Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture

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The Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture was the successor to the Patriotic Society , which wanted to raise agriculture and industry in Silesia by educating the people and spreading the understanding of scientific research, preferably in the field of mathematics and natural science. The purpose of the society in general was to facilitate and stimulate the study of mathematics and all natural sciences in Silesia .

Club history

Christian Heinrich Müller (1772–1849) founded the Society of Friends of Natural Sciences in Wroclaw on December 17, 1803 , which was officially approved by the authorities in its own statutes from mid-1804 under the name Society for the Advancement of Natural History and Industry of Silesia . From 1809 it was called the Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture .

The society suggested by Müller, whose first secretary he also became, was supposed to enliven the study of mathematics and natural sciences in Silesia, with a constant relationship to real life and the needs of the province, to get to know Silesia in natural history, physics and technology. counteract the ignorance, which still prevails in some branches of industry, through constant correspondence between the men in the capital and in the province, exchange of ideas and experiences, establishment of a library, a collection of natural objects, a physical cabinet. Technicians, manufacturers and manufacturers, such as astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, chemists etc. will be equally welcome, as well as everyone else .

The motto of the society, which was retained despite its later renaming, was NATURÆ ET PATRIÆ - The natural history and the fatherland . A terrestrial globe was chosen as the seal of society, on which Silesia was to be read and on the base of which the hammer and spindle, from which all trades in Silesia had started, lie. Above is the motto of the society NATURÆ ET PATRIÆ, and below the 17th December 1803 as the foundation day.

The organization plan of 1804 provided for the exploration of Silesia in natural history, physical and technical terms. The aim of the non-profit association was to increase agriculture, industry and public welfare in the province of Silesia . To this end, the society wanted to serve all capable men as a forum for exchanging experiences and as a knowledge center through consultations, lectures and correspondence.

The secret minister of state Karl Georg von Hoym , who ruled in Silesia, confirmed these statutes on September 22nd, 1804, and from then on the members met regularly for social gatherings at which scientific and technical lectures were given. The regularity of the first meetings and the great enthusiasm of the members proved how serious they were with the newly founded society. The meetings were divided into ordinary and extraordinary, the former into weekly, monthly, and annual. The weekly and monthly meetings were held on Fridays and opened at 5 p.m. in the afternoon. Until the creation of its own journal in 1806, the society published its meeting minutes in the Silesian Provincial Gazette .

The local members paid one Reichstaler monthly and had the right to visit the meeting room every day, to use the journals and library, and to appear at the weekly general meetings where lectures were given. Despite the high contributions, the number of members quickly grew to over 200.

The two-year French occupation of Wroclaw by Napoleon in 1807/1808 ran into financial difficulties, and after the withdrawal of the French occupation troops, it was transformed on December 18, 1808 and expanded into the Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture. It continued under this name until 1945. At their constitutional meeting, their program was announced by Samuel Gottfried Reiche : The society, limited by its name to the promotion of natural history and industry, becomes the general institute of a society of Silesians for their fatherland, to which everything spiritual, every loyal heart clinging to fatherland and government connects. But in order to combine a careful pursuit of individual objects with the generality of the endeavors, the harmonious whole grows out of individual, small associations called sections, which combine to be taught entertainment and to examine objects from certain subjects. What made up the whole thing up to now, the Society for Natural History and Industry will only become part of the expanded circle. Perhaps individual daughter lines originate from it, as for entomology, botany, technical chemistry, economics, and next to them there are connections of pedagogues, friends of history, legal scholars, doctors and men from other disciplines. Thus men of intellect and of a strong, firm will will reveal themselves to each in the subjects for which they have decided talent and inclination; they will ignite each other and inspire for the common good, the knowledge, observations and ideas of the individual will become common property of all, and perhaps one will fight victoriously the indolence of many who could do a great deal for the salvation of the country

The confirmation of the Silesian Society was made by King Friedrich Wilhelm III. on November 13, 1809 as "an association of many men of intellect, knowledge, insight and public spirit for instructive conversations and for joint investigations of scientific and non-profit objects". Shortly afterwards the Silesian Society resumed its work.

The actual work of the Silesian Society was done within the individual sections. The Society for the Promotion of Natural History and Industry from 1804 was merged into the Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture in 1809 and became the section for general natural history . In December 1820 the important scientific section of the Silesian Society was founded from it. Today she is widely regarded as the scientific parade horse of the Silesian society.

The natural science section published its bulletins in the Schlesische Provinzialbl Blätter from 1821 to the beginning of 1825 , and then until 1832 as a supplement to the Breslauer Zeitung .

Every year around 9 to 11 numbers of the bulletins appeared, in which the meetings and the papers presented there of the past month were reported.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , who was appointed honorary member of the Silesian Society in 1822, said on October 29, 1825: I am not aware of any non-profit organization where such varied purposes are pursued with such persistence and success as the Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture really does takes place . In 1827 Alexander von Humboldt became an honorary member, and in 1878 Charles Darwin . The aim was to ensure a worldwide exchange of knowledge by exchanging documents with many institutions and corresponding members. In 1853 the Silesian Society was already in contact with over 350 societies and academies from Stockholm to Melbourne, from Paris to Philadelphia.

The Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture , with its high scientific level and its great national and international reputation, replaced the Academy of Sciences and Arts, which was missing in Silesia, and was by far the most important scientific association in Silesia. At the same time, it was important as the central point of contact to which expert opinions were frequently commissioned. Over the years, the Silesian Society became a scientific association that was not limited to a single subject, but rather offered wide scope for all the intellectual needs and interests of its members. The society took the first rank of all Silesian educational and research institutes in the 19th century, in terms of status and reputation quite comparable to the Royal Society in England. It was a research institute with many sections, in whose meetings questions of a scientific nature were discussed and the results of which are recorded in valuable bulletins and annual reports.

A particular merit of the society was that it created an extensive scientific library, which was an indispensable addition to the Wroclaw libraries, especially due to the large number of precious journals that the society received through the exchange of publications with German and foreign learned societies. Their large, extensive library was linked to the Wroclaw University Library for administration in 1886 , as this made it more accessible.

Functionaries

President of the Society

General Secretaries

Chair of the philological-archaeological section

Fonts

  • Overview of the work and changes of the Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture in 1834 . Grass [u. a.], Breslau 1835 digitized

literature

  • Michael Rüdiger Gerber: The Silesian Society for Patriotic Culture (1803-1945) . Sigmaringen: Thorbecke, 1988. ISBN 3-7995-6272-9

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Overview of the work and changes of the Silesian Society in 1825, Breslau 1826, p. 15.