Thomas Steensen

Thomas Steensen (born September 27, 1951 in Bredstedt ) is a German historian. From 1987 to 2018 he headed the Nordfriisk Instituut in Bredstedt, the central scientific institution for the North Frisian language , history and culture in North Frisia . Since then he has been working as a freelance writer. Since 2019 he has been honorary chairman of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History.

Life

Steensen initially worked as an editor for Husumer Nachrichten and part-time correspondent for the German Press Agency . He studied history, Frisian philology , political science and sociology at the University of Kiel . On the side he was u. a. Freelance employee of the North German Broadcasting Corporation. After receiving his doctorate in 1985, he headed a historical exhibition project for the Nordfriesland district . In 1987 he became director and 1992 director of the Nordfriisk Instituut. From 1986 he was a lecturer at the universities in Kiel and Flensburg and in 1999 became the first honorary professor at what is now the European University of Flensburg. During his studies he got involved with the German Young Democrats , among other things as deputy state chairman in Schleswig-Holstein; 1978/79 he was press spokesman for the state FDP; In 1982 he left the party. Steensen has been a volunteer since 2009 as a board member of the Schleswig-Holstein State Cultural Association, since 1988 as an advisory board member and from 2011 to 2019 advisory board spokesman of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein History. In 1981 he was a co-founder of the research group on the Schwesing concentration camp . In 1990 he became the founding chairman of the Association for Bredstedter History and Cityscape Maintenance, which made him honorary chairman in 2002. Often he gave ceremonial lectures, e.g. B. on the 100th anniversary of the city of Bredstedt, on the 50th anniversary of the city of Niebüll and on the 40th and 50th anniversary of the district of North Friesland. He published several basic works on the history and regional studies of North Frisia.

Steensen is married and has three grown daughters. He lives in Husum.

Awards

• For his 1985 completed dissertation The Frisian Movement in North Frisia in the 19th and 20th Centuries (1879–1945) , published in 1986 by Wachholtz Verlag , Neumünster, he was awarded the Conrad Borchling Prize of the Alfred Toepfer Foundation FVS in Hamburg in 1987 . In 2016 he received the Rungholt Seal of the Rungholt Society on Nordstrand for services to the preservation of important cultural assets.

Works

Steensen published numerous books and essays. So he designed the first complete history of North Friesland , which appeared in 1995 and is now available in partial volumes in the fourth edition. In 2000 he published the first comprehensive regional study of North Friesland ( Das große Nordfriesland-Buch , Ellert & Richter, Hamburg), in the same year the first complete account of his hometown Bredstedt ( Bredstedt. City in the middle of North Friesland , Verlag Nordfriisk Instituut). In 2020 he published the first complete overview of the history, landscape, culture and language of the Frisians in North, East and West Frisia. Steensen is co-author and editor of the first comprehensive reference works on the islands of Sylt and Föhr as well as the first regional studies for the Eiderstedt peninsula . Through publications and events he contributed significantly to the rediscovery of the philosopher and educator Friedrich Paulsen , who came from North Frisia . Steensen was editor of Nordfriesland magazine for four decades, from 1977 to 2017 . S ince 1996, he is one of the editors of the North Frisian Yearbook on , he is also, among other things editor of the series Nordfriesische CVs (previously twelve volumes) and North Friesland in the novel (with Arno Bammé , University of Klagenfurt, so far 14 volumes). He initiated the international historians' meeting of the Nordfriisk Instituut, the action Sprachenland Nordfriesland and the exhibition Nordfriisk Futuur in the extension of the institute, which also contains an event hall and an air-conditioned storage cellar.

Other works (selection)

• Frisian language and Frisian movement (= writings of the district archive of North Friesland, Castle in front of Husum. Vol. 11). Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, 3rd edition, Husum 1996, ISBN 3-88042-401-2 .
• Rudolf Muuss. Home politicians in North Frisia and Schleswig-Holstein (= North Frisian CVs. Vol. 5). Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum 1997, ISBN 3-88042-842-5 .
• In the sign of a new time. North Friesland 1800 to 1918 (= History of North Friesland. Vol. 4 = Nordfriisk Instituut. No. 184). extended new edition, 4th edition. Nordfriisk Instituut, Bräist / Bredstedt 2009, ISBN 3-88007-330-9 (previously published as an employed person in the one-volume edition of “Geschichte Nordfriesland”).
• as co-editor: Das Wattenmeer. Cultural landscape in front of and behind the dikes. Theiss, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8062-1984-2 .
• as editor: Die Frieslande = Nordfriisk Instituut "No. 187. Nordfriisk Instituut, Bräist / Bredstedt 2006, ISBN 3-88007-333-3 .
• with Harry Kunz: The new Sylt Lexicon. 2nd, updated and greatly expanded edition. Wachholtz, Neumünster 2007, ISBN 978-3-529-05518-8 ; 3rd updated edition as Taschen-Lexikon 2014.
• History of North Frisia from 1918 to the present day (= History of North Frisia. Vol. 5 = North Frisian Instituut. No. 190). New edition. Nordfriisk Instituut, Bräist / Bredstedt 2008, ISBN 3-88007-336-8 .
• as editor with Dieter Lohmeier: Friedrich Paulsen : From my life (= Nordfriisk Instituut. No. 200). Complete edition. Nordfriisk Instituut, Bräist / Bredstedt 2008, ISBN 978-3-88007-346-3 .
• as editor: Friedrich Paulsen. Path, work and impact of a scholar from North Friesland (= North Friisk Instituut. No. 210). Husum Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft, Husum 2010, ISBN 978-3-89876-484-1 .
• Home North Frisia. A canon of Frisian culture (= Nordfriisk Instituut. No. 211). Nordfriisk Instituut, 2nd edition, Bräist / Bredstedt 2013, ISBN 978-3-88007-364-7 .
• as editor, with Albert Panten and Halk Thomas Porada: Eiderstedt. A regional study. Published on behalf of the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography and the Saxon Academy of Sciences in Leipzig, Böhlau Verlag, Cologne, Weimar, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-412-09906-0 .
• with Antje Arfsten and Wendy Vanselow: Understand the Frisians. The little handbook for North Friesland. Ellert & Richter Verlag , Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-83190532-4 .
• with Harry Kunz: Föhr Lexikon. Wachholtz, Neumünster 2013, ISBN 978-3-529-05523-2 .
• Little Husum ABC. With photos by Günter Pump. Husum-Verlag, Husum 2014, ISBN 978-3-898-76720-0 .
• with Fiete Pingel and Ulf Dietrich von Hielmcrone: Husum in the center. Nordfriisk Instituut, Bräist / Bredstedt 2014, ISBN 978-3-88007-392-0 .
• with Harry Kunz and Fiete Pingel: 100 times North Friesland. Nordfriisk Instituut, Bräist / Bredstedt 2016, ISBN 978-3-88007-393-7 .
• as editor: National minorities. Nordfriisk Instituut, Bräist / Bredstedt 2017, ISBN 978-3-88007-411-8 .
• Bredstedt. Brewer. Impressions of a North Frisian city. Husum Verlag, Husum 2017, ISBN 978-3-89876-903-7 .
• as editor: North Frisian Christmas Book. Husum Verlag, Husum 2018, ISBN 978-3-89876-930-3 .
• with Hans-Peter Ziemek: Little Hallig ABC. Husum Verlag, Husum 2019, ISBN 978-3-89876-955-6 .
• The Frisians. People by the sea . Wachholtz, Kiel / Hamburg 2020, ISBN 978-3-529-05047-3 .

literature

• Angela Raabe: North Frisian Profiles. Schwerin 2007, p. 246 f.
• Christian Zöllner, Stephan Richter: Course book Schleswig-Holstein. Kiel / Hamburg 2016, pp. 209–211.
• Jörgen Kühl (Ed.): Klaar kiming. Festschrift for Thomas Steensen. Bräist / Bredstedt 2018 (with curriculum vitae and list of publications).

Web links

• Literature by and about Thomas Steensen in the catalog of the German National Library
• Steensen at the University of Flensburg

Individual evidence

1. ^ Website of the Nordfriisk Instituut