Robert Goldschmit
Robert Goldschmit (born December 9, 1845 in Grünstadt , † January 29, 1923 in Karlsruhe ) was a German high school teacher, politician, historian and author of historical writings.
Life
Robert Goldschmit was born in 1845 (according to other sources 1848) as the son of the Jewish cattle dealer Abraham Goldschmit in Grünstadt, Rheinpfalz , Kingdom of Bavaria . There was a long-established Jewish community there with its own synagogue . After graduating from high school, the native of Grünstadt studied history and classical philology in Heidelberg, Bonn and Strasbourg in order to enter the teaching profession. Shortly after he came of age, Robert Goldschmit had adopted Baden citizenship out of free-spirited convictions, as he wanted to leave the Jewish religious community without joining a Christian church afterwards. This was possible without any problems in Baden after 1862.
Goldschmit received his doctorate in philosophy and settled in Karlsruhe in 1868, where he entered the higher education service in 1875 and finally worked as a professor at the Bismarck grammar school. The young pedagogue was married to Auguste Neuhöfer, daughter of the then highest-ranking doctor in the Bavarian Army. Goldschmit was involved both politically and locally. He built up the Karlsruhe city archives and wrote several books on the history of Baden and especially on the history of Karlsruhe, of which he published the most famous "The City of Karlsruhe, Its History and Administration" on the 200th anniversary of the commune's founding in 1915. It is still considered a standard work today.
From 1901 to 1904 he sat as a national liberal member of the Second Chamber of the Baden Estates Assembly (Landtag); from 1888 to 1908 he also acted as a national liberal member of the Karlsruhe Citizens' Committee (city council). He withdrew from active political life when the National Liberals in Baden increasingly made common cause with the Social Democrats against the more conservative center group . The Social Democrats , he declined all political groupings most sustainable because he felt the right-wing bourgeois camp belonging.
The Goldschmit couple had decidedly turned away from Judaism, both internally and externally, and left the Jewish religious community. All children were baptized and brought up as Protestants, even though their father Robert Goldschmit shied away from formal conversion to Christianity and, because of his free-spirited disposition, remained unaffiliated. He also belonged to the Freemason Lodge Leopold zur Loyalty in Karlsruhe. Politically, the teacher switched to the German National People's Party (DNVP) after 1918 . Robert Goldschmit died in 1923 as a very respected citizen of Karlsruhe and was buried there.
Children and family environment
Robert Goldschmit and his wife had three children, all of whom were born in Karlsruhe.
- Klara Goldschmit (born September 7, 1877), administrative clerk at the State Insurance Institute (LVA) Karlsruhe, forced retirement as a Jew of Christian faith in 1933 and deported on October 22, 1940 with other Jews from Baden and Palatinate to the Gurs camp in southern France, where she was deported on August 4 1941 died as a result of living conditions. The grave is still preserved in the Jewish camp cemetery.
- Bruno Goldschmit (* 1879), studied theology and became a Protestant clergyman in the regional church of Baden. He too was forcibly retired in 1933, but he survived the Nazi era with his wife and 5 children in Karlsruhe, where he died in 1954 and rests in the cemetery in the Rüppurr district .
- Arnold Goldschmit (born April 24, 1880), secondary school and grammar school professor for natural sciences in Mannheim, Ettlingen and from 1920 in Karlsruhe; Forced retirement in 1933. He moved to Munich in 1935, from there to the Dachau concentration camp and from here to the Piaski camp in Poland in 1942 . Nothing is known about his further fate, he was later pronounced dead.
In 2001, a memorial stone was erected in Karlsruhe for the deported and perished Jewish fellow citizens, on which Robert Goldschmit's children Klara and Arnold are also listed; the city administration dedicated memorial websites to them, written by Johannes Goldschmit, historian in Karlsruhe (* 1955) Grandson of Pastor Bruno Goldschmit.
Works (selection)
- Prince Bismarck tells his life and work to the youth. Festschrift to celebrate the chancellor's 80th birthday on April 1, 1895
- The political achievements of Baden under the reign of Grand Duke Friedrich. Festschrift for the 70th birthday of the Grand Duke, Macklot'sche Buchhandlung, Karlsruhe, 1896
- Grand Duke Friedrich von Baden, tells his life and work as sovereign and German prince of the youth. Festschrift on completion of the 80th year of life. Braun'scher Verlag, Karlsruhe, 1906
- The city of Karlsruhe 1715–1915: its history and administration, commemorative publication commemorating its 200th anniversary. CF Müller publishing house, Karlsruhe, 1915
- History of the Baden Constitutional Charter 1818–1918. Braun'sche Hofbuchdruckerei, Karlsruhe, 1918
- Eduard Devrient's stage reform at the Karlsruhe court theater. Vossischer Verlag, Leipzig, 1921
literature
- Goldschmit, Robert , in: Bernd Ottnad (Hrsg.): Badische Biographien . New episode. Volume IV. Published on behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1996, ISBN 3-17-010731-3 , p. 98 f.
- Ernest Hamburger: Jews in public life in Germany: members of government, civil servants and parliamentarians in the monarchical period 1848–1918. Mohr Verlag, Tübingen, 1968 ( scan of the section on Robert Goldschmit ).
Web links
- Personal data record on Robert Goldschmit in the Baden-Württemberg state bibliography
- Memorial page of the city of Karlsruhe to Robert Goldschmit and his family
- Speeches by Robert Goldschmit in the Baden state parliament in the digital collections of the Badische Landesbibliothek
Individual evidence
- ^ Commemorative page of the Freemason Lodge Karlsruhe, on Robert Goldschmit
- ↑ Klara Goldschmit's memorial page
- ↑ Arnold Goldschmit memorial page
- ^ Memorial stone of the city of Karlsruhe with a mention of Klara and Arnold Goldschmit
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Goldschmit, Robert |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German high school teacher, politician, historian and book author |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 9, 1845 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Grünstadt |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 29, 1923 |
| Place of death | Karlsruhe |