Werner Hartke

Werner Hermann Hartke (born March 1, 1907 in Eschwege ; † June 14, 1993 in Berlin ) was a German classical philologist , ancient historian and science organizer.

life and career

Werner Hartke was the son of the well-known classical philologist and resistance fighter against the Nazi dictatorship Wilhelm Hartke and his wife Tilly Hartke. After graduating from high school from 1925 to 1931, he studied classical philology, archeology , philosophy , mathematics and sports at the Berlin University . He took the gymnastics teacher examination in 1927, the doctorate with the dissertation written in Latin De saeculi quarti exeuntis historiarum scriptoribus quaestiones followed in 1932. Then he was there until 1933 research assistant. In 1934 Hartke moved to the Albertus University of Königsberg as a lecturer and unscheduled senior research assistant . In 1937 he joined the NSDAP . The habilitation took place in 1939 on the subject of history and politics in late ancient Rome. Studies on the Scriptores historiae Augustae , after which he became a lecturer there. Between 1939 and 1945 Hartke served in the German Wehrmacht , where he last held the rank of captain. In 1944 he was appointed full professor of classical philology and director of the Institute for Classical Studies in Königsberg .

Werner Hartke (center) with Wilhelm Girnus (left) and Robert Havemann at a student congress against nuclear armament in 1959

After the war, Hartke became a research assistant at the Georg-August University in Göttingen as early as 1945 . In the same year he joined the KPD , the following year the SED . In 1948 he accepted a professorship with a teaching position for classical philology at the University of Rostock . In 1950 the professorship was expanded to a full chair . From 1949 to 1951, Hartke was Dean of the Philosophical Faculty, and since 1950 also acting head of the Chair of Ancient History . In 1954 he became Vice Rector for Research Affairs. In 1955 he changed to the chair for Latin language and literature at the Humboldt University in Berlin . At the same time he became director of the Institute for Archeology at the Humboldt University and until 1957 also dean of the philosophical faculty. In 1957 Hartke became rector and remained so until 1959. In 1972 he retired .

Hartke was a member of several scientific bodies. In 1955 he became a full member of the German Academy of Sciences (DAW) and between that year and 1968 he headed the Institute for Greco-Roman Classical Studies . Between 1958 and 1968 he was also president, 1968 to 1972 vice president of the DAW. In 1963 he became a member of the Presidential Council of the Kulturbund and a member of the SED district leadership in Berlin. Hartke became an external member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and Vice President of the German-Arab Society in 1966. He was also an external member of the academies of Bulgaria, Hungary and the Institut d'Égypte . For the most important historical journal of the GDR, Klio , he acted from 1959 as well as from 1958 for the German literary newspaper as editor.

Werner Hartke was listed by the Ministry for State Security as a "secret security employee" under the code name "Heide". Robert Havemann described him in an article for Der Spiegel in 1970 as a loyal hardliner. In addition to people such as Johannes Irmscher or Joachim Herrmann , Hartke was one of the most important science organizers in the field of classical studies in the GDR, which can be seen, for example, in three colloquia held in honor of Hartke. For a large part of the young scholars in the field of classical philology and ancient history, Hartke was a doctoral supervisor or reviewer for doctorates or habilitation.

Fonts

• Roman child emperor. A structural analysis of Roman thought and existence , Academy, Berlin 1951 [also: Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 1972]
• History and Politics in Late Ancient Rome. Studies on the Scriptores historiae Augustae , Scientia, Aalen 1962 ( Klio Beihefte , vol. 45) [reprint from 1940]

literature

• Bernd-Rainer Barth :  Hartke, Werner . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
• Lothar Mertens : Lexicon of the GDR historians. Biographies and bibliographies on the historians from the German Democratic Republic. Saur, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-598-11673-X , pp. 263-264.
• Heinrich Scheel (ed.): Classical studies with a future. Dedicated to the work of Werner Hartke. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1973 ( reports from the plenary session and the classes of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR . 1973, No. 2, ISSN  0138-2608 ).
• Heinrich Scheel (Ed.): Rome and Germania. Dedicated to the work of Werner Hartke. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1983 ( meeting reports of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. G, Social Sciences. Year 1982, No. 15, ISSN  0138-4015 ).
• Heinz Stiller (Ed.): Ideology and history in ancient Rome. Dedicated to the work of Werner Hartke. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1987 ( meeting reports of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR. G, social sciences . 1987, no. 14).
• Carlo Jordan: Kaderschmiede Humboldt University. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-86153-253-0 , pp. 55-63.

Web links

Commons : Werner Hartke  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Entry on Werner Hartke in the Catalogus Professorum Rostochiensium
• Literature by and about Werner Hartke in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ You have been dismissed, comrade . In: Der Spiegel . No. 40 , 1970 ( online ).