Martin Müller (philologist)

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Martin Müller (born September 22, 1875 in Eischleben , Saxony-Coburg and Gotha ; † 1953 in Bückeburg , Lower Saxony ) was a German teacher, school director, member of the Confessing Church and collector. His extensive legacy, the so-called "China things", represent important links between European and international history, for example between East Asia and East Prussia , with topics such as student associations and the Confessing Church , cultural imperialism and folklore and ethnology , biologic human image and Lutheran ethics .

family

The son of the superintendent church councilor Reinhold Müller (* 1843 in Ruhla , West Thuringia) and Thekla Müller, b. Wagner, was the youngest of the four siblings Friedrich Wilhelm, Hildegard and Agnes. His mother came from a family of doctors in Hamburg. Martin Müller's paternal grandfather, Berthold Müller, was superintendent in Ruhla.

His older sister Hildegard married the East Prussian landowner Hermann Otto Glüer ; his niece by marriage became Martin Müller's wife Paula Müller in 1915. The Gergehnen estate was a frequent residence of the teacher until the Second World War. Martin Müller's maternal aunt, Emilie Weißenborn († 1911), née Wagner, was married to the philologist Hermann Weißenborn .

Müller's godparents were u. a. his cousin Ulrike (née Weißenborn) and Adriaan Jacob Domela Nieuwenhuis. The Dutch art dealer Domela Nieuwenhuis was the son of the Evangelical Lutheran pastor Ferdinand Jacob Domela Nieuwenhuis and the younger brother of the socialist and anarchist Ferdinand Domela Nieuwenhuis . Müller's cousin Lina Weißenborn was married to the sinologist Otto Franke . One of the maternal uncle was the chemist Günther Wagner , who took over the paint and ink factory of Carl Hornemann after the founder's departure. He used his family's heraldic animal (Wagner) as the company logo and thus gave the company its famous name: Pelikan .

Career

After graduating from high school in Gotha , Martin Müller studied at the universities of Kiel, Heidelberg, Munich and Breslau and, like his father, was a member of the evangelical student union Wingolf . He received his doctorate in 1901 at the Christian Albrechts University in Kiel in the field of philology . His dissertation is entitled "About the style of the old German magic spells". Contrary to family tradition, Müller did not become a priest, but a geography teacher . He also taught German, history and geography. His first job was at a secondary school in Flensburg, from where he left in December 1907 to work for four years at the German Kaiser Wilhelm School in Shanghai, China. There he became director of the school at the end of 1908.

Müller-Cleve Collection

During his stay in Shanghai from 1908 to 1911, Martin Müller collected Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Indian cultural objects in order to be able to use them as illustrative material in his geography lessons back in Germany. In addition, at least 1000 photographs were taken, of which the remaining prints on paper and glass have been stored in the museum of the Schloss Friedenstein Gotha Foundation since 2016. The bundle will be made available to the German Digital Library (DDB) . In addition, the teacher's letters were scientifically examined and his exemplary role for the Wilhelminian bourgeoisie demonstrated. The collection biography, completed in 2017, shows the contemporary witness character of the collection, which the family calls "China things". In the reconstruction of the attribution of meaning between 1908 and 2016, the transformation of the objects from representatives of Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Korean culture to testimonies of German-European colonial history and imperialist worldview is traced.

Each week, Müller sent his family letters, usually multi-page, with detailed descriptions of his surroundings, so that a comprehensive contemporary document of the places he visited emerged. In the letters he also devotes himself to domestic and foreign policy issues. For professional reasons, there were encounters with personalities from politics and business at the beginning of the 20th century. Like the director for Asia at Krupp , Carl Georg Friedrich Baur at the same time , Müller maintained friendly contacts with, for example, the Rosenbaum family or the Carlowitz family.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Weber, Dietrich; Kriebel, Hermann: "40 Years of the German School in Shanghai 1895-1935: Kaiser Wilhelm School in Shanghai"; 1935 and Martin, Bernd: “German-Chinese Relations 1928-1937. "Same" partners under "unequal" conditions. A collection of sources "
  2. ↑ a b Cf. Schneider, Inga: "" Father's China things "? A Collection Biography of Colonial Heritage. ”; NN The private collection Müller-Cleve in the German digital library. The “China things” were donated to the Friedenstein Castle Museum in Gotha in 2016 under the name “Müller-Cleve Collection”.
  3. ↑ Cf. “The ten Wagner siblings - A Hamburg family history from old letters and traditions, compiled by Amalie Wagner”; Hamburg; 1908
  4. ↑ Müller, Martin; Müller-Cleve, Bernhard a. Rüdiger: Memories of childhood and youth 1875 to 1888. Written down for his children and descendants in the retirement years 1937 to 1940. In: Schneider, Inga (Hrsg.): Collection of materials on "China things" . S. 115 .
  5. ↑ Müller, Martin: "About the style of the old German magic spells"; FA Perthes Verlag, Gotha 1901.
  6. ↑ Cf. Inga Schneider: Letters from Shanghai. Perceptions of self and others by a German teacher between 1908 - 1911 ; Akademiker Verlag, Saarbrücken 2012.
  7. ^ Source: Files of the German Legation in Beijing, Political Archive of the Foreign Office Berlin [PA AA]; Inga Schneider: Letters from Shanghai. Perceptions of self and others by a German teacher between 1908 - 1911 . Akademiker Verlag, Saarbrücken 2012.
  8. ^ Inga Schneider: Letters from Shanghai. Perceptions of self and others by a German teacher between 1908 - 1911 . Akademiker Verlag, Saarbrücken 2012.
  9. ^ Inga Schneider: Letters from Shanghai. Perceptions of self and others by a German teacher between 1908 - 1911 . Ed .: ders. Akademiker Verlag, Saarbrücken 2012, ISBN 978-3-639-42964-0 .
  10. ↑ Inga Schneider: "Father's China Things"? A collection biography of colonial heritage. Ed .: NNNN, NN 2017, p. 371 .
  11. ↑ Eberstein, Bernd: Merchants, Consuls, Captains: Early German Economic Interests in China. Deutsches Historisches Museum Berlin, March 1, 1998, accessed on November 27, 2017 (German, Tsingtau. Exhibition in the German Historical Museum from March 27 to July 19, 1998. You will find the online publication of the exhibition catalog on this website. This mainly contains essays on the topic.).
  12. ↑ Georg Baur, Elisabeth Kaske (Ed.): China around 1900 . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne 2005, p. 579.
personal data
SURNAME Müller, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German teacher, school director, member of the Confessing Church and collector
DATE OF BIRTH September 22, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH Eischleben , Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
DATE OF DEATH 1953
Place of death Bückeburg , Lower Saxony