Otto Westphal (historian)

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Otto Heinrich Westphal (* February 18, 1891 in Hamburg ; † February 15, 1950 ibid) was a German historian and full professor of Middle and Modern History at the Department of History at Hamburg University from 1933 to 1936. Westphal was a pioneer in an orientation of science and university structure in the sense of National Socialism .

Life

Otto Westphal came from a wealthy patrician family. His father Eduard Wilhelm Westphal was a lawyer.

In 1910 Westphal began studying history at the University of Freiburg . Further stations were Berlin and Munich , where Friedrich Meinecke , Max Lenz and the later editor of the historical magazine and active National Socialist Karl Alexander von Müller were among his academic teachers. In 1917 Westphal received his doctorate in Munich under Erich Marcks with a dissertation on the history of German liberalism . Westphal completed his habilitation in Hamburg in 1923 and taught there as a private lecturer until he was re-qualified at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in the winter semester of 1931/32 . There he worked on a project for the bicentenary of the university after mediation by Karl Brandi .

When Friedrich Keutgen , holder of the Chair of Medieval and Modern History II at the University of Hamburg, retired in September 1933, Otto Westphal was offered this position. In a laudation from the faculty, the decision in favor of Westphal was justified with his political stance. Westphal had joined the NSDAP in April 1933 . On November 11, 1933, he signed the German professors' confession of Adolf Hitler .

Westphal taught as a full professor in Hamburg from the winter semester of 1933 until he took over the position of professor in Königsberg in 1936 for Hans Rothfels, who was expelled due to his Jewish origins . On October 6, 1936, he was arrested for violating Section 175 of the Criminal Code (homosexual acts). This was preceded by a raid on Hamburg's Reeperbahn, as a result of which Westphal was accused of having "contacts" with male prostitutes. Although Westphal was acquitted due to a lack of sufficient evidence, the state education authority nevertheless sought his dismissal in disciplinary proceedings. Probably to avoid this process, Westphal renounced his release on September 30, 1937 on "title, salary and pension". From then on he published as a freelance writer. Westphal died in Hamburg on February 15, 1950.

Scientific work

1917-1932

In his dissertation from 1917 Westphal examined the genesis of the Prussian yearbooks , which for him represent the central organ of the liberal movement before the founding of the Empire. By evaluating the yearbooks, he sought to arrive at a “picture of the liberal German people in their inner contexts”. The dissertation is not just a settlement with liberalism, but it also does not spare the criticism that arises from Westphal's worldview. The doctoral candidate emphasizes the influence of liberalism on Germany's development as a nation , but criticizes the lack of binding force of the national liberal conception of the state. The latter never had dominion over the masses - which in Westphal's thinking Bismarck could only unite.

In general, Westphal dealt in several publications with the development of a German nation within the framework of a general state philosophy . This was followed by work on the German National Assembly , the development of a general doctrine of the state, the co-author of the Paulskirche constitution of 1848, Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann and the concept of the state of the historian Heinrich von Treitschke , to which he had already given a chapter in his dissertation.

His work always intended to serve as an orientation for the present and the future. The academic study of “political humanity” should at the same time serve as a guide for practical application in the concrete political situation in Germany - a motto that Westphal followed with great vigor after 1933 through his university policy activities. He emphasized that the Germans are a "people of science" and that the crises of the present can only be overcome if the state and science work together.

Westphal was a supporter of Bismarck and the Prussian traditions, the founding of the empire in 1871 was for him the completion of Lutheran Protestantism , as he explained in his work "Enemies of Bismarck". In this, the national-conservative historian examined the cultural opposition not only to Bismarck, but also to the "Ideas of 1871" handed down to the present, based on a criticism of the Bismarck biography of the writer Emil Ludwig . By contrasting the “ideas of 1871” he praised with the “ideas of 1919” as a political culture of decay, which was not based on the state as a central moral idea, Westphal attacked the historical basis of the Weimar Republic .

Another subject that Westphal was to occupy with until the end of his academic career was universal history . In his “Philosophy of Politics” from 1921 he attempted to trace the course of world history up to the present day. For Westphal, world history culminated in the German Empire, which since the outbreak of the First World War, encircled by the alliance of other powers, had been the focus: "With their will to destroy us, they raised us."

National Socialism 1933–1945

Shortly after the takeover of the National Socialists an essay he published under the title "Bismarck and Hitler," in which he , Hitler declared a finisher of Bismarck's work, the anknüpfe with the "Ideas of 1933" to the vaunted "Ideas of 1871". It says there: “In the front line against the golden, black and red Internationals, against the ' black-red-golden ' idea, the founders of the empire and the leaders of the third empire meet . Internal democracy and external internationalism are the ideals in whose cultivation one and the other recognized the incompatibility with a peculiar and sovereign German existence ”.

Westphal expressed solidarity with the National Socialist idea: “That was overthrow and reorganization at the same time, revolutionary transformation and yet deepest historical bond: a unity of Germanism and Prussia , which our enemies want to blaspheme as barbarism because they suspect that in it the idea of ​​one German century takes root. "

When for Westphal the Prussian state and the Germanic people converged in terms of the history of ideas, he also seems to have succeeded in reconciling his previous research with the National Socialist conceptions of German history. In the same year he wrote an article for the Hamburg university newspaper under the title "Political Science", in which he stated that in 1933 "people and state" had become identical. Science must no longer follow “ L'art pour l'art ” and no longer tolerate professors who, out of a striving for objectivity, ignore the demands of the people's state in their work. The article takes on a programmatic character when Westphal made the scholar responsible for the state - and thus explicitly for the National Socialist state - at that time.

It was only after his release in 1941 that the work that Peter Borowsky called “probably the most important manifesto of National Socialist ideology of history” came out: Das Reich. Rise and completion . In it, Westphal sketched the path of the Germanic-German people through history up to the establishment of the Reich and attempted an interpretive, metaphysically evaluative historiography. The history of the empire was at the same time the history of religion , religion and state were inextricably linked.

This interpretative historiography was equally influenced by ethnic ideology , which made it possible to grasp German history as a unit and as purposeful, as in the times of Borussianism, which had been programmed for the establishment of the Reich under Prussian leadership. In his introduction, which is reminiscent of a depiction of the Last Judgment, he describes Adolf Hitler's work as follows: "Like a geological event, a tremendous transformation is breaking out in the history of the present."

In terms of content, thematic and political aspects, Westphal clearly decided to write history in the sense of the National Socialists. Geopolitics , race theory and the “Nordic spirit” became integral parts of his work. In social Darwinian terms, he described the race struggle as a natural “total planetary phenomenon”.

After 1945

Encounter of the Gods was to be the title of the work that Otto Westphal left behind only as a fragment when he died in 1950. Gustav Adolf Rein , his former companion, later published it as World History of Modern Times 1750–1950 . Here Westphal came back to the topic of universal history, in the context of which he was also led "to a new interpretation of the German path of fate".

In the introduction, the author presents himself as a refined “ex-fascist” whose task it is now to research National Socialism in order to prevent a new, “reactionary edition” of the “Third Reich”. Hitler is now portrayed by him as a pan-European catastrophe, as purgatory. As his former opponent at the historical seminar of Hamburg University, Justus Hashagen , wrote in a review, Westphal's handling of National Socialism or the Jewish question is extremely sketchy, even if he attests that he was largely able to avoid "apologetic character". At this point, Westphal was far from coming to terms with his personal role in National Socialism, as he had covered the horrors of the terrorist regime far too much. The “incompleteness”, as Hashagen writes, would be better described with a “concealment”.

Westphal's last work, an application of Goethe's color theory to the philosophy of history, appeared in 1957. Westphal's oeuvre no longer plays a role in historiography today. Nicolaus Sombart justifies it like this: “In contrast to his prominent generation comrades, Schmitt, Jünger, Heidegger, he did not remain silent after 1945, but made a courageous attempt to explain his 'error' to himself and the world. The guild did not forgive him, he was hushed up. "

University policy work

As early as 1924/25, when he started teaching, Westphal was a representative of the private lecturers and in 1925/26 (and again in 1934) a member of the Academic Senate. As a national conservative, he rejected the parliamentary system of the Weimar Republic and instead cherished the hope of a “revolutionary conservatism” that would be fulfilled in the renewal of Prussian-Protestant traditions. In 1932 Westphal had published an appeal in favor of the Papen government in the Göttinger Tageblatt .

Otto Westphal joined the NSDAP on April 29, 1933 . Accordingly, he was one of the signatories of the “Professors' Commitment to Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist State” in November 1933. In a speech at the foundation of the Reich at the University of Hamburg, Westphal gave a speech in which he praised Hitler for it that this Friedrich the Great and Bismarck had again raised to "ruling spirits". On this occasion, he highlighted Frederick the Great as a “pronounced anti-Semite ”.

As early as 1932, when Westphal was teaching in Göttingen, Gustav Adolf Rein, who later became the director of the university, had developed the "idea of ​​the political university" in Hamburg. Westphal put this concept into practice with him from the winter semester of 1933. Together they created the “Political Expert Community”, which was anchored in the “Law for the Reorganization of the Hamburg University” of January 19, 1934. This professional community was to become the “engine” of the political and scientific development of the university and thereby combine National Socialist ideology with scientific traditions, as Westphal explained in his article “Das Politische Colleg” in the university newspaper.

Initially an “inner-scientific movement” of the teaching staff, the “National Socialist University” with the political orientation of the entire teaching system as a long-term goal. Westphal himself became the dean of the “Politische Fachgemeinschaft” in January 1934. The initiative's supporters were never able to achieve the goals they had set themselves: Although ideologically oriented lectures were offered in various subjects for several semesters, a complete redesign of the lecture system did not succeed. In this context, Westphal held events on the subjects of “Prussianism and Socialism ” and “ Jüngers Arbeiter” as part of a course on “German Socialism”.

Meanwhile, at the historical seminar, a conflict flared up between the “political” and the “non-political” scientists, especially between Otto Westphal and Justus Hashagen, who resolutely rejected National Socialism and “political science”. The dispute was mainly fought over questions about doctorates and teaching materials.

Teaching at the University of Hamburg

The lectures and exercises that Otto Westphal gave during his time as a professor in Hamburg also carried the characteristics of National Socialist ideas outside of the professional community. Although many of the names can only be assigned to his long-term research focus (“Prussian History”, “General History in the Age of Bismarck”), others gave the nominal direction: the interpretation of German history based on the Nazi takeover. Examples:

  • Origins and Nature of the National Socialist Movement in the Context of German History (WS 1933/34)
  • National Socialist Science of History (WS 1934/35)
  • German intellectual history from Nietzsche to Rosenberg (summer semester 1934)
  • European revolutions from the peasant war to the present (summer semester 1934).

Fonts

  • The Prussian Yearbooks from 1858–1863. Phil.Diss. Munich 1917, printed: Weimar 1918.
  • World and state conception of German liberalism. A study of the Prussian yearbooks and constitutional liberalism in Germany from 1858–1863 , Munich 1919.
  • German National Assembly. The New Spirit , Leipzig undated
  • Philosophy of politics. Units and Powers of Universal History , Munich 1921.
  • Remarks on the development of a general political theory in Germany , in: Von Staatliches Werden und Wesen. Festschrift for Erich Marcks on his 60th birthday. Edited by Ludwig Bergstrasse . Stuttgart 1921.
  • Heinrich von Treitschke's concept of the state , in: German state and German parties. Festschrift for Friedrich Meinecke on his 60th birthday. Edited by Paul Wentzcke. Munich 1922, pp. 155-200.
  • On the historical development of the German state idea , in: Österreichische Rundschau 18 (1922), pp. 551–564.
  • Metternich and his state , in: Österreichische Rundschau 19 (1923), pp. 901–915.
  • Introduction , in: Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann: Die Politik (= Classics of Politics , Vol. 12). Edited by Otto Westphal. Berlin 1924.
  • On the assessment of Hegel and Dahlmann , in: HZ 129 (1924), pp. 252-280.
  • German Liberalism in the Age of Bismarck , in: HZ 138 (1928), pp. 58–71.
  • Enemies of Bismarck , 1930.
  • About the ideas from 1871 , in: Bismarck and Göttingen. Edited by Arnold Oskar Meyer. Göttingen 1932.
  • Gustav Adolf and the foundations of Swedish power , Hamburg 1932.
  • On the subject of Max Lenz , in: Hanseatische Geschichtsblätter 57 (1932), pp. 27–37.
  • Theology of German History? , Hamburg 1933.
  • Bismarck and Hitler , in: Past and Present 23 (1933), pp. 469–481.
  • The Empire. Rise and completion , Stuttgart 1941.
  • Asia or America? Europe between East and West , Hamburg 1950.
  • Modern world history 1750–1950 . Edited by Gustav Adolf Rein, Stuttgart 1953.
  • World history as reflected in Goethe's theory of colors , Stuttgart 1957.

literature

  • Peter Borowsky : History at the University of Hamburg from 1933 to 1945 . In: Everyday university life in the “Third Reich”. The Hamburg University 1933–1945 . Berlin, Hamburg 1991 (Hamburg Contributions to University History, Vol. 3, Part 2), pp. 537-588.
  • Rüdiger vom Bruch , Rainer A. Müller: Historikerlexikon. From antiquity to the present. Beck, Munich 2002.
  • Walter Görlitz : No continent goes under like this. Historical fragments of a disappointed idealist [review of Westphal's “Weltgeschichte der Neuzeit”, presumably from “Die Welt”, 1953].
  • Hans-Werner Goetz : History in Hamburg in the "Third Reich" , in: Rainer Nicolaysen / Axel Schildt (ed.): 100 years of history in Hamburg. Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin, Hamburg 2011, pp. 103-160.
  • Joist Grolle : Percy Ernst Schramm from Hamburg - a historian in search of reality. Hamburg 1989.
  • Justus Hashagen : Modern World History 1750–1950. From Otto Westphal. In: Historische Zeitschrift 178 (1954), p. 362.
  • Helmut Heiber : University under the swastika. Part 1: The professor in the Third Reich. Images from the academic province. , Munich 1991, pp. 462-464.
  • Hajo Holborn : Protestantism and the History of Political Ideas. Critical remarks on the occasion of Otto Westphal's book: “Enemies of Bismarck”. In: Historische Zeitschrift 144 (1931), pp. 15-30.
  • Klemens Hying: Otto Westphal's and Christoph Steding's historical thinking . A contribution to the analysis of National Socialist historiography. Dissertation. Free University of Berlin 1964.
  • Gustav Adolf Rein : The idea of ​​the political university. Hamburg 1933.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CV. In: Otto Westphal: The Prussian Yearbooks from 1858–1863. Dietsch & Brückner, Weimar 1918 (dissertation, University of Munich, 1917).
  2. ^ Peter Borowsky: History at the Hamburg University 1933 to 1945 . In: Everyday university life in the “Third Reich”. The Hamburg University 1933–1945 . Berlin, Hamburg 1991 (Hamburg Contributions to University History, Vol. 3, Part 2), pp. 537–588, here p. 542.
  3. ^ Peter Borowsky: History at the Hamburg University 1933 to 1945 . In: Everyday university life in the “Third Reich”. The Hamburg University 1933–1945 . Berlin, Hamburg 1991 (Hamburg Contributions to University History, Vol. 3, Part 2), pp. 537–588, here p. 544.
  4. ^ Ernst Klee : The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 2nd updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 978-3-596-16048-8 , p. 672.
  5. ↑ Helmut Heiber: University under the swastika. Part 1: The professor in the Third Reich. Pictures from the academic province , p. 463.
  6. ↑ a b Peter Borowsky: History at the University of Hamburg 1933 to 1945 . In: Everyday university life in the “Third Reich”. The Hamburg University 1933–1945 . Berlin, Hamburg 1991 (Hamburg Contributions to University History, Vol. 3, Part 2), pp. 537–588, here p. 553.
  7. ^ Westphal, Welt- und Staatsaufstellung des Deutschen Liberalismus , p. 11.
  8. ^ Westphal, Welt- und Staatsaufstellung des Deutschen Liberalismus , p. 306.
  9. ↑ Westphal, Philosophy of Politics , p. 32.
  10. ↑ a b Otto Westphal . In: Rüdiger vom Bruch and Rainer A. Müller (eds.): Historikerlexikon. From antiquity to the present. Munich 2002, pp. 356-357.
  11. ↑ Westphal, Philosophy of Politics , p. 10.
  12. ^ Westphal, Bismarck and Hitler , p. 471.
  13. ↑ Westphal, Bismarck and Hitler , p. 481.
  14. ↑ Westphal, Politische Wissenschaft , p. 21.
  15. ^ Westphal, Politische Wissenschaft , p. 25.
  16. ^ Westphal, Das Reich , S. XVI.
  17. ^ Westphal, Das Reich , p. 2.
  18. ^ Westphal, Das Reich , p. 24.
  19. ^ Westphal, Das Reich , p. 21.
  20. ↑ Adolf Rein: Otto Westphal to the memory. In: Journal for Geopolitics 52 (2003) 3, p. 192.
  21. ^ Westphal, Weltgeschichte der Neuzeit, p. 11.
  22. ^ Justus Hashagen: World History of the Modern Age 1750–1950. From Otto Westphal. In: Historische Zeitschrift 178 (1954), p. 362.
  23. ↑ Nicolaus Sombart: The German men and their enemies . Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 1991, ISBN 3-446-15881-2 , p. 392, footnote 39.
  24. ^ Peter Borowsky: History at the Hamburg University 1933 to 1945 . In: Everyday university life in the “Third Reich”. The Hamburg University 1933–1945 . Berlin, Hamburg 1991 (Hamburg Contributions to University History, Vol. 3, Part 2), pp. 537–588, here p. 543.
  25. ↑ Joist Grolle: The Hamburger Percy Ernst Schramm - a historian in search of reality . Hamburg 1989, p. 19.
  26. ↑ Hamburger Nachrichten of January 18, 1934 (B. Vogel archive).
  27. ^ Gustav Adolf Rein: The idea of ​​the political university . Hamburg 1933. According to Borowsky, p. 543, Westphal had influenced him.
  28. ^ Westphal: Die Politische Fachgemeinschaft . Pp. 150-152.
  29. ^ Peter Borowsky: History at the Hamburg University 1933 to 1945 . In: Everyday university life in the “Third Reich”. The Hamburg University 1933–1945 . Berlin, Hamburg 1991 (Hamburg Contributions to University History, Vol. 3, Part 2), pp. 537–588, here p. 546.
  30. ↑ Information from the course catalogs of the Hanseatic University, WS 1935/36.
  31. ^ Peter Borowsky: History at the Hamburg University 1933 to 1945 . In: Everyday university life in the “Third Reich”. The Hamburg University 1933–1945 . Berlin, Hamburg 1991 (Hamburg Contributions to University History, Vol. 3, Part 2), pp. 537-588, here pp. 548ff.
personal data
SURNAME Westphal, Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Westphal, Otto Heinrich (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 1950
Place of death Hamburg