Werner Hans Friedrich Abrahamson

Werner Hans Friedrich Abrahamson in 1866

Werner Hans Friedrich Abrahamson , also Fredrich or Frederik , pseudonym: Hans Johansen , (born April 10, 1744 in Schleswig , † September 22, 1812 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish officer , writer , editor and translator .

Life and military career

Werner Hans Friedrich Abrahamson was a son of Johann Benjamin A. (d 'Abranson, 1701–1744), who worked as a captain in the Schleswig-Holstein infantry regiment, and his wife, Louise Juliane, née Rhewald (1706–1757). The German-speaking parents had little wealth, which is why their son - with the exception of a few hours of private lessons - mostly had to acquire his knowledge autodidactically. After his father died in 1757, friends financed him from May 1758 to study at the Land Cadet Academy in Copenhagen.

In 1762 Abrahamson moved as an ensign to the Schleswig infantry regiment in Rendsburg . A year and a half later he was promoted to secondary lieutenant and in 1767 joined the artillery in Copenhagen. In 1771 he took over an apprenticeship at the Copenhagen Artillery School. His subjects included German, Danish, stylistics, geography and history. As the first publicly appointed teacher, he not only taught the Danish language, but also taught the other subjects in Danish instead of in German as before.

On April 28, 1744 Abrahamson married Benedict Rosine Marie Rothe (1761-1830) from Skælskør , with whom he had no children. In 1780, in addition to teaching at the artillery school, he was offered a position as a teacher at the Land Cadet Academy. Here he taught philosophy, fine sciences, German and Danish until 1810. From 1799 he also worked here as an economic inspector. He gave up teaching at the artillery school in 1806.

In the military he reached the rank of Prime Lieutenant in 1773 and in 1786 that of Captain of the Staff. His active activity ended in 1787 for health reasons. In 1809 he received the Dannebrogden .

Cultural work

In addition to his military career, Abrahamson was culturally involved to a significant extent. Since 1775 he belonged to “Det danske Litteratur-Skelab” and from 1782 to “Det norske Videnskabernes Selskab”. From 1790 to 1798 he was a member of the "Salmebogkommission" and 1807 of the commission for the preservation of the monuments of antiquity in Denmark. These memberships can be considered unusual for an officer. He also held high offices with the Freemasons.

Abrahamson wrote extensive reviews and publications, translated, and acted as editor. He showed himself to be an enlightener who wanted to improve the education of the people and promote science. The fact that he had not received any schooling turned out to be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Abrahamson covered a wide range of subjects and sometimes gave an unbalanced judgment. At the time, he set significant impulses in research on prehistory, runes and folk songs. His publications are now considered to be largely out of date, but are often mentioned.

The five volumes “Udvalgte danske Viser fra Middelalderen”, which Abrahamson wrote together with Rasmus Nyerup and Knud Lyne Rahbek , is considered particularly important . With this publication they encouraged Denmark and beyond to systematically record folk melodies and texts. Abrahamson was involved in Danish literature and tried to improve relations between Germans and Danes. For this purpose he created German and Danish language courses and dictionaries. In 1789/90, however, he clearly positioned himself on the side of the Danish party and referred to himself as "Tyskerfejden".

Abrahamson also wrote casual poems, most of which are hardly known today.

memory

He is one of 18 deserving Danes who are named on the obelisk on Skamlingsbanken .

literature

• Gerhard Hahne: Abrahamson, Werner Hans Friedrich . in: Schleswig-Holstein Biographical Lexicon . Volume 1. Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1970, pp. 12–15