Wilhelm Harnisch

Christian Wilhelm Harnisch (born August 28, 1787 in Wilsnack , † August 15, 1864 in Berlin ) was a German theologian and educator . It applies u. a. as the "father of local history " (still called " home history " by him, 1816). He left behind an extensive educational and didactic work and in the first half of the 19th century promoted seminar teacher training for elementary school teachers.

Life

Harnisch was the son of the farmer and master tailor Christoph Harnisch and his wife Elisabeth Hopfe. In 1800 the 13-year-old Harnisch became a high school student in Salzwedel and remained so until 1806. In the winter semester of the same year, Harnisch began studying theology at the University of Halle , which he soon had to break off due to the coalition wars.

During this time, Harnisch earned his living as a tutor and continued his studies as soon as possible at the University of Frankfurt / Oder .

In Berlin, Harnisch also made the acquaintance of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi's revolutionary pedagogical ideas , which he got to know in 1810 through Johann Ernst Plamann at his Plamann Institute . Harnisch himself worked at this school for a while.

In 1812, Harnisch was appointed lecturer at the teachers' college in Breslau , where he held this post for ten years. He was also able to publish his previous pedagogical experiences under the title German Elementary Schools, with special regard to Pestalozzi'schen principles this year.

He became friends with Ernst Moritz Arndt , Friedrich Friesen and Friedrich Ludwig Jahn , and despite some controversial views - especially with Jahn, the founder of the gymnastics movement  - this friendship continued.

In Breslau, Harnisch also married his first wife, Ulrike Marie Tusch (1788–1842). With her he had a daughter and four sons.

Residential house in Weißenfels

Memorial plaque on the residential building in Weißenfels

In 1822, Harnisch was entrusted with the management of the Weißenfels teacher training college. The promotion was also linked to the task of reorganizing this seminar and, through this restructuring, to create a role model for all of Germany. Over the next twenty years he was to make the teachers' seminar known throughout Germany and beyond, which at the time of his assumption of office did not have the best reputation.

Harnisch wrote a variety of didactic writings and introduced new subjects, such as world studies , to the lesson table of the elementary school . The basis and component of this world study was his "home study". As geography, it is still an integral part of general school education today. On his initiative and thanks to his organizational talent, the seminar was constantly expanding. Other institutions such as the institution for the deaf and dumb , the preparande for preparing future seminarians or the seminar and free school were incorporated.

During this time, students and teachers alike praised the lessons as stimulating, inspiring and uplifting. From Weißenfels , Harnisch made numerous trips through the province of Saxony , thereby familiarizing himself with the elementary school system and giving various impulses for its development.

In 1837, Harnisch celebrated his 25th anniversary with the company; many of his former students and colleagues offered congratulations.

Grave site at the Elbeu village church - working place from 1842

In 1842, Harnisch was offered the leadership of the parish at the Elbeu village church in Elbeu , which he immediately took over. His wife, Ulrike Marie, died there on October 31 of the same year at the age of 54 years and 3 months of a stroke . She left a widower and four children, two of whom were minors (minorenne). Wilhelm Harnisch noted in the church book that he had been married to her “for over 30 years” .

Ten years later, Harnisch married a second time on September 6, 1852 at the age of 65. In Benndorf near Merseburg he married the 37-year-old Sophie Pauline, a daughter of the pastor Christian Gottfried Künzel and his wife Sophie Heuckenrott. The wedding ceremony was carried out by the bride's father, pastor in Benndorf. The groom announced his stand with “D. th. u. ph. (= Doctor of Theology and Philosophy), Knight dr AO (= Knight of the Red Eagle Order ), Pastor here ” .

A year and a half later, on March 10, 1854, his wife Pauline gave birth to a son who was baptized Friedrich Wilhelm on April 19, 1854.

When Wilhelm Harnisch died of a stroke on August 15, 1864, his successor Pastor Emil Westermeier noted the deceased's status as “Doct. d. Theologie, Superintendent ad, Pastor emer. “In the church book. Wilhelm Harnisch left "a widow with a minor race son" and "three majorenne sons of the first marriage" . Although he had died in Berlin, he was buried in Elbeu on August 18th.

Until his death he had only been able to complete the first part of his autobiography, “My Morning in Life” .

Works (selection)

• German elementary schools, with special regard to the Pestalozzian principles (1812).
• The healthy elementary school teacher . Verl Reichardt, Eisleben 1835.
• Handbook for the German primary school system . Breslau 1820, Grass, Barth and Komp. (Leipzig: from Ambrosius Barth). 2nd modified edition 1829, reprint: Verlag Beyer, Langensalza 1893.
• Life pictures from the Prussian Sachsenlande . Weißenfels: 1827.
• Luther's little catechism . Christian Association, Eisleben 1844
• My morning of life. On the history of the years 1787-1822 . Weißenfels 1887.
• The Pastor and the School (1895)
• The Weißenfelser school teacher seminar and its auxiliary institutions
• The most important new land and sea voyages for young people and other readers edited , 16 vols Leipzig: Verlag von Gerhard Fleischer 1829 (various editions)
• My Tomorrow of Life - On the history of the years 1787 - 1822 (part of an autobiography, everything that has appeared). Berlin 1865: Verlag von Wilhelm Hertz .
• The life of fifty years tutor Felix Kaskorbi or Education in States, stalls and living conditions ... . 2 vols Breslau 1817: Wilibald August Holäufer.

u. v. a. m.

Also published various early (elementary school) educational magazines, such as (together with Daniel Krüger): Der Schulrath an der Oder ... Breslau 1814ff and Der Volksschullehrer; a magazine for everyone who works in Germany in leading and teaching positions in the Christian elementary school system ... , Halle: Eduard Anton 1824–1828.

Further works by Wilhelm Harnisch are available in the Berlin State Library [1] .

literature

• Heinrich Julius Kämmel :  Harnisch, Wilhelm . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 10, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, pp. 614-616.
• Werner Lenartz:  Harnisch, Wilhelm. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 7, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1966, ISBN 3-428-00188-5 , p. 693 ( digitized version ).
• Friedrich Adolph Wilhelm Diesterweg: "Guide for German Teachers". Volume 1, GD Bädeker, 1838, p. 48, short recession for the “Handbook for German Elementary Schools ” from 1829, online
• Hartmut Mitzlaff: “Local studies and general science. Historical and systematic studies on the development of general science at the same time a critical development history of the homeland ideal in the German-speaking area ”. Volume 1, Chapter 9: Chr. Wilhelm Harnisch's first “home studies” (1816) as national educational provincial studies and as the foundation of an organic-genetic world study . Dissertation, University of Dortmund 1985, pp. 193-251.
• Hartmut Mitzlaff: The first "Heimathskunde" by Chr. Wilhelm Harnisch (1787-1864) from the year 1816 . In: Astrid Kaiser, Detlef Pech (Hrsg.): Basiswissen Sachunterricht Vol. 1: History and historical conceptions of the Sachunterricht . Schneider Verlag Hohengehren, Baltmannsweiler 2004, pp. 73–80.
• Julius Plath: Harnisch, the school council on the Oder . Verlag Dürr, Leipzig 1900.

Web links

• Literature by and about Wilhelm Harnisch in the catalog of the German National Library
• Works by and about Wilhelm Harnisch  in the German Digital Library