Otto Tschirch

Otto Richard Sigismund Tschirch (born June 4, 1858 in Guben , Kingdom of Prussia , † March 13, 1941 in Brandenburg an der Havel ) was a German educator , historian and archivist . In addition to his teaching activities, he has researched and published in particular on the urban history of the city of Brandenburg an der Havel.

Life

Otto Tschirch was the second son of the Protestant pastor Carl Adolf Tschirch (1815–1875) and his wife Marie, née. Sausse, born. His older brother Alexander (1856–1939) later became a pharmacist and professor of pharmacy in Bern .

After attending the Guben elementary school and grammar school in Guben (1867–1876), he studied history , German studies , geography , philosophy and education at the University of Berlin from 1876 to 1880 . There he heard history lectures by Theodor Mommsen , Karl Wilhelm Nitzsch and Johann Gustav Droysen , geography with Heinrich Kiepert , history of the Indo-European languages ​​with Johannes Schmidt , Sanskrit with Albrecht Weber and philosophy of language with Heymann Steinthal . Then he was educator at the civil orphanage in Potsdam until 1882 . In June 1882 he passed the state examination and from October of the same year he was a trainee lawyer at the Luisenstädtischen Gymnasium in Berlin (today: Heinrich-Schliemann-Gymnasium Berlin ), then at the Saldern-Gymnasium in Brandenburg an der Havel, where he has been employed since 1884 was. In the same year he was at the University of Halle for Dr. phil. PhD . In 1902 he was appointed professor, in 1911 he received the Order of the Red Eagle, 4th grade, and in 1921 he retired as a teacher.

In 1886 Tschirch became a member of the historical association in Brandenburg an der Havel, since 1894 member of the board and second secretary, since 1895 first secretary and from 1909 to 1936 chairman of the association. In addition, he was the city archivist from 1899 to 1929 - initially on a voluntary basis and from 1921 full-time. In 1912 he was one of the founders of the Brandenburg Local Museum Association, became its second chairman in 1922 and was its first chairman until 1932. From 1923 to 1939 head of the newly founded local history museum in Brandenburg. From its founding in 1925 until its dissolution in 1939, it was a member of the Historical Commission for the Province of Brandenburg and the Reich capital Berlin .

Since 1885 he was married to Maria Beata Schütz, with whom he had three children: Ilse (* 1886), Siegfried (* 1888, naval officer, most recently captain at sea ) and Alexander (* 1890, gynecologist).

Honors

• In 1897 he received the “Fidicin Medal” (in bronze) from the Association for the History of Berlin for promoting the purposes of the association.
• 1901 the Rubenow Prize of the University of Greifswald for his manuscript History of Public Opinion in Prussia from the Peace of Basel to the Collapse of the State (1795–1806) , which only appeared in print in 1933 and 1934 (in a revised version).
• In 1906 he received the silver "Fidicin Medal" from the Association for the History of Berlin .
• In 1925 he became an honorary member of the Brandenburgia History Association .
• In 1933 he became an honorary member of the Niederlausitz Society for History and Archeology .
• 1933 honorary citizen of Brandenburg an der Havel
• In 1934 he received the silver Leibniz Medal of the Prussian Academy of Sciences for his life's work.
• In 1993 a street (Tschirchdamm) was named after him in Brandenburg an der Havel .
• In 2007 a high school in Brandenburg an der Havel was named after him.

Works

From 1896 to 1935 Tschirch published the annual reports of the Historical Association in Brandenburg an der Havel. In addition, he published the following works:

• Contributions to the history of Milan from the destruction of the city in 1162 to the exit of Frederick I. Wiesike, Brandenburg a. d. H. 1884 (at the same time: dissertation, University of Halle an der Saale, 1884).
• with Karl August Mann: Contributions to the history of the Saldria in Brandenburg ad H. Wiesike, Brandenburg a. d. H. 1889.
• The foundation and the first heyday of the Salderische Schule . Supplement to the program of the Saldern Realgymnasium in Brandenburg a. d. H. Easter 1889 . Wiesike, Brandenburg a. d. H. 1889 ( digitized version ).
• Documents on the older history of the Saldern school. Supplement to the program of the Saldern Realgymnasium in Brandenburg a. d. H. Easter 1893. Wiesike, Brandenburg a. d. H. 1893 ( digitized version ).
• Images from the history of the city of Brandenburg. A ceremony for the Hohenzollern jubilation in 1912 . Evenius, Brandenburg a. d. H. 1912.
• From the time of humiliation (= collection of sources for history lessons in higher schools. Issue 69). Teubner, Leipzig 1914 ( digitized version ).
• Under the protection of Roland. Cultural-historical forays through old Brandenburg . 4 volumes. Wiesike, Brandenburg a. d. H. 1922-1929; 2nd edition in one volume, 1938.
• History of the Chur and capital Brandenburg ad Havel. Festschrift for the city's millennium in 1928/29 . 2 volumes. Wiesike, Brandenburg a. d. H. 1928; 2nd edition 1936; 3rd edition 1941; Reprint Potsdam 2012, ISBN 978-3-88372-044-9 , ISBN 978-3-88372-045-6 .
• History of public opinion in Prussia from the Peace of Basel to the collapse of the state (1795–1806) . 2 volumes. Böhlau, Weimar 1933/1934.

literature

• Wolfgang Kusior: Otto Tschirch - Life and Work. In: Historischer Verein Brandenburg (Havel) eV: 3. – 4. Annual report 1993–1994. Brandenburg an der Havel 1995, pp. 13-29.
• Wolfgang Kusior: Little known from Otto Tschirch - scientific and other achievements beyond the scope of the city. In: Historischer Verein Brandenburg (Havel) eV: 12th annual report 2002–2003. Brandenburg an der Havel 2003, pp. 116-136.
• Klaus Heß: Otto Tschirch (1848–1941). City archivist and city historian of Brandenburg an der Havel. In: Friedrich Beck and Klaus Neitmann (eds.): Life pictures of Brandenburg archivists and historians. (= Brandenburg Historical Studies, Volume 16; = Publications of the Brandenburg Regional Association of the Association of German Archivists eV, Volume 4). Bebra-Wissenschaftsverlag , Berlin 2013, pp. 380–385.
• Willy Hoppe : Otto Tschirch. An obituary. In: Research on Brandenburg and Prussian history. Volume 54, 1943, pp. 1-10.
• Bernd Brülke: Otto Tschirch - an important Brandenburg historian. In: Gubener Heimatkalender 2011. P. 104-107.
• Kurt Adami: Tschirch, Otto. In: Friedrich Beck and Eckart Henning (eds.): Brandenburgisches Biographisches Lexikon (= individual publication by the Brandenburg Historical Commission, Volume 5). Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam 2002, ISBN 3-935035-39-X , pp. 399-400 (with portrait).
• Herrmann AL Degener : Degeners Who is it? 10th edition, Degener, Berlin 1935.
• Wolfgang Leesch : The German archivists 1500–1945. Volume 2: Biographical Lexicon. Saur, Munich a. a. 1992, ISBN 3-598-10605-X .
• Johannes Schultze : Otto Tschirch . In: Niederlausitzer Mitteilungen . Volume 31, Senftenberg 1946, pp. 122–124, unprinted, handwritten copy by Rudolf Lehmann in the Research Center for Historical Regional Studies of Central Germany, Marburg (call number AZ 40.110)
• Ludwig Draw: Commemorative speech. In: 72nd and 73rd annual report of the Historical Association of Brandenburg (Havel). Wiesikedruck, Brandenburg (Havel) 1943, pp. 1–17.

Web links

• Literature by and about Otto Tschirch in the catalog of the German National Library
• Brief biography and information on Otto Tschirch's work at Literaturport (with picture)
• Personnel form from Otto Tschirch in the personnel file of the BIL expert body in the archive database of the Library for Research on Educational History (BBF)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ on Carl Adolf Tschirch see: Vera Grützner: Tschirch, Carl Adolf . In: Friedrich Beck , Eckart Henning (Hrsg.): Brandenburgisches Biographisches Lexikon (= individual publication of the Brandenburg Historical Commission eV, Volume 5). Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam 2002, ISBN 3-935035-39-X , p. 399; Richard Schaal: Tschirch, family . In: Music in the past and present . Volume 13, 1966, columns 924-926; Tschirch, six brothers . In: Alfred Einstein (editor): Hugo Riemanns Musiklexikon . 11th edition, Berlin 1929, p. 1889
2. ↑ Otto Tschirch on the pages of the Otto Tschirch Oberschule