Werner Burmeister

Werner Burmeister (born June 26, 1895 in Schwerin , † November 30, 1945 in Hamburg ) was a German art historian who headed the art history seminar at the University of Hamburg for a while.

Life

Werner Burmeister was born as the son of the businessman Heinrich Burmeister and his wife Sophie, b. Karstadt (* 1859 in Grevesmühlen ), a sister and initially co-owner of the Karstadt department store . He graduated from the Gymnasium Fridericianum Schwerin , suffered severe facial injuries in World War I, attended various universities and was finally awarded a doctorate in 1923 through mural painting in Mecklenburg at the University of Rostock under Max Hauttmann (1888–1926). phil. PhD . He moved to the University of Hamburg , where he joined in 1931 with the theme " The North German medieval brick art and its relations with Western Europe " habilitated .

Burmeister had been a member of the SA since 1933 and of the NSDAP since 1937 . On November 11, 1933, he was one of the people calling for the professors at German universities to acknowledge Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist state . After the “ seizure of power ” by the National Socialists , he took over the management of the art history seminar at Hamburg University as a private lecturer, which had become known beyond Germany under Erwin Panofsky and Aby Warburg and had contributed significantly to the establishment of iconology . As the head of the seminar, which he wanted to orientate strictly National Socialist , Burmeister came into sharp opposition to Ludwig Heinrich Heydenreich , who tried to continue the iconological tradition.

Burmeister, who had mainly specialized in North German art and brick Gothic, held lectures on u. a. Romanesque architecture, brick Gothic , late Gothic , Albrecht Dürer , Peter Paul Rubens , Low German folk art, Romantic painting, Impressionist painting and Dutch painting.

In 1940 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht , where he served as a captain. His successor as head of the Art History Seminar was briefly Hubert Schrade , who was appointed to the University of Strasbourg in 1941 . Burmeister received a professorship in Königsberg (Prussia) , which he could not take on.

Burmeister died in 1945. Nothing is known about the circumstances.

In 2003 in Wismar he was honored with a plaque of honor for his research into brick Gothic.

Fonts (selection)

• Wall painting in Mecklenburg until 1400. (Dissertation). Published by: Verein für Mecklenburgische Geschichte und Altertumskunde e. V., Schwerin, 1925.
• Mecklenburg ( Deutsche Lande - Deutsche Kunst ), taken by the Staatliche Bildstelle, described by Werner Burmeister, 64 p. Text, 135 images, Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin, 1926.
• Wismar (German Lands - German Art). Recordings of the State Image Agency. 36 pp. Text, 47 images, 1926.
• Cathedral and Neumünster in Würzburg. , August Hopfner Verlag, Magdeburg, 1928.
• North German brick domes. , German art publisher, Berlin, 1930.
• The Westphalian cathedrals of Paderborn, Soest, Osnabrück, Minden and Münster . Recordings by Walter Hege. 68 pp. Text, 80 images, Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin, 1936.

literature

• Bruno Reudenbach: Werner Burmeister // Erwin Panofsky. Contributions to the Hamburg Symposium 1992. - Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, Berlin 1995. ISBN 978-3-05-002392-2 , p. 3.

Web links

• Literature by and about Werner Burmeister in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by Werner Burmeister in the state bibliography MV
• Excerpt from Burmeister's dissertation on wall painting in Mecklenburg until 1400 (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Digital Library)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Heckscher, William S .: Gratia Dei sum qui sum, 1995, p. 42
2. ↑ See also the entries by Werner Burmeister in the Rostock matriculation portal : first matriculation 1917 , second matriculation 1920 and third matriculation 1922
3. ↑ Heinrich Dilly, Ulrike Wendland: "Hitler is my best friend ..." The art history seminar at Hamburg University. In: Eckart Krause u. a. (Ed.): Everyday university life in the "Third Reich". The Hamburg University 1933-1945. Part II. Berlin / Hamburg 1991, p. 614 f.
4. ↑ Über die Baukunst, 1943, with clear National Socialist statements  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Memorial plaque for Burmeister  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.