Siegfried A. Kaehler

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Joachim Siegfried August Kaehler , also Siegfried A. Kähler (born June 4, 1885 in Halle (Saale) , † January 25, 1963 in Göttingen ) was a German historian and university professor.

Life

Göttingen, Stadtfriedhof: Siegfried August Kaehler's grave

Siegfried Kaehler came from a Protestant dynasty of theologians. His grandfather Siegfried August Kähler (1800–1895) was a Prussian senior consistorial councilor, his father Martin Kähler a theology professor. Kaehler's siblings included the professor of economics and DNVP politician Wilhelm Kähler and the Protestant theologian and general superintendent Walter Kähler .

After attending school at the Francke Foundations , Kaehler studied law , Romance studies , German studies and history at the universities of Lausanne , Halle and Freiburg from 1903 . He completed his studies in 1914 with a dissertation (on Wilhelm von Humboldt ) with Friedrich Meinecke , to whom he remained connected throughout his life. After use in the First World War habilitation he did in 1921 at the University of Marburg , in 1922 and 1927 Assistant Associate Professor . Since 1919 he belonged to the anti-democratic Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten , between 1925 and 1928 he was a member of the German People's Party (DVP) .

In 1928 Kaehler was offered a professorship at the University of Breslau and in 1932 returned to his hometown as a full professor for Medieval and Modern History. After a six-month interlude in Jena , he held a chair for Middle and Modern History at the University of Göttingen from 1936 as the successor to Karl Brandi . In 1936 he was accepted into the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen . Kähler retired in 1953 in Göttingen. He was succeeded by Richard Nürnberger .

Kaehler was a conservative Borussian who, however, kept his distance from National Socialism . In the first historical post-war lecture at a German university on September 18, 1945, he spoke of the “dark riddle of German history” and warned historians against the establishment of new historical legends. In his last creative years, which were affected by a serious illness, he therefore largely focused on contemporary historical research.

Kaehler's students include Walter Bußmann and Walter Hubatsch . Shortly before his death he was honored with the Great Cross of Merit for the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany .

Fonts (selection)

  • Contributions to the appreciation of Wilhelm von Humboldt's draft of an estate constitution for Prussia from 1819 . Phil. Diss. Freiburg 1914.
  • (with Heinrich Hermelink ): The Philipps University of Marburg 1527–1927 . Marburg: Elwert, 1927.
  • Wilhelm von Humboldt and the State. A contribution to the history of German lifestyle around 1800 . Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1927; 2nd edition Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1963.
  • Legend and reality in the life picture of the Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow . Breslau: F. Hirt, 1932.
  • Military constitution and people in Germany from the wars of freedom to the world war. Speech at the Reich Celebration on January 30, 1937 (above).
  • Two German alliance offers to England in 1889 and 1939 . Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1948.
  • Prejudices and facts. Three historical lectures . Hameln: Seifert, 1949.
  • On the diplomatic history of the outbreak of war on September 1, 1939 . Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1949.
  • On the assessment of Ludendorff in the summer of 1918 . Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1953.
  • Four source-critical investigations at the end of the war in 1918 . Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1961.
  • Studies on German history in the 19th and 20th centuries. Articles and lectures . Edited by Walter Bussmann. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1961.
  • Letters 1900–1963 . Edited by Walter Bussmann and Günther Grünthal . With participation of Joachim Stemmler. Boppard: Boldt, 1993.

literature

  • The fate of the German past. Contributions to the historical interpretation of the last one hundred and fifty years. Festschrift for Siegfried A. Kaehler on his 65th birthday . Edited by Walther Hubatsch . Düsseldorf 1950.
  • Walter Bussmann : Siegfried A. Kaehler. A memorial lecture . In: Historische Zeitschrift 198, 1964, pp. 346-360.
  • Hermann Heimpel : Siegfried A. Kaehler . In: Yearbook of the Göttingische Akademie der Wissenschaften 1964, pp. 98-113 (reprint in: Ders .: Aspects - old and new texts . Göttingen 1995, pp. 291 ff.).
  • Helga Grebing : Between the Empire and the dictatorship. Göttingen historians and their contribution to the interpretation of history and society (M. Lehmann, AO Meyer, W. Mommsen, SA Kaehler) . In: Hartmut Boockmann / Hermann Wellenreuther (eds.): History in Göttingen (= Göttingen University Writings, Series A / Volume 2), Göttingen 1987, pp. 204-238.
  • Bernd Faulenbach : Siegfried August Kaehler . In: Rüdiger vom Bruch / Rainer A. Müller (Hrsg.): Historikerlexikon . Munich 1991, p. 161 f.
  • Walter Bussmann: Siegfried A. Kaehler: Personality and Work. An essay . In: Siegfried A. Kaehler, letters 1900–1963 . Edited by Walter Bußmann / Günther Grünthal, Boppard: Boldt, 1993, pp. 33-89.
  • Patrick Bahners : The heir's experience. Siegfried August Kaehler and the State . In: Patrick Bahners / Gerd Roellecke (eds.): Prussian styles. A state as a feat . Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 2001, pp. 416-446.
  • Henrik Eberle: The Martin Luther University in the time of National Socialism. Halle: mdv, 2002, ISBN 3-89812-150-X , p. 378.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 127.
  2. ↑ Quoted from Johannes Hürter / Hans Woller (eds.): Hans Rothfels and the German contemporary history. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2005, p. 179.
personal data
SURNAME Kaehler, Siegfried A.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kaehler, Joachim Siegfried August (full name); Kähler, Siegfried August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH June 4, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH January 25, 1963
Place of death Goettingen