Martin Hammerich

Martin Hammerich

Martin Johannes Hammerich (born December 4, 1811 in Copenhagen , † September 20, 1881 in Iselingen near Vordingborg ) was a Danish teacher and author.

Life

Hammerich's parents were the wholesaler and later sales representative Johannes Hammerich and his wife Meta Adolph, a farmer's daughter from Sønderjylland . In 1841 he married Anna Mathea Aagaard, the daughter of Assessor Holger Halling Aagaard, who owned Iselingen near Vordingborg.

First he went to the Borgerdydskole in Christianshavn . In 1828 he began his studies in theology and passed the exam in 1833. He also attended lectures on mythology and philology, including Sanskrit . From 1831 to 1834 he was a teacher at Borgerdydskole. In 1836 he received his master's degree with the treatise Om Ragnaroksmythen og dens Betydning i den oldnordiske religion (on the Ragnarok myth and its meaning in the old Norse religion). It was the first master's thesis in Danish because he insisted that an Old Norse subject could not be written in Latin.

Then he traveled to Germany, Holland and England. He continued his Sanskrit studies in Bonn and Oxford. In 1838 he traveled to France, Switzerland, Italy and Greece, where he was particularly concerned with ancient art. After the death of Frederik VI. In 1839 he founded the liberal “Studentersamfund” (student association) and became its chairman. He resigned shortly before it was dissolved by the consistory in 1840. At the same time he gave lectures on Sanskrit and was a lecturer in this subject from 1841 to 1844. During this time he wrote a translation of the Shakuntala by Kalidasa , which appeared in 1845 (3rd edition 1879).

In 1842 he became the rector of Borgerdydskole and, after giving up teaching at the university, devoted himself to this school for the next 25 years. In 1852 he became adjunct professor. With the school reform of 1850, the entrance examination to the university was replaced by a leaving examination at schools, which was reorganized in 1864. Hammerich had a significant influence on this whole development, both as a member of many commissions and through his numerous writings. He made his school flourish. It gave teachers and students more freedom than was usual up to then and encouraged students to take responsibility for themselves. He counteracted the one-sidedness of the subject teachers and practiced his demand for spirit and content in the written elaboration and in the oral presentation, even before the grammar, when teaching the Danish language in the upper classes. In keeping with the spirit of the times, he demanded lessons in Old Norse and Swedish, fought against the “German style” and emphasized the importance of the classical languages.

He had a circle of educated people around him in his house. When his father-in-law died, he gave up his rectorate and devoted himself to private studies in Iselingen. He died of a stroke on September 20, 1881.

Remarks

The article is taken from the Dansk biografisk Lexikon . Any other information is specifically identified.

1. ↑ The Borgerdydskole (there were several) was a mixture of secondary school and Latin school, founded by the Borgerdydselskabet (Selskabet for Borgerdyd = Society for Civic Virtue), founded in Copenhagen in 1785, which was attached to rationalistic ideas and optimistic economics. There is one such school in Christianshavn (Københavns åbne Gymnasium) and one in Copenhagen (Østre Borgerdyd Gymnasium). They had a particularly good reputation.
2. ^ The consistory was the governing body of the university. It was only abolished in 2003.
3. ↑ In the 19th century there was the titular professor (Titulær professor), a title that was bestowed on deserved personalities, but did not include any teaching activity at the university.

literature

• Julius Paludan: Hammerich, Martin Johannes . In: Carl Frederik Bricka (Ed.): Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Tillige omfattende Norge for Tidsrummet 1537-1814. 1st edition. tape 6 : Gerson-H. Hansen . Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, Copenhagen 1892, p. 540-543 (Danish, runeberg.org ).