Richard Knussert

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Richard Knussert (born August 6, 1907 in Donauwörth ; † March 30, 1966 in Kempten (Allgäu) ) was a high school professor and explorer of Roman roads in Swabia , Tyrol , Salzburg and Vorarlberg . In the time of National Socialism he was considered a loyal supporter of the regime. He held the post of district culture warden. According to former students, he was still convinced of conspiracy theories and the Nazi cult even after the end of the National Socialist dictatorship . The city council of the city of Kempten honored his activities with the street name Knussertstraße in the area of ​​the Lindenberg ( Cambodunum ).

Life

education

Knussert was the son of a senior magistrate. He attended the old grammar school in Oettingen in Bavaria and later the humanistic grammar school in Neuburg an der Donau . In 1926 he had passed his Abitur. He then studied history, German and French in Munich and at the University of Paris . Knussert received his doctorate in 1930/31 as a historian under Heinrich Günter at the LMU Munich . The title of his dissertation was “The German Trips to Italy 951-1220 and the Defense Constitution.” He summarized the research results that have already been widespread about the implementation of the armed forces of the kings who are moving to Italy. Knussert did not succeed in "contributing to the solution of the constitutional-historical questions." In Mühldorf am Inn he started as a study assessor after completing his studies , later he came to Füssen and taught there at a secondary school.

Nazi era: Gaul propaganda and war effort

In 1936 at the latest, he became a supporter of the Nazi regime and received the position of Gau culture warden for the Gau Schwaben . From July 1, 1936, he replaced his predecessor Heinz Zwisler, who had made enemies with his work. From then on he was also responsible for the "Official cultural-political journal of the Gau Swabia of the NSDAP" with the name Schwabenland . In addition to texts by Adolf Hitler , this magazine also published articles by the Kempten historian and home guardian Alfred Weitnauer as well as ethnic and anti - Semitic texts by Eduard Gebele . At the beginning of his term of office he was directly subordinate to the Gauleiter of the Gaus Schwaben . After a restructuring shortly after taking office in 1936, the Gau culture warden was subordinate to the Gau Propaganda Office, at the same time Knussert was also head of the Gau main office. He was thus responsible for the Bavarian-Swabian cultural area. According to the Munich historian Martina Steber, who dealt with personalities from the Nazi era in Swabia, Knussert was a rather unknown, “pale” personality when he took office. Knussert worked in the Reich Propaganda Ministry until the middle of the war . In his area of ​​competence, he also assessed works of art by contemporary artists from his Gau that depicted Adolf Hitler (so-called Führer pictures). In doing so, he assessed very differently and in detail in comparison to other experts. For example, in a letter dated June 2, 1938, Knussert criticized the work of the master carpenter Karl Kraft from Irsee , who created it out of national enthusiasm: “[...] Besides, the head of the Führer seems too small considering the overcrowding of the whole picture. Above all, it would be important that the overall picture is simplified and that too much ornamentation is eliminated. [...] “ As part of his function as a district culture warden, he also honored those involved in culture who spoke out against Jews and the sick. During the Second World War he served in the Air Force from 1939 as a senior ensign in Finland and Lapland with the paratroopers, was taken prisoner by the British, followed by denazification . On December 18, 1948, the Denazification Main Committee in Telgte classified it as a follower . He worked at the Oberrealschule Kempten until 1950 , then worked at the Oberrealschule Hohenschwangau near Füssen until 1957 and finally switched to the Humanistic Gymnasium in Kempten. From February 1958 until his death he was chairman of the Heimatverein Kempten . As chairman of this Heimatverein, he was also a board member of the Heimatbund Allgäu, founded in 1948 .

Demise

The historian died unexpectedly on August 6, 1966 on the way to high school. Knussert was honored on March 31st at a funeral mass in the St. Lorenz Basilica in Kempten and buried on April 1st, 1966 in the forest cemetery in Füssen. The funeral ceremony was accompanied by teachers and students from the Kempten high school as well as personalities from the homeland security movement such as Alfred Weitnauer , Josef Rottenkolber and Kornelius Riedmiller . A representative of the Kempten holiday association Algovia also gave a final greeting at the funeral.

In an obituary in the annual publication Allgäuer Geschichtsfreund of the Heimatverein Kempten, the author, anonymous by name, did not comment on Knussert's activities between 1933 and 1945. Only his war mission in Northern Europe was briefly mentioned. In two editions of the daily newspaper Der Allgäuer (since 1968 Allgäuer Zeitung ) his teaching activity and his early historical research were mentioned with praise. His war effort with the past under National Socialism was not mentioned.

Criticized honor from 2018 due to Nazi past

In 1973, the western part of Ostbahnhofstrasse in Knussertstrasse ⊙ on the Lindenberg in Kempten was named after the historical researcher , which a group of former students criticized in a letter to the city of Kempten in July 2018. Knussert's former pupil, the economist Georg Karg (graduate class 1961) from the Technical University of Munich and the Augsburg theologian Michael Mayr (born January 26, 1941 - December 8, 2019), who studied in Rome , justified the criticism with his past and his role in National Socialism . The teacher and author Jakob Knab from Kaufbeuren also joined this group .

According to Karg and Mayr, Knussert is said to have been convinced of the greatness of Adolf Hitler even after 1945 , which he often presented in history lessons. According to these late critics, he denied the Holocaust as a teacher and described it as "bad propaganda" by the English . In history class, Knussert compared the Third Reich with the empires of Charlemagne and Napoleon . In these cases too, according to Knussert, the size was only recognized centuries later. According to Knussert, only the winners of the First World War were to blame for the further world war in Europe. Poland deliberately provoked the German Reich with the British-French declaration of guarantee , and Germany then attacked Poland by necessity. The former students were also outraged because a street in Kempten was named after the resistance fighter and Alfred Kranzfelder who was involved in the Stauffenberg assassination attempt on Hitler in 2008, when Knussertstraße had been around for a long time.

On behalf of the city of Kempten, Lord Mayor Thomas Kiechle ( CSU ) defended the historian against the Süddeutsche Zeitung and made it clear that Knussert would not be distanced. There are “no reliable indications” that would diminish Knussert's earnings. Kiechle's hypothesis was that if you rename streets in such cases, you would have to check almost all other streets in Germany with people born between 1890 and 1920.

Jakob Knab considered these statements to be “historical-political foaming” . Karg and Mayer have communicated that they want to make their statements about Knussert credible in an oath instead of an affirmation. Some people have already reported incomprehension about the defiant behavior of the city. In the Allgäuer Zeitung it was reported that former pupils reported to the city who described the statements by Mayr and Karg as “lies”, “knowing better” and “denigrating Knussert”. According to the newspaper, Mayr and Karg from their senior year should be alone with their demands. In particular, no pupils confessed to Knussert (as of October 1, 2018).

In the city's history, the naming of a street after a National Socialist was criticized earlier. Since 1973 a street in the city center bore the name of the high-ranking Nazi officer Eduard Dietl (General-Dietl-Straße). The first protests arose in 1986, but the name was not changed to Prälat-Götz-Straße until 1993, after the government in Bonn intervened . The city councilor Klaus Spiekermann ( The Greens ) had already made an application early on, which the then Mayor Josef Höß (CSU) said: “Who gives you the self-righteousness to want to erase this man from memory? One could get scared if people had something decisive to say to their convictions. ” Was rejected.

Works (selection)

The historian dealt mainly with Roman roads. His core work includes researching the Roman cross-Alpine road from Bregenz to Innsbruck. In the announcement about the death it was stated that with numerous excavations he “inspired the students of the humanistic grammar school for the care of the homeland idea” .

  • The Füssener Land in earlier times. Publishing house of the home keeper of Swabia, Kempten 1955.
  • The German trips to Italy 951-1220 and the military constitution. Oettingen in Bavaria 1931.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Note: According to the obituary in the Allgäuer Geschichtsfreund from 1966. Martina Steber only writes that Knussert comes from Oettingen in Bavaria.
  2. ↑ a b c d e High School Professor Dr. Knussert died. In: Der Allgäuer, March 31, 1966
  3. ↑ Dietrich von Gladiß : No. 192 In: New Archive of the Society for Older German History , Volume 50, Berlin 1935, p. 710. ( online )
  4. ↑ a b c without author: Professor Dr. Richard Knussart In: Allgäuer Geschichtsfreund, No. 66, Kempten 1966, 3 pages.
  5. ↑ Imprint and table of contents of various editions of Schwabenland from mid-1936
  6. ↑ Martina Steber: Ethnic certainties: The order of the regional in Bavarian Swabia from the Empire to the Nazi regime. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2010, p. 384.
  7. ↑ Karl Kraft was still convinced of the German Reich after 1945, he redefined guilt for the world wars in his own publication in 1965. According to local residents, he was also a local NSDAP functionary. ( The wondrous world of Karl Kraft. In: all-in.de, August 28, 2010, accessed on July 17, 2018)
  8. ↑ Tobias Ronge: The image of the ruler in painting and graphics of National Socialism ; P. 67 f.
  9. ↑ Martina Steber: Ethnic certainties: The order of the regional in Bavarian Swabia from the Empire to the Nazi regime. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2010, p. 382.
  10. ↑ Obituary notice of Dr. Richard Knussert in the Allgäu newspaper on March 31, 1966
  11. ↑ a b Grand Entourage for Dr. Richard Knussert. In: Der Allgäuer, April 2, 1966
  12. ↑ Susanne Kustermann: Former students of Dr. Richard Knussert criticize his appreciation with a road. In: Kreisbote.de, July 6, 2018 (accessed July 13, 2018)
  13. ↑ Christian Rost: City defends local history researchers with Nazi enthusiasm. In: sueddeutsche.de, July 13, 2018 (accessed July 13, 2018)
  14. ↑ City Knusserstraße wants to keep. In Kreisbote Kempten, July 21, 2018, p. 4. ( online )
  15. ^ Ralf Lienert : Late NS allegations. In: Allgäuer Zeitung (Kempter Tagblatt), July 20, 2018, p. 27.
  16. ^ Klaus Wittmann: Brown souvenir. In: zeit.de, June 17, 1988 (accessed July 20, 2018)
personal data
SURNAME Knussert, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German, National Socialist historian and district warden
DATE OF BIRTH August 6, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Donauwörth
DATE OF DEATH March 30, 1966
Place of death Kempten (Allgäu)