Spirit Circle

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The Spirituskreis was founded in 1890 by the ancient historian Eduard Meyer and the philosopher Benno Erdmann and was a community of scholars in the humanities at the University of Halle (Saale) who saw themselves as the "elite of the elites". The model for this was the Berlin Wednesday Society at the time .

History of the Spirit Circle

At the end of the 19th century, scientists at many universities got together for lectures and discussions. In Halle (Saale) 12 humanities scholars founded the Spirituskreis. They were all supporters of new humanism . The main faculties from which members were appointed were the Philosophical, the Legal and the Theological. Until 1933 the Spirituskreis had a great influence on university life, so 20 rectors were appointed from its ranks, plus many deans and senators. According to their way of thinking, they also influenced social and cultural problems, not only within the university. An example is the fact that the philosopher Paul Menzer founded the social work for students in the early 1920s. During this time, members such as the philologist Carl Robert initiated a theater association that supported the Bad Lauchstädt theater .

In 1933 the influence was limited.

The members of the Spirituskreis embodied the political and spiritual tradition of the educated middle class in Germany in their own individual way. Until it was banned by Walter Ulbricht in 1958 , the district operated under four different political systems: Kaiserreich , Weimar Republic , Third Reich and GDR . Its members remained true to their political identifiers: approval of the monarchy; waiting to rejecting the Weimar Republic; distant or reject the Nazi dictatorship and opponents of the socialist dictatorship.

The breaking of the spirit circle

In 1958, as part of a large GDR-wide campaign by the SED leadership against bourgeois scientists at many universities, the Spirituskreis was attacked. They wanted to eliminate so-called “revisionist” tendencies.

Due to the denunciation by the former assistant ( Ingrid Schulze , art historian) of Spirituskreis member Kurt Aland , all 12 members were placed under constant observation by order of the SED . Telephones were tapped, correspondence was checked, houses were watched. From the SED's point of view, it is a kind of anti-socialist secret society that illegally and conspiratorially steers and directs the fortunes of the university. The aim of the Spiritus Circle is the "undermining and elimination of the socialist order" in the GDR.

On the evening of March 15, 1958, at the last meeting of the circle in Erich Hoffmann's house , Kurt Aland was called on to resist and made contact with the escaped Otto Dibelius and Hoffmann on charges of espionage Public enemies are pinned down and the Spirituskreis officially banned

Kurt Aland, Karl Bischoff and Hans Haussherr then fled the GDR with their families. Erwin Reichenbach and Erich Hoffmann resigned as deans.

Members and length of membership

There was an exchange of scientific opinions at regular meetings, which was always linked to contemporary, cultural-scientific and political topics. The number of members was never more than 12, as this number was an expression of "Godly perfection". If one of the members died or left voluntarily, a successor was determined by the remaining members.

Until 1945 mostly humanities scholars were members of the Spiritus group, after 1945 natural scientists were also accepted into the Spiritus group, as they were less ideologically bound.

Official statement later

On July 11, 1990, the Academic Council of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg recognized the work of Kurt Aland and Erich Hoffmann : “The Academic Senate condemned the decision of those responsible at the time. The Martin Luther University will preserve and carry on the work of internationally respected scholars, who felt committed to their scientific conscience in their views, in their future work. "

Members of the Spiritus Circle 1902

Founding members

Subsequent members

Members after 1945 until the ban in 1958

literature

  • Literature by and about Spirituskreis in the catalog of the German National Library
  • Günter Schenk, Regina Meyer: Biographical studies of the members of the professorial circle "Spirituskreis". Hallescher Verlag, Halle 2007, ISBN 978-3-929887-33-4 .
  • Günter Mühlpfordt, Günter Schenk, Regina Meyer: The Spiritus Circle. Volume 2: 1945-1958. 2004, ISBN 3-929887-28-2 .
  • Friedemann Stengel: The theological faculties in the GDR as a problem of church and university policy of the SED state up to their transformation into sections in 1970/71. 1998, ISBN 3-374-01708-8 .
  • Günter Schenk, Regina Meyer: That was the GDR too! On the prohibition of the scientific community “Spirituskreis” and the fight against revisionism in 1958. Schenk, Halle 2008, ISBN 978-3-936228-19-9 .
  • Regina Meyer: The Spiritus Group at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (1890-1958) - some remarks on its true history. In: Mitteldeutsches Jahrbuch für Kultur und Geschichte, Vol. 11/2004, pp. 175–185.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Declaration , UZ, September 14, 1990