Paul Höfer (prehistoric)

Paul Höfer (born March 11, 1845 in Craja , † October 8, 1914 in Blankenburg ) was a German teacher , local researcher and prehistoric archaeologist .

Life

He was the son of the Protestant pastor Karl Höfer and had at least two siblings, namely brother Hans (Privy Councilor) and sister Marie. After attending grammar school in Mühlhausen , he studied philology, philosophy and history at the universities of Halle and Göttingen . In 1870 he was promoted to Dr. phil. PhD. Then he was employed as a high school teacher in Göttingen. In 1871 he moved to Spandau and in 1877 as senior teacher at the Francisceum in Zerbst . In 1882 he settled in Bernburg .

During his time in Bernburg he discovered that the profession of educator did not fully satisfy him. From then on he devoted himself increasingly to scientific studies and published several articles. Due to an increasing nervous disease, he resigned his teaching profession in 1887 and moved to Nöschenrode near Wernigerode to relax . In quiet seclusion he got well again and devoted himself to scientific studies, especially several excavations, for example on the ruins of Königsburg , where he mistakenly suspected the Bodfeld hunting palace . In 1910 Paul Höfer moved to Blankenburg (Harz) , where he died four years later by suicide .

Höfer was a member of the Harz Association for History and Archeology and honorary curator of the Fürst-Stolberg-Museum in Wernigerode. In 1909 he helped to set up the antiquity museum in Bernburg and lastly also looked after the municipal museum in Blankenburg. He also worked as a writer.

Publications (selection)

• The Germanicus campaign in AD 16 , Festschrift, Alfred König printing house, Bernburg 1884
• The Varus Battle, its course and its location , Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888 ( digitized edition of the University and State Library Düsseldorf ).
• Harznovellen , Dessau 1902
• The Saxon Legends of the Thuringian-Franconian War in 531 AD , in: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History and Antiquity NF 17, 1907, pp. 1-80
• Against old and new legends , in: Journal of the Association for Thuringian History and Ancient History NF 19, 1909, pp. 275-316
• The prehistoric antiquities of Thuringia , Verlag C. Kabitzsch (A. Stuber), 1909

literature

• Werner Gall: Paul Höfer (March 11, 1845 to October 8, 1914). In: Archaeological Society in Thuringia e. V. (Ed.): 100 years "The prehistoric and early historical antiquities of Thuringia". Contributions to the history of archaeological monument preservation in Thuringia (= contributions to the prehistory and early history of Central Europe. Volume 59 = New excavations and finds in Thuringia. Special volume 2009). Beier & Beran, Langenweißbach 2010, ISBN 978-3-937517-83-4 , pp. 12-13.
• Hugo Mötefindt: Paul Höfer . In: Mitteldeutsche Lebensbilder , Volume 2: Lebensbilder des 19. Jahrhundert , Magdeburg 1927, pp. 425–437 (with picture).