Ursula von Gersdorff

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Ursula von Gersdorff (née Waetzoldt; also: Countess Vitzthum von Eckstädt ; * October 2, 1910 in Hamburg ; † August 6, 1983 in Kampen ) was a German military historian who worked as editor at the Military History Research Office (MGFA).

Life

Tiefhartmannsdorf Castle

Ursula Waetzoldt was born in 1910 as the daughter of the art historian Wilhelm Waetzoldt , General Director of the Prussian State Museums . From 1937 she was married to the farmer Wolfgang Graf Vitzthum von Eckstädt (1902–1941), son of the Saxon State Minister Christoph Johann Friedrich Vitzthum von Eckstädt . The marriage resulted in Christoph (* 1939), Stephan (1940-2003) and Wolfgang (* 1941).

She studied u. a. the military historian Walter Elze in Berlin and in 1937 at the Georg-August University of Göttingen with a dissertation Prussian officers in the intellectual life of the 18th century to Dr. phil. PhD. Then she worked as a consultant in the Reich Ministry of War in Berlin and together with the military psychologist at the High Command of the Wehrmacht , Felix Scherke , author of the work Bibliography of Intellectual Warfare (Propaganda).

In 1941 she was heir to the Vitzthum-von-Eckstädt Castle in Tiefhartmannsdorf . In 1947, she was out of her Silesian home sold . After her first husband had died on the Eastern Front, she married Rudolf von Gersdorff (1895–1962) in 1949, formerly the state elder and mayor of Fischbeck Abbey . The second marriage resulted in Ulrike (* 1950) and Annette (* 1951).

From 1958 to 1977 von Gersdorff worked as a historian and editor at the Military History Research Office (MGFA) in Freiburg im Breisgau . Her research on the history of organizations on women in military service is considered pioneering and very comprehensive; they found greater attention in journalism and history. The historian Nicole Kramer pointed out that von Gersdorff's “Pioneer Study” ( women in military service, 1914–1945 ) appeared before the onset of women's and gender studies . It is sometimes referred to as a standard work . Also her anthology History and Military History. Ways of research on which u. a. Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck , Werner Hahlweg , Andreas Hillgruber , Hans-Ulrich Wehler and Rainer Wohlfeil were positively noted. She was co-editor of the Bibliotheca Rerum Militarium series and has also published articles in series and specialist journals such as military history reports , Wehrwissenschaftliche Rundschau , Francia and the annual bibliography of the Library for Contemporary History .

Von Gersdorff was buried in the Keitum cemetery on the island of Sylt in the district of North Friesland . According to the political scientist and Clausewitz researcher Andreas Herberg-Rothe , at the MGFA she “worked intensively on the foundation of a 'modern' military history and its orientation towards general history”.

Fonts (selection)

  • Prussian officers in the intellectual life of the 18th century (= German homeland, scientific series of publications for history and ethnicity . Volume 4). Academic publishing house, Halle 1937. (also dissertation, University of Göttingen, 1937)
  • (with Felix Scherke ): Bibliography of intellectual warfare . With a foreword by Friedrich von Cochenhausen , Bernhard & Graefe, Berlin 1938.
  • (Editing with Manfred Messerschmidt ): Hans Meier-Welcker (Ed.): Officers in the picture of documents from three centuries (= contributions to military and war history . Volume 6). DVA, Stuttgart 1964.
  • (Ed. With Wolfgang von Groote ): Decision 1866. The war between Austria and Prussia . Military History Research Office, DVA, Stuttgart 1966.
  • (Int.): Occupation in the Reichsheer. May 16, 1920, October 1, 1920, October 1, 1921 (= Bibliotheca rerum militarium . Volume 15). Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1968.
  • (Einl.): Walter Elze : The German Army of 1914 (= Bibliotheca rerum militarium . Volume 16). Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1968. (Reprint of the 2nd edition 1939: The strategic structure of the world war 1914–1918 )
  • Women in War Service, 1914–1945 (= contributions to military and war history . Volume 11). DVA, Stuttgart 1969.
  • (Einf.): Max Jähns : Military history essays. Reprint of the publications from 1816–1903 [ Walter Elze on Aug. 29, 1971] (= Bibliotheca rerum militarium . Volume 7). Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1970, ISBN 3-7648-0160-3 .
  • (Ed. With Wolfgang von Groote): Decision 1870. The Franco-German War . Military History Research Office, DVA, Stuttgart 1970.
  • (Transfer / introduction) Gerhard von Scharnhorst : Benefit of the military history. Cause of their lack. A fragment from the Scharnhorst estate (= Bibliotheca rerum militarium . Volume 44). Faksmile of the manuscript, Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1973, ISBN 3-7648-0933-7 .
  • (Ed.): History and military history. Ways of research . With the support of the Military History Research Office, Bernard & Graefe, Frankfurt am Main 1974, ISBN 3-7637-5131-9 .
  • (Hrsg./Einf.): Gerhard von Scharnhorst: Selected writings (= Bibliotheca rerum militarium . Volume 49). Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1983, ISBN 3-7648-1273-7 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Wolfgang Graf Vitzthum : Prussians in the George circle: Walter Elze . In: V. Caspari (ed.): Theory and history of the economy. Festschrift for Bertram Schefold . Metropolis-Verlag, Marburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89518-715-5 , p. 332.
  2. ↑ GHdA , GA, 10, 1981, 77, p. 470.
  3. ^ Jürgen Förster : Spiritual warfare in Germany 1919 to 1945 . In: Jörg Echternkamp (Hrsg.): The German Reich and the Second World War . Volume 9: The German War Society 1939 to 1945 . Half Volume 1: Politicization, Annihilation, Survival . DVA, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-421-06236-6 , p. 495.
  4. ↑ GHdA , AA, 3, 1957, 15, p. 213.
  5. ^ Historisches , von Gersdorff eV, accessed on April 18, 2015.
  6. ↑ Birgit Beck-Heppner: Women in the service of the Wehrmacht. Individual or collective war experience? . In: Christian Hartmann : From generals and private. On the biographical dimension of the Second World War (= contemporary history in conversation . Volume 2). Oldenbourg, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-486-58144-7 , p. 104.
  7. ↑ Gisela Stelly: "Women were their husbands" (rec.). In: Die Zeit , October 10, 1969, No. 41.
  8. ↑ Comrade wife (review). In: Der Spiegel 9/1970.
  9. ↑ Iselin Gundermann : Women in War Service 1914-1945. (Contributions to military and war history. Ed. V. Military History Research Office, Vol. 11.) by Ursula von Gersdorff (review). In: Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte 60 (1973) 1, pp. 116–117.
  10. ↑ Andreas Hillgruber : Women in War Service 1914-1945 by Ursula Von Gersdorff (review). In: Historische Zeitschrift 212 (1971) 1, pp. 191–193.
  11. ↑ Harold L. Poor: Women in War Service 1914-1945 by Ursula von Gersdorff (review). In: The American Historical Review 75 (1970) 7, pp. 2088-2089.
  12. ^ Nicole Kramer : People's comrades on the home front. Mobilization, behavior, memory (= series of publications of the historical commission at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences . Volume 82). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen u. a. 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-36075-0 , p. 21.
  13. ↑ Birthe Kundrus : Only half the story. Women in the Wehrmacht between 1939 and 1945 - A research report . In: Rolf-Dieter Müller , Hans-Erich Volkmann (Hrsg.): The Wehrmacht. Myth and Reality . On behalf of the Military History Research Office, Oldenbourg, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-486-56383-1 , p. 720.
  14. ↑ Dennis E. Showalter : History and Military History. Way of research. by Ursula von Gersdorff (review). In: Military Affairs 39 (1975) 4, p. 215.
  15. ^ Michael Geyer : History and military history. Ways of Research by Ursula Von Gersdorff . In: Historische Zeitschrift 222 (1976) 2, pp. 394-395.
  16. ↑ Kurt Hesse : Gersdorff, Ursula from: History and Military History (review). In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , September 7, 1974, p. 10.
  17. ↑ Ruedi Steiger: Modern Military History (review). In: Allgemeine Schweizerische Militärzeitschrift 141 (1975) 7–8, pp. 273–274.
  18. ^ Andreas Herberg-Rothe : Military history as peace research! Introduction to the dialectic of the science of war and peace (= study series military history, peace research, military policy . Volume 1). RG Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1981, ISBN 3-88323-260-2 , p. 54.
personal data
SURNAME Gersdorff, Ursula von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Waetzoldt, Ursula (maiden name); Countess Vitzthum von Eckstädt, Ursula (first married name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German military historian
DATE OF BIRTH October 2, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH August 6, 1983
Place of death Kampen