Walter Elze

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Walter Elze (born August 29, 1891 in Halle (Saale) ; † June 19, 1979 in Freiburg im Breisgau ) was a German officer, fighter pilot and military historian . During the time of National Socialism he held the chair for war history at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin, succeeding Hans Delbrück . He also appeared as a poet and was a member of the George circle .

Life

Walter Elze, baptized Protestant, was a son of the Privy Councilor of Justice Curt Elze , who worked as a lawyer. One brother was the future anatomy professor Curt Elze . He attended a grammar school in Halle an der Saale.

Elze joined the 5th Baden Field Artillery Regiment No. 76 in Freiburg im Breisgau as a flag junior . In 1911 he was promoted to lieutenant . During the First World War he served as a pilot in Jagdstaffel 11 (von Richthofen) and subsequently as an adjutant to the Aviation Staff Officer in the High Command of the 7th Army , to the Chief of Field Aviation , Lieutenant Colonel Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen , at the same time co-founder of the Air Force , and with the commanding general of the air force, Lieutenant General Ernst von Hoeppner , in the headquarters. He received the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class. In 1918 he was promoted to captain and initially transferred to the Prussian War Ministry. In May 1919 he retired from active service.

Elze then studied history at the universities of Halle-Wittenberg , Munich , Marburg and Kiel . His most important teacher was Friedrich Wolters , with whom he received a doctorate in 1924 in Kiel over the " dispute over Tauroggen ". phil. PhD and which brought him in connection with the George circle . In the 1920s he campaigned politically, for example in the " Ruhrkampf ". In 1928 he completed his habilitation with a scholarship from Hans Delbrück and Erich Marcks (subject: Tannenberg. The German Army of 1914. Its main features and their effects in the victory on the Eastern Front ). He was awarded the venia legendi and in 1929 he was appointed lecturer for modern war history at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin . In 1932 he became director of the war history department in the history seminar.

He welcomed the transfer of power to the National Socialists in 1933 and in May 1933 joined the NSDAP and the National Socialist Lecturer Association . In 1933 he was given a full professorship for history and war history in Berlin and co-director of the history seminar. He did research on Middle and Modern History and was considered a specialist in the era of Frederick the Great . Elze's academic students included a. Eberhard Kessel , Eberhard Ritter , Felix Hartlaub , Heinrich Wiegand Petzet , Wilhelm Scheidt and Werner Hahlweg ; and Ursula von Gersdorff heard from him. Stefan George had died in December 1933, but the friends of the George Circle were still in contact afterwards. The relationship between the National Socialists and the Jewish members of the group was problematic. Renata von Scheliha, who, like Elze, belonged to the wider circle, reported in 1947 an incident with the German-Jewish philosopher Ernst Gundolf , the brother of the literary scholar Friedrich Gundolf : “In September '38 Ernst Gundolf came to Berlin, visited a. a. Walter Elze, too, then said that he was extraordinarily amiable and that he had distanced himself very much from all Nazi things. November '38 [after the Reichspogromnacht of November 9th], when Ernst Gundolf was dragged to the [concentration] camp and I went to see Elze, who I knew could easily achieve something for the liberation through a relationship with Himmler , he not only refused any help, but also remarked: the Jews just never noticed when they were no longer needed - why Ernst Gundolf had not long since left. "

In 1945 Elze was deposed and, because of his involvement during the Nazi era, had problems getting a new position. After the Second World War , Elze and his family lived first in Freiburg im Breisgau , then in Freudenstadt . In 1950 he was visiting professor in Stockholm . It was not until 1954, after an intervention by Arnold Bergstraesser , that he was accepted as emeritus in Freiburg. In Freiburg he last lived in the Wiehre district , where he died at the age of 87. Elze had a daughter with his wife Birgitta (1916–1992), a born Stieve.

An exchange of letters from 1922/23 is in the Gundolf archive in London and poems in the Stefan George archive in Stuttgart. Wolfgang Graf Vitzthum described: "Not the military, not the science, not the politics were ultimately decisive for Elze, but the poetry and the poets."

Works

  • with Friedrich Wolters: Voices of the Rhine. A reading book for the Germans . Ferdinand Hirt, Breslau 1923.
  • Brandenburg-Prussia near Marlenheim and Fehrbellin. The appearance of a new political principle in Germany and Europe in 1674/75 . Dissertation, University of Kiel 1924.
  • The dispute over Tauroggen . Shepherd, Breslau 1926.
  • Tannenberg. The German Army of 1914. Its main features and their effects in the victory on the Eastern Front . Hirt, Breslau 1928.
    Reprinted as: The German Army from 1914 . Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück 1968.
  • Count Schlieffen . Shepherd, Breslau 1928.
  • Frederick the Great. Spirit world, fate, deeds . Mittler, Berlin 1936.
  • The Prince Eugene. His way, his work and England's betrayal. With a selection of documents . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart [among others] 1940.
  • German history and German freedom. Letters from a university professor to his students in the field . Rütten & Loening, Potsdam 1940.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b 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 , pp. 331-357, here p. 343.
  2. ^ Wolfgang Graf Vitzthum: Prussia 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 , pp. 331-357, here p. 350.
  3. ↑ a b 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 , pp. 331-357, here p. 351.
  4. ↑ a b cf. Ulrich Raulff , circle without master. Stefan Georges Nachleben , CH Beck, Munich 2009, p. 381.
  5. ↑ Renata von Scheliha to Karl Wolfskehl, December 12, 1947, in: Karl Wolfskehl, Briefwechsel aus New Zealand 1938–1948 , edited by Cornelia Blasberg, Volume 2, Darmstadt 1988, pp. 842f., Quoted here from Michael Philipp, “Im Politischen things just went different ”. The theme of the 'Jewish' in the George circle before and after 1933 , in: Gert Mattenklott , Michael Philipp, Julius H. Schoeps (eds.), “Misunderstood brothers”? Stefan George and the German-Jewish bourgeoisie between the turn of the century and emigration , Georg Olms Verlag, Hildesheim / Zurich / New York 2001, pp. 31–53, here p. 47.
  6. ^ Wolfgang Graf Vitzthum: Prussia 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 , pp. 331-357, here p. 355.
  7. ^ Wolfgang Graf Vitzthum: Prussia 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 , pp. 331-357, here p. 337.
personal data
SURNAME Elze, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German historian
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Halle (Saale)
DATE OF DEATH June 19, 1979
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau