein's theory of relativity .

After the war, Kisshauer again gave lectures on astronomy, e.g. B. in front of the Senckenberg Natural Research Society and on Südwestfunk . Kisshauer was a member of DEGESA - German Society for Protection against Superstition e. V. , where he continued his fight against parapsychology .

Publications

  • Municipal planetarium on the exhibition grounds . Dr. Güntz'sche Foundation, Dresden 1927.
  • The starry sky in the field glass . Hesse & Becker, Leipzig 1928.
  • Horoscope and family . In: Internship for family researchers , volume 22, Degener & Co., Leipzig 1932.
  • Star Course and Life Path: Considerations on Astrology . Reclam, Leipzig 1935 and 1941

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berlin birth register no. 2276, December 31, 1886, including addendum of date and place of death, via ancestry.com
  2. ^ Kisshauer, A. In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1886, part 1, p. 508.
  3. ↑ Sirius . Journal of Popular Astronomy, Volume 48, 1915
  4. ↑ AJB, Volume 22, G. Reimer, 1922
  5. ^ Gudrun Wolfschmidt : Astronomical patronage . BoD - Books on Demand, p. 76, 2009
  6. ↑ Sirius , Vol. 54, p. 130, 1921
  7. ↑ Felix Lühning: "--a ausnehmende ornament and advantage": History of the Kiel University Observatory and its predecessors, 1770-1950: two centuries of work and research between limits and possibilities . Volume 56 of special publications by the Society for Kiel City History, Verlag Wachholtz, 2007
  8. ↑ Gerhard Harig, Alexander Mette (ed.): NTM: Series of publications for the history of natural sciences, technology and medicine (vol. 28). Academic publishing company Geest & Portig, 1991, p. 202
  9. ^ K. Kisshauer: What is the meaning of Marx . In: Young German Voices , Hamburg, vol. 2, 1920, p. 15
  10. ↑ Die Himmelswelt, Volumes 35-36, 1925
  11. ^ Förster-Nietzsche / Nietzsche archive> Förster-Nietzsche, Elisabeth> Letters received. Retrieved March 21, 2020 . in the archive database of the Goethe and Schiller Archives
  12. ↑ Kishauer . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1938, part 1, p. 1302.
  13. ↑ Helmut Heiber (among others): files of the party chancellery of the NSDAP . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 1983
  14. ^ Wilhelm Theodor H. Wulff: Zodiac and swastika: As an astrologer at Himmler's court . Bertelsmann Sachbuchverlag, 1968, p. 105
  15. ^ Opinion by Hugo Koch, RMVP, on pro-astrology policy of the PPK, Berlin (May 20, 1941)
  16. ↑ Gerd Simon: Chronology Wagner, Kurt (physicist) (PDF; 43 kB)
  17. ↑ Joachim Friedrich Baumhauer: Johann Kruse and the “modern witch mania”: on the situation of a north German enlightener and a belief in the 20th century, examined on the basis of events in Dithmarschen . Volume 14 of Studies on Folklore and Cultural History of Schleswig-Holstein, Verlag K. Wachholtz, 1984
personal data
SURNAME Kisshauer, Kurd
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kisshauer, Kurd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH December 29, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1958
Place of death Frankfurt am Main