Theodor Schacht (pedagogue)

Theodor Schacht (born December 7, 1786 in Braunschweig , † July 10, 1870 in Darmstadt ) was a German educator and school politician.

Life

Johann Jakob Theodor Hagemann was born in December 1786 as the illegitimate son of Elisabeth Philippine Hagemann (1746–1809). Today it is considered certain that the father was Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand (Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel) . At the beginning of November 1805, Elisabeth Hagemann married the disabled engineer and artillery lieutenant Anton Ferdinand Schacht, who recognized Theodor as his son. Since the Duke's decree on November 24, 1805, Theodor has had the surname Schacht ever since. Theodor Schacht first attended a free school and then the ducal Katharinenschule in Braunschweig. The Abitur was financed by a private tutor in the rectory of Karl Ludolf Friedrich Lachmannin Braunschweig and in the house of the Dutch General von Stamford. After graduating from high school, he first studied theology at the University of Helmstedt . At the beginning of the summer semester of 1807 he went to Göttingen , where he switched to the subjects of history , philosophy and education . Together with his school friend Friedrich Konrad Griepenkerl , he was influenced by the teachings of Johann Friedrich Herbart , who in 1806 had presented his "General Pedagogy". After receiving his doctorate in 1808, he took a position as private tutor in Rohrsheim near Hornburg in Halberstadt with the local pastor Heinrich Rudolf Cherubim, whose son Karl August Cherubim and daughters Wilhelmine and Hannchen he taught. In the autumn of 1810, on the mediation of his friend Friedrich Konrad Griepenkerl, he went to the famous educational institution of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi in Ifferten , where he got a position as a history teacher. The time at Pestalozzi is considered formative, as it was here that he further developed his pedagogical views and principles. In particular, Schacht introduced history lessons into the educational program. Schacht later also took over geography lessons in the daughters' school associated with the Pestalozzi Institute. During this time lifelong friendships developed u. a. to Karl Justus Blochmann , who taught in Ifferten for eight years.

Theodor Schacht left the institute in May 1813 and spent a voluntary year of war in the Prussian army under August Neidhardt von Gneisenau as the secretary of the directorate . After leaving the army, he took a position as a history teacher at the Philipp Emanuel von Fellenbergs agricultural school in Hofwil in autumn 1814 , where his friend Griepenkerl had been working since 1808. In 1814 he published his views on the political situation in Germany anonymously and without specifying the location under the title Der Schneidewall. A free conversation about us . Important for his future professional career acquaintance to the fellow teachers was Wilhelm Friedrich Hesse (1789-1841) from Darmstadt, who towards the establishment in 1815 Darmstadt left.

On January 1, 1818, Schacht took over a position as professor of history and deputy director at the Grand Ducal Gymnasium in Mainz . In addition, he held public lectures on historical topics in Mainz, which found a large audience. At the suggestion of Wilhelm Friedrich Hesse, the Philosophical Faculty of the State University of Giessen awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1823. He also worked as a theater critic. In 1832 he supported this project as secretary of the commission for the erection of the Gutenberg monument.

As early as 1831, his most important textbook on geography, old and new, was published by the Mainz publishing house Kunze, with special regard to political and cultural history , which despite its 500 pages received a great response and reached a total of seven editions during his lifetime.

Due to disputes about fundamental educational and didactic but also denominational questions with his superior, the Jesuit and rector Georg Reiter, the Protestant Schacht took early retirement in September 1832. Despite intensive efforts, Schacht had not succeeded in reducing the dominance of the linguistic subjects and in giving history and geography a higher level of importance. In addition, the resurgence of Mainz Catholicism after 1830, but especially after the Hambach Festival of 1832, was clearly visible.

In the same year he became a representative of the Osthofen district in the second chamber of the state parliament of the Grand Duchy of Hesse in Darmstadt. Schacht was a member of the third committee in the state parliament, which dealt with the right of petition, and an advocate for the policy of Prime Minister Karl du Thil . He found support and support in many ways. a. with Justin von Linde , the member of the State Council and Privy Councilor in the Ministry of the Interior and Justice. In doing so, he said goodbye to his more liberal stance in earlier years. On November 8, 1833, six days after the dissolution of the state parliament, Schacht was appointed senior student councilor and in January 1834 he was an assistant in the school administration. He became a member of the high school board, in which his friend Wilhelm Hesse and Julius Karl Friedrich Dilthey also participated. In this role, Schacht was able to influence the scope of realities in high schools.

In October 1834 he was also appointed director of the Darmstadt secondary school with the support of high school inspector Wilhelm Hesse. In this position he worked towards upgrading the technical school to the higher commercial school in Darmstadt , a predecessor of the later TH Darmstadt . Schacht campaigned for the equality of secondary schools with humanistic schools. Similar to Justus von Liebig , Schacht campaigned intensively and publicly for the promotion of secondary and commercial schools. His opening speech for the inauguration of the new building of the higher vocational school on Kapellplatz on December 19, 1844 with the title Real Education and the Present Age is considered to be his central legacy.

In December 1846, Theodor Schacht retired for health reasons. In the following years he largely withdrew into private life, but continued to take part in the city's political and cultural life. The Schacht family lived on Wilhelminenstrasse in Darmstadt. He died on July 10, 1870 in Darmstadt at the age of 83. Schacht had been with his former student Emilie born in 1818. Stephanie from Aarau married. Five children emerged from this connection. The eldest daughter Ottilie Schacht (born 1821 in Mainz) had been married to the chemist Friedrich Moldenhauer since 1840 . Wilhelm Schacht (born 1836) became a doctor and moved to Aarau. Louise Schacht was married to Carl Walger, a match manufacturer from Darmstadt. The daughter Emilie died early, Rosa, like her brother Wilhelm, emigrated to Switzerland.

Honors

• 1823: Honorary doctorate from the University of Giessen
• 1846: Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of Philip the Magnanimous

Publications

• 1814: The Schneidewall, a free conversation about us. appeared under the pseudonym Fodina (lat. pit or shaft).
• 1821: About Ottokar Horneck's rhyme chronicle.
• 1824: The Reichstag in Worms with thoughts on the Reformation.
• 1828: About nonsense and barbarism in today's German literature.
• 1831: Textbook of ancient and modern geography with special regard to political and cultural history. Mainz.
• 1833: Small school geography.
• 1834: Liberalism on the strange Diet of Darmstadt in 1833.
• 1836: About the purpose and establishment of the newly founded Großh. Real and higher vocational school in Darmstadt. Darmstadt.
• 1839: Illumination of Dilthey's writing on the relationship between secondary and commercial schools and grammar schools.
• 1843: About the purpose and establishment of the higher trade school of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and the associated secondary school in Darmstadt. Darmstadt.
• 1845: Real education and the present age.
• 1866: On the tragedy of Antigone with a comparative look at Sophocles and Shakespeare ; What has become of Germany?

literature

• Article Theodor Schacht. In: Stadtlexikon Darmstadt. Stuttgart 2006, p. 773.
• Ludwig Ready: Real Education and Realpolitik. Life and work of the school reformer Theodor Schacht (1786–1870). Darmstadt 2007.
• Bergit Korschan-Kuhle: Schacht, Theodor, Dr. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck , Günter Scheel (ed.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon - 19th and 20th centuries . Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8 , p. 513 .
• Jochen Lengemann : MdL Hessen. 1808-1996. Biographical index (= political and parliamentary history of the state of Hesse. Vol. 14 = publications of the Historical Commission for Hesse. Vol. 48, 7). Elwert, Marburg 1996, ISBN 3-7708-1071-6 , p. 321.
• Klaus-Dieter Rack, Bernd Vielsmeier: Hessian MPs 1820–1933. Biographical evidence for the first and second chambers of the state estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse 1820–1918 and the state parliament of the People's State of Hesse 1919–1933 (= Political and parliamentary history of the State of Hesse. Vol. 19 = Work of the Hessian Historical Commission. NF Vol. 29) . Hessian Historical Commission, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-88443-052-1 , No. 736.
• Wilhelm Rohmeder:  Schacht, Theodor . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 30, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 772-774.
• Georg Büchner School Association, Darmstadt High School V. (Ed.): Georg-Büchner-Schule Darmstadt. 2nd edition, Darmstadt 2013.
• Christa Wolf and Marianne Viefhaus: Directory of professors at TH Darmstadt. Darmstadt 1977, p. 173.

Web links

• Schacht, Johann Jakob Theodor. Hessian biography. (As of December 7, 2019). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).