Paul Rohrbach

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Karl Albert Paul Rohrbach (born June 29, 1869 on the Irgen estate (later: Jēras muiža zu Raņķi ) near Goldingen in Kurland , then the Russian Empire , now Latvia ; † July 19, 1956 in Langenburg in Württemberg ) was a Protestant theologian and political publicist , Colonial official and travel writer.

Paul Rohrbach 1931

Life

Family and education

Rohrbach's parents were Friedrich Albert Rohrbach, land tenant and municipal official, and Emilie, née. Cog. He studied history in Dorpat , where he was a member of the Corps Neobaltia, and history, geography, economics and theology in Berlin . In August 1891 he received his doctorate in Berlin.

Rohrbach then studied theology in Berlin and Strasbourg until 1898 . In the same year he married the teacher Clara Müller. Her son Hans Rohrbach became a well-known mathematician. He made numerous trips, around 1896/97 to Russia , Turkestan and Armenia , 1898 to Palestine , 1900 to Turkestan, Armenia, Mesopotamia and Persia . In his theological thinking, the Palestine trip in particular brought about a change from a static, passive, historically shaped to a dynamic, socio-political and global Christianity.

In 1901 he published his main theological work In the Land of Yahweh and Jesus , in which he represented a doctrine of the kingdom of God on earth. The resulting scientific differences with his academic teacher Adolf von Harnack led to the end of his theological career.

politics

Rohrbach, who had joined the Progressive Party until 1911, combined the optimism of progress of his time with German nationalism and a Protestant-tinged cultural chauvinism to create “ethical imperialism” as the maxim of German foreign policy. That included a decided racism, as Horst Gründer notes. Rohrbach represented a racism "that can be called pre-fascist". He propagated his ideas in numerous book publications, magazine articles and editorials in leading German daily newspapers. In reporting on colonial and foreign policy , Rohrbach held an important position from around 1900 until the end of the First World War .

From 1903 to 1906 Rohrbach was active in the colonial service in German South West Africa as a settlement commissioner and economic expert. He then returned to Berlin and became a lecturer in colonial economics at the local commercial college.

First World War

From 1914 to 1918 Rohrbach worked in the Reichsmarineamt , then in the Foreign Office , where he stood out as a spokesman for anti-Russian politics. Rohrbach was, together with Theodor Schiemann, the leading head of the "Eastern European School", which during the First World War sought to dissolve multinational Russia through its "border state policy". Baltic German publicists like Rohrbach had a lasting influence on the predominantly anti-Russian and Ukrainophile public opinion in Germany and thereby favored the German government's policy of revolutionizing or “liberating” Ukraine.

Despite their tendency towards Germanization , through Russian Germans in the Baltic States, the "Eastern Europeans" Rohrbach and Schiemann were bitter opponents of the Pan-Germans and were among their sharpest propagandistic opponents. In contrast to the Pan-German “master folk attitude”, they wanted to grant autonomy to the Eastern European “marginalized peoples”. But Rohrbach also planned a "sub-Germanic area" around the Baltic Sea. The Baltic states could easily be Germanized by increasing the population from 6 million to 10-15 million. The Russian February Revolution of 1917 brought the “Schiemann School” and the Ukrainian publicists a considerable boost because their plans became more real. They tried to gain more influence over the civil and military leadership of the empire.

After the First World War

After the First World War, Rohrbach continued to work for Greater German national and colonial interests:

Rohrbach also had a great influence on the formation of political opinion in foreign policy during the Weimar Republic and published editorials in leading conservative daily newspapers in particular. He supported the propaganda for the regaining of the German colonies lost after the First World War and, at the latest since the end of the 1920s, represented views that made him sympathize with the racist politics of National Socialism .

During the Nazi era , Rohrbach continued to publish publications on the idea of ​​colonialism and travel reports, but withdrew from his active political activities. Although he did not ingratiate himself with the regime, “he was close to parts of his ideology and politics: national community, leadership state, subhuman thesis, Ostpolitik, anti-Bolshevism,“ military sovereignty ”, occupation of the Rhineland, return of the Saar, annexation of Austria, termination of reparations payments, fight against Poland . “After the Second World War he lived in seclusion in Langenburg.

For his persistent advocacy of an independent Ukraine , he was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Ukrainian Free University of Munich in 1949 and was made honorary president of the German-Ukrainian Society in 1952. In addition, together with Johannes Lepsius and Avetik Issahakyan, he founded the German-Armenian Society (DAG) in Berlin in 1914 with the aim of achieving the independence and autonomy of the Armenian people.

Fonts (selection)

Rohrbach's publications, especially newspaper and magazine articles, are very numerous. A total of around 2500 titles can be identified.

  • The "Greater Germany" in morality and politics. Part 1 and 2. In: Communications of the Evangelical-Social Congress. 9th Series, No. 1, February 1900, pp. 2-4; 9th episode, No. 2, March 1900, pp. 14-16 (programmatic article for a German world power policy).
  • Germany among the world's peoples. Foreign Policy Materials. Help, Berlin-Schöneberg 1903; 5th, completely revised edition, Stuttgart 1921 (fundamental work of liberal imperialism).
  • From South West Africa's difficult days. Leaves from work and farewell. Wilhelm Weicher, Berlin 1909 (diary-like recording of his experiences shortly before, during and after the Herero uprising 1903–1906).
  • The German thought in the world. Düsseldorf / Leipzig undated (1912); 3rd edition 1914; Revision 1920; Revision 1940; 3rd edition 1942 (Rohrbach's main work, in which he advocates German cultural imperialism).
  • Greater Germany. Weekly for German world and colonial politics. Published 1914–1918.
  • Among Kurdish robbers. Narration (= Illustrated Universe Library . Vol. 6). Gutsch, Karlsruhe / Leipzig 1914.
  • Why is it the German war! Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart 1914, urn : nbn: at: AT-OOeLB-2034657 .
  • Bismarck and us. Bruckmann, Munich 1915 (Bismarckgeist, bursts the English world fetter, evocation of the Russian danger, Germany as liberator).
  • as publisher: Das Baltenbuch. The Baltic provinces and their German culture. The yellow publishing house Walter Blumtritt, Dachau 1916.
  • Weltpolitisches Wanderbuch 1897–1915. Langewiesche, Königstein im Taunus / Leipzig 1916, urn : nbn: at: AT-OOeLB-5340047 .
  • The German thought. Journal for foreign politics, economics and German abroad. Published 1924–1928.
  • America and us. Travel contemplations. Buchenau & Reichert, Berlin undated (1925).
  • To the devil's handwriting. World history experienced two generations. Dulk, Hamburg 1953 (autobiography).

literature

Web links

Commons : Paul Rohrbach  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst founder: "Educating Negroes, Kanaks and Chinese to be useful people". Ideology and Practice of German Colonialism. In: Thomas Beck, Horst founder, Horst Pietschmann , Roderich Ptak (ed.): Überseegeschichte. Contributions from recent research. Stuttgart 1999, pp. 254–266, here: p. 265. With this statement, founder refers to: Paul Rohrbach: Koloniale Rassen- und Ehefragen. In: Die Hilfe , No. 19, May 9, 1912, pp. 291–293.
  2. ^ Paul Rohrbach on the economic damage of the Herero War for the colony of Deutschsüdwestafrika Freiburger Zeitung, August 20, 1904.
  3. ↑ Oleh S. Fedyshyn: Germany's Drive to the East and the Ukrainian Revolution 1917-1918 . New Brunswick / New Jersey 1971, pp. 21ff.
  4. ^ Peter Borowsky: German Ukraine Policy 1918 with special consideration of economic questions . Lübeck / Hamburg 1970, p. 16 and 292.
  5. ↑ Oleh S. Fedyshyn: Germany's Drive to the East and the Ukrainian Revolution 1917-1918 . New Brunswick / New Jersey 1971, pp. 25f.
  6. ^ Fritz Klein, Willibald Gutsche, Joachim Petzold (eds.): Germany in the First World War . Volume 2: January 1915 to October 1917 . Berlin / GDR 1970, p. 186.
  7. ↑ Oleh S. Fedyshyn: Germany's Drive to the East and the Ukrainian Revolution 1917-1918 . New Brunswick / New Jersey 1971, p. 42.
  8. ↑ a b c Josef Anker:  Paul Rohrbach. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 8, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, ISBN 3-88309-053-0 , Sp. 592-608.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
  9. ↑ Chun-Shik Kim: East Asia between fear and admiration. The popular German image of East Asia of the 1930s and 40s in travelogues from the Japanese empire. Hamburg 2001, p. 59.
personal data
SURNAME Rohrbach, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rohrbach, Karl Albert Paul (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Protestant theologian, publicist and author
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Gut Irgen near Goldingen
DATE OF DEATH July 19, 1956
Place of death Langenburg